Category: Philosophy Of Travel
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The Evolving Rationale Of A ‘Professional’ Adventurer
It’s less than a month until I leave these shores for the first of the two ‘big trips’ I’m going to undertake this year. And of all the questions in my head right now, this one sounds the simplest: “Which camera should I take?” But this post will not deal with the ins and outs of camera equipment selection. (That’s for another post, which non-geeks will be able to happily skip over.) No. As I sat down to write, I realised that this question in fact drills to the core of my motivation for continuing to journey, explore, adventure, or whatever… Continue reading →
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Why I Won’t Be ‘Live-Tweeting’ My Next Expedition
This post was borne of a heated debate I recently had with a couple of friends. It arose from a remark along the lines of “I don’t have time to read your blog, but I do have time to read Twitter updates, so you should be ‘live-Tweeting’ your trips because more people like me will know what you’re up to”. Well, I won’t be ‘live-Tweeting’ my future trips; not for my friend, nor anyone else. And here’s why. Tweets, by their nature, are free-floating snippets of information. Each one inhabits a single drop in an ocean of content. In any given… Continue reading →
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A Major Digression On Perspective And Motivation
An interview is not just for the benefit of the interviewer, as I was recently reminded when I gave an interview to Orla O Muiri for Beyond Limits magazine. As well as forcing you to reassess your own ideas, motives and achievements, having questions fired at you from someone else’s perspective can say a lot about the assumptions of that interviewer. And that, in turn, can say a lot about the way you have presented yourself; what your ‘public face’ looks like. I spent quite a portion of this interview trying to defuse an underlying assumption that I was some kind… Continue reading →
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New Year Dreaming
It’s difficult not to get swept up by the tide of reviews, resolutions and manifestos at this time each year. It’s part of our tendency to try to bring order to chaos, to fashion meaning from the meaningless. In reality, today is just another day; no different to any other, save for the ideas we attach to it. Having said that, my New Year’s Resolutions are thus: Continue reading →
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Are Book-Writing And Film-Making The Same Thing?
Subjects are nouns, their actions are verbs, their appearances adjectives. A sentence is a single shot, while a paragraph is a sequence of them. Paragraphs are built into chapters, and sequences are built into stories. Then chapters are assembled into books; stories into films. The viewfinder is my vocabulary. The focus ring and exposure dial are my spelling and grammar. These are basic things that I’d better get right. And I need a good mixture of context and detail, otherwise my tale will become muddled and hard to understand. Continue reading →
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Is This What They Mean By Writer’s Block?
I’m ashamed to say that I’m supposed to be writing my book right now. Or rather, editing it and rewriting as necessary. Having found the perfect location to work on the project, and having spent the last two days reading through the 87,000 words I put to rest back in the summer, I am intimidated by the prospect of digging back into the words. So this blog post is emerging as a vocalisation of that concern. Continue reading →
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Why Am I Not A Superstar DJ?
I’m going to let you in on a little nugget of personal history. About ten years ago, I was on track to becoming a superstar DJ. At this point you may rightly be wondering what relevance this could possibly have to my adventure-cycling blog. (Some of you might also be wondering why I became an adventure cyclist if I could have become a superstar DJ instead!) Bear with me; there is a point. Continue reading →
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The Rise Of Anti-Social Networking
On the train to London the other day I picked up a dog-eared copy of Metro, the city’s finest free newspaper. Buried on page 24, opposite an article about a new Harry Potter theme-park, was this little piece: ‘Facebook is causing a “crisis of loneliness“ ‘, read the headline. Continue reading →
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On The Hidden Rewards Of Unplanning Your First Big Adventure
It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to. The words that Tolkien gave to Bilbo are true. Without a solid and meticulous plan, a journey can quickly end up somewhere you never expected. And, for your first trip, that’s exactly what I suggest. A couple of days ago I received emails from two people planning long cycling journeys. There seem to be a lot of people interested in adventure cycling these days, judging by the number of messages… Continue reading →
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What Makes A Good Trip Great?
My Scandinavian winter cycle trip was by far and away one of the most rewarding periods I’ve spent on the road — even more so than the excellent experience I had in Mongolia last year. What made it such a success? I think it boils down to a few key points. Continue reading →