Laurie and Viv

Nomads

Laurie and Viv

Introducing... Nomads.

When people ask me why we travel, my usual response is to say - "Because, when I'm travelling, I really know that I'm alive". My wife is more likely to say that it's because she hates cooking and can eat out every day but the simple fact is... we love to travel. The experience is usually so intense that every detail becomes indelibly etched in our memories. I might not be able to remember what I did on any given day at work last year but I can still clearly remember the events of our first trip to India in 1994 - almost as if it only happened 6 months ago.

That year saw us undertake our first ever year-long trip away. It was meant to be the 'trip of a lifetime' - to get it all out of our systems and be done with it but it didn't work. Since then, we've done 2 other Long Trips, the last one (which you can read about here) spanning 18 months and 12 different countries... and it's still not out of our system.

Far from it. We still feel that there's a lot to see and do... and we hope that perhaps you'll join us, just now and again, as we continue to explore and write about this wonderful world of ours.

If you would like to contact us, leave a message on this site using the "message" tab and we'll get back to you by email. Alternatively, comments can be left by using the blog "Comment" facility, which you can find at the top right-hand side of this page or in the side bar on any article page.




Africa » Egypt » Sinai » St Catherine November 10th 2014

Into the Heart of Sinai. As we rolled up to the checkpoint, the soldier who had flagged us down walked around the car and stood in front of my window. He wore an automatic rifle of some kind, strapped across his chest – the barrel pointing down at the road. His left hand covered the trigger guard almost negligently and because the gun was at eye level next to my window, I had a brief opportunity to wonder how the regulation army green barrel and metal stock had become so scratched and dented. His right hand moved up to the window, palm facing upwards. “Passport” he said in heavily accented English. I handed over our passports and he began thumbing through the pages with calloused fingers. ‘Those hands look as if they could use a little ... read more
Mushroom Rock
All of Sinai Spread Out Below
The Bedouin Camp

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Cornwall August 16th 2014

A sudden drenching downpour of rain had me diving for cover in the lee of 2 large outcrops tucked in below a towering rock wall, grey and dripping wet from the low cloud scudding across the peak. From my relatively sheltered position, I looked back across the moor toward the shattered summit of Trewortha Tor – only just visible in the almost horizontal rain driving in off the Atlantic out to the north west. I was on the tallest of the 3 peaks that made up Twelve Men’s Moor on the eastern edge of Cornwall’s wild, Bodmin Moor. Not surprisingly, I had it all to myself but even on a good day, I very rarely encountered anyone on walks across the moor, the odd fellow hiker perhaps or a group of marines on exercises - dressed ... read more
Stowes Hill Sunrise
Standing Stone
Moorland Tree

Middle East » Cyprus » Paphos February 5th 2013

It was late January; for more than a month, southern Britain had been shivering its way through one of the coldest winters in more than a decade. At Bristol airport, snow lay piled in dirty off-white drifts outside the terminal buildings – the cold, clutching at our chests with every indrawn breath of air. It was much warmer inside the concourse and we were quite soon caught up by that buzz that only airports have. All around us there were people arriving from or setting off for far away places. Flickering destination boards announced the latest departures - filled with the names of exciting locations; Madrid, Faro, Warsaw, Berlin and Antalya. It was the feel of a new adventure beginning. Not that we were going very far but then, anywhere seemed better than snow covered England ... read more
Paphos Mosaics
Underneath the Arches
Cyclamen Season

Middle East » Turkey » Aegean » Dalyan May 4th 2012

The climb to the top of the hill had been tricky but the view from the top was spectacular. The path - little more than a goat track that wound its way up the rocky hillside - was precipitous in places and crossed back and forth over the remains of a fortified wall clinging to the hillside. Lounging gratefully among the pungent foliage of Artemisia and Helichrysum on the summit (the latter plant smelling of curry), we took stock of our surroundings. A faint breeze blew across the summit plateau taking the edge off the hot spring sunshine that blazed down out of a clear blue sky. On one side of the hill, there were views out over the Dalyan Cayi - a reed filled marshland threaded with a maze of waterways - all the way ... read more
Lycian Tombs - Dalyan
Life Among the Ruins
All Life's a Stage

