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Review by Craig Martin from Indie Travel Podcast

I haven’t yet made it to north Africa, so when the chance came to read Richard Bangs’ Quest For The Kasbah, I snapped it up. Richard tries to take us with him through a narrative of several visits to Morocco. He also makes a few philosophical detours to connect his growing understanding of the kasbah with modern, western life.

Quest For The Kasbah by Richard Bangs.

The book is a tie-in to a new American TV show called “Adventures with Purpose” and, specifically, an episode called Morocco: Quest for the Kasbah which is also hosted by Richard Bangs. The advertising copy makes great claims for the author; how have I never heard of this “renowned explorer” and “the world’s foremost adventurer”? It must be something to do with the lack of PBS shows in New Zealand because he’s produced several TV documentaries and thirteen other books.

Of structure and style

The book is constructed as a linear narrative with several jumps between trips to Morocco. At times it almost degenerates into a “what-I ate-for-lunch” diary but manages to redeem itself by offering glimpses of Moroccan life along the way. The view which Richard offers seems alien to me: not because of the landscape, but because of how it is viewed. Maybe it’s a generational or cultural gap, but I struggled to align myself with this way of looking at a place.

What the book does do well is tell stories: little narratives that capture a splash of colour or the heat of the desert sun.

The writing style was also too flowery for my taste. At times it was difficult to follow as I struggled with unusual metaphors which would have been better suited to a spoken conversation or perhaps a TV screen. Here, they came across as overwritten and verging on pretentious.

Questions and answers
The first question I hoped this book would answer is “what is a kasbah?” I was quite lost for some time! The glossy photo insert in the middle of the book has only one picture of one, and that as a backdrop. The introduction takes us to an African river descent, the first few chapters to hiking in the Atlas mountains … and still no mention of a kasbah. Perhaps that’s the publisher’s fault, forcing an interesting journey into the constraints of the TV show. In any case, it left me hanging.

Rather than helping me off the ledge, the book offers a glimpse here, a peek there, slowly weaving insight through stories and recorded conversations. As a result, I understand something of the spirit of a kasbah, but couldn’t recognise one if I was standing next to it. The author’s laboured juxtaposition of digital nomads and kasbah dwellers casts as much light on the subject as the recorded conversations between himself and tourism representatives. In the readers’ quest for the kasbah, the kasbah itself is somewhat missing.

The skinny
What the book does do well is tell stories: little narratives that capture a splash of colour or the heat of the desert sun. Taken as a collection of short stories, this book succeeds in transporting us from mountain villages to Casablanca. We see women’s working collectives; the many tricks of recalcitrant mountain guides; and a young boy turning down his first opportunity to smoke a hookah pipe. Not every snapshot rings true though; there’s something too romantic, too reductionist about them that leaves one in doubt.

Unfortunately, this is not a book I would recommend you run out and buy. It would serve well as further reading for someone who enjoys the TV series or someone wanting a taste of Morocco before their journey. In the end these continued glimpses make us want to go and experience the cities, fortresses and mountains ourselves, to find our own nomadic shelter and muddle through the thronging streets of the bazaars. And that can’t be a bad thing.

***

Review by Christine Gilbert from Almost Fearless

Richard Bangs is the consummate travel guide.  Perhaps it was his early years running his own tour company, that developed his ability to weave history, cultural notes and the specific names for everyday objects into his travel stories, or maybe he’s just an info geek like much of the PBS watching audience he’s writing for – whatever the case, his writing is thick with the details that make you feel like he’s not only showing you where he’s been, but teaching you a college level course on it’s significance.  Purple hued islands are not just scenery but the Iles Purpuraires, were “Romans in the first century traded for a precious purple dye for their royal robes, the dye secreted by murex, a type of mollusk that thrives off these motes.” He goes on to tell of Cleopatra’s love the color and it’s subsequent fall from grace only generations later when “Cleopatra’s grandson, Ptolemy, was murdered by Emperor Caligula for having the cheekiness to sport a purple robe.”  A paragraph later he switches to more current history and within two pages we’ve covered a span of  a few thousand years.  You know how the islands looked, their historical importance and a fun fact or two.  This is Bangs’ style, and it doesn’t relent for a moment.

If you enjoy the careful detail of the history channel, the narrative voice of NPR and some of the travel channels’ better programming, then this book is for you.

