A Life Of Travel - Notable Experiences

Updated: September 2023
A Life of Travel - A timeline of sorts where I detail notable experiences over the years, from going to France on a day trip from school to losing my virginity to backpacking Australia, a baseball game in Toronto, sky diving in New Zealand, getting on the podium of a 10km race in Switzerland, working in Ireland and Switzerland.

But sadly, I have no access to photos pre-2010 but there are plenty of previously unseen photos to see from 2010 onwards.

Nomadic Backpacker near Shangri La, China, July 2011:
There are so many notable events that have, until now, not been mentioned on Nomadic Backpacker, so keep on reading:

​. First trip out of England. Calais, France on a school day trip, 1983.

. Member of Milton Keynes Cycle Club, 1985.
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. Lost my virginity. April 1 1986. Yup, a truly memorable date in more ways than one. This is not an April's Fool joke. The venue was the front seat of an ancient Citroën.

I was an avid cyclist. I wanted to ride the Tour de France alongside Robert Millar:

. 5th place in the Junior SouthEast Midlands Divisional Road Race Championships (cycle racing) 1986

. Cycle touring in the UK. 5 days, 600 miles & 7 days 850 miles 1987

. Learnt to drive. January 1989
. Crashed my first car. November 1989

. Walked 1071 miles from Land's End to John O'Groats, in 54 days plus 2 days off, raising 2000 for the charity Cystic Fibrosis. April & May 1990.
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. Took a commercial flight for the first time. London to Montreal August 1992. AirCanada

. Finally learnt to swim. September 1992.

In 1992, I discovered backpacking:

. Ist backpacking trip to Australia and Canada. November 23 1992

. Hot Air ballooning in the Australian outback

. 3 day 2 night outback adventure including climbing Ayres Rock

. Climbed Cradle Mountain in Tasmania

. Watched my first ever baseball game at the Hard Rock Cafe in Toronto, Canada April 1993. Seattle Mariners vs Toronto Blue Jays

. Got my first lap dance at a strip club in Toronto, ending up on stage being stripped. April 9 1993.

. Worked as a courier in England

. Member of North Bucks Road Club & Luton Wheelers cycling clubs with solo races:

. Fastest 10-mile time trial as a cyclist 23.19
. Fastest 25-mile time trial as a cyclist 1:05.19
. Fastest 50-mile time trial as a cyclist 2:08

. 2nd backpacking trip. Australia + New Zealand 1997/98

. Hiked Mount Kosciusko, the highest mountain in Australia December 25 1997

. Sky Diving in Wanaka, New Zealand March 1998

. Tongariro Crossing, New Zealand 4 hrs 5 minutes

. Paragliding in Queenstown, New Zealand April 1998

. ShotOver Jet, Queenstown, New Zealand April 1998

. Spectator at my first (and only) ever football match. St Gallen vs Lausanne at the Wankdorf Stadium in Bern, Switzerland

. First travels to a non-English speaking country. Vietnam December 2000

. First time to go up Mt Kinabalu @4095m in Sabah, Borneo. March 2001. I made 2 subsequent climbs as a tourist both in 2003 and 3 as part of the International Climbathon 2004, 2005 & 2006.

. Worked my first season as a waiter in Grindelwald, Switzerland 2001 Winter season

. Learnt to ski Grindelwald. Thanks to Blanka 2002

. My mum died at 60 years old after a stroke

I started running again and discovered I was pretty useful, especially when going uphill. I trained in the mountains and raced on the road, with some crazy mountain races too in Switzerland and Malaysia:

. Ran my first 10 km on the track in Cebu, Philippines 48.20

. Hiked Gunung Rinjani, Lombok, Indonesia. What normally is a 5-day hike, I hiked non-stop in 12 hrs 5 minutes 2006

. First massage (of many) with a happy ending, Bali 2006

. Leipzig 10 km Lauf, Germany 2007 39.15 Fastest time 'til now.

. Winterthur 10 km Lauf, Switzerland 2007 39.23 2nd place overall.

. First (and only) half marathon. Lausanne, Switzerland 2008 1:29.03
 
. 20 km de Lausanne, Switzerland 2009 1:30.21
 
. 2 x participant Inferno HalbMarathon Mürren, Switzerland finishing at the Schilthorn. 2972m 2008  2:52.39, 2009 3:05

. During my time in Switzerland, 2001 to 2013, I ran around 20 races between 5 km and 20 km including the Bern GP, AltStadtLauf in Bern, Silvesterlauf in Zurich together with the ones listed above.

​Nomadic Backpacker in Red Square, Moscow, 2014:
Nomadic Backpacker rode the Iron Ore train from Nouadhibou all the way to Zouerat, as I missed the stop at Choum, Mauritania, 2013:
Nomadic Backpacker arriving at the Kievskaya station in Moscow, Russia, 2014:
Nomadic Backpacker nearing the end of 4 days 3 nights on the Trans Siberian from Irkutsk to Vladivostok, Russia, 2014:
  • 549 days of straight travel, June 1 2010 - December 1 2011
  • Hiked the Annapurna Base Camp trek
  • Crossed the Kunjerab Pass between China and Pakistan. This remains the highest point I have been to @ 4693m 15,397ft
  • Started my first blog 'whitemonkeytravels' a complete disaster but a big learning curve
  • Worked in Lisdoonvarna, County Clare, Republic of Ireland as a barman
  • Rode the Iron Ore train out of Nouadibou, Mauritainia 2012
  • 1423 days of straight travel, December 3 2013 - October 23 2017

​Nomadic Backpacker out training in the Atlas Mountains, 2008:
Nomadic Backpacker in Rabat after getting the Mauritania Visa, 2012:
Nomadic Backpacker at Kasprowy Wierch, the border in the mountains between Poland and Slovakia. 3 days later I carried my pack 4 hours up and over the pass and a further 3 hours to Liptovský Hrádok, June 2010
Nomadic Backpacker trekking in Bcharre, Lebanon, 2010:
Nomadic Backpacker on the Qurnat as Sawdā 3088m, highest peak in Lebanon, 2010:
Nomadic Backpacker floating in the Dead Sea, Israel 2010:
Nomadic Backpacker near St Katherine's Egypt 2010:
Nomadic Backpacker Mt Sinai November 2010:
Nomadic Backpacker getting a shave in Hampi, India, 2010:

​Nomadic Backpacker at the Tsomgo Lake View Point near the Nathu La Pass in Sikkim, India 2011:
Nomadic Backpacker visiting the Afghan Mosque in Turpan, China, September 2011:
A rare picture of me and Miss CDMX without masks. We were very much pro masks. Here were are at Taxco:
Naked again in Zipolite:


​And then I headed to England. My 90 days in Mexico were up and I had lots of admin to do. I made great use of the time though, I backpacked London, Oxford, Birmingham, Lichfield and Aylesbury, Liverpool, Greenock, Glasgow, Dumbarton, Edinburgh, Dundee and then finally visited Northern Ireland.
Then I ended up in Madagascar, backpacked the crazy capital and went to the Lemurs' Park:
​Then I flew to Kenya and an emotional return to Naivasha, where I had spent my lockdown:
Then I backpacked across Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania and into Zambia.
I have now travelled extensively 104 UN countries and I detailed them all on my Countries and Territories Visited page. I catalogued all the cities, towns and villages that I have stayed in over the years. 


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