Tripping Out Alone

And nothing to do with the novel, but the more I fly the more I am surprised how I can be calm on one flight, fearful on another, The only progress I have made is to make taking anti motion sickness tablets a choice of last resort as opposed to a prerequisite of every boarding. That is progress. I have to catch up - I am off to China soon and since last posting have been to many more places, what became a love, became a passion, what became a passion became a lifestyle. I can't see an end to the sense of adventure that calls to me whenever I hear an evocative destination mentioned or see an image, or for that matter just gaze from the window 40,000 feet in the air and feel compelled to visit Baku and Lake Baikal.

June 2016 Cheating a bit.  I wrote this trip up for Gaia Discovery and have copied the piece here with some additions that are more personal: After an arduous and extended journey of delays, technical problems and missed connections I stumbled into a smoky Medan bar in the middle of Ramadan to be greeted with beer. What a relief!  Here in the esteemed company of some true leaders in worldwide environmental protection, people with victories under their belts and lifetime’s of experience, I sat to gather myself and enjoy the beer but before a moment has passed a challenge was issued: “Why are you going to take a bunch of kids into the forest, why not just leave the animals alone and watch a program about it on tv?”  No names obviously, but these were real experts in their field, worn out and feeling cynical at the end of a hard week's negotiations, of battling to save what may not be salvageable, grinding against the deal that we have made to bring kids in to ...

Sunday January 17th Back in Bali and it is so so hot, the rains have not come and the phrase "When it get's a bit cooler.." is redundant, I have had to get up at four am to get anything reasonable achieved. Looking back over the last month  I have had many interesting encounters, some of which are playing out now in the work that lies ahead in organising the October Youth Conference. Travelling alone, but still connected, allows for these seemingly random but not entirely coincidental meetings to happen as friends of friends and small circles of like minded people are bound to collide at some point. It was so wonderful to come back to Bali and hang out in Ubud with friends and family. Bangkok - reboot Saturday to Thursday Literally reboot ! I got to the park and worked out, I ate my favourite foods and I went to the gym. On Monday I went twice, I do not know why, it meant I did 200 sit ups and two hours of kicking and punching, it made me feel very good. I went...

This is Nomadic Matt, he wrote the book How to Travel the World on $50 a Day - he is a travel blogger and while based in NYC he spends a lot of his time traveling, as and for work. He confesses to being a workaholic, but if it is something you love to do, or prefer to do above other things, why not be one. I am hoping to travel for a lot less per day, and have booked rooms in Kampot and Kep for less than $10 a night, I think I am paying more for the transport to the border from Koh Khang than it will cost me to be in Cambodia. However I figured that I would take the easiest route and do battle with public transport when I have negotiated the border crossing, leaving the ferry and various other things in the hands of Dan at explorekohkhang.

Bangkok- Thailand December 2015 Languishing under a pile of to-do-urgent things was this blog, and I while have not been neglectful of my travel, I have been just not doing it alone. Now at the end of 2015 I am stepping out again to trip out alone. And while it is familiar and enjoyable to slip back into the solo path it has its challenges. The most major one I have found is revving up the self discipline as opposed to the motivated by others discipline. A few days of drifting should be good for the soul, to read books, to wander and to mull over the past adventures. And also to renew the commitment to the path of travel and the belief that it really does broaden the mind. So that's my plan, get better at getting the work documented. The past few years have been amazingly rich in travel experiences and to document them in one place is worthy of their impact on my life and my career, so moving forward includes some looking back. Emerging into the future with the knowledge gained f...

So much for Tripping Out Alone, my blog is languishing under a pile of activity and not enough time to write up my travels.. Since the last post I have travelled further across the amazing archipelago of Indonesia, a place of wonder and continuing fascination. There will be time ..soon to post on it all.

Thanks to the Air Asia sale I will be tripping out again to Sulawesi for the Easter break.. I have had no time to collect my thoughts, let alone the images from a wonderful trip to Phnom Penh and Siem Reap.. days of dreamy poetic visions, delicious food and starry night skies. Having arrived back to Bali I ran headlong into a new job and the daunting yet audacious task of hosting a Global Youth Conference right in the middle of the APEC Summit meeting.. perfect timing! Putting this together has been one of the most rewarding and challenging experiences and I have enjoyed the mastery of my own emotions as I met with difficulties and more importantly support from unexpected places..

The adventure to Pontianak and Desa Saham was a culmination of three people's inspiration, previous experience and imagination.. Caleb had lived in Desa Saham, a Dayak village 17 years previously as a representative of Canada Youth. I had read Richard Lloyd Parry's What Young Men do and was drawn to visit the area he described, including the city of Ponitanak, Pahauman and the Dyak villages he described. Robi had been just six months previously and was keen to do further work with WAHLI to bring positive promotion through cultural links to the area. We ended up returning in June with 16 students..the adventure was written up for two magazine stories. One about Pontianak and the other about the Dayak Tribes..

Midway through a year that has been a roller coaster of changes and shifts I am back in Thailand, catching my breath in the metropolis. Here on Sesame Street, where I find myself ever more at home, I have everything I need and know where it is. And I am blissfully tripping out alone. The last trips have not been alone, sixteen students, two colleagues and three other companions were with me for the trip to Borneo and the Dayak Longhouse, and two colleagues joined me on the first trip, and this is not a philosophical blog I dont need to get in to what constitutes 'alone' or for that matter 'tripping out'..