Overview

In early September 2023, I left the sanctity of my Brisbane home and sallied forth on a four-month adventure across Asia and Europe. I travelled, for the most part, alone, joined in a couple of locations by my wife. One fine afternoon, as we discussed the travelogue I would write about the trip, I was inspired by what to use as a title. Go Away, with its subtle as a sledgehammer double meaning, seemed appropriate.The title and writing style were inspired by one of my favourite writers, Paul Theroux. The journey he undertook to write his genre-defining travel book, The Great Railway Bazaar, also took four months. Never writing a particularly positive account of the countries he passes through, or the people he meets, towards the end of the book Theroux becomes even more curmudgeonly. This is mainly because he is missing his wife and the comfort of home. Desperate to make it home for Christmas, he struggles with flight, ship and train cancellations caused by bad weather. I knew how he felt. Not that I wanted to be home for Christmas, but I would rather not have spent it suffering a dose of COVID in Vietnam. There's no denying that four months is a long time to be away. It wasn't all bad though. Far from it. I loved the people and sights of Romania. I learnt much about the history of Paris thanks to two days spent, in the rain, with a friend who lives there and is a passionate and knowledgeable history teacher. Italy was a feast of pizza and wine with some historical marvels thrown in. Bangkok, as always, was mostly fun.

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9781763510005

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I was, as Groucho Marx said, born at an early age, in London (England). My parents moved to the Kent coast when I was seven. I caught up with them a year or so later. My school days were unremarkable. Some were marked but usually very badly. The only subject I had any affinity with was English and this was mainly because my parents both spoke it, often at the same time. My career has taken many turns, dips and troughs, a few false starts and even one or two emergency landings. However, it seems I was destined for an eventual career in the travel industry. Following a failed attempt to make my fortune as a driving instructor, I joined British Airways as a Sales Agent where I stayed for 4 years before emigrating to Australia after marrying local girl Tracy. Fortunately for me this coincided with the rise of the CRS (Computer Reservations System) which later morphed in to GDS (Global Distribution System). I worked in Australia for a company called Galileo and in Europe and Asia for Amadeus. Both companies offered similar products and, obviously, both were best when I was an employee. I retired from the corporate treadmill a few years ago and I'm now officially an author. My first book was My Brother's Bicycle. It describes a journey of contemplation and misadventure as I attempt, mostly unsuccessfully to re-live a bicycle trip I first embarked on as a fresh-faced 20-year-old More than 40 years ago I headed south with a guy I met at Liverpool Street station in London. Enfield to Athens on a tandem. They said it couldn't be done. For the re-run I was better prepared, or so I thought. But as it turned out it didn't really matter.My other books have a recurring theme; travel memoirs with a dash of philosophy and healthy cynicism.

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