One of the great things about writing a book about riding an old Vespa around Italy is that fellow Vespa aficionados – or Ves-bores, as Sally calls them – send you pics of their pride and joys. Like ‘Jock’ McGrath from Melbourne. This is his Vespa called Vicki featuring artwork inspired by the covers of [...]

I’m beginning to think that March is the month that cover designers in the publishing industry get most of their work done. Moments after receiving the cover for the Estonian version of No Shitting in the Toilet, I got the new cover for the UK version of Swahili for the Broken-Hearted. I’m really pleased with [...]

Just got this emailed to me. It’s the cover for the Estonian edition of No Shitting in the Toilet. Not sure what any of it means, but I can tell you one thing. That handle is much too fancy for the sort of toilets I usually see on my travels.

Hot on the heels of an Estonian edition, my first book, No Shitting in the Toilet, is being translated into Hungarian. After the fall of communism it seems independent travel has become quite big in the former Eastern Bloc. As part of the process my Hungarian translator, Bibiana Balanyi, occasionally emails me about stuff she [...]

People often ask me how I remember what happens to me while I am on the road researching a book. Do I keep a journal? Do I carry a laptop? Or do I store it all in my head and remember it when I get home? The answer is none of the above. I simply [...]

My Australian agents were handing out free drinks at the London Book Fair on Tuesday evening so I went along to give them moral support. This consisted mainly of quaffing wine and grazing on canapés, something as an Australian I have a natural ability to do. Sometime between my second glass of Chardonnay and a [...]

One of my favourite sections of music magazines is the part where they ask someone well-known what’s playing on their iPods. I learned, for example, that Ricky Gervais of The Office fame is a big Kings of Convenience and Fountains of Wayne fan. He went up immeasurably in my estimation. Most of the time though [...]

My blog has only been up a day and I’ve already had a few emails asking me what the title means. I was going to be smart and say ‘whatever you want it to mean’ but the rent’s due and I can’t risk alienating people who buy my books. The line is lifted from a [...]

I saw two ordinary gigs last weekend – The Streets at Alexandra Palace and Mercury Rev at the Apollo in Hammersmith. The Streets were shambolic and only got it together for the encore – Dry Your Eyes and Fit But You Know It. I’ve never breathed in so much second-hand marijuana smoke, even in my [...]

I was a guest speaker at the TNT Travel Show last Saturday. It was held at the New Connaught Rooms near Covent Garden in London, a rather ornate venue for a gathering of scruffy Antipodeans. It was packed solid – I think every backpacker in London was there. My talk on travelling in Central America [...]