Luke Judge

Each of Chad Greife’s forearms bears a tattoo – “Born Alone” onone, “Die Alone” on the other.

The 1997 Union High School graduate got them just before leavingon a yearlong trip that began in Australia and ended up taking himaround the world – to Bali, Kuala Lumpur, Dubai, Cairo, Warsaw,Prague, Dresden, Munich, Paris, Dublin, new York City – and whilethey might sound kind of harsh, Greife says for him their meaningis just the opposite.

“They symbolize my mindset,” he remarked, “that I’m in charge ofmy own destiny, my own happiness.”

Restlessness Leads to Change

Greife, son of Marilyn and bill Greife, Union/Beaufort, had beenworking as an art teacher in Indianapolis for three years when hebegan to feel restless. He envisioned a 30-year teaching careerstretching out before him and panicked a little.

“I had gone to school, done all of the things I was supposed todo – got a good job and was working – but then I was like, ‘Nowwhat? I do this until I retire?’ ” Greife recalled. “That didn’tset right with me. I wanted to do things, to see the world -now.”

So since he wasn’t married, had no children and nothing reallyholding him back, Greife quit his job at the end of the schoolyear, sold his house and moved to Las Vegas, where he had a friend.He didn’t have a job or even plans to get any certain kind of job.He did have some money saved from the sale of his house and thatbought him some time.

“I was making plans up as I went along and it was incrediblyfreeing,” said Greife, who admits he had been a “pretty organized,need-a-plan type of person” before making the move.

“The nicest part was on the road I felt free. I didn’t knowwhere I was going to sleep that night or where my next meal wouldbe, and I liked it.”

Greife said he made a point of keeping negative thoughts out ofhis head because as soon as they crept in, it affected him.

“As soon as I let fear or doubt enter my head, I would be my ownworst enemy,” he remarked.

Greife opted to go to bartending school and starting finding oddjobs to make extra money. Eventually he landed a bartending job atPiranha, a night club off the Vegas strip. He worked the nightshift, 9 p.m. to 7 a.m.

It wasn’t long though before Greife began to feel restlessagain.

“That plagues me,” he admits. “Whenever I hit my goal, I stillwant more.”

Greife moved back to Indianapolis for a year and then toPortland, Ore., for another, but then decided it was time to leavethe country. Living abroad had always been one of his dreams, so hebegan researching where he could go.

He only speaks English, so that narrowed the list. He choseAustralia because the weather was nicer there than in England orIreland.

Since he hadn’t yet turned 31, Greife was eligible to apply fora one-year work holiday visa, which would allow him to travel thecountry for the first six months, but require him to get a job forthe last six months. that was exactly what he wanted.

So at Christmas 2009, Greife said goodbye to his loving family,packed his backpack and headed toward the airport for a flight toLos Angeles, where he would catch a flight to Sydney. He had just$200 to his name, but Greife said he just stayed positive that hewould find work in Australia and earn what he needed as hewent.

From Sydney, Greife headed up to Brisbane, where he spent twoweeks living on the beaches of Byron Bay. He met up with a friendfrom Indianapolis who also had come to Australia for the samereason and together they found odd jobs doing everything fromlandscaping to cleaning camp-grounds and vacation homes toconstruction.

“We just spread the word around that we were looking for workand people would pay us cash,” Greife noted.

He kept in touch with his family back home in Missouri throughFacebook. He had brought a laptop computer with him and had accessto wireless Internet service pretty much everywhere he went.

On his Facebook page, Greife posted information about where hewas and photos of his experiences. Greife said his parents, who atfirst were unnerved by his moving to Las Vegas and then Australia,relaxed when they saw the photos – like the one of a sunsetincluded here. They easily understood why he had wanted to go andcould see it was the experience of a lifetime.

Still, it wasn’t easy, said Greife.

“Many times, I didn’t think I would make it through,” headmits.

From Brisbane, Greife traveled by train down the AustralianCoast, stopping at places along the way. He spent a few weeks inSydney and loved it. From there he headed to Melbourne, where hefound a job bartending and ended up renting an apartment with someroommates for four months.

“I felt like a local,” he remarked with a smile.

Staying put with a steady job allowed Greife to save up somemoney, but again he found himself looking for another adventure. Sohe and his friend rented a camper van for $20 a day and set out totravel the country.

“We traveled through the vineyards of south Australia toAdelaide. From there we headed north through the AustralianOutback, stopping off at Ayers Rock to see the red center.”

Greife pointed out that driving the outback isn’t an easy trip.in fact, it’s down right “‘scary” – “19 of the deadliest snakes arefound in the wild there.”

If they stopped to go to the bathroom in a bush or wherever,they made sure to poke around the area with a stick so theywouldn’t be surprised by a snake, spider or some other creature. Ifthey had been bitten by a poisonous snake or seriously injured inany way, they would have been hard pressed to get to safety fastenough.

“And it’s isolated, all desert,” Greife added. “You can drivefor hours without seeing another person.”

The two-lane road is paved, but dangerous because of theisolation, he said. He was warned not even to stop and help someonewho looks like their car broke down because that’s a common trickused to rob someone or worse.

Likewise, it made Greife and his friend’s traveling the roadalone that much more dangerous if their van was to break down, sowhen they met a couple of girls at one of the few road stops alongthe way who also were driving through the outback with a van fromthe same rental company, the foursome decided to travel togetherfor safety.

Still, the three weeks Greife spent driving through the Outbackwas one of the highlights of his year abroad.

“That’s when I felt the most free,” he remarked.

“The most amazing part was the ridiculous sunsets and the stars- you could see the entire Milky way, shooting stars . . . we sawwild camels, emus, kangaroos . . . “

Greife and his buddy camped out every 300 kilometers at theroadhouses they came across. They slept in the van or sometimes onthe roof if it was too hot.

