About

India Cow and MeIn 1986 I set out to see the world. I left behind my friends, family, and country. New Zealand was and remains a relatively small group of islands. What I didn’t realize at the time was just how spectacularly gorgeous the place is. I had to traipse all over the world trying to top what I had at home.

It couldn’t be done. Came close; never succeeded.

I am still trying and enjoying every moment

Of course there are other beautiful places in the world but with a bias towards the country of my youth; other scenic wonders simply enhance the picture I have in my mind of New Zealand and then get compared to it.

A day after I left Auckland I landed in Los Angeles.

Green at travel I was immediately overwhelmed by a sense of euphoria. It would be fair to say I have chased that feeling ever since; trying to replicate it. I swear it was like a drug. A big bug had bitten me and the desire to travel surged through me; never once abating, to this day.

To say that travel became my passion would be understating its importance.

The purpose of this blog is to chronicle my travels, plain and simple. In doing so I hope to recapture and share an era of budget travel that truly meant dropping off the face of the earth for months, sometimes years,  at a time. Receiving mail at the post restante a month after it was hand written. This old news brought with it a warmth and closeness to friends and family as they explained in detail the news that had been missed.

That seems diluted by todays immediate, single-thought type of communication stream.

You would then write back knowing the chances of them receiving it were 50/50 at best…and when; well that was up to the postal Gods.

In 1998 I got my first email account.

The next day I got an email. I was disappointed in how I had become electronically connected. I think I knew that this would be the way it was going to be; from that moment on.

Telephone calls were expensive and communication of any kind was a lengthy process. I remember sitting in a telephone bank in Yangon, Burma for 2 days waiting for my call to go through.  Once you were connected you had three minutes. At exactly three minutes you were cut off. That’s all anyone was allowed.

There was no such thing as booking a room ahead, booking transport ahead; it was all done once you arrived. The plan was to find a place to sleep and then, take it from there.  A budget traveler was out in the world with no familiarity except those others that were doing the exact same thing.

There remains today a spirit of camaraderie between travelers but it is different.

Cell phones, iPads, iPods, laptops, Skype; all new and all adding to the dilution of freedom in the big wide world. Don’t get me wrong, I too travel now with a netbook which has Skype and I fully utilize Wi-Fi when it is available.

To me, the romance of freedom and departing comfort zone familiarity has been diminished. The differences in the people and cultures of the world, although still vast, have lessened.

In its place is globalization. Good for economy’s, good for business, good for most people…not so great for being lost in the euphoria of freedom that is the bi-product of travel where days and dates mean very little.

I continue to travel.

34 thoughts on “About”

  3. “The plan was to find a place to sleep and then, take it from there.”

    This is exactly what I do when I travel. It is risky but this is probably the best way to travel. No overthinking. No micromanagement. Just plain spontaneity. After all, when you travel, you kinda want to let the universe decide where you’ll be.

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  5. Found your blog thru LinkedIn post. A real gem. Good to find a kindred spirit when it comes to traveling, how we experience it and how we write about/document it to share with others. In a abbreviated, 144-character, 3-line review and instant gratification world it is refreshing to find writers who go beyond to share in-depth travel experiences. Will be following you.

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  13. Hi Tim just read your article which i saw on our Leabank School website. Thank you for sharing your journey. All the best for 2015 wherever you end up. Julie. Community Liaison, Leabank School.

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  15. Hi Tim – I’m glad I stumbled upon your blog. I enjoy traveling (and books) for the stories, memories, reflections. Reading the “about me” section reminded me of a passage from a book on snow leopards. It said: “Raw experience without perspective and inner reflection is empty of meaning and does little to shape the core of who we are.”
    I look forward to reading your stories.

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  17. A wonderful About me. And you’re so right about globalization making the world slowly homogeneous each day. Still, I feel the community of people raising awareness about this situation is growing as well, and I hope things will only change for the better.
    Loved going through your blog, and will keep coming back.

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  18. Fantastic blog, thanks for making contact through mine which drew me here. I love that you started your travel in a different time to most bloggers today. Days where technology was unheard of, days where the only contact was a reverse charge phone call and a 3 minute time frame. I have been looking through my photos from my first travel in 1995 and even the photography has changed!

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  21. Hello, Tim! I’m absolutely enthralled by your blog and your writing. You do arouse the wanderlust in me, and many others, I’m sure and will certainly be watching for and reading your future notes. At what age did you leave NZ? I was thrown somewhat off track when I read the weather and water comments – are you now living in California?….and are the current readings based on the ‘cards, letters, etc.’ that were left in the attic? lol.
    I’m very much into travel – by reading – and have published a book, “Undiscovered Travel Destinations” a couple years ago. Now I’m preparing 4 blogs: one about exploring Canada (since many know little or nothing about us); another to publicize my husband’s series of mystery novels; a third to carry on exploring seldom heard of sites throughout the world; and the last to carry my thoughts, interesting books by authors, etc.
    Sorry to take your time, but glad to have discovered YOU and your blog. Stay safe and keep on keeping on.
    Julian
    Like the pic on your blog pages.

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    1. That’s great to have you along Julian and I understand completely the arousal of wanderlust and how easy it can be stirred. In between big trips I do live in California. I took a road trip to Yosemite and that is when I saw for my own eyes the dried up lakes and rivers. All the best.

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  23. Great text Tim… I can’t imagine how was it like to travel like you did years ago. I started traveling when I was 15 years old, it was not like at your time, but I can say it was different from today for sure… there was no skype or iphones and ipads. But interesting enough I had a blog back then hahaha safe travels for you 🙂

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  24. So interesting to hear about the days of planning travel without technology – I’m not familiar with that world at all. I’m always grateful for the technology we have, but I also crave a life without the digital toxicity. I tried to be as unplugged as possible when I traveled in Ireland, but alas, I wasn’t 100% device free. You’ve experienced two different worlds, and that’s pretty neat. Makes me wonder… what’s next?

    Happy travels, Tim.

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    1. Hi Amanda, It was certainly a different world back in the 80’s in terms of being disconnected and I do feel very fortunate to have traveled then and now. Who knows what’s next but the passion for travel will never go away.

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    1. Thanks Deepika. The title is a reflection of the many mishaps associated with travel that tend to make the best stories and memories; at least in my case 🙂

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  27. Hi! Thanks for checking out my blog. One of my favorite things about people doing that is it introduces me to their blogs. What an interesting one you have! I look forward to seeing more of it.
    Thanks again,
    LynnetteOK

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