U.S. Marine Corps soldier Winston Fiore completed a 5,000-mile (approximately 8,047-kilometer) trek across Asia over the course of about a year, relying solely on Google Maps for navigation.
Fiore called it the "Smile Trek." The idea was born in 2007 when Fiore witnessed "incredible poverty" in Senegal. He then decided to spend a year traveling while raising funds for the non-profit organization Smile Train International (ICSF), which provides free corrective surgery for children with cleft lips in developing countries.
Over the past year, Fiore hiked through multiple countries including Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, China, the Philippines, Brunei, and Singapore. He completed his journey last week. In an interview, he said he didn’t carry any physical maps during the trip, relying solely on Google Maps to plan his daily routes. In addition to Google Maps, Fiore used Google Translate to communicate with locals, Google Latitude to stay in touch with family, friends, and supporters, and MyTracks to record his speed, distance, and locations.
For example, when he encountered a person with elephantiasis in Vietnam, he used Google Translate to inform the individual that they could receive surgery at a nearby ICSF medical center. Additionally, he was once bitten by a stray dog in Thailand and also received help through Google Translate.
Non-Google software Fiore used during the trip included Kindle and Audible, as well as Skype for making phone calls. He said that in most cases, he was able to connect to the internet, either via 3G or GSM networks. And if he lost internet access, he could always find a nearby mobile communication tower within a few hours.
The digital devices Fiore carried with him included an 11-inch MacBook Air, which he also used as a mobile power bank. He initially used a Samsung Infuse 4S phone but found that SIM cards in Asian countries were quite different from those in the U.S., so he later switched to a Samsung Galaxy Nexus, and more recently, to the longer-lasting Galaxy Note 2.
So far, Fiore has raised $67,649 for ICSF, with his fundraising goal set at $75,000.