JONATHAN B. ROY

A smiling man with a beard, wearing grey clothing, outdoors with nature in the background.

I had a crazy dream of cycling around the world to meet people who never see tourists.

I didn't know anyone who had done something similar. Graduated in engineering and law, not very athletic, the cycling adventure was certainly not part of my life itinerary. So I put off this dream until later.

Until my mother - who herself dreamed of going to Italy - died before carrying out her project.

There would never be a perfect time to leave, so might as well do it sooner than later. I left England in March 2016 for what I thought was just one year. The adventure stretched over four years. I crossed Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia and Southeast Asia to Malaysia. I settled there for a year and wrote the first volume of my Histoires à dormir dehors (Vélo Québec).

I took the road from the same place to continue towards Singapore, Taiwan, China, Korea and Japan. Then I went up South America from Tierra del Fuego, passing through Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia and Peru.

After 4 years on the road, my odometer stopped at almost 40 000 km in 40 countries on 3 continents. With enough stories to write Histoires à dormir dehors 2 (launched in February 2023), this time focusing on my encounters and adventures between Asia and South America.

I am a regular contributor to the magazine Vélo Mag. I also hosted and produced the webseries Le bon monde de la Route verte to Vélo Québec.

In August 2021, I was selected from over 314,000 applications as one of 12 participants in the program Airbnb Live Anywhere. For a year, I went around the world again, one country per month.

Cover of a book titled 'Histoires à dormir dehors'with a camping scene in snowy mountains, Jonathan B. Roy in hiking clothes, a tent and a bicycle
Cover of the book titled 'Others' histoires à dormir dehors', with cyclist Jonathan B. Royassis on a mountain trail, near a loaded bicycle, in a rocky and mountainous landscape under a blue sky.

Contact me

Smiling man at a microphone on stage in front of a brown curtain, audience in the front row