For the traveler, he could write about anything and captivate, but the book’s theme is particularly intriguing, especially as he examines our modern day meeting places and the advent of the digital nomad.  The café, the nouveau-Kasbah, with weary travelers plugging in and finding respite: coffee, wifi and a comfy place to sit, closely resemble those Moroccan kasbahs where no stranger would be turned away. Bangs’ only lament is our seeming addiction to being plugged in: cell phone to our ear, the world around us blocked out and potential interactions wither on the vine.

If you’ve ever wanted to visit Morocco, Bangs doesn’t hold back.  The descriptions are visceral, evoking all the senses, and if you ever wondered what a Moroccan market is like or how traveling through the Sahara via camel would feel, then you’ll devour his imagery.  There are times when it becomes too much, when the author steps over ‘a large scarab beetle’ or notices another man’s watch by brand, “his Tag Heuer catches sparks of light” you might wonder if he’s just showing off.  Fortunately, he never gets too lost in the minutiae and quickly gets back on course, splicing in narratives and conversations from the road.

Ultimately, Quest For The Kasbah fascinates on many levels.  The exploration of the concept of meeting places both now and in antiquity feels like a worthwhile topic.  The travel is tightly coordinated and while Bangs didn’t lounge, he didn’t rush past scenes faster than felt appropriate. Occasionally the narrative gets lost in historical facts or sensory detail, but never for long.  It’s not light reading, but it’s not a slog either.  If you enjoy the careful detail of the history channel, the narrative voice of NPR and some of the travel
channels’ better programming, then this book is for you.  For me, Quest For The Kasbah pushed all my travel nerd buttons, and I was left only with one question: how soon can I get to Morocco?

Quest For The Kasbah is available through Amazon.com.

© Gretchen Wilson-Kalav for TravelBlogs, 2009. | “Quest for the Kasbah” by Richard Bangs | 4 comments |
Post categories: Book Reviews
Post tags: Adentures with Purpose, Morocco, Quest for the Kasbah, Richard Bangs, travel writing

© Gretchen Wilson-Kalav for TravelBlogs, 2009. | Planet Nomad | No comment |
Post categories: Blogs
Post tags: Africa, expat blog, living abroad, Morocco

This is the second part of an interview with Jeanne from SoulTravelers3. Read the first part here.

What are some of the challenges of travelling with a kid?

It is really best to travel slow with a kid or as a family, so some would call that a challenge, although we find it a benefit. Kids need time to play and self direct in between touring, scheduled events and museums. Actually, I think everyone benefits from having the luxury of time, but kids will force that issue by getting cranky if pushed to go too fast or on too rigid a schedule. We are big believers in self directed, free play time and feel one of the great benefits of family travel is doing ordinary things in extraordinary locations.

That said, if it is planned well, we have found Mozart to be a real trooper with some fast travel or long hauls that were necessary. She thought getting up at four in the morning to take 2 buses, 4 taxis, a trans-continent ferry and six hour train into Africa from Spain, was just the cat’s meow! I worried about t this long journey before hand, but it was easy and went very smoothly. The key is always schedule down time before and after more stressful jaunts. Getting up early allowed her to do a lot of sleeping along the way. (Read more on her blog: Long Day Into Africa)

We also once did three museums in one day in Paris, but it was extremely well planned, with lots of rest, playground stops, leisurely lunch and snacks in between fairly quick, child centered museum stops. So children can do faster travel, but one must prepare well and leave time before, during and after for the down time that children need. I think we took a few days off after that more intense one. (Read more: 3 Museums in a Day)

Adults can skip meals or go without sleep, but kids need to keep healthy routines. Again, this has been a challenge that has benefited all of us. We always have snacks and food with us when we roam or tour, so we are always prepared to have healthy choices available rather than high costs, non nutritious foods that fill tourists areas. Mozart might be the motivation, but we all benefit and eat the good food and snacks. Sometimes there are no places around or everything is closed, so good to have food and water with you at all times. We almost always have raw almonds or walnuts and have been known to make a meal out of them once in a while out of desperation!

It is really best to travel slow with a kid or as a family, so some would call that a challenge, although we find it a benefit.

