Draft:Milorad Rajčević

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Milorad Rajčević (Serbian: Милорад Рајчевић; 1890–1964) was a Serbian journalist, travel writer and globetrotter who rode a bicycle and motorcycle on his journey round the world. It all began with a 10,000-dinar wager with the owners of Belgrade's 'Mali Journal', that Milorad couldn't bicycle 25,000 miles in two years. Although he lost the wager after two years of travel, he spent more than three decades traveling and visiting both hemispheres six times.In Serbia, his books inspired a generation of travelers and travel writers.

Biography

Born in 1890 at the last decade of the 19th century in a village near the vicinity of Leskovac, Milorad Rajčević graduated from Leskovac high school in 1905. After graduation, he became interested in painting, and began studying decorative painting in Belgrade. His desire to learn kindled his adventurous spirit which took him to Vienna, where he studied painting with a court painter for a short time. It was also his first trip outside the Kingdom of Serbia and he was curious to see more. In Vienna he realised that instead of painting, his one and true calling was travelling. He did not manage to settle down in Vienna, instead he started visiting one place after another: Salzburg, Munich, Stuttgart, Nuremberg, Ulm. Then he went to France, where he spent three months in Paris working in the studio of painter Georges Weber. From France, he continues on to Switzerland, where he visits Geneva, Lausanne, Bern, Zurich, Basel and Lucerne. Instead of taking a break from the road and at least settling down for a while, Milorad Rajčević comes up with the idea of going to America during his stay in Rijeka. At the Rijeka pier, he meets captain Marko Karaksić, who arranges for him to board the ocean liner "Ultania" bound for New York City. He spent a few months in America, until he injured his leg during a marathon, for which he had to go to the hospital. There they discovered that Rajčević was an illegal alien (without a passport) and is deported back to Europe. However, for Rajčević it was only an excuse to continue his journey, so he visits his aunt in Romania. From there, having already recovered from his injury and now financially supported by his aunt, he heads to Constantinople, and then via Alexandria to Jerusalem. This first Middle Eastern trip of his lasted four years, during which he learned five languages. Returning to Serbia, Rajčević continues to play sports. However, in Serbia from the beginning of the 20th century, sport was mostly considered entertainment for idle people. Because of this, and the restlessness that did not keep him in one place for long, Rajčević was considered by many eccentric and unconventional to say the least. Nevertheless, the Savić brothers, the founders and editors of "Mali Journal" (one of the most widely circulated Serbian newspapers of the time), took a liking to him.

In 1910, young Rajčević made a wedger with the owners of Belgrade's Mali Journal that he would travel the world in two years on very modest resources. Very soon he started travelling across Europe as a correspondent for the Mali Journal.

Travel around the world

The positive impression led the editors of "Mali Journal" to make a bet with Milorad Rajčević and send him on a trip around the world. They offered him two years during which he was supposed to tour Europe, Asia, America and Africa. In addition to the award of 10,000 dinars, part of the agreement was also a monthly fee of 150 dinars, which he would be able to collect every three months in a place of his own choosing, which was enough for him to survive. In addition, his source of income was the sale of postcards with his own image. His obligation was to send a letter from each place to the editorial office of Mali Journal and a confirmation from the local authority as proof that he had been to each of the places he mentioned.

Conditions of the wager

The route, in general terms, indicates the road that the passenger must travel according to the conditions of the bet.

To prove that he was in each of the mentioned places, he agreed to submit a certificate from a local authority.

Determination of rest days and duration will be determined by the traveler at his discretion.

The passenger's suit imitates the uniform of a Serbian infantryman with a rucksack on his back, in which, in addition to the most necessary medicines (aspirin, quinine, iodine, goat tallow, etc.), he must always have two pairs of clean gloves. Whether he wants to wear it as much as possible is up to him.

On the road, the passenger has the right to use all means of transport.

