After nearly six years of living/working in London, the daily northern line commute/high speed pace of everyday life had started to grate. Much as I love London, I had begun to feel like I was seeing more of the underground and office than anywhere else and had noticeably started to adopt the corpse-like pallor and slightly awkward/hunched posture of the 9-? commuter, used to putting their head down, elbows out and headphones in. This in combination with finding my first grey hairs was making me feel slightly older than my 27 years. I was lucky enough to really like the place I worked for (a fantastic environmental publisher) but after its independence was sold to the highest bidder earlier in the year, I saw an opportunity to change things, to swap the rapid for a considerably slower place of life. So the upshot is that we’re going to travel around the world without taking a plane, embracing slow (and hopefully low carbon) travel and rejecting a life where everything must be done immediately. There’ll be long (blissful?) periods at sea with no email contact but I will get over my temporary technophobia enough to update this blog every now and again for anyone interested in what we’re doing.
Where we are
Current Location: London, England Click here to see our whole journey-
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Travel- Tired of London (tired of life?) May 16, 2011
- East to West or West to East? June 20, 2011
- 8 Days to go... July 12, 2011
- Southampton to New York August 5, 2011
- New York and Washington August 9, 2011
- Chicago August 13, 2011
- California Zephyr - Chicago to San Francisco August 15, 2011
- San Francisco September 20, 2011
- Santa Cruz September 21, 2011
- Carmel September 21, 2011
- Big Sur October 24, 2011
- Cambria and Morro Bay October 30, 2011
- Santa Barbara November 6, 2011
- The Chumash Indians of Santa Barbara County November 9, 2011
- Santa Monica: Putting the 'me' back in Environmental November 11, 2011
- San Pedro and Cargo ships November 17, 2011
- Sustainable Sea Travel: The Pacific Voyagers at San Pedro November 17, 2011
- San Diego November 26, 2011
- North Hollywood, Los Angeles November 26, 2011
- Feeling sick on the Ocean waves November 30, 2011
- Passenger Liners and Environmental Practice November 30, 2011
- Hawaiian Hawaiʻi December 5, 2011
- Hilo, Kona and Honolulu December 5, 2011
- Pago Pago, Tutuila Island, American Samoa December 7, 2011
- Samoa - The 'Last Place on Earth' (until December) December 16, 2011
- Suva, Fiji December 21, 2011
- New Caledonia December 21, 2011
- Life at Sea December 21, 2011
- Arriving in Sydney: 3 weeks and 7,415 nautical miles from L.A. December 23, 2011
- Sydney December 24, 2011
- Sydney to Melbourne on the Countrylink December 24, 2011
- Melbourne: From the CBD to Fitzroy December 25, 2011
- Finding our feet in Fitzroy December 26, 2011
- Crazy for Coffee: Café Culture in Melbourne December 27, 2011
- Chasing Freedom and Yarn: Street Art in Melbourne December 28, 2011
- Melbourne Markets December 30, 2011
- Melbourne Excursions December 31, 2011
- Melbourne to Brisbane January 2, 2012
- The AS Carelia: A Freight Adventure January 27, 2012
- New Zealand February 5, 2012
- A Rock n' Roll Christmas (of the non-musical variety) February 5, 2012
- Tropical Storms and Piracy Warnings February 5, 2012
- Wind Powered Cargo Ships and Arriving in Malaysia February 5, 2012
- Kuala Lumpur: a Tale of Two Cities February 5, 2012
- The Cameron Highlands: the Land of Tea and Strawberries February 25, 2012
- Street Food and Art in Penang February 28, 2012
- The Great Hornbills of Langkawi February 29, 2012
- An Island Border Crossing: Koh Lipe, Thailand March 28, 2012
- Trang to Bangkok by Bus April 12, 2012
- Moths, Monks and Prickly Heat in Bangkok April 15, 2012
- A Window to the Wetlands: Thailand to Cambodia by Train and Tuk-Tuk April 16, 2012
- Sifting through Arts Cafés in Siem Reap April 17, 2012
- Angkor Wat April 19, 2012
- Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville to get a Vietnamese Visa April 21, 2012
- Kampot Pepper and Le Bout du Monde in Kep May 10, 2012
- Crossing the Mekong Delta into Vietnam May 12, 2012
- The Fabric of Hoi An May 15, 2012