Schooling could be thought of as a challenge, but we enjoy taking that time and learning together. Our life is like one big field trip and we are the type that enjoy learning as we go in fun, hands-on ways. Our homeschool supplies are portable enough that we find it easy to do the basics like math and reading where ever we are, be it ferry, RV, train, hotel, or outside in a park. We even take our homeschool supplies with us when we tour for a month or more without our RV like we did in parts of Greece, Turkey and Croatia, even though we only carry a small daypack each and her small violin.

Mozart was a really good reader when we began our journey when she was five and that has been extremely helpful. “Grab a book” is one of our many common expressions. It allows our extremely active child to have an outlet when she is confined in the RV while driving, in a bus or on a train, when waiting for food in restaurants or when adults need quiet time or adult conversation. One of the advantages of traveling in an RV, is we can carry many books with us as we travel and most of them are for Mozart. We have bought some as we go as well. This challenge of self entertainment has led our book lover into a wonderful lifetime habit in a way that would probably not been as conducive had we maintained our previous life.

Keeping enough reading books at hand (she is a voracious reader) and maintaining her music lessons and practice for violin and piano are probably are biggest challenges. The violin is easier because of size, but we have managed with a very good digital piano that we bought in Europe when we arrived and carry with us in the RV. We make a stand for it when we pick our winter home, usually out of the local bricks or on a table. We love our piano teacher who uses Skype webcams to teach her (while he remains in Chicago).

What do you think have been the hardest things for Mozart about travelling the world? Does she miss the comfort of home?

Mozart does not miss the comforts of home, because we literally and figuratively bring our home with us and have all the comforts of home and sometimes more (like pools, water slides, fancy playgrounds at almost every campsite). Our life is like one big vacation for Mozart, an endless summer full of friends and lots of adventure, so she has not found much that is hard for her. It is funny, how a tiny space like our RV can be home, but it is, we just move it from time to time, so our “backyard” changes!

The main thing that children need that is the ultimate in “comfort of home” is their parents loving attention and Mozart gets more of both of her parents time than any child around. We are attachment parents, so we feel parents are most important (rather than peers ) and like many homeschoolers we want her bonded to us and the world through us, instead of through peers just her age. She makes friends every where of every age, but her foundation stability comes from her parents. Thus our “home” which is about the love we share, is always with us, it is just a free mobile kind that allows us to have the whole world as our home. I have been amazed at how we have not missed our dream home at all (that we were once very attached to). I suppose that is because “home” is not a house, but where the heart is.

We have been conscious of keeping a consistency to her life even with the travel. We go back to the same village in Spain every winter so far, where we rent a home and she goes to the local school. She has bonded with the kids there and does things like play-dates, flamenco dance classes and sleep overs with friends. Our seven months of travel and five months of rest, reflection and deep immersion works well on many levels.

The hardest thing for Mozart has been not being able to hug or grandmother, aunties or favorite “best-friend” cousin.

She also keeps up regular contact with her grandparents, relatives and friends at home through free webcam Skype calls. This has been very beneficial and solves many of the problems that could be a challenge for a child living at a distance. Today’s technology makes such a difference and we have not dealt with any homesickness yet. Todays extended traveling family is very different than say a missionary family in China in the fifties where snail mail and expensive calls made one grow up in isolation. I find Mozart can immerse with a new culture while maintaining her own. She goes to festivals in Spain talking Spanish, but then can come home and talk to her cousin about it in English, face to face via webcam and catch up with what is happening in California.

There are so many common kids icons around the world, like McDonalds, Subway or playgrounds even in remote place and I think that helps too. We are a 3 laptop family, so part of our life is connecting with real friends, web2.0 friends and friends we have made along the way. Mozart has emailed friends and watched DVD’s with kids around the world as well. They might be from many different cultures, but they share some of the same “kid culture” as it is so omnipresent in todays world. There are moments when we forget that we are not in our home country! That has been true in Morocco and Turkey as well as Europe.

Being in countries where we do not speak the language well (she is only fluent in two) can be a little hard on Mozart. I notice she lights up when she hears Spanish or English and is ready to converse with child or adult. Still, she does play well with kids who do not share a language, if there is no choice. She might see this as a challenge, but i think the exposure to different languages and appreciating the usefulness of her bilingualism, has been a great value. We heard lots of languages at home, but she never would have been able to experience what life is like in a country which has a dominant language unlike one of her own. Living in Spain has taught her to respect her second language much more than she ever would have in our English dominated home country.

