Robert E. Yarber is on top of the world — literally. The 41-year-old American currently resides in Tromso, Norway, a town you’ll find at just about the tippy top of your map. It’s about 220 miles north of the Arctic Circle.
And given his troubled past — and the peace he’s found in his new home — it’s an apt description of his emotional state as well.
“I sat in a prison cell, a six-by-nine cell, with another grown man for five years of my life,” Yarber says. “I wanted to see Paris, London, Berlin, and swim in the Mediterranean, check out the Dead Sea. I wanted to see all that stuff with my eyes. I didn’t want to watch it on TV.”
Shortly after he got out of prison for good in 2014, Yarber embarked on a European adventure, one that’s seen him travel to 44 countries and establish a new home for himself abroad. “I just bet it all on myself and went for it all,” he says.
So far, so good.