- Night Herons and Elephants of the Forgotten City in Huế May 20, 2012
- The Reunification Express June 28, 2012
- Hanoi July 9, 2012
- Into the mists of China we go... July 10, 2012
- From the City to the Mountains by Train and Bus August 29, 2012
- Among the Karst Peaks of Yangshuo, Guanxi Province September 29, 2012
- Menacing Hills and a Brush with Food Poisoning: if we can just make it to Hong Kong... December 1, 2012
- Hong Kong January 3, 2013
- On the Trail of J.G. Ballard and New Wave Art in Shanghai January 11, 2013
- Hangzhou and some Emperor Longjing Tea January 16, 2013
- Beijing and the 798 Arts District April 20, 2013
- Morning in Mongolia... May 14, 2013
- Camping in the Gobi Desert October 25, 2013
- The Great Train Bazaar: Trans-Mongolian Railway December 24, 2013
- Moscow January 26, 2014
Bookshops- New York August 4, 2011
- San Francisco August 12, 2011
- Santa Cruz August 17, 2011
- Big Sur August 22, 2011
- Los Angeles November 26, 2011
- Hawaiʻi February 25, 2012
Food- Chicago August 21, 2011
- San Francisco August 22, 2011
- Bodega Bay September 20, 2011
- Santa Cruz September 21, 2011
- Big Sur September 21, 2011
- Monterey Bay September 21, 2011
- Santa Barbara November 26, 2011
- Hawaiʻi November 28, 2011
- The Melbourne Food Bazaar December 28, 2011
- Malaysia: Street food in Penang February 25, 2012
- Thailand February 26, 2012
- Amok Curries, Mango Salads and Morning Glory: Cambodian Cuisine February 27, 2012
Other blogs we like
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Tags
American Samoa Atlantic Australia Bangkok Beaches Books Brisbane Cambodia Cargo ship China Culture Eco Lodge Environment Food Freighters Ger Camps Greenwells Farm Hawaii Hilo History Hong Kong Honolulu Kona Land Travel Malaysia Melbourne Mongolia North America Our Journey Penang Sea Travel South East Asia South Pacific Storms Sustainable Tourism Sydney Thailand Trains Train Travel Trans-Mongolian Trans-siberian Tsunami United Kingdom Vietnam YangshuoSoundtrack of the trip (compiled by Julia C)
1. Goodbye England - Laura Marling
2. Last Of The Melting Snow - The Leisure Society
3. See The World - The Kooks
4. Have Love Will Travel - The Black Keys
5. Flying - The Beatles
6. Last Boat To America - David Gray
7. Fake Tales Of San Francisco - Arctic Monkeys
8. No Cars Go - Arcade Fire
9. Night Train - Louis Prima
10. How Will I Ever Find My Way Home - British Sea Power
11. Homesick - Kings Of Convenience
12. Far From Home - Nick Cave
13. Gotta Keep Moving - Willy Mason
14. True Adventures - British Sea Power
15. Take Care - Beach House
16. Little Journey - The Avalanches
17. That's My Home - Louis ArmstrongArchives
Recent Comments
- anna on Amok Curries, Mango Salads and Morning Glory: Cambodian Cuisine
- anna on About
- Wonderlusting on Amok Curries, Mango Salads and Morning Glory: Cambodian Cuisine
- Tim & Sarah on About
- Smith Cam on Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville to get a Vietnamese Visa
- alex on Hong Kong
- Laura C on Hong Kong
- Kelly on Hangzhou and some Emperor Longjing Tea
Anna, you probably don’t remember me – I interned at Earthscan for a couple of weeks before I, ironically, got a job at the exact same “highest bidder” that bought Earthscan. I walk past the old Earthscan offices regularly and feel a pang of sadness every time.
I, too, am finding some grey hairs and feeling ground down by the rush and aggression of the Big Smoke. Maybe I’ll have the courage you’ve shown to up sticks and do something a bit more meaningful.
Thank you for the blog – I have a look every now and then. Inspirational stuff
Hi Anneke,
Thank you so much for your lovely message – it’s great to hear from you! I do indeed remember you and I’m so glad to hear that things have been going well
I totally get how you feel about London – it can start to grate after a while and sometimes you need some space away just to remember why it is you’re still there. I hope you manage to get a break over the xmas holiday and it gives you some time out to decide what you want.
It’s really nice to hear that you’re reading the blog and Alex and I both really appreciate your comments. Have a great rest of year and I’m sure 2013 will hold lots of exciting adventures for you
Anna