rebelwithoutabackpack

Episode 5 – Ill-Prepared Smoker Climbs Munro A mundane dream is abruptly dissolved by my friend Moe calling my name. It's probably about twenty to eight in the morning, and I've slept through the sounds of him getting up and making me porridge and preparing half a banana. I stumble over to the kitchen table and whack some golden syrup on the porridge, scran the banana and then the porridge, trying to register that I'm awake. It slowly begins to register upon the first fresh air reaching me as we step out of the flat building, Moe ready to go to college, me ready to go hitchhiking. We spark up and head down the broad street that slowly swaggers into suburban Perth. The sun is out, and just as we are discussing sun tans I spot ... read more

Monday the fifteenth of April. I haven't even set foot in a new place yet and I've already had an existential crisis and got a hole in my trousers. I'm supposed to check out of Castle Rock hostel at 10.30 am, and as I'm traveling without an alarm clock I wake up at exactly ten thirty, pack up the shit strewn across the floor, grab some breakfast, make a hitchiking sign and eventually check out at about 11.30. I've been staying in the hostel I usually go to when descending upon Edinburgh, for just over a week, with the intention of working two hours each morning for free accommodation and going out busking at night, to boost my dwindling bank account. I've had to pay for three nights after sleeping through cleaning hours, and I've certainly ... read more

Episode 1 – Travel preparations "A good traveller has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving" - Lao Tzu On Monday the twenty-fifth of March, 2013, I'm standing in front of the bathroom mirror in my parents' house in Manchester, peeling acryllic paint off my face. I was with my friends from the Cosmic Junk Band last night, celebrating my penultimate night in Manchester with food, drink, face painting and intermittent jam sessions of which I think there are now some beautiful and funny recordings lying around somewhere (I say funny because there are a few less serious moments, including me having the great impulse to emit a wonderfully timed "sheeeeiiiit..." amidst a myriad of experimental noises). Anyhow, I'm picking around in my sort of quiff-cum-mohican that is due to be sacrificed tomorrow to ... read more