I'll start this blog with a little about myself and why I chose to broadcast my travels and adventures to the world...
I'm a 32 year old West Australian guy from a small country town, who gave up a career, family, friends and a pretty great lifestyle back home, to set forth and explore the world for an undetermined period of time. With Thailand being a fairly easy gateway for a solo traveller and seeing as I am a huge fan of jungles, islands, beaches, adventure and also trying to do it as cheaply as possible, Asia seemed like as good a place as any to get started.
Although I had travelled to Indonesia plenty of times in my younger years, mainly for a bit of sun, surf, shopping and partying , plus having travelled numerous other countries, I wouldn't say any of it was too adventurous. So, an idea of a fishing trip with my two best mates to Papua New Guinea to chase black bass was born. After much research and deliberation, the trip ended with the three of us heading to the Solomon Islands for nearly a month. More on this trip to come...
This was May of 2012, and I have been travelling full time ever since, I go solo, but am always making new friends along the way. I guess doing a lot of the trip solo and not always having somebody to share the experience with, led me to want to write about it, to share it with friends and family, but I think mainly just to tell the stories. I got a lot of positive feedback on my tales, usually the ones involving me getting hurt, so thought why not start a blog?
It is also a good strategy to keep myself busy as sometimes my budget dictates that I spend some time just chilling in the room or by the beach and trying to have a few cheap days in between the more expensive activities I do. Besides which, the trip is not all about partying and having fun, mostly, but not all! Seriously though, these experiences are out there just waiting for us all, i'm lucky enough to be out there soaking them up with wide eyes and an open mind.
It is also a good strategy to keep myself busy as sometimes my budget dictates that I spend some time just chilling in the room or by the beach and trying to have a few cheap days in between the more expensive activities I do. Besides which, the trip is not all about partying and having fun, mostly, but not all! Seriously though, these experiences are out there just waiting for us all, i'm lucky enough to be out there soaking them up with wide eyes and an open mind.
Im currently in Malang, East Java, but I will go back to that Solomon Islands' trip and start from there. I hope to keep this blog, entertaining and informative, with plenty of info on all manner of things. From banking, language, transport, great places to visit, accommodation, general costs, itineraries, nightlife, hidden gems.... all the knowledge learned along the way, but is extremely helpful for first timers to that particular country or to travel in general.
I don't do tour packages where I can help it, which is almost always, I prefer to hire a scooter and go exploring or take the local bus. I don't laze by the pool in a 5 star resort, I try to immerse myself in the local culture, food, people and language and visit the out of the way places if I can. Sometimes this just isn't possible and sometimes it's just not wanted, there are no rules and no schedule on this journey.
I don't do tour packages where I can help it, which is almost always, I prefer to hire a scooter and go exploring or take the local bus. I don't laze by the pool in a 5 star resort, I try to immerse myself in the local culture, food, people and language and visit the out of the way places if I can. Sometimes this just isn't possible and sometimes it's just not wanted, there are no rules and no schedule on this journey.