Asia » India » Goa March 4th 2008

Where does a trip like ours really end? Was it the moment that you boarded that last flight? Or the moment of touchdown back home when you felt the first drops of cold rain on your face? At the start of this trip I wrote, "All journeys have a beginning and an end. Ours began in Cornwall."For us, the journey would end in India, looking out over the Arabian Sea from the top of a coastal sand dune. A cool breeze, sunshine and fine blown sand; the last cherished memories of a trip spanning 18 months and 12 countries. Although we had spent more time in India than anywhere else, it was not because it had been our favourite country; the long visa entitlement and relatively cheap living expenses had more to do with that. One ... read more
A Beached Boat
Arabian Sea Sunset
Glorious Festivals

Asia » India » Tamil Nadu » Kodai February 21st 2008

It was not hard to pick out the ferry from the knot of boats moored at the quayside. It was a battered old tub with peeling paintwork; its hull scarred and gouged from one too many dockside collisions. The passenger deck was roofed with wood and corrugated iron, while astern; a mess of ropes lay ready for the boat boys to tie-off at each of the village stops the boat would make along the way. The Indian boat pilot sat at the wheel combing his hair. When he was satisfied with the result, he returned the comb to a shirt pocket and began flipping the throttle as if he was eager to leave. Each time he did so, a black gout of diesel smoke belched from the pipe above the passenger deck: Indian public transport at ... read more
Spice Box
Banyan Tree, Periyar NP
Boats at Periyar

Asia » India » Kerala » Kochi February 13th 2008

With Christmas and New Year finally out of the way, we drew up plans to visit Kerala and Tamil Nadu. After so long a respite from 'life on the road', you might have thought that we would be ready to move on but we were strangely reluctant to do so. We had become comfortable in Goa. We knew the ropes and had gathered a small circle of friends. But eventually, after delaying as long as we could, we set off in mid January - boarding a train that was to take us 500 miles further south and put us on a collision course with the sort of "India Experience" that Goa had shielded us from. The psychological onslaught begins on the train. Train journeys in India seem to encapsulate life in the country - in microcosm. ... read more
Dressed in Royal Finery
Backstreets of Fort Kochin
St. Francis Church

Asia » India » Goa » Benaulim January 8th 2008

The fact that Goa was different from just about any other state in India was obvious from the moment you crossed the border. Gone were the ubiquitous shrines and temples devoted to a bewildering pantheon of Indian deities. In their place were whitewashed Christian churches that reared enigmatically above the palm trees. Crucifixes swung from the rear view mirrors of buses and taxis while their sunstrips proclaimed that "Jesus is our Saviour" or invoked the auspices of a favourite saint. The people were different too. Goans were a gentle race whose proud heritage was reflected in their names; D'souza, Fernandes, Rodrigues and Emmanuel - a legacy of more than 350 years of Portuguese rule. The Portuguese explorer, Vasco de Gama was one of the first Europeans to survey the Goan coastline in 1489 when the state's ... read more
A very Different Place
"Deck the Halls..."
House Among the Palms

Asia » India » Goa » Benaulim December 21st 2007

Thirty-two days after our arrival in Hampi, we said our goodbyes and crept out of town in the early hours of a December morning. It was 5:30am and we had a train to catch that left Hospet at 6:30. Creeping out into the pre-dawn darkness, we made a secret rendezvous with a share-taxi driver from our friend Piru's village and prepared to leave town. We were trying to be surreptitious but our departure did not go unnoticed and there was one final encounter with the 'Rickshaw Mafia' before we finally got away. The bus to Hospet cost 10 Rupees but outside normal operating hours (the buses didn't start running until 6:30 in the morning), you were at the mercy of the Rickshaw Mafia who would often charge outrageously inflated prices. There was one other option and ... read more
The Western Ghats
Riding The Vasco Express
Goa... Where Else?

Asia » India » Karnataka » Hampi November 28th 2007

After five days in Hampi Bazaar, we packed up our bags and moved across to the village of Virupapurgadi on the other side of the Tungabhadra River. The river was almost low enough to wade across in places and huge rounded boulders stood like stranded hippos in midstream. Many of these boulders had intricate carvings decorating their flanks that were only visible in the dry season. During the monsoon, in August and September, the Tungabhadra became a raging monster when most of these rocks and their carvings were submerged under 15 feet of water. Up until this point, we had spent our days scrambling over rocky hillsides and exploring secret temples littered with fallen columns. We delighted in each new discovery, almost falling to our knees in awe when we came across a cave temple with ... read more
Cactus Country
Rock Art Gallery
Lord of All He Surveys




Tot: 0.312s; Tpl: 0.009s; cc: 27; qc: 160; dbt: 0.181s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.6mb