I suppose the hardest thing for Mozart has been not being able to hug or grandmother, aunties or favorite “best-friend” cousin. She can talk to them over Skype and do show and tell with things like her latest creations, songs on the piano or show missing baby teeth, but they have yet to invent a hug machine from a distance!

How has travelling together bonded you as a family more than staying at home would have?

Little did we know that the bonding factor might be one of the greatest benefits of extended travel for families! I had read that before from other families that had done world tours or long sabbaticals in foreign countries, but I am not sure that one can truly appreciate just how deep such an experience bonds, without experiencing it. It is sort of like the whole parenting thing, you can not really understand it fully until you are doing it.

I am a freedom junkie, so the more we do this, the more I am convinced that this is the way we were meant to live.

We were very close before, so I did not really expect our journey to have such an impact on our bonding. We have so many shared experiences, both very enriching and some of the more negative moments like being left in the middle of nowhere by a bus in Turkey. Sometimes I feel like we do about twenty years of profound experiences every year on our travels. You can not see and experience as much as we have and not be impacted and changed. We do it together like a well oiled team with lots of laughter along the way. We learn much about working as a team and cooperation.

As full and rich as our life was at home, there is just no comparison to the daily input that we get on this journey. At home, we had very predictable lives and now our whole life is a “wing it” experience of living in the now. The reason companies take employees out on ropes courses and such things to help in bonding is because adventure increases the opportunity for working together much more than a routine existence where it gets fairly easy to sleep walk through years and relationships.

I am a freedom junkie, so the more we do this, the more I am convinced that this is the way we were meant to live. I think we are all much more alive now, thanks to this journey. We are also all much closer and cherish the time together and seeing, experiencing the world together. It has been great for our marriage as well.

We live in a extremely small space for seven months of the year, especially compared to our 4000 square foot home with three acres. Our RV is only van size with a bed over drivers seating area. I was quite concerned about that before going because I like my space and alone time. We all adjusted very quickly to that and the high cooperation that is needed for living in such tight quarters has helped us bond and grow. We use to have to yell to someone who was in a different section of our house, now we can pretty much touch almost anything with out hardly moving.

I agree with this doctor’s view of the benefits of extended travel (from Transitions Abroad):

“It is never too late to build family foundations,” says Dr. Nicholas Levy, a pediatrician affiliated with the Univ. of California, San Diego, who advocates traveling sabbaticals for families. “Travel, particularly international travel, exposes families to different lifestyles that intrinsically bring families together.”

“Adaptation and accommodation are probably the most valuable lessons that we can teach our children,” Levy says.

Often, when people do something like sell their house and head out to travel the world, people around them can be quite critical. Did you find this?

Yes, some people were very critical, although many were also supportive and “got” the dream we were setting out on. Many said they wish they could do it and you would not believe how many people proposed that we adopt them!

It is funny, but the people who thought we were most nuts when we decided to do this, now think we are so clever! A few of them are now considering a similar course. We had a very special home that we had worked very hard on and in our area near Silicon Valley, houses of that quality are almost impossible to find. This made everyone think we were out of our minds for selling it. Deciding to sell our dream home was probably the hardest part for us. We thought the housing market would crash, but few saw it coming in 2005 and it was a risk. It turned out that we sold it right at peak and was absolutely the best decision of our lives, but there were no guarantees when we did it in 2005.

Both sides of the family had some trouble adjusting to our leaving, which is understandable. Once they realized we were serious and determined, they came around and have been extremely supportive. Thankfully, in today’s world with blogs and webcam free calls on Skype, we can actually stay in better contact than when we lived twenty minutes drive away. Sometimes we forget that we are so far apart and only miss out on hugs. My mother, who recently turned eighty had to learn to use a computer, but finds now she knows more about our lives than when we lived close by!

Visit SoulTravelers3 or watch their videos on YouTube.

© Gretchen Wilson-Kalav for TravelBlogs, 2008. | Travelling Slow with Mozart: Interview with Jeanne from SoulTravelers3 (Part 2) | No comment |
Post categories: Interviews
Post tags: Africa, Europe, family travel, Morocco, parenting, travel with kids

Plenty of parents take their kids travelling. But how many parents go into early retirement, sell their home, and head out with their young child to travel the world, slowly and for as long as they can?

