It seems an eternity ago now... some days I catch myself day dreaming of a foreign land. It feels familiar, a past life maybe? Days in the ocean, wandering through new faces, the scent of a new culture. I sense I've been there before... I've been meaning to write this piece for a while, maybe i've been putting it off because i haven't found the time, maybe its because I wanted to leave those memories where they were, maybe, maybe, maybe... Since coming back I've had a number of emails from a whole range of people. People who are about to start their adventure and want some advice about travelling (I'm not sure i'm an expert), some were seeking to understand what it was like readjusting to 'the real world' again. Some were just curious what ... read more

I'd been back in the UK for about two weeks. It had been hard. I realised that my travels were over and worse still I was over 5,000 miles away from Melissa. I'd been speaking and emailing her every day and it was getting harder and harder to listen to her voice without missing her so much. By the end of the second week, I pulled a typical James manoeuvre and said sod it. I went onto skyscanner and looked at flights back to Arizona and within a few minutes had booked a return flight to see her for the month. It meant my poor Mum would see me briefly before I headed off again, but I knew it was something i had to do. The flight over was even more tortuous than I remember the ... read more

Chiang Mai, where my travels changed course and my journey changed direction. As Winston Churchill once said: This is not the end, its not the beginning of the end, but it is perhaps the end of the beginning. We arrived in Chiang Mai after a long day. The journey from Kho Lanta to Chiang Mai had taken us over 10hrs, five of them in the form of a mini bus to Phuket. Still it was good to be back home, because thats exactly how Melissa and I felt about coming here again. Amongst a pattern of chaos, moving from one place to the next, Chiang Mai was the familiar unfamiliar. Somewhere we could relax and reminisce. We checked into MD house, which was just a stones throw away from where Melissa and I had both stayed ... read more

When I first planned my trip, New Zealand was the first country on my list. I'd seen so many amazing pictures from its beautiful make-up and my good friend Jo lives there, what wasn't to like. So on the 31st Jan 2011 I flew from Singapore to Auckland to take my first breaths of this foreign land and view its beauty with my own eyes. I don't believe in God, but few can argue that such a beautiful sculpture could form in the South seas without some form of divine intervention. I arrived in Auckland and for the first time on my travels was greeted by a friendly face. Four friendly faces actually. Jo had brought three of her friends kids to meet me and it was a welcome change to arriving bewildered and lost on ... read more

My next stop i'd been looking forward to for a while. I hadn't seen Ali for a few years and was excited we were going to be able to catch up at long last having talked about it for months. I arrived in KL only to find that Air Asia had lost my backpack. Luckily I always keep my valuables with me, so my camera, laptop etc. were safe, but my under crackers and weasel coffee were god knows where! Still I headed to KL Sentral to meet Ali. He hadn't changed a bit. Still the cheeky chappy he always has been. I got to his place, right in the centre of KL, and was promptly given a pint of JD and coke! Nice welcome! A few quick games of Halo (first time i've even seen ... read more