Category: Articles
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Behind The Scenes On 15 Years Of Location-Independent Digital Nomading
I first published this piece in 2016 as an evergreen article which I’ll update as, well, life goes on. The latest updates were made in March 2022. My location-independent journey as a digital nomad began before it had a name. It was 2007, I was 23, and I’d set off on a bicycle to explore the world. I sold everything I…
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How To Start A Travel Blog (And 8 Good Reasons To Make The Effort)
Because this article will later become quite detailed, here’s the super-quick version of how easy it is to start a brand new travel blog: Visit WordPress.com. Enter your new site address, click Create Website, and follow the simple on-screen instructions. You’re in! Create a new Page, title it ‘About Me’, write a short introduction to yourself, upload…
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The State of Adventure Film: The War of Art & Money at Kendal Mountain Festival 2015
A couple of weekends ago saw the 2015 edition of Kendal Mountain Festival, which started with a bunch of mates in the back room of a Lakeland pub and is now the most well-known celebration of mountain culture, outdoor sports and adventure in the UK. Its remit is broad: while climbing, mountaineering and other activities involving…
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On The Art Of Lowering Your Expectations & Thus Having A Better Time
There’s a fantastic deconstruction on WaitButWhy.com of why Generation Y yuppies are permanently dissatisfied. It’s a long piece, and after you’ve finished this, I suggest you give it a read. (Especially if you are a Generation Y yuppie.) In the middle of the article is the following equation: Happiness = Reality − Expectations This three-word…
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Banff & Kendal Aren’t The Only Adventure Film Festivals Worth Going To. Here’s Why
Last weekend, on the way back to Armenia from a final film editing stint in London, I stopped over in Bucharest, Romania, for a long weekend at the Hip Trip Travel Film Festival. The festival was organised by a small team of Romanian travellers and film lovers. In 2014 – their first year – they’d…
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Why, After 9 Years Running TomsBikeTrip.com, I Started This New Blog Today
On my first night back in Yerevan after several years living in England, I noticed a book on the bedside table – a book I hadn’t seen for a very long time. It was a copy of my first travel memoir, Janapar. This one belonged to my wife, Tenny. It had a bookmark in it. English is her third…
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Diary Of An Adventure Filmmaker: What Happens When You Finish The Edit?
After several iterations of increasingly detailed tweaking of the edited form of the footage, there must come a point (else the film would never be finished) where you say, “OK – this is it”. From this point forth, the visual and audio clips are set in stone on the timeline, never again to be tampered…
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Diary Of An Adventure Filmmaker: How To Overcome Creative Block
Sometimes, when you’re working on a creative project, the way forward is not at all clear. And sometimes it’s impossible to see it at all. As you may remember from the last update, this is where we found ourselves with the still-untitled Patagonia film project. What do you do in this situation? Go for a…
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Diary Of An Adventure Filmmaker: Reaching The Rough Cut, And What To Do When It Sucks
There comes a point in any major artistic endeavour when you have to stop what you’re doing, take a few steps back, and take a dispassionate look at what you’ve got. After 4 weeks (already!) of full-time editing work on the Patagonia film, this is where we’re at. Scott, Leon and I went through the process…
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Diary Of An Adventure Filmmaker: How To Choose Between The Infinite Ways To Tell Your Story
Leon and I have rarely argued on our expeditions and film projects together. Last week, however, we ran into a bit of a disagreement. Specifically, we disagreed on how the Patagonia film should end. With a week to kill before flying home, after completing the horseback journey up the Rio Santa Cruz we had embarked…