Departure

Rajčević reluctantly accepted the wager and set off on a trip around the world on 14 March 1910. He was ceremoniously seen off by his sportsman friends and the entire editorial staff of "Mali Journal". He sets out on his journey with a backpack, in which, in addition to the necessary medicines, he took a travel book - an empty notebook in which he intended to collect the signatures of all the important people he would meet along the way. Prince Đorđe Karađorđević, whom he met in Gornji Milanovac, was the first to enter his travel book after two days of travel. Moving towards the south, he also reaches the Montenegrin heir to the throne, Danilo Aleksandar Petrović-Njegoš, who also writes in his travel book and presents him with a jubilee monument of Prince Nikola I Petrović-Njegoš. From Montenegro, he heads for Italy, from where he was supposed to be transferred to Africa. However, due to the war in Tripolitania (Libya), he changed his route and went to France, and then to England and Germany, in order to reach Petrograd in July. He spent a month in Imperial Russia, during which he stayed in the best hotels and visited representatives of the authorities and prominent personalities to sign his travel book. For the most part, everyone received him with enthusiasm, eager to learn the details of his unusual undertaking. Already at the beginning of August 1910, he visits Siberia and continues further to the Asian continent. On his bicycle, he travels through Asia, where he meets strange people and customs, and feels nostalgic for Europe and the things he knows. That is why he is surprised when in Russian Manchuria, at a reception at Lieutenant General Arkady Sychevsky's military governor house, Rajčević hears an old Russian officer singing the Serbian song "Rado ide Serbin u vojnike", which he learned from General Jovan Popović-Lipovac, a Montenegrin with whom he served in the Russo-Japanese War. From there Rajčević goes to Vladivostok and then to Japan. From Japan, he sends a letter to the editors full of enthusiasm for the Japanese people, who bathe at least twice a day. Of course, his enthusiasm was also captivated by the ellegant geishas. In Japan, Emperor Meiji reigned, though Rajčević was received by the future heir to the throne (Emperor Taishō), who refused to write his name in the Serb's book. The reason given for this is Japanese people consider the emperor a deity. Japan was followed by Singapore, Malaysia and Siam. In Siam, king Vajiravudh received him personally and gave Rajčević a wonderful and apporpriate present, a motorcycle that eased his journey considerably.

At the time when Rajčević set out into the world, it was a real rarity and a sensation in all the parts of the world to see a foreign traveler on a bicycle or a motorbike. Rajčević and his trip were talked about and written about in the foreign press. Thus, the news of his arrival reached India before Rajčević himself, and he was given a lavish welcome there. After India, he went to British-ruled Ceylon, then to Ahmad Shah Qajar's Persia, Syria and Jerusalem. There the Armenian Patriarch Harootiun Vehabedian or Yeghishe Tourian of Jerusalem received him, after which he goes on a Christian pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

Return

He arrived in Belgrade on 21 September 1911. He was given a festive welcome at the pier, which the Savić brothers filmed and later had it featured in their cinema hall. Although he did not manage to visit Africa and America during this trip, Rajčević did not give up in his desire, and in 1912 he started planning his trip to Africa again. With that intention in mind, he was hindered by the First Balkan War, in which he participated as a soldier. The very next year, he visits America from coast to coast, after which he plans to travel to Africa again. It seemed that he was not destined to tour Africa because the First World War broke out. However, after the end of the Great War, he went to Africa, which he writes about in two books "From the Torrid Africa". Milorad Rajčević traveled to 70 countries from 1910 to 1930 as a correspondent journalist for the magazine "Mali Journal". Widely read reportages were made from his letters, and several books were published in which his travel experiences were described.

His travel book became the largest and most valuable collection of autographs, and Rajčević was the first person from the area of the former Kingdom of SHS to publish a collection with hundreds of signatures of kings, princes, state officials and other famous people.

He described his travels in travelogues:

• Iz zarka Afrika (From Torrid Africa), Belgrade (independent edition), 1924

• Na dalekom istoku (In the Far East), Belgrade (Printing house Lj. Jakšić), 1930

• Autografi snamenitnih licnosti XX veka (Autographs of famous personalities of the 20th century), Belgrade, 1932

Decorations

• Jubilee monument of Prince Nikola​