From Innsbruck to Ithaca: One Paddler’s Modern Odyssey
Gábor Van Tolna is kayaking from Innsbruck down the Inn to the Danube, then following the river all the way to the Black Sea and Ukraine: a 2,522-kilometer journey with 31 dams to cross. From there, he plans to hitchhike to the Caspian Sea in Azerbaijan and back to Troy, before kayaking across the Aegean to Ithaca, the legendary home of Odysseus. He will then hitchhike home to Innsbruck, completing his modern odyssey. Gábor is using this journey to raise funds for United4Rescue, a civilian sea rescue organization that saves refugees often left behind. We caught up with him mid-journey to learn more about his mission.
Kayak Session: Hi Gábor, Can you introduce yourself? When did you start paddling?
Gábor Van Tolna: I was in Panama, preparing to cross the Darién Gap on foot. It’s one of the most dangerous jungles in the world, a 90-kilometer break in the Pan-American Highway between Panama and Colombia. After eight months, I finally got the military permit, but just then fighting broke out between rebels and soldiers, so I decided to hitchhike a sailboat on the Pacific side and sail around the jungle to Colombia instead.
« I’d never kayaked before. I picked it up, inflated it, saw it for the first time, and started paddling. »
Not long after, I got a message from a guy I’d met in Alaska. He wrote, “I’m in Colombia too, but I have to fly to Canada for a month. There’s a packraft in my hostel. You can pick it up and use it for whatever.” Still frustrated about not crossing the jungle, I decided to travel from Colombia to Panama along the Caribbean. Then paddle back the same way to return the kayak.
I’d never kayaked before. I picked it up, inflated it, saw it for the first time, and started paddling. After the first ten kilometers, sunburned and with blisters on my hands, I thought about quitting. But after sleeping that night, I decided to take it day by day. That’s how I finished the 350-kilometer journey in 36 days.
KS: What led you to this new journey?
GVT: That first trip changed everything. I bought my own packraft and wanted a challenge in Europe. I found the route of Odysseus. Then I thought, how boring would it be to just fly to Turkey? Looking at a map, I realized the river right in front of my house in Innsbruck, the Inn, flows to the Danube, which ends in the Black Sea. So I decided to follow it. On the first day, I didn’t even know if my kayak would float with all my gear (63 kilos in total). But it did, and by sunset I was already running Class III rapids. Since then, I’ve taken every day as it comes.
KS: Why connect this mission to Odysseus?
GVT: I’ve always loved mythology and long journeys. Odysseus left for one year and returned after ten. I left in 2013 to hitchhike the Pan-American Highway and came back more than ten years later. I wanted to follow his route, from Troy to Ithaca. I called my kayak Argo B, after the ship of Jason and the Argonauts, because they also traveled by river and sea all the way to Georgia to find the Golden Fleece.
KS: Why support United4Rescue?
GVT: I wanted to do something for refugees, especially because I’m traveling through countries many come from. The Aegean Sea is one of the main refugee routes, and many people die there. United4Rescue saves people on open water whom no one else would save. Supporting them felt right.
KS: What’s been the biggest challenge so far?
GVT: The dams. There are 31 of them on my route. Most of the time, I have to carry everything around in three trips—unpack, deflate, carry, inflate, pack again. It takes more than an hour each time. A few times, they let me through the locks, which is impressive but humbling. When I reach the Aegean, the main challenges will be currents, wind, and finding a safe place to land without damaging the boat.
KS: What do you hope to find along the way?
GVT: I hope not to find my limits. I want to see new places and cultures, but I try to travel with as few expectations as possible. I take every day, every moment, as it comes.
Follow Gábor’s adventures here.
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