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Author: Sean Keener

Paul Hastings – Around-the-World Traveler

  1. When did you go on your RTW trip?
    April 2000-September 2001

  2. How old were you when you took this trip?
    25

  3. Nationality
    England

  4. Where do you live now?
    London, England

  5. Occupation
    Before your trip: IT Sales

    Now: Media Account Manager

  6. How did your travels affect your career when you got back?
    Obviously the major effect of taking over a year out to travel and see the world, was the fact that I’m now about a year behind my peers in terms of travel. However, it is interesting in interviews. Some people look perplexed that I cut a good career to do travel. However, most are supportive, impressed etc, and in the long run should not affect your career, as long as you can show that you have commitment, and that you have learned things about yourself during your time away. After spending over 5 months temping, I now have permanent work at a place where I was only supposed to be for 2 weeks!!

  7. What is the route you took/places you visited?
    Basic route (bit unusual I know), but I had been in the US for 6 weeks after University, and I just wanted to get on with it.

    • New Zealand – 6 Weeks. North and South Island
    • Australia – 8 months. Sydney/Melbourne – working for 4 months. Then up the center to Darwin. Then to the east coast, up to Cape Tribulation, then down the coast to Byron Bay, then up to depart from Brisbane.
    • Singapore – 6 days.
    • Malaysia – Melaka, KL; Cameron Highlands, KL; Taman Negara National Park, Perenthian Islands.
    • Thailand – South for islands/beaches, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pai and border area of Laos.
    • Laos – 3 weeks. North (too many small villages to remember), Luang Prabang, Vang Vien and then Vientiane.
    • Vietnam – 3 weeks. North from Hanoi down the coast to Saigon.
    • Cambodia – 3½ weeks. Phnom Penh, down to the east coast, back to PP, Siem Reap (for Angkor Wat), Battambang.
    • Thailand – Koh Chang and Bangkok.

  8. Why did you decide to take this trip? What got you into this type of travel, and/or influenced you to go?
    I was unhappy in my job and decided that if I didn’t go now when I had relatively few commitments, that I would never go, and that would be a regret.

  9. Out of all your experiences traveling around the world, what was the:

    • Best Moment

      First time I saw Angkor Wat, what a totally overwhelming experience!!

    • Worst Moment

      Getting attacked by bed bugs in Singapore (they were bad!!)

    • Biggest Hurdle, Obstacle or Difficulty?

      Coming Home!!

    • Biggest surprise?

      Cambodia

  10. Who is the most memorable person you met on your trip and why?
    There are many, but some of them include: The man who ran the Land Mine Museum, just outside of Siem Reap (Cambodia). This guy had seen it all, he was kidnapped by the Khmer Rouge as a child, trained to kill. After fighting for many years for the Khmer Rouge, he moved over to the Vietnamese side, and fought the KR. He now travels the country educating villagers to the dangers of mines and de-mining heavily mined areas. He has adopted a young boy who had lost his legs through a mine, and now runs a museum (that the Cambodian government wants to close down), to educate tourists who visit the country. He was an inspirational character who wants to help his ravaged country. He happened to be at the museum when I visited, and talking to him was both fascinating and moving.

    Many of the times people who you neither talk to or know their names are inspirational. The old women in villages, who have the most amount of dignity despite the poverty and all the things they have witnessed through their lives. Children can also be inspirational, so full of hope for the future!

  11. How much planning and preparing did you do?
    Winged it a lot

  12. What was your favorite piece of gear? What did you bring, that in hindsight you could’ve left at home?
    Favourite: My hammock that I bought in Thailand, amazing just where you could hang it. I could have left at home 75% of what I brought with me, and I was travelling relatively light!!

  13. How did your round-the-world trip change your life? How did it affect and change you as a person?
    Hard question to answer!! And probably in many ways on many levels, but a couple of the major ones are:

    • Of course I already knew it, but going to a third-world country makes it more obvious, how lucky we are to be born in the west, with all advantages that gives us, including the ability to travel!!
    • Awareness of how long conflicts and political problems take to resolve themselves. This is true for the people in Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. It makes me shudder to think about the problems that Afghanistan is facing. Travelling to ex-trouble spots makes you far more interested in current affairs.
    • Sounds strange, but travelling increases your interest in people (not saying that I was unsociable before), but everyone has a story to tell and it’s fascinating listening to them.

    • Patience: far more patient with both people and situations. You look back at some of the frustrating situations that you have experienced and realise sitting on a comfortable train for an extra 10 minutes, is really not that bad!!

  14. If you had to sum up your round-the-world trip in one sentence, what would it be?
    Fantastic and eye-opening.

  15. Are you planning more trips and travels for the future? Are you planning another round-the-world trip?
    I hope to do more travelling, but I really doubt that it will be a RTW trip. Think my next major trip will be to Central/South America, am also interested, once things have settled down a bit, to see the Middle East.

  16. Why do you think people should go on round-the-world trips? Why not just take a regular old one- or two-week vacation instead?
    The chance of seeing the more exotic far-away places, that doing in a two-week trip would be totally out of the question. Also ‘going rough’ is an education, seeing just how far you can push yourself is good sometimes, especially when at home you have a fairly easy life.

  17. What is the most valuable thing you learned?
    The world may be a big place, but once you get down to individuals we are all the same. Sometimes the places that you are most apprehensive about visiting can be the best places to go to (Cambodia).

  18. What is the biggest myth that people have about round-the-world traveling?
    That it’s hard work and complicated to organise. Believe me it’s not!!

  19. Why do you like to travel?
    Seeing things and meeting people that are beyond your normal group of experiences and expectations. Whether that’s seeing Ayers Rock, Diving at the Barrier Reef, experiencing religious festivals in KL or seeing sunset at Angkor Wat they are all memorable. People: this can range from fellow travellers, to the local people of the country you are visiting, ranging from an outback cattle herder, a hostel owner on a beach in Thailand, to a survivor of the genocide in Cambodia or a young ,ovice monk, just wanting to practice their English. Its all about experiences.

  20. What is your advice for people planning their own RTW trip?
    If you are curious and you want to see what’s out there, just do it. Take your time and be flexible…