Explore Yourself

I am a follower of all things Travel and Adventure, my eyes light up at the discovery of a new flight route to Armenia, A camel trek in the Western Sahara or a Windsurfing trip in Naxos. I sometime discover information about destinations so far removed from any known tourist guides that I cannot even pinpoint them on the world map without tracing the steps of previous explorers with some kind of obsessive desire to find the answers. The thought of the unknown is what drives my spirit of adventure, I leave scribbles and notes in diaries about trips and ideas far into the future, even if they are not viable or I never embark on them, but each idea is what inspires and motivates me to keep taking those steps to find what is over the horizon.

I embrace the journey, they say a picture tells a thousand words, but to me the words create the meaning of the picture, without the story, it's just another picture. Interestingly, the shifting tides of mass tourism is opening people's ideas again to the concept of camping, hostelling and the alternative ways of spending time embarking on adventures in lesser developed areas. I've also discovered how this new found appreciation for the outdoors has inspired people to look closer to home for exploration, with the idea of adventure starting from home itself with nothing seemingly too far out the question. Outdoor pursuits are inspiring new lifestyles, awareness and general respect for each other and the world we live in.

I read just recently how the Outer Hebrides of Scotland in the UK has some of the most diverse snorkeling marine life in the whole of Europe. I am not new to this area of the world, I already had a good knowledge of the Marine life in Scotland from my days of living in the Highlands during my 20's where I spent most of my free time traveling across the region via motorcycles. Scotland is rich in marine life, but it surprised me to see the amount of diversity within the reef system, which is probably unsurprising given this part of the world is still very much untouched by modern development and tourism. Still I learned something new in a place which once used to be my home, and after discovering this, I started to consider other cold water destinations and this inspired me to open up my horizons and discover again, it goes to show the ripple effect a single discovery can have on the adventurous minded.

I visited Cambodia in my early 20's on a solo budget backpacking trip, it was my first long distance solo travel but one which inspired many future travel adventures. I remember realising just how relatively undeveloped the country is at least to Western tourists and it was that sense of disconnect and cultural preservation which appealed to me over the more popular tourist destinations in South East Asia.

I did my research using the internet and travel books and found pockets of the country which were still very much undocumented or with minimal tourism information to the outside world, adventures were still to be found for those with the motivation to step away from the path. I did a bit of scoping prior and discovered tip offs within forums online and pieced together locations via guide books and maps, but the only real way to find out was to discover these places for myself in person. The challenge was always part of the adventure, and the risk was worth the reward.

Cambodia is a reminder of how quickly the world can change due to tourism.

Sihanoukville which was once a sleepy medium sized fishermans town on the south coast of Cambodia is now small city within the space of a decade. The reality on the ground is that Sihanoukville's reputation existed merely as a backpacker enclave where most arrived at this Idyllic and unspoilt destination to discover a way of life still unaffected by the gaze of mass tourism development. Tourists did not arrive in coaches by the hour, it was a relatively undiscovered paradise with a sustainable tourist to local ratio mostly consisting of backpackers who had dared ventured further away from the central tourist locations to discover the wild coastline and outlying islands. Chickens were seen happily sleeping next to dogs on the streets, local vendors and sellers would approach you in person selling anything from lobsters to shell necklaces, hotels were being held up by strings of bamboo and the nightlife was a trial in self preservation and discipline, people were easy to meet and it was all a part of the backpacker experience whilst getting the opportunity to discover and feel like a part of the local culture. I discovered people who loved it so much they decided to stay and call it home, but they wanted to keep it this way, a relative secret paradise, until it wasn't anymore.

The always online nature of the world today proves it was ultimately inevitable that the secret would be out and organisations would act to take advantage of the situation out in Cambodia. How could the government say no when you have large multi national companies ready to invest huge sums of money into your country for the purpose of growth and prosperity. The ultimate irony is how big business followed the same path of the backpacker searching for the last unspoilt paradise and making it their own. The locals had a fair arguement in saying they deserved a share of what the other South East Asian countries were receiving from tourism, but the question is did anyone really ask them before it all happened? The problem with mass development is that once it is built it can very rarely be reversed, replacing cultural authenticity for something which can no longer be identified as uniquely Cambodian.

I wonder how many travelers still remember Sihanoukville before the development. I follow travel blogs and magazines but rarely do any speak of the days before, it has all been forgotten, much like how those intrepid backpackers discovered what are now some of the most heavily visited places in the world. Backpackers on budgets search for affordable but genuine experiences, and when the cat is out the bag they move on, either because they can no longer afford to visit anymore or the area no longer inspires the authentic adventure they are searching for, leaving lots of people such as me who reminisce of the good times and talking about how "we were there" before all of this became an amusement park for wealth.

I still love and respect Cambodia, it holds many great memories of my life, but I'm also glad to see how the tide of tourism recently is changing for the better to acknowledge the impact of unsustainable development. There is a lot that can be said for unethical tourism built on the back of viral marketing found on places such as social media. Not only this, the spirit of intrepid travel and adventure backpacking appeared briefly lost behind the gentrification generation, but both topics are two very different beasts which require a whole seperate narrative. What is true is how the intrepid backpacker paved the way and took the first steps of discovery in order for the tourism sector in many places to be what it is today, something which many people forget.

There is something special to me about a handwritten diary journal or sketches of drawings from travels, personal accounts which can only be told from a person point of view at a single moment in time, it doesn't get any more authentic. The always online nature of social media travel for me misses the intricate details and points of these personal interactions and the deeper and sometimes darker and emotional depths of the story behind the adventure. This goes back to my earlier line about the importance of words behind a picture.

Outdoors active tourism has arguably put a spotlight again on alternative ways of travel which for me is only a good thing. Adventure travel communities still exist but are hideen from the attention of popular media. Backpacking was an affordable way to discover the world and an aspiring life goal for many younger people, but the premise appears to have dropped considerably over the years for many reasons, the big one being that we are all increasingly skint and forced into a system of doing things exactly the same as everyone else.

Still, I do believe the spirit of backpacking still shines bright if you pay attention to the details, people are making conscious ethical choices in our everyday lives which point towards simple and visceral experiences which are meaningful rather than consumeristic, they are also doing it out of budget restraints therefore being creative in finding different ways to experience the same thing, which for me is the mindset of a budget backpacker, experience the same, but embrace the alternative to make it happen.

Adventure travel also starts in the mind, the biggest fear is normally taking the first step into the unknown, people say the world is becoming a smaller place, maybe in terms of connectivity, but the outdoors and wilderness is never as straightforward as a tourist guide, it requires a commitment and respect for your environment and surroundings and awareness of your impact towards it.

I believe if people continue to show awareness and consciousness in day to day lives we can start to see the next generation of explorers enjoying everything those earlier adventurers set their sights on and achieved away from the instagram and viral frenzy we see today online, hopefully to leave a lasting, inspirational and positive impression on the world again.