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My Travelogue |
The whole world |
Background |
A collection of stories about my years of overland travel, holidays and short breaks, around the world.
This is the background for my travels, which led to this Travelogue site. Enjoy the read or jump straight in using the top row of blue menus.
On page notes and credits
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Background
for Ivan's travels
Background
Introduction
Hello, and welcome. My name is Ivan Hurst and this travelogue is a collection of stories, photos, videos, and facts about my overland travels. It also includes holidays and short breaks. The stories start in the early 1970's, with occasional reminisces even further back in time. The initial year of this page is 2012, so there is a considerable gap between the event and writing it up.
As a child my parents took me on several touring holidays in the UK and Ireland. I have continued the tradition of touring holidays in Great Britain into adulthood and with the family. I like to travel and have been lucky enough to have been able to extensively explore Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America, in addition to Great Britain.
I have not yet travelled to South America or Antarctica, they are on the to do list.
Inside these pages you can find stories of intrigue, elation and despair. I have dined with royalty and been arrested as a spy. There are stories of sleeping with lions, chasing rhinos, and charging bull elephants. The trials and tribulations of expedition life, the people and how they interact. Add to that beautiful and dramatic scenery, amazing wildlife photography. Cityscapes, landscapes, and more. Mountains, forests, deserts, glaciers, rivers, lakes and seas, and more. Read on to find out more.
As I suspect is true with most people travelling started with family holidays. I will not dwell on those days extensively. That would be stretching my memory too far. A few photos to amuse.
How it all started
This whole travelling thing started in March 1975. Pete and I were travelling to work one morning and we started talking about how far you could travel by road once across the channel. We had heard about the Grand Trunk Road and thought it would an adventure to drive along it in our own truck. That was it, the decision was made. However, it was not quite as simple to translate the decision into actuality. The internet was not invented and information was a lot more difficult to find. Mass long distance travelling had not really taken off and unless you knew how and where to find it there was little help to be found. Mobile phones were not available so general communications were limited to letters, telegrams, or very rarely telex, unless you met face to face and had a conversation.
Pete and I had met at college and were at the time working for the same company, Percy Bilton, at the same road construction site in north London. We had one company mini van between us as we both lived in different parts of Hatfield, having not moved away since attending college there. The van was a treat, not an entitlement. On the way home that day we talked about next steps. Pete asked his fiancée what she thought about the idea. I asked my girlfriend. When Pete picked me up from my home the next morning we compared notes. Pete and his fiancée were up for the trip whilst my girlfriend would stay at home. So the crew was set at three.
This would be my first trip abroad, apart from Ireland with my parents, ever. How that compares to today where foreign travel is a lot more accessible, affordable, and anticipated! Three of us, in our own truck, travelling the Grand Asia Trunk Road.
This trip, together with other expeditions over the next three years I have, in my mind grouped together, and called my Grand Tour. Read more about my Grand Tour.
At this point I should explain that even the beggars in New Delhi view and treat travellers differently to hippies or tourists. Goa was part of the hippy trail at the time. They were generally treated with a degree of distain, even from people who spent their days begging on the street corners. Tourists on the other hand were considered transient and relatively wealthy. A source of a considerable amount of their daily income. One hit on a wealthy American can be enough to feed the family for a week. Travellers were different. They were very rare, stayed around longer, knew more about, and integrated into the community more. This is just my experience of course. I am a bit of a self confessed people watcher, as will be evident from some of my comments and observations further in.
Settling down
After the years of travelling, I settled down to a more normal life of work, girlfriends, holidays, and homes. Eventually getting married and having a family. You can read a bit more about me by following the link. We were fortunate enough to be able to go on some amazing holidays, which are also included in this travelogue. We have never been on holiday to Spain or any of the other Costa de Brit, sorry Costa del Sol. Some of our holidays have been quite affairs in Britain and some a little more lively. But big crowds and loud music is not our normal idea of a holiday. That is more restricted to gigs at Wembley or Knebworth, but that's another story. Our holidays have not all been sun, sand and sea in far away places, although there have been a few. As evidenced by the side image, which is of the beach outside our villa in the Maldives. That is the villa we stayed in on a package holiday to Holiday Island, Maldives not our own little bolt hole that we escape to on a regular basis.
That brings me to an interesting aside. We had decided to have our holiday in the Lake District for that year. Just the three of use staying in a cottage and wandering around the beautiful countryside. A good deal of walking (including the odd mountain top), followed by the obligatory recovery. David, our son, enjoys the outside life and is a pleasure to be with on long walks through the country. He does not consider it a form of torture. We researched it online and by talking to friends. I had been on holiday there with my parents, and a field trip with sixth form. We had decided on the location and then started checking out the nearby cottages. All sorted, availability checked, every thing apart from actual booking. Then we left it for a week, I can't remember why, but something diverted our attention away from the holiday for about a week. Well, disaster, our favorite was now booked. So was the reserve. In fact, all of our 'possibles' were no longer available. We even started to check the availability of cottages we had rejected and locations that were not on the favorites list. Then we came to our senses. Flexibility is one thing, ah that one is gone, lets try the next, but eventually you get to the point where you are no longer arranging the holiday you want to go on and enjoy. Time to give up and go to bed, disappointed. Next evening, it was back on the computer and straight to lastminute.com and after a few searches the Lake District in Great Britain, became the Maldives in the Indian Ocean. Read more about our Maldives holiday.
Anyway, back to were I was. Apart from sun, sand and sea in far away places we also went to snow and ice with little sun. Places such as Iceland, twice, USSR, and Norway.
Recently we have found the joys of Cruise Holidays, including the Inside Passage and Coastal Express.
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Family trips and holidays
In no specific order, below are a few photos of family day trips and holidays in Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland.
My Auntie Elsie was Housekeeper/Cook for as long as I can remember, until she retired, at Toc H at Putney, London. I visited with my parents and grand parents. The photo is of the staff on the steps with Auntie Elsie front row, second from left.
Whilst at sixth form collage, there was a school trip to Rydal Hall in the Lake District. It has a different purpose now, but then it put up with students and school kids. As part of the introduction we were told that there was a heated pool around the back. This translated to a waterfall with a pond at the bottom, slightly dammed to make it deeper, and slightly warmer. It was still cold at 3am. Our little group, fit and slim in those days, tended to be in front of the pack on the mountain walks. We would have the kettle on and the tea brewing before the next group arrived. This was no doubt infuriating as we would also set off again first. If we waited at a rest break, we would leave just as they caught up. We were known to stride with intent across Striding Edge Cumbria and got to Helvellyn in time to take some photos. We also managed to get to the pub or cafe first, at the end of each days walk. Not a lot of sleep, lots of walking, and a penny whistle. The photos below are by Robert Sanders, with thanks. The photo at the pool is in the early morning. I am still surprised that it came out. Read more ...