Another dangerous part of driving through the Outback, Greifenoted, are the “road trains” – semi-trucks that have a string offour or five trailers. He had heard they have been known to plowthrough and knocking other vehicles off the road. with those kindof things in mind, Greife and his buddy were always prepared withback up fuel and water.

Once they made it through the Outback, they headed north toDarwin where Greife and his buddy found work in a resort. Theirsalaries included room and board plus meals. One of their coworkerswas a German girl who also wanted to travel, so after two monthsmaking money the three decided to hit the road.

They traveled down the west coast of Australia stoppingoccasionally to snorkel through the reefs until they made it toPerth. That’s where they all parted ways.

Greife stayed on there, working on Rottnest Island in the IndianOcean as a barista.

“It’s an extremely small island of the West Coast – about fourmiles around the whole island,” he said. “The only way to getaround is by bicycle.”

Rottnest is home to the quokka, a rat/kangaroo mixture that isonly found on the island. it has white sandy beaches that are”ridiculously beautiful and clean,” said Greife.

“Every day I went snorkeling. I saw stingrays, octopuses,humpback whales . . . this place is just so special.”

Greife worked 70 hours a week to make as much money as he could,because it was nearing time that his visa would expire. Hisemployer offered him a “sponsorship” if he would stay on as themanager, even saying Greife could spend six months in Australia(during its summertime) and when winter hit return to America forthe other six months of the year.

Greife is still considering the offer, although for the nextcouple of years, he plans to stay close to home in theUnion/Beaufort area.

“I will most likely go back to teaching,” he said. “I’m solooking forward to it. I’ve already put the word out to take anysub jobs in Union.”

At the end of the school year, Greife plans to apply for anyteaching jobs that are available, but if nothing works out then hemay head back to Australia.

After two months working on Rottnest Island, Greife knew heneeded to start heading home. When he looked into flights, he foundthat a one-way ticket to the United States was $1,500 – andobviously wasn’t very interesting. That’s when he decided to hoparound through various cities in Asia and Europe, seeing more sitesalong the way. First up Bali, Indonesia – the flight from Austaliato Bali was only $50!

“I spent one week there driving by moped all over the island,”said Greife.

The moped was included in the $10/per day price he paid to renta hut on the beach. the hut also came with a butler who made himcoffee and breakfast every morning.

As an art teacher, Greife was particularly interested inexploring the art of the city. One of his purchases there was asilk scarf-like hanging that he hopes to display in his classroomsomeday.

From Bali, Greife flew to Singapore and spent three daysexploring before hopping a bus to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

“I spent some time with elephants in the rainforest andexploring that area,” he said.

Next stop was Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where he spentanother three days exploring before heading to Cairo, Egypt.

“I spent sometime exploring the pyramids of Giza and theEgyptian culture . . . I had my iPod with me and I was listening toclassical music when I walked around the pyramids. I spent abouteight hours just staring at them. I just sat on a hill and lookedat them.”

Greife noted that he was extremely careful in all of histravels. He always made sure to check the U.S. State Department Website to read information on each country. it offered lots of tipson how to be safe.

Greife said he was always sure to have the phone numbers andaddresses for the U.S. embassy in each country.

“There were times when I felt like, ‘What am I doing?’ but I hadto believe it was all going to be OK,” he said. “I had to tell thatvoice in my head to shut up.”

From Egypt, Greife flew to Warsaw, Poland, for one day and thentook a plane to Prague, Czech Republic, where he met up with afriend and stayed a week.

From there he reconnected with the German girl he and his buddyhad traveled with in Australia. They drove all over Germany -Dresden, Schweinfurt, Munich, and finally the Black Forrest.

After three weeks in Germany, Greife took the speed train toParis, France, where he met up with another friend he had made inAustralia. He stayed with her in Paris for four days, before flyingto Dublin, Ireland, (because it was the cheapest flight) where hevisited an Irish pub and had some Irish whiskey.

From Ireland, Greife had took a layover flight to new York City.He landed in America on Dec. 15, but wasn’t in any hurry to gethome. He took in the sites – Statue of Liberty, Rockefeller Plazadecorated for Christmas, Central Park during a snowstorm . . .

Greife said he wanted to time his return home just rigth – to beright at a year from when he left.

So from N.Y.C., he took a flight to Indianapolis and stayed withfriends for a couple of days. then he was picked up by some friendsin Nashville and headed south to visit them. On Christmas Eve 2010,he was ready to come home.

“I took my last flight from Nashville to St. Louis,” saidGreife. “I spent the whole day walking around St. Louis feelinggood about my accomplishment. I then took the train from St. Louisout to Washington and I arrived right as the sun was setting onChristmas Eve. it was really magical. At that point I hadsuccessfully been around the world!”

And what he found rather poetic – he had just $1 left to hisname.

Greife said his year abroad has taught him a couple of valuablelessons.

“One, that I have so much more potential than I knew I had, andtwo, the power of human thoughts – if you put your mind to it,anything you want, you can have it.”

Greife said looking ahead if he does end up going back toAustralia or Rottnest Island, it won’t be for a few years. For now,he’s writing a book he’s calling “Now What?”

“I also would like to do some motivational speaking,” saidGreife, “to share my trip with schools.”

Part of his message is about “the brilliance of life – that ifyou are ever unhappy with any aspect of your life, then changeit.”

When he spoke to the Missourian, Greife was still gettingsettled at home from his year overseas, but he has a vision for thekind of life he wants to make for himself here.

“Every day is a gift, and I want to live with an attitude ofgratitude,” he said.

“I don’t want to have a TV or a cell phone or a car . . .because when you have nothing you’re free to do everything.”

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