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tartantraveller - Ian Nicholson

All good things come to those who wait...

... and I have been waiting ten years.

New Zealand, a journey's start. No destination in sight and no path determined. Recently I have learned that the only thing you can plan in life is with the knowledge that everything changes. So, with that in the fore front of my mind, I begin to carve my own path.

This is my Journey, unfolding as it it happens. My blog and an entry by entry account of the road untravelled.

Please feel free to contact me, subscribe, ignore, advise or comment on my writings. Should you find any of them good enough, you can recommend blogs you read here to the site for special attention. All messages and feedback are appreciated.

The Tartan Traveller

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Joined on: February 20th 2007
Last Login: July 28th 2009

Blog Entries: 49
Photos: 1016
Recommended by 1, Recommends 3

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Blogs & Travel Journals

by tartantraveller, order by Date newest first.

By tartantraveller
July 28th 2009

No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow. Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland

Happy Birthday
Davina me and Andrea

The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one's own country as a foreign land. ~G.K. Chesterton Flying home from Bangkok was full of some very extreme and mixed emotions. I simply didn’t want to be doing this, and yet, I really did. These extremes of thoughts and feelings were foreign to me, this, the last of my journey perhaps. So many things lie ahead, so many things lie behind. It feels to an extent that I’m walking away from the last two years of my life. [View Full Entry]

By tartantraveller
July 16th 2009

Roads in South East Asia Asia

family outing

Your true traveller finds boredom rather agreeable than painful. It is the symbol of his liberty - his excessive freedom. He accepts his boredom, when it comes, not merely philosophically, but almost with pleasure. - Aldous Huxley I have mentioned a bit about what you see on the roads here. And thought it a good idea to dedicate an album to just that so you might get an closer understanding if you have never been too this part of the world. It is fascinating! I had seen some ridiculous and scary things in South America, but this was different. Where [View Full Entry]

By tartantraveller
July 15th 2009

Ho ChiMinh to Halong Bay Asia » Vietnam » Red River Delta » Halong Bay

Cu Chi tunnelentrance
Even here the tunnels habeen widened for westerners to fit into.

For those who have seen the Earth from space, and for the hundreds and perhaps thousands more who will, the experience most certainly changes your perspective. The things that we share in our world are far more valuable than those which divide us. - Donald Williams Having left the killing fields behind us, we took the bus to the border and on into Vietnam, heading for Ho Chi Minh city. The border crossing was quiet and simple, but we noticed a difference in the way people lived almost immediately. It was subtle but apparent at the same time. Cows were [View Full Entry]

By tartantraveller
July 9th 2009

Khmer Rouge Genocide and the Killing Fields Asia » Cambodia » South » Phnom Penh

monkeys playing
the best thing we saw that day

They wrote in the old days that it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country. But in modern war, there is nothing sweet nor fitting in your dying. You will die like a dog for no good reason. - Ernest Hemmingway We had an abrupt start to our trip onwards to Phnom Pehn. Our taxi bus was early and we had to jump up halfway through breakfast and pay and leave to hotel. We thought we were being ripped off but it turned out that wasn’t the case. Our bus was, well, interesting. We were taken to the depot [View Full Entry]

By tartantraveller
July 2nd 2009

On the road again Asia » Cambodia » North » Angkor

rooted to the temple

I am one of those who never knows the direction of my journey until I have almost arrived. - Anna Louise Strong I was met at the airport by our tuk-tuk driver ad a grinning Paul, it was brilliant to see him again and we blethered all the rest of the day with a some local food and a few drinks in the night time. Our first day together we went to see Angkor Wat. I sat there in the hostel café, humid morning breeze, that old glorious feeling of travelling again, probably my most favourite of feelings in the [View Full Entry]

By tartantraveller
June 30th 2009

Wizard that's Oz Oceania » Australia » Victoria » Melbourne » Brunswick

Party atmosphere
Word play with sparklers at the house party

Close your eyes and tap your heels together three times and think to yourself, "there's no place like home" - the good witch Melbourne has been a funny one. Settling here with Saoirse was easy, it was the right thing for me to do. I think it may have been a little harder for her to adjust to me crowding her independent and self sufficient self but it worked well and we are both in a very strong place now. I never found employment but easily kept myself busy running and writing and there were no end of delightful events. [View Full Entry]

By tartantraveller
February 10th 2009

A land down under Oceania » Australia » Queensland

Opera any one?
The famous house

Not all those who wander are lost - J. R. R. Tolkien It was strange to be flying via Auckland. The bay of islands and Jess just a few hours away, yet not able to leave the airport. Back in New Zealand?! What a weird travel route I have taken since leaving home. But this is testament to the fact that you can only plan with the knowledge that everything changes. So, 18 months in, here I was in Sydney. I made my way to meet Chris Maclean whom I was at university with and stayed with him for about [View Full Entry]

By tartantraveller
January 19th 2009

Total luxury South America » Argentina

3 countries
Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina

And that's the wonderful thing about family travel: it provides you with experiences that will remain locked forever in the scar tissue of your mind. ~ Dave Barry A year ago I was blessed to have my parents come and visit me from the UK to New Zealand. Our time then was split up a bit by me working as an extra for Underworld 3. Not only had the job in Auckland forced Mum and Dad to change their flight into the country but it restricted our time together, Dad even driving me to set at half 3 in the [View Full Entry]

By tartantraveller
December 28th 2008

Argentina - Buenos aires South America » Argentina » Buenos Aires » Buenos Aires

Welcome!
We had to stand in a que for 7hrs to cross the border!

A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles. - Tim Cahill Getting to Buenos Aires for Christmas was looking a tough job. Our train was overbooked so we had to take busses all the way. Luckily I met some good people in Uyuni who were all taking the same route to BA. As we left Uyuni it started to get dark and we drove in the most rickety bus I have ever been on. It shuddered, rattled and made the most aweful noises frm its engine. The seats were tiny and it was you stereo typical idea of [View Full Entry]

By tartantraveller
December 19th 2008

The Salt Deserts South America » Bolivia » Potosí Department » Salar de Uyuni

Train graveyard

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. - Mark Twain And this was it. This was to be my last Bolivian adventure. I had had a huge desire, above all other countries to visit this one and it did not disappoint. Not knowing what to expect is always a good thing in my book as it usually leaves you with that very lack of [View Full Entry]

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