Quilatoa, Ecuador – 2017
From The Beginning
My name is Angus, which often surprises Scottish people as I have a very English accent. I have been travelling independently and regularly for more than thirty years. It is my absolute passion, and it’s about time that I share my images and experiences of travel, publicly!
Throughout my childhood, my grandmother would tell me about her adventures as a teenager living in India, and as an adult living in Libya, Malta, and Mallorca. Her stories of faraway journeys and places sparked my curiosity. By the age of ten, I was poring over atlases to plan the routes I would one day explore myself. Happily, my grandmother lived to see me begin my own adventures, including close to where she had lived in India.
My first independent journey was a gentle start with two months hopping around some very welcoming Greek Islands. Long summer holidays as a student, and then as a teacher in international schools, gave me the time to explore many far-flung places. I even managed to squeeze in a ten-month journey travelling around the world.
Travelling
After qualifying as a teacher in England, I left to work in Kuwait, then Oman, and Spain – where I continue to live today. I travel independently, but occasionally include an organised trip. After visiting more than 70 countries and making more than 20 journeys ranging from one to ten months, my spark of interest in exploring new places is still very much alive.
Occasionally, I still use a rucksack, but mostly I try to travel with the bare minimum. For a typical six-week trip I’ll squeeze everything into hand luggage. If I’m off to remote areas, I’ll usually take a sheet sleeping bag, and if it’s tropical, a mosquito net. I usually include a simple first-aid kit for cuts, bites, and a poorly stomach. The rest is usually made up of a few clothes, a wash bag, a book, a camera, and that’s about it.
Where I stay and where I eat depends very much on where I’m travelling. If simple, clean and comfortable guesthouse accommodation is available, so much the better. In remote areas, I have often stayed in very basic places where the toilet is outside or shared among several properties. However, I’m not against the occasional treat in somewhere smart – ideally with a local feel to it!
For food, I’ll look for places that have been well received in social media or, better still, places that are full of locals. I speak English and Spanish, and can get by in Arabic, French and Japanese. If all else fails, I’ll point at something someone else is eating, and I have even been known to imitate what I want for lunch.
Photography
After the era of film photography, I experimented with the first of the point and shoot digital cameras and mobile phone cameras, but since 2015 I have relied on either the Canon 70D or the Olympus TG-5.
Contact
Join me as I share with you photos and experiences from those faraway journeys and places. Please feel free to contact me – click here for the contact form.