That’s precisely what Jeanne and her husband are doing with their daughter Mozart (her internet nickname). Since the middle of 2006, they have been travelling through Europe and northern Africa – with no end in sight.

In this interview, Jeanne shares why they decided to embark on an open-ended, long-term travel adventure. In part 2 (to be posted early next week), Jeanne talks about some of the ups and downs of travelling as a family.

When you set out on this trip, what were your goals and ambitions? Have these changed over time?

Our main marriage and family goal is to co-create heaven on earth together (which you can see on our logo), so this journey just seemed like the next step for us. We were pretty open ended with our travel goals for this journey, so not tied down to specific time frames since freedom is our main objective. Given the state of the ever weakening dollar, it would have been more logical to start on another continent than Europe since we choose to live on a tight budget. Our child’s education was and is a primary goal, so we thought the rich history in Europe made it our first choice to start even with the dollar challenges. We actually used that to our advantage by getting mostly out of the dollar in 2005 as we felt it would continue to weaken for some time. I see it has a blip up now, but with the deficit and crisis, I think the trend is downward, until things balance out.

We wanted our child to be raised as a global citizen as we think that is something that is very important for children of the 21st century.

We wanted to live large on little while being shrewd in our business and investments, so that we could actually increase our net worth as we travel. There was some risk in our strategy, but thus far this area has worked out well. The changes in the world economy and those continuing to come, impacted and will continue to impact our travel choices. It might have been easier to do this in Southeast Asia, but it is not the area that pulled us the strongest. We thought if we were thoughtful in our choices and took a risk, that we might be able to have our cake and eat it too and thus far it has worked.

We did have a general idea of how long we would be in Europe and we have added to that. We found that we really love Europe and our style of traveling mostly by RV for about 6 or 7 months following the good weather, then immersing deeply in a small, authentic village in a rental village house in Andalusia, Spain for a warm winter.

Our goals have changed slightly because of what we have learned as we traveled. We find that slow travel is by far the best for a family and that Europe is large with so many great things to see and experience. Our mode of travel also makes it cheaper than we anticipated, so we will add on time to Europe.

We had to cut short our time in Eastern Europe due to my taking an ambulance in Vienna to a hospital with a severe loss of blood from a bloody nose that cost us several weeks while I recovered. We still want to see those places and others, so will not leave Europe until we feel complete.

We also were not sure how we would visit Africa and South America, and are still looking into those logistics. We originally thought we would sell our RV when we left Europe as we can sell it back to the company where we bought it or we also have a buyer in Spain who is interested. We so love traveling by RV as our main mode of travel, that now we are seriously looking into shipping our RV to Africa for a long stay after Europe and then onto South America.

As parents, why did you want to make travel and seeing the world such a significant part of Mozart’s childhood?

We wanted our child to be raised as a global citizen as we think that is something that is very important for children of the 21st century. Travel has always been an important education, but is needed even more today as our world shrinks due to technology. We went to great lengths to raise our child as a bilingual from birth (neither parent was a fluent bilingual) and always had plans to immerse her in her second language, literature and culture.

We are big believers in experiential learning and life as a field trip allows endless opportunities for learning through hands on experiences. We knew travel would be a good experience for her education, but the extraordinary, limitless opportunities and scope of learning through travel has blown our minds. We expected a lot, but it is far richer than we ever anticipated.

Mozart has always been a fast learner (taught herself to read at 2 and was reading Harry Potter on her own at 4 etc), so that impacted our decision as well. We felt that even the best schools would limit and confine her learning abilities and would not be a good fit for her. We homeschool her year-round in English, with curiculum and reading materials that are connected to our travels. Thus she can be reading such things as Homer in Greece, Astrid Lindgren in Sweden, Harry Potter in England etc, which grounds the travel experiences and opens up greater learning in both the cultures and the writing!

She was reading her beloved Homer and Greek myths when we toured ancient Troy, Ephesus, Pumukale, Aphrodisias, Pergaman in Turkey, saw Agamenans mask and parthenon in Athens, toured Knossis in Crete, mycenia, Satornini etc in Greece. She was reading archeological and gladiator books in the Roman coloseum and Pompeii in Italy. They are not just names in books to her, but real places that she knows well by our slow, deliberate travel. I can not even fill in all the names of the ancient civilization sites that she has visited. How many kids get to pretend they are an acheologist and dig up ancient shells in Troy while touring with an archeologist there or watch and talk to working archeologist at Ephesus and Aphrodisias?

