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I must be such an interesting person

I’ve spent the last three months eating cheap authentic international food in restaurants, including Paris! taken over 1000 photos and tomorrow I’m flying to Mali – so keeping very busy. Splitting the year into individual trips is more expensive but a good idea to prevent burnout. Some of the Internet Cafes are quite slow so I haven’t been spending time uploading hi-res photos to photosharing websites but here’s a taste…

From market day in Guatemala, Mayan cooking in Mexico, relaxing on an island off Belize, Iguanas in Honduras, An evening in LA, USA, Resort chaos in Phuket, Thailand, Trees strangling ruins in Cambodia, Traffic rules in Hanoi, Vietnam, Covered shopping in Paris, France (where I had to obtain my Mali visa as there’s no embassy in London).
market in Guatemala Mayan Cooking Mexico Island off Belize Iguanas in Honduras Evening in LA USA Resort Chaos Phuket Thailand Trees Strangling Ruins Cambodia Traffic Rules in Hanoi Vietnam Covered Shopping in Paris France
I’m just nipping out to Africa tomorrow and trying to savour this complete freedom.
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Career Break

Well, why not have a career break? I’ve finally decided to take some time off and my employer is kind enough to give me the option of an unpaid year, with a job to go back to. How lucky I am to be in such a position. A year sounds like a long time, but after looking at all the round the world ticket options, by trying to visit the places I haven’t been to before, I really have to be selective. Obtaining visa’s in a short amount of time may be a big challenge.

The planned first trip is Central America (Guatemala, Mexico, Belize, Honduras) then Shanghai, finishing with Asia (Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam) and back home. Fitting in Africa on a round-the-world ticket is quite challenging, so my next leg is a trip to Africa and back, covering Mali, Ghana, Uganda, Rwanda, Madagascar. The third trip includes Jordan, UAE, Nepal, Tibet (hopefully), India, Malaysia (Borneo), Fiji, and stopping off in NY on the way back. Depending on how I feel after this trip, there’s still time for a final global trip, but it’ so far ahead that I am unable to book it. I may just want to sit down and watch DVDs.

It’s going to be an interesting and exciting year ahead.
You know it’s not going to happen unless you schedule it!

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Do you know anything about marketing?

What now?

I’ve just submitted this book to the Google book search and ordered copies for family etc. So, even if this is the most fantastic book in the world, if no-one knows about it, none will be sold. So how did you arrive on this site? Should I be posting in travel forums? Or other forums to attract people who haven’t done much global travel? Who should I send free copies to? Who would be the most influential or credible reviewer? Should I send some to particular publishers? Celebrities? I really don’t know and appreciate any help and suggestions with publicizing this book to a wider audience. What are your experiences? I’ll probably celebrate with a bottle of wine everytime I sell a single copy!

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Hello!

Welcome to The Travel Map. Life can only become more inspiring from this point…

Please let me know your comments about the site, photos, etc, and have a good look. I put my knowledge, thoughts, advice, round-the-world route maps and check lists in this 712 page book and published. Let me know what you think about it and email me questions or ideas about where I should visit next. Click on the book to buy a copy. I don’t think it’s going to be the new Harry Potter.

I also set this up to learn more about blogs (wikis are next). This type of social software is increasingly important in making communications efficient and organising relationships in a changing environment.

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