Who’s writing this blog?

There are thousands of travel blogs on the World Wide Web – it seems that just about everyone who catches a bus into town makes one!

The majority of travel blogs are apparently written by young women, with some also written by young men.  Far less common is a travel blog written by a not-so-young man – and that's this blog, and I'm the man who is not so young!  

 However, while I'm old enough to not have to pay a young driver surcharge when hiring a car (I'm not under 30) I'm  not yet old enough to have to pay the senior driver surcharge (I'm nowhere near 65!), or to be unable to carry my bag (and a few others) up five flights of steps to the cheap accommodation on the top floor, or to be a big risk for DVT on the 12 hour flights that you tend to go on when you are based in Australia.  But I'm not the party-animal type either, or focused on meeting members of the opposite sex (or the same sex, if that's your way), so you won't hear about any of that here!  

You'll get a different perspective from me – my perspective, a perspective that may suit you whether you are young or old, or female or male, but will definitely suit you if you are heading into retirement, want to travel, but want to do something more adventurous and thoughtful that jumping onto a cruise ship or tagging along with a ten-day all-inclusive whirlwind tour of somewhere.

I'm Chris, I'm Australian (nominally from the Sunshine Coast in sub-tropical South-East Queensland) usually travelling in a group of two (with my wife) and sometimes a group of three (with our adult daughter).  In my working life, I'm a technical writer and Illustrator, but at the moment I'm pretending that I've retired. 

I travel pretty cheaply, with only the broadest plan, making most of it up as I go along, depending on where the opportunities (cheap flights and other transport, house-sitting jobs), other travellers' recommendations, whims, and urges take me.

I'm an independent traveller, so you won't find narratives of accompanied packaged tours here (well not many, and not big ones), where the whole itinerary is part of the predetermined deal, and for which you're met at the airport, and your bags (and your hand) are held by someone else the whole way through to your return.

So, I've got lots of stories to tell about how I get around (the journeys), where I'm going and where I've been (the destinations), and what I do on the way and when I get there, and some advice to give about how I do it as I find out the things that you should know too to help make your travels as enjoyable and effective as possible.

I hope you enjoy reading The Journey and the Destination!

Chris