Milorad Rajčević, the globetrotter with 150 dinars in his pocket
Milorad Rajčević, the globetrotter with 150 dinars in his pocket
Traveling around the world might be something a lot of people do these days. But back in the old days, it was rare, and in some cases even sensational. Milorad Rajčević, who was born near Leskovac in Serbia during the late 19th-century, did travel the world, and indeed made a sensation back home.
Milorad’s first experience abroad encompassed Vienna, where he went to study painting at the age of 15. But soon enough, this most curious and restless of men, realized he could not stay anywhere for too long—he wanted to move around and see new places. He would visit a number of Austrian cities, as well as go to Germany, Switzerland, and France.
Europe was not enough, so he went across the pond—to America, where he, unfortunately, broke a leg and was deported back home. But not because he broke a leg—he found out he needed a passport to continue his odyssey. Upon returning back, Milorad stayed home only for a short while.
It would be in 1910 that Rajčević now approached the editors of Mali žurnal, at the time the best-known daily newspaper of the then Kingdom of Serbia, and nabbed a deal where he was provided with a monthly payment of 150 dinars to travel the continents of the world. Rajčević was obliged to send back letters to his trip-providers and collect proof from the destinations on his way.
To give a brief idea how much Rajčević’s allowance was, according to some estimates by the Historicalstatistics.org, the sum of 150 dinars in the year 1911 would equal the amount of consumer goods and services you could buy in Sweden for the sum of EUR 594 in the year 2015. (Which sounds like something not great, not terrible).
Milorad’s journey began on March 14, 1910, which is, in historical perspective, only three days before the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History opened in Washington, and while the RMS Titanic was still being built at the Harland and Wolff’s shipyard in Belfast.
Milorad embarked on the journey carrying a single backpack, with few clothes, basic ailments and medicine, and an empty notebook to retrieve signatures of high authorities and officials. The first leg of his journey included mostly European countries, after which he u-turned towards Russia and Siberia.
He reached Vladivostok, which is one of the world’s most remote cities, and from there descended to Japan and Southeast Asia. He did collect some signatures from high-profile persons such as the Siamese king, however, he failed to take one from the Japanese emperor.
From southeast Asia, he moved west towards countries which have different names today (Ceylon and Persia) or have been war-torn such as Syria. He would return home, in Belgrade, on September 21, 1911, a year and a half after he had left. A special ceremony had been organized on the occasion of his arrival. Rajčević’s journey was a success. His homecoming has even been documented in a film.
In the years after World War One, Rajčević traveled once again to America and he also left for Africa. It is estimated that he traveled to 70 countries in the period between 1910 and 1930, which makes him one of the best-traveled Serbs of the previous century, if not the first of his people to reach such remote destinations.
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