Freespirit Magazine

What is it about blokes and sport? You can sit us down in front of the tele and show us a sport we’ve never seen before and within minutes we’re experts, criticising the technique of someone who has just spent the last two years getting up at dawn to train.

What is it about blokes and sport? You can sit us down in front of the tele and show us a sport we’ve never seen before and within minutes we’re experts, criticising the technique of someone who has just spent the last two years getting up at dawn to train.

Flights that get diverted and end up somewhere unintended are always a pain in the neck. I’ve had a few over the years including one last year – it was my very first flight on a double-decker Airbus A380 and Qantas managed to take me from Los Angeles to Sydney instead of Melbourne. The 15 hour flight turned into a 22 hour one.

I recently got an email from a woman who suffers from a diagnosed case of social phobia and is worried that this might compromise her travels.

“I am afraid that my introverted personality is going to effect the way I travel, and I won’t be as opportunistic when it comes to the social aspect of traveling,” the woman wrote. “Do you have any advice? Will solo travel help me better experience my host culture and meet locals? Besides going to therapy, do you have any suggestions that may help me be a bit more outgoing when it comes to social situations abroad?”

At the Jaipur Literary Festival in India last month I heard John Kampfner speak about his book Freedom for Sale, subtitled ‘how we made money and lost our liberty.’ The book takes eight countries – Singapore, China, Russia, the UAE, India, Italy, Britain and the USA – and examines how people in each country, in their own distinct fashion, have traded liberty for security and/or money.

One of the things we love best at BootsnAll is talking to other travelers about their travel experiences. That was the driving force behind the formation of the company back in 1998 – Sean and Chris wanted to replicate the engaging atmosphere they found in hostel pubs and common rooms in an online setting to tide them over until the next chance they had to get on the road again.