Eventually it learned to tie shoes, crossed a stage to pick up a college diploma, backpacked through Europe and changed my baby's diapers.

NPR: I Am Not My Body

Shimizu backpacked around the world in the late 1980s, then did a stint as an insurance executive in order to realise his dream of opening reasonably-priced, foreigner-friendly accommodations in Kyoto.

BBC: Capsule Ryokan Kyoto, where modern meets traditional

On his hippy quest in the mid 1970s, Jobs backpacked around India with a college friend -- and, later, the first Apple employee -- engineer Daniel Kottke, in search of philosophical enlightenment.

CNN: Why Apple's Steve Jobs is so fascinating