About Travelling Tim
I'd like to start with a quote by Mark Twain. It applies to me, and to lots of other people as well. Does it apply to you? Probably...
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that 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.
Well, I rather suspect that most people viewing my diary will already know me, but if you've just surfed in from Google and wonder who I am, I suppose I better try and tell you. Lets start with a photo - that's me, on the right, as you might have guessed. The camera was balanced on a fence post, and my quizzical expression is due to wondering if the timer really *is* going to work this time.
Thing's I've Done
Visited 89 different countries, and 6 of the 7 continents
Worked on oilrigs all around the North Sea
Had breakfast at Tiffanys
Hiked the Inca Trail to Machu Pichu
Ridden on elephants
Been in a Space Shuttle trainer, touched a Saturn 5 rocket
Slept on desert islands
Been arrested by Russian police (falsely !)
Panned for gold in the Brazillian jungle, and found some
Climbed to 16,300 feet in Nepal, 17,500 in India
Stayed in the most expensive hotel-room in Istanbul
Swam with two Manta Rays and a lot of tropical fish
Crossed the equator 3 times
White Water rafted in Canada
Overlanded more than 150,000 miles
Survived a typhoon in the Sea of Japan
Seen a tiger in the jungles of India
Seen lions and leopards in the jungles of Africa
Was the first British vegetarian to work in the Antarctic
Seen a living Goddess - the Kumari, in Nepal
Climbed to the top of one of the pyramids in Egypt
Rode the Trans Siberian railway, the Shinkansen, and the Flying Scotsman
Seen some Moon-Rock (from the Moon) in South Africa and the USA
Canoed down the Zambesi River, amongst crocs and hippos.
Visited the Rat Temple of Deshnoke (real rats)
Slept in 4 major deserts
Seen the sunrise from the top of Mt. Sinai, Mt. Bromo, and a bunch of others
Was walked on by Albanian nuns at the top of Mt Sinai !
Been to the top of the World's two tallest buildings
Travelled the Skeleton Coast, the Kyber Pass, & the Mountains of the Moon
Flown as the only passenger in a private jet belonging to an Arab Prince
Seen the midnight sun, 200m north of the Arctic Circle
Been shot at by Peruvian bandits
Spent the night on a nest of Scorpions
Floated by balloon over the Valley of the Kings
Watched whales in S.America and the Southern Ocean
Driven along the highest road in Africa
Flown with ?? different airlines - actually I've lost count !
And have travelled by ....... foot, car, bus, truck, van, jeep, steam train, diesel train, electric train, camel, horse, mule, donkey, elephant, ox cart, rickshaw, propeller aeroplane, jet aeroplane, hot-air balloon, helicopter, bicycle, tricycle, motorbike, moped, tram, trolley car, underground train, scooter, roller skates, rowing boat, dugout canoe, dhow, felucca, raft, ocean liner, ice-breaker, ferry boat, water skis, pony and trap, fishing boat, tractor, taxi, cable car, chair lift, inflatable, hovercraft, monorail and stretcher !!
OK, so that's my travelling credentials. Not that I've been travelling the whole time... I'll pad things out a bit more.
Recently..
My name is Tim, born May 7th 1957, single, and I live in the West of Ireland, deep in the countryside, about 2 miles from the nearest village of Ballyfarnon, and 20 miles from the nearest small town of Sligo.
I am originally English, but moved to Ireland in 1993 for a better quality of life. Being in the European Community means that we can all move around and live wherever we like.
I bought a shell of a 200 year old stone farmhouse, and have been turning it back into a home ever since. Its surrounded by open farmland; I have about 2 1/2 acres myself, which is plenty for my needs. Half I have planted with fruit trees of various sorts - apple, pear, plum, cherry; and the other half is either rough still, or has my vegetable garden on it.
I grow all my own vegetables - I am a vegetarian, so need plenty ! and the climate here means that I can have vegetables available all year round. I grow lots of different sorts - boring to list them so I won't unless anyone asks, although I do try and convert people to growing more Chinese Vegetables, especially Pakchoi, Tatsoi and Mizuna - they are SO easy and SO fast I think they are brilliant.
I also have a small greenhouse, which has a resident peach tree and grape vine, but its main use is for production of things like tomatoes, peppers, chilis, eggplants, cucumber, gherkins etc, which won't grow outside in this climate Last year I got about 3/4 of a bath full of grapes, and made 5 gallons of wine. The peach tree does quite well too - I mainly make jam with the harvest.
I do a lot of jam, chutney, and winemaking; make my own bread etc, so manage to live very cheaply. The bulk food is bought in sacks through a cooperative scheme, which brings the prices right down.
Its cheap to live here because there are no land taxes in the countryside, or property taxes, but that does mean that you have to pay separately for any services you receive; for instance garbage collection is about 300 dollars a year if you want it, and if your house catches fire and they send the fire engine out (which would take about 1/2 an hour to get here anyway), they then send you a bill for about ?600? dollars !!! I have a friend who lives in New Jersey, who told me about the medical bills in the US - it sounds terrible to have to pay so much. Here its all free if you are poor enough.
What else ?? Well I'm a fairly good handyman, so taught myself building, electrics, plumbing, welding etc. I'm interested in Blacksmithing and Tinsmithing, and all kinds of 'Do-it-Yourself'.
Oh, and I design websites and enjoy making maps for the Internet. This website is one of mine. Need a map ?
My secret for a happy life ? The less hard-cash you need to get through life, the easier everything becomes.
Before that?
