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The most amazing thing

May 5, 2018May 5, 2018 by halfashoestring

It was an American fish hatcher who first made me reevaluate everything. I'd pulled into his Oregon forest hatchery in a rainstorm, in search of a rumoured creek campground, and amidst the questions I was used to answering - why are you cycling around the world? did you know there's an aeroplane? - was the … Continue reading The most amazing thing

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Of spooks and spokes

February 20, 2018February 20, 2018 by lizdodd

On the night of the super blue blood moon eclipse I walked onto the balcony of my haunted hotel, and watched clouds scuttle across its surface until I couldn't tell what was eclipse and what was shadow. I’d stopped at the Champasak Palace Hotel in Pakse, south Laos, because it was supposed to be haunted, … Continue reading Of spooks and spokes

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On the road again

January 26, 2018January 26, 2018 by lizdodd

Between the typhoons, the tarantulas, the Dengue scares and the rough rides on propeller planes low over the South China sea, it was, for me, an average Christmas break. But it was a break of a week that stretched into two, then three, and maybe because they had arrived exactly halfway through my trip around … Continue reading On the road again

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The monsters of my own imagination

December 1, 2017December 1, 2017 by lizdodd

In most great adventures there comes a point when the characters split up for a time. So like the Fellowship in The Lord of the Rings and Luke, Leia and Han in Star Wars, Miranda and I went our separate ways after the Pamir Highway. Still recuperating, Miranda decided to fly to Thailand early in … Continue reading The monsters of my own imagination

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The downward spiral

November 6, 2017 by lizdodd

As Miranda closed her laptop with a flourish, the last blogpost complete, the walls of the Pamir Lodge in Khorog started to vibrate as an earthquake rocked the mountainside town and the power cut out. “At least I’ve got a topline for the next blog post,” I joked. “Although I hope that wasn’t an omen.” We … Continue reading The downward spiral

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Ascent into madness

October 16, 2017October 16, 2017 by Miranda Heneghan

“Tell them we aren’t moving unless they bring us a truck” Liz said in a hushed tone. We had been warned that the Tajik military like to pounce on tourists camping along the border with Afghanistan, but we had thus far avoided them. This was our final night on the Panj River and they had … Continue reading Ascent into madness

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By any means

September 20, 2017September 20, 2017 by lizdodd

“We’re sitting on a box full of money, on the train conductor’s bed, drinking a teacup of vodka, and minding bags of other peoples’ contraband,” Miranda observed as we sped across the Uzbekistan desert on the slow train to Samarkand. When we had realised, in Georgia, that we would have to throw our bikes on … Continue reading By any means

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Georgia on my mind

September 2, 2017September 2, 2017 by Miranda Heneghan

Our experience on the ferry from Istanbul to Odessa had left us feeling like wizened old seadogs. Sailing to Georgia, we rocked up to the port two hours before our scheduled departure and headed straight for the bar. Eventually setting sail at 3am, we had already polished off the entire supply of champagne. By the … Continue reading Georgia on my mind

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All at sea

August 18, 2017August 18, 2017 by halfashoestring

"We're about to get on a boat to Ukraine," I said to Miranda, head in hands as I tried to squash my hangover back into my skull and the sun rose over Istanbul, "but we don't actually have any way out of Ukraine." Since being reunited in early August Miranda and I had done Istanbul … Continue reading All at sea

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There’s only one way to find out

August 7, 2017August 7, 2017 by halfashoestring

There is a computer game called The Evil Within, a notoriously difficult horror game. It took me 31 hours to complete it, and over the course of the game I died 442 times, or once every four minutes. Once every four minutes I failed, waited for the game to reload while regretting my life decisions, … Continue reading There’s only one way to find out

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Recent Posts

  • The most amazing thing
  • Of spooks and spokes
  • On the road again
  • The monsters of my own imagination
  • The downward spiral

Recent Posts

  • The most amazing thing
  • Of spooks and spokes
  • On the road again
  • The monsters of my own imagination
  • The downward spiral

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