further tales

I think I will continue to add to this blog with short travel anecdotes from the many trips I have done. I usually keep a travel diary when I'm abroad, sometimes quite detailed in its observations other times little more than point form. I think I will enjoy digging out some of those diaries and extracting various snippets and retelling them from a current perspective. You dont have to read them!

Just to put some chronological perspective on these tales, here is a brief overview of my travels:

1971 Canary Islands, South Africa., Australia
(5 weeks)

1977 – 1978 England, Wales, Scotland, France, Belgium and Holland.
(18 months includes working)

1981 – 1982 England, Scotland, Holland, France, Spain, Portugal, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Luxembourg.
(6 months)

1984 New Zealand (1 week)

1986 Japan, Switzerland, England, Scotland,
Ireland, Wales, Norway, Sweden, Denmark,
Germany, Holland, Belgium, France,
Luxembourg. (12 months – 6 months cycling)

1990 America, Canada, Greece, Turkey,
Bulgaria, Romania,Hungary, Germany,
Belgium, Norway, England, Italy,
Yugoslavia, Switzerland. (12 months)

1993 Norway, England, Nepal, Vietnam,
Thailand, Philippines. (5 months)

1994 Vietnam (1 month)

1995 Norway, England, Germany, France.
(4 months)

1996 Jordan (1 month)

1998 America, Peru, Bolivia, England, Norway,
France. (2 months)

2001 America, England, Norway, Czech
Republic, Italy. (6 weeks)
Central Australia (2 weeks)

2002 China, Tibet, Nepal, Norway, England,
Canada, America.(2 months)

2003 India and Cambodia (6 weeks)

2004 Egypt and Syria (1 month)

2006 Kakadu and Katherine Gorge, N.T.,
Australia (2 weeks)

2007 Iceland, Norway, England, Mexico, Cuba,
Belize, Guatemala, America (7 weeks)
Tasmania (2 weeks)



Las Palmas 1971. The family abroad.
(me far right)

My recollections of this exotic location are somewhat sketchy. My mother brought a ring-watch with a dial so small you'd need the Hubble telescope to see the date, a mango was bought and eaten (but not by me) and the place was filled with damned foreigners who refused to speak English. But you have to admire my sartorial elegance and the jaunty, somewhat affected way I wore my sombrero. I have retained this heightened fashion aesthetic to this day.