Hmmm, still here? You're persistent, aren't you. Well, if you want to know a bit more from further back, here goes...
We moved about a bit when I was young: Sheffield, Menston, near Ilkley, and then to Norton, in North Yorkshire. Secondary school meant leaving home for the Quaker boarding school of Bootham, in York. I left before the 6th form and went to college at Hull, to learn about radio and electronics. In 1978, I moved to London, and bought a flat in East Dulwich for the tremendous price of 8,000 pounds. Spent some time working for the Met Police in the field of electronics. At one I time, I was doing shift work: 3 days on, 3 days off. By working double shifts, it was then possible to get double breaks - 6 days off without taking any official leave, so I squeezed in quite a bit of travelling then: Istanbul, Le Mans, InterRail trips around Europe, even the Trans Siberian railway, and a boat to Japan. Unfortunately, a promotion returned me to standard office hours, and lots of queing for buses; I decided that a change was needed, and answered an advert in the newspaper that was to get me a job with the British Antarctic Survey, installing a satellite communications system on Signy Island, in the South Orkneys.
The time spent with the BAS was very interesting, and took me to places that others would find hard to get to. We flew to Rio de Janeiro, and then to Montivideo, where we met the boat 'John Bisoce' that was to take us to Signy via South Georgia and Bird Island. I was at Signy for the summer, working on the satellite installation. That finished, there was general base-work to be done, and whilst painting a door, I fell off a ladder and broke an ankle. The carpenter made me my own set of crutches. My time to move on was due then anyway - not to South Georgia as the base was still not useable after invasion, so we went down to the Antarctic Peninsular and King George Island, before going to the Falklands, where I left the ship and waited for a flight home, via Ascension Island and Senegal.
My next stop was Aberdeen, working in the communications field, mainly on oil rigs. I was transferred down to Alton, in Hampshire, where I was one of the first UK engineers working with Video conferencing, then a very new idea, only possible with rooms full of equipment and the budget of a multi-national company. It was an interesting job, and got me around the world a bit more. After a few years, the company was taken over by Robert Maxwell. He stripped the major assets of the company, then closed us down, with no warning, on Friday 13th October 1989.
Should I carry on in the rat-race, or call its bluff and see what else life had to offer? I chose the latter, and went travelling on an overland truck from London to Kathmandu, via Petra, Cairo, the Karakoram Highway, and a whole bunch of other amazing places. It was the best thing I ever did - I enjoyed it immensely. Never looked back after that, really. The travelling bug had bitten, and a major trip across the Atlantic followed. Through Mexico, the States, Canada coast-to-coast, and then down to Columbia for a 6 month overland that took in every country in South America except Guyana, Suriname, and French Guyana.
I then went east, to explore Sri Lanka, and back to India, a country I had fallen in love with. A bit of trekking in the Langtang area of Nepal followed, and then to S.E. Asia, and a trip from Bangkok to Bali. Back to the UK for a bit, and spent a few months doing voluntary work at the excellent 'Boat Museum' at Ellesmere Port, where I learned a lot about steam engines, and restored a big 3-cylinder McLaren diesel engine, once used to open a bridge on the Manchester Ship Canal.
Another overland trip was planned: London to Harare. I got as far as Morrocco, then had a very bad accident, falling off the truck roof onto a wooden log, ripping a lot of back muscles. I was put in the local hospital, but was rescued by doctors in a travelling hospital belonging to Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz, one of the brothers of the King of Saudi Arabia, who was hunting in the area at the time. It was the most amazing, the luckiest thing that happened to me, and I will never forget the astonishing hospitality of the Saudis. I was even leant the Prince's private jet, to fly me on a stretcher to Casaablanca, where a nurse was waiting to accompany me on a standard jet back to the UK. You can read the full story of that adventure here.
Once my back had recovered, I decided to go to India again, and spent a few months travelling in the West - mainly Gujarat, a lovely state, practically un-visited by the tourists, and with the best food anywhere in India. It was in India that I decided to buy a house and settle down: someone suggested Ireland, so I went to have a look, liked it, and stayed for 12 years, with occasional trips to India every few years.
That brings me to the present day, and... oh but wait a minute... Since I wrote the words above, there have been some big changes. If you've read my 28th Aug 2006 entry, you'll know that I decided to sell the house in Ireland, and start a new chapter in my life. I need to do some things, need to go to some places whilst I still can. I love Overlanding, and rough camping in deserts and mountains and forests and wild wild places. I need to see some beaches again, too, and feel that hot tropical sun on my back. I'm 49 at the moment, so now is the time to hit the road again. I might not feel like doing this when I'm 65. I've got some plans worked out. Shall I tell you about them? No, that would be tempting fate. You'll just have to read my blogs, and see what really happens...
Favourite Joke
Two guys in a car drive past a shop that has a sign in the window. The sign reads 'FREE SEX - JUST ANSWER ONE QUESTION !!', so they stop to investigate.
They ask the storekeeper, who says 'Yes, its true - just answer one question correctly and you get free sex.'
So the first guy says 'OK, I'll give it a shot'
The storekeeper asks 'What number am I thinking of now ?'
The first guy answers 'Three ?' but the storekeeper says 'Sorry, I was thinking of Eight.'
Then the second guy has a go; he says 'Four ?' but the storekeeper says 'Sorry, I was thinking of Five.'
The second guy says 'This question-thing is a FIX; no one can POSSIBLY get it right.'
But the first one says 'Oh no, its all on the level - my wife won twice last week.'