Rosie Gabrielle is a picture of complete positivity. There is this energy radiating through her, and if you did not know of her health condition, you would think she has everything going right for her. Youth, chutzpah and a go-getter attitude.
So how did it all start for Rosie Gabrielle – the itinerant biker, the self-taught photographer, the Instagram sensation?
“I took every opportunity that came my way,” she says matter-of-factly, pointing out that she didn’t have the money or education but knew she had to live her dream – a dream of travelling the world. She joined volunteering trips to go to new destinations, and at 19 decided to do a solo trip – but the experience was ephemeral, she notes. She realised that she wasn’t cut out for backpacking, because taking a bus from one point to another with other tourists meant missing everything in between.
“That wasn’t my idea,” she muses. And that also meant following the refrain in her heart and her mind to go solo. That was 13 years ago. She rented a motorbike, despite a complete lack of knowledge about riding one, did a little weekend trip and, as she puts it, ‘was pretty much sold to the idea.’
Rosie decided that was how she was going to travel and followed her dream. She rode all over Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, travelling 12,000 km on the bike over six months. On her return back home to Canada, she bought her first motorbike and there was no travelling any other way after. “I didn’t really think about the what-ifs. I just had this passion and the will to go,” she adds.
Very early on she set her priorities right and learnt to manage her funds for travel. Today she can travel for a month on what most people would spend on one night out with friends on food and drinks. Her shoes have been re-soled 8 times and her green jacket has not changed much, and she relies, generally, on borrowing or renting bikes to make things easy and convenient. And, as she emphasises, she is willing to take any opportunity.
So it was that when the opportunity to join a band that was playing a gig in Oman came along, she didn’t hesitate. Her friends had certified her as a good singer and she said yes. In two weeks she learnt 60 songs and was off to Oman, a completely unheard of destination, to sing six days a week at the Grand Hyatt Muscat. Following the singing stint, she had a chance to leave or stay back in Oman. She opted for the latter, learnt the ropes of photography and initiated her successful Rosie Gabrielle photography business.
She was 20 when she first came to Oman, and now, nearly 13 years later, she affirms it was the love for the country and the people that helped her decide to stay back and continue strengthening her bond with the country. Come April and she will bid a final adieu to Oman and focus all her attention and energies on her health, which took a toll from her existing preconditions and her constant adventures.
Rosie has been sick since her birth and her health problems worsened over the years. Recent examination revealed that she was misdiagnosed for 20 years. She has chronic Lyme disease; a painful condition that is intense and continuous. “I have never let that stop me I have always pushed myself and tried to achieve as much as I can despite the pain brought on by the disease,” she states.
But two years ago, things came to a pass when a friend passed away in a car accident. It acted as a wake-up call to get away from the revolving door of work. She went through the messages shared with her friend and realised travelling the world on a motorcycle cropped up constantly. That was when Rosie, who today has over 28000 followers on Instagram, decided to stop everything and follow her heart. She realised the importance of documenting her experiences and encounters to share her adventures and struggles with the world and started a YouTube channel and Instagram page.
With her Masirah video going viral, shortly after it was released 5 months ago, Rosie became a popular social media personality. The video, which shows her crying, touched a raw nerve among her followers. “Every day I dropped that bike and every day I got help from complete strangers. They not just helped me with my bike, but also invited me home to meet their family,” she recalls. On one such occasion, when two gentlemen helped her, she became emotional and cried while recording the incident. “I don’t know what it was about them, their character, their spirit, their energy… I was so touched by this connection that we had,” notes Rosie, who is a strong advocate of positivity.
“In the 13 years that I have been travelling around by myself, I have never encountered a bad person… My whole purpose of all of this is to tell people not to be afraid. Your mind is such a powerful tool; whatever you focus your energy on you can do it. I don’t suggest pushing yourself too much, but there is hope and there are ways to live your dream if you want it,” she explains.
Now, as she gets set to bid adieu to Oman, along with her pet dog Winston who accompanied her this time around, hoping to visit as a tourist in the future, it is her health that is of prime concern. She is on a detox programme to flush out chronic Lyme disease and has put all her grand plans of travelling to Alaska and Africa on hold. She is aware that if she pushes herself a little too much, the healing process will take that much longer. But she is also certain that she will come out of it a winner. She is strong-willed and determined and her drive has been fuelled by her mother who let her go off on her adventures to evolve and experience life.
“I just have to have faith that everything will work out one way or another,” she states.