Not very many adults have been to all of these places, how can it help but mold her life? It seems like a normal life to her, but it is rich beyond compare and our hope is that it will enrich her life and those she touches. How many 6 year old kids ride in on a camel to the Sahara to give a violin concert to 6o Berber kids who live without running water and never have heard a violin? We brought nutritious food as well since it was a service and cultural connecting purpose. That is an experience that she (and they) will never forget, despite their young ages and I think will affect the future.

As she gets older, we plan to do more and more service projects as there is much to be learned in that as well. We also volunteer with the award winning non-profit Reach The World that connects disadvantaged students to world travelers and we take many schools with us virtually. These are kids that will probably never travel, so can learn through our experiences and can especially relate to Mozart which makes these foreign places seem more real. If your readers are interesting in donating to Reach The World to support this important work, please do so in our name.

We also volunteer with Teddy Bears Around The World that connects school kids from around the world. We have been amazed by the opportunities available for connecting and collaborating with other students and home school families from around the world. Recently I did an interview with Steve Hargadon from Classroom 2.0 and am excited about what is happening on this level in education.

We did not fully realize until we started this trip that Mozart’s education would include around the world wide web2.0 as well as the world. We have been astounded by the opportunities through web 2.0 that enriches Mozart’s world travel and allows us to connect and collaborate with others around the world. As she gets older this will come more and more into play, but it is already significant in our travels. She can take an online workshop with The Lukeion Project after touring an area in Greece, do regular interviews with school kids on another continent via skype webcam, radio interviews with a show about traveling kids and education or take piano lessons with a teacher on another continent through skype. We were quite shocked when our first YouTube video got almost a million views and the people we met through it and our others.

We feel we really have the best of all worlds. I did have some concerns about her education before we took off but now that we are starting on our third year of travel, I am convinced that she could get no better education than she is getting. We also really appreciate her time in the local school in our winter village in Spain. She leaned reading and writing in Spanish better than any other method would allow. She also gets the social aspect of spending 5 or 6 months out of every year with the same kids, so has that level of normalcy with things like play dates, sleep overs, football practice and Flamenco lessons.

Stay posted for the second part of Jeanne’s interview, in which she talks about some of the ups and downs of travelling as a family. You can subscribe to TravelBlogs for free to receive new posts as emails or in your feed reader.

Visit SoulTravelers3 or watch their videos on YouTube.

© Eric Daams for TravelBlogs, 2008. | Travelling Slow with Mozart: Interview with Jeanne from SoulTravelers3 (Part 1) | One comment |
Post categories: Interviews
Post tags: Africa, Europe, family travel, Morocco, parenting, travel with kids

© Gretchen Wilson-Kalav for TravelBlogs, 2008. | My Marrakesh | One comment |
Post categories: Blogs
Post tags: Africa, female travellers, living abroad, Marrakesh, Morocco

© Eric Daams for TravelBlogs, 2007. | Ubertramp | No comment |
Post categories: Blogs
Post tags: Morocco

Nathan Richards, a self-diagnosed sufferer of CBD (Compulsive Backpacking Disorder), did. True to form, Nathan took the opportunity to travel to Morocco at a bargain price. Together with his girlfriend Lauren, he has been trekking around Morocco since early September.

Travelblogs caught up with him earlier this week to find out a little more about Morocco, travel writing and future plans.

Tell me a little about your current trip. Why Morocco?

Well, for one reason because it’s a place I haven’t been to before but had heard so much about – good and bad – and the other reason is because Ryan Air had a 1 penny flight bonanza on a little while ago. For quite a while we had wanted to check Morocco out and now, with the flights, it seemed the perfect opportunity. They had flights on offer to Jerez De La Frontera, Spain literally for a penny – and at a time when we also had a few coins in the bank. And since we hadn’t been away in a few months we decided there and then to get it booked and just take it from there. Neither of us had any deep pre-trip fascination with Morocco, but it did strike us as somewhere that could prove to be pretty interesting. We could have just as easily gone somewhere else, but thought we’d give North Africa a spin for something a little different – and it’s certainly turned out to be just that

How much longer do you have in Morocco before heading home?

