31st December 2014. I hand over the keys to my landlord, sling my worldly possessions over my shoulder, and walk through the streets of Bristol to the railway station, bound for London. Any year that begins with becoming homeless, I think, is destined to be memorable. This evening, I will gatecrash two house parties, stay up all […]
There is no easy way to explain how I’ve ended up living in the small former Soviet republic of Armenia. Thankfully, I now have the luxury of running a personal blog with an unlimited word count. So let me give you the backstory. (Not the full backstory, mind you. If you want to hear that, […]
I’ve noticed something recently, which is that I often get referred to as an ‘adventurer’. Something about this doesn’t ring true. I’ve never used the word to describe myself – not in real life, nor in my blog’s ‘about’ page, my social media profiles, my email signature, nor anywhere else. The first time I actually […]
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 […]
It was, without doubt, the most miserable night of my life. Flimsy nylon flapped in the wind. I stumbled through the snow in the fading purple of dusk, trying to anchor one corner of the tent to a pannier, another to a bicycle wheel, another to a tree branch; all the while wearing mittens designed for […]
So last weekend I went back to Armenia, the place around which so much of my early life as a traveller revolved. Ostensibly, my visit was to be present for the commemoration on the 24th of April of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Among countless others did I descend upon Yerevan to be […]
tramp noun 1. a person who wanders from place to place without a home or job. Last night I slept rough in London for the first time. It wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. In fact, as urban stealth-camping goes, it was one of the more pleasant nights I can remember. The most difficult thing was committing […]
The other day I went to a birthday party here in London. I knew the host through a mutual friend in the adventure world, upon whose fringes I seem to drift. The guest-list read like a who’s who of young Brits who’d devoted themselves to exploring and asking questions of the world. It was just […]
I dream of another big adventure. Constantly. This is probably not something that will ever change. I believe that I am forever destined to fantasise about the far side of the bend; the life of pure simplicity engendered by being on the road with the wind at my back and no particular reason to do anything […]
Yeah, I know it’s a little late to be posting articles on New Year plans and resolutions. What can I say, I’ve been busy! (And that itself is something I want to change… on which more later.) This is my third and final Annual Review post for this New Year. If you’re just arriving, first […]