culture

Falling into the Grand Canyon

/ Dan Hackett / 1 Comment

“Okay, follow me.”

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I took my tour guide’s hand and shuffled along after him sightlessly. Behind me was a long chain of blindfolded backpackers clinging to each other like a care home conga line. We edged our way along the path, which we knew would take us to the rim of the Grand Canyon. After a minute of feeling our way down the path, a sudden quiet implied we had reached the edge. Our guide, and my friend, a perpetually upbeat Puerto Rican named Nando, carefully positioned us in a line, and semi-joking warned us not to step forward. He gave the word, and we took off our blindfolds. Continue reading →

The Night Train

/ Dan Hackett / 2 Comments

Leaving the air con cool of the hotel, we walked out into the oily heat of a Saigon evening. Our guide, a tiny 57 year old Thai woman called Lek, who seemed to hate everything Vietnamese, hailed a taxi. We climbed in and were whisked through the chaos of whirring motorbikes beneath the infinite mass of telephone lines. We arrived at the train station after dark. Continue reading →

A Forgotten Conversation

/ Dan Hackett / Leave a comment

As you advance through countries, you will find that you assemble a patchwork quilt of memories. There are countless stories and moments which you take in your stride while you’re travelling. Some of them stick with you forever. Many are forgotten, and the memory dredged up years later while flicking through an old journal, jerked out of the subconscious by the scruff of its neck. Continue reading →

Fiji Time

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Time, and how it is perceived, varies greatly depending on where you are in the world. In the Western culture I’ve been raised in, we prioritise and organise frantically to fit everything into our day. We live and work to deadlines, wake up with alarms and work rotating shifts. In several countries I’ve visited, however, the notion of immediacy is actually shunned, or simply doesn’t exist. Vietnam and Cuba are two countries in which patience isn’t just a virtue but a necessity. The country that takes the crown, however, is Fiji. Continue reading →

Surfing at Cayton Bay

/ Dan Hackett / 2 Comments

I love travelling because I love new experiences, and I’m always searching for a new novelty. There’s no greater feeling than discovery, be it a new band to explore, a new person to get to know, or a new hobby to get to grips with. This weekend, on a cloudless Sunday morning, I hopped in a car with three friends and we headed to Cayton Bay, just south of Scarborough, for an afternoon of surfing in the mild spring sun. Continue reading →

Travel Envy

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The green eyed monster doesn’t only rear its ugly head in relationships. Since I got back from my round the world trip in 2014 (almost two years ago, FUCK), I’ve met a lot of people who have travelled as well, many of whom did a similar route to myself, and many who have seen and done far more than me.

And it pisses me right off. Continue reading →

The Definition of Freedom

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I know, right? Intense title for a blog post.

I’ve been around the world a couple of times, and I’ve learned a few things. One of the most prevailing is this: freedom is a completely subjective concept. Some of the most liberated individuals I’ve met have come from countries we view as oppressive. To illustrate this, let’s compare Vietnam with the good old US of A. Continue reading →