Unfortunately, not long – in fact, I may start to make my way back this week. At one point I was toying with the idea of crossing back into Europe, hitching my way up through Spain and taking the ferry across from Santander to Plymouth, my hometown, but unfortunately the ferry tickets cost a small fortune compared to flying, so I may just end up getting another budget flight back. I’ll keep my fingers crossed and see what the internet turns up on that one. Still, I can think of worse places to be in the meantime!

You’ve done quite a bit of freelance writing. Are you at a point where your writing can sustain your travelling?

Ha Ha. Absolutely not, but I wish it did. I guess that until it does I shall have to continue trafficking small children, stealing from other people’s daysacks, and rescuing half-smoked cigarette butts from ash trays. Maybe one day my writing may generate more than beer money, but, to be honest, I’m not doing it for the fame, fortune or big cash prize. I write because I enjoy writing, just as I do reading. I put them both in the same category. My main goal as far as the writing is concerned is to continue having work published, and to increase the number of outlets where that work can be shared.

Do you write in order to travel? Or do you travel in order to write?

Well, after the last question, I think we can safely assume that I don’t write to travel, but curiously though, I don’t travel to write, either. The writing seems to come more as a by product of the wandering, it’s
more of a pastime, it’s more like something to do during my time on the road. As I see it, you’ve got to have something to fill in the gaps between climbing volcanoes, diving reefs and being chased by old men
wielding sticks. And the writing drops in there quite nicely.

Who are some of the inspirations for your writing?

When it comes to authors, I’m just an unrefined, mainstream pleb, really. I thoroughly enjoy reading Bill Bryson’s dispatches, anything created by Dave Barry of Miami Herald fame (I think) and most of the random,
bilious twaddle that seeps from Jeremy Clarkson’s typewriter, too. But basically I’ll carry on reading anything by anyone just so long as it’s not too heavy.

I like my authors – whoever they may be – to tell it how it is, and I like them to be droll. I like them to share with me trivia and generally useless, but nevertheless interesting, snippets of info, and I like them to have a slightly warped sense of humour also – and they’ve got to be dry, the drier the better, in fact.

I don’t know why, but I don’t seem to enjoy classic travel literature as much as I feel that I should. I still read them, but the deeper a book goes, the more disinterested I become. Bertrand Russell once said something about the two main motives for reading a book: one, to enjoy it, the other to boast about it. I’m definitely more the silent type! Personally, I prefer the literary equivalent of easy listening music and generally just keep quiet about that fact – apart from in a setting such as this, clearly. The best way I can put it is by sharing with you one of my more shameful admissions: I enjoy Reader’s Digest. I guess I’m just shallow and proud. Haha. I’m quite unlike the proverbial onion as you really can tell what I’m all about just as soon the first layer rots away of its own accord. You can safely say that there’s no unravelling required.

Do you have any more trips in the pipeline after Morocco?

Now that’s a question and a half. How much time have you got? I plan on wandering until I wake up one day and say to myself “That’s enough of that. What’s next?” but I hope that day doesn’t come any time soon. You could spend your whole lifetime wandering the globe and still croak having only scratched the surface. It’s an incredibly overwhelming concept.

In the immediate future, my trips will take on much the same form as the current one. I suppose they will be to a Round the World Trip as infomercials are to a feature length film. The thing is that whilst I still have my lovely girlfriend, who I would rather like to keep, and a semi-permanent base in the UK, I must acquiesce to consuming the world in bite size chunks. But I hope, like I’ve found so far with Morocco, that that too can be just as much fun.

The next planned trips include a month or two in Egypt – with the aim of finding work as a Divemaster – and possibly another few months back in Indonesia. I love that place, its just nuts. Ideally, I’d want to start in northern Sumatra and loaf and lounge my way across to East Timor. But, like many of my trips, it’ll probably all boil down to the price of the flights at the time my feet are at their itchiest. If a penny flight pops up to Afghanistan, then the next Ubertramp post will be on cheap eats in Downtown Kabul!

You can find out whether Nathan scores a cheap flight to Afghanistan by following him on his blog, Ubertramp.

© Eric Daams for TravelBlogs, 2007. | To Morocco for a Penny | No comment |
Post categories: Interviews
Post tags: Morocco, travel writing