Whiskey for a world traveller

Johnnie Walker brings out a bespoke traveller's trunk to celebrate the spirit of adventure that had a Londoner pedalling around the globe

Two friends, a wooden paddle boat and the dream of going around the world — it took Jason Lewis 13 years to accomplish this dream and become the first human to circumnavigate the globe using human power. “The idea was not just to become the first such person but to do something with perfection and learn about who I am,” says Lewis who owns a cleaning business in London. It is to salute this spirit that the whiskey label, Johnnie Walker, approached him for a  film titled Celebrating a Journey Shared. The film draws parallels between his voyage and the journey of pioneering accomplishments that Johnnie Walker has shared with master craftsmen like Alfred Dunhill since the early 1900s.

In Celebrating a Journey Shared, Lewis has once again teamed with Tipper to journey from Dunhill’s home in London to Johnnie Walker’s Drummuir Castle in Scotland. To celebrate the partnership between exceptional men, Johnnie Walker has also come out with a limited edition of 500 bespoke traveller’s trunks based on Dunhill’s design of the classic vintage car trunk. Crafted from birch wood, the trunk sports blue hues, leather straps and handles with Sam Brown stud finish and features a limited edition bottle, engraved crystal glasses, a whiskey funnel, a pair of ice tongs and a Dunhill hunter flask. “Dunhill first set up shop in London in 1907 and Johnnie Walker in 1908, so they were neighbours on St James’s Street. Dunhill has taken the heritage of the two companies and give it an unconventional modern design,” says global brand ambassador Jonathan Driver.

The idea took root when Smith realised that no one has ever gone around the world on sheer human power — be it on a bicycle, a roller blade or a kayak. The duo then approached Chris Tipper, a master carpenter, to create a boat for this purpose. “He built a boat 26 feet long to carry us and all the food. We called it ‘Moksha’ as it embodied the spirit of liberation that this voyage stood for,” says Lewis who was in Delhi earlier this week. The paddle boat was stocked with rations, 4,000 Mars bars and a bottle of Johnnie Walker whiskey. “After every 300 miles, we would stop pedalling the boat and do something nice like have a cup of tea or a bit of whiskey,” smiles Lewis.

The resilience of their boat was tested when a storm struck halfway through the journey. “The boat self-righted itself after flipping over. Smith got washed away and was saved only because he had a bit of training rope tied to his ankle,” he says. “After this we decided that we had had too much of each other, so Smith bicycled around the US while I roller bladed around.” However, the cool runnings were marred when Lewis got hit by a car in Colorado and broke his legs. But he was back on track as soon as he recovered. Smith took his leave from the expedition, scared to be back at sea again. Lewis went back to the sea but “soon I realised that travelling alone wasn’t much fun. I started talking to the pilot fish to counter the loneliness.” When he reached Tarawa island, he was joined by Tipper who accompanied him till they reached Solomon Islands. “It’s ironic that he (Tipper) makes boats but is scared of the sea. This journey helped him overcome that fear,” says Lewis.

After crossing Singapore, India and Syria, he came to Egypt where the legal way to cross over to Sudan was through a ferry ride from Wadi Halfa to Aswan. But with the permits so long in coming, Lewis decided to do this on foot and got arrested. Just when he thought he would spend his life in prison, the permits came through and he was free to go.