Here’s my travel story so far. What is yours?

My travel story so far – Travel to become.

"What is your travel story - Wayne Marinovich Photography"

 

Why I travel

It is simple, really. I love the unknown. Every part of travelling to a new country or city holds the hope of discovering something new. It may be experiencing a moment that changes your life or meeting a person or group of people who change you as a person just a little bit.

“Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow.” – Anita Desai

It’s about growth for me, and I’ve been obsessed with personal growth ever since finishing school. The world is the largest university out there, and your bucket list is your life curriculum. Experiences that expand the mind and open your heart to the world were always top of my list of things to do. As I approached my fiftieth country of travel, I decided to celebrate it by visiting somewhere special, so Anneli and I decided on a trip Southeast Asia. Cambodia was first on the list.

"Cambodia and Angkor Wat - Wayne Marinovich Photography"

 

 

Influences

“I travel not to go anywhere but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.” – Robert Louis Stevenson, Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes

Growing up in South Africa meant nature and wildlife were all around, so it was the African landscape that was my early playground. As I experienced all it had to offer, I read books about the magic of distant lands. Scorching arid deserts, jungles teeming with all things that crawl, and of course, cold icy places I had no experience of. It wasn’t just the places but the way that it stirred the travel writer in me.

I have to thank my parents and uncle for buying me all the books I pestered them for, although to be honest, it was way too easy to buy presents for my birthdays and Christmas. Anything with words and pictures would do it.

“Travel brings power and love back into your life.” – Rumi Jalalud-Din

 

"Travelling in the Arctic Circle"

 

Top of my booklist in those early days was Tintin. International reporter, sleuth and more importantly, astute traveller. His adventures helped me start my bucket list and drove me to leave Africa’s shores permanently. Getting lost in my books is one of the greatest influences of my drive to charge off into the unknown. This love of books also inspired me to write my novels and novellas about characters who travel the globe. More here – Wayne Marinovich Books.

“We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls.” – Anaïs Nin,

 

 

Books that inspired me to travel

“I read, I travel, I become” – Derek Walcott

There are simply too many to list here, but if you are on Goodreads, you can have a browse of my books read shelf. Some of my earlier influences are listed here, but there are too many great unread books out there. A huge hat tip must go to Wilbur Smith. I’ve read all of his early books and his take on the world empires through the ages took me to many countries I could only dream about. I’ve subsequently worked and lived in many of them.

 

Gerald Durrell also played a significant part, starting with My family and other animals, which we had to read at school. He opened my eyes to how we can live with nature, and it was a treat to follow his travels as he collected animals for zoos.

Thor Heyerdahl’s Ra and Kon-Tiki Expeditions stirred my love of adventure and going into the unknown. It also started me off reading other adventurers’ and traveller’s works like Robert Scott, Ernest Shackleton, Richard Francis Burton, Amelia Earhart, Edmund Hilary, Ranulph Fiennes, Livingstone and Cecil Rhodes.

“Travel far enough, you meet yourself.” – David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

 

The start of any adventure means walking into a book shop and heading over to the travel section. Look for all the travel guides and pick a country you haven’t been to. Spend some time looking at what it has to offer you. That’s where it all starts.

Travel is supposed to be an adventure, so don’t keep going back to the same old place with infinity pools and all you can eat services. Seek out the new.

 

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” –  St. Augustine

 

My travel Photography

Here is a link to a gallery of my favourite travel photos

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