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Slowly does it
Last year Ed Gillespie decided to call time on his routine existence and take the chance to travel the world with his partner - but with just one provision - it would be done without using what he describes as the 'aluminium sausage'.
So we’re sat in steamy Singapore sipping well-slung cocktails and waiting for a cargo ship. As you do. As I write this we’ve been on the road for more than six months, travelled almost 20,000 miles, crossed 18 national borders – sometimes even with the correct visas – and we’re still only halfway through our ‘Around the world in 80 ways’ global circumnavigation without flying. What on earth are we doing?
Well, it all started about five years ago when I gave up flying for holidays. Through my climate change work at Futerra I felt the planet-stewing mass of carbon emissions flying creates were becoming hard to justify. What’s more, it was threatening to drive a coach and horses through my carefully calculated personal carbon budget. A bit of casual research backed this up. The Tyndall Centre’s climate change scenarios for the UK predict that growth in aviation could effectively wipe out the carbon savings being achieved through energy efficiency and renewables. The UK aviation sector could account for 50 per cent of permissible carbon emissions by 2050 in the most optimistic scenario and end up consuming the entire UK carbon budget in the most pessimistic!1
So what’s a boy to do? We all love to travel, should I resign myself to wet weekends in Bognor rather than a tropical jaunt to Bora Bora? What would happen if I gave up flying? Where would we go? What would it be like? Would we end up missing the old aluminium sausage or might we discover new pleasures and experiences?
Round the world
On March 5th last year my partner Fiona and I decided to find out, putting our money where our mouths are and, forsaking planes, setting off on a round the world adventure. Taking a gratefully received sabbatical from work we boarded a ferry to Spain and sailed straight into what was not quite the perfect storm, but definitely one that would earn a commendation. Three days later after queasy eight metre swells and Force 10 winds we landed in Bilbao to begin the continental traverse that has brought us here to this surreal technological nanny-state off the southern tip of Peninsular Malaysia.
We’ve trundled on trains, bumped along on buses, taken tram trips, paddled canoes, ridden horses, bikes, mopeds and the odd belligerent camel along the way. We’ve drunk cognac with Russian policemen, vodka with nomadic Mongolian tribesmen, baijiu in China, sake in Japan and more obscure beer brands than a real ale festival. Sustenance has come from sushi, boiled mutton, fresh Siberian fish we’d caught through ice holes on frozen Lake Baikal, a bewildering array of tongue tantalising Chinese regional dishes and something which probably came from one of the aforementioned camels. We’ve plunged into caves, scaled extinct volcanoes, swum in turquoise lagoons, tramped through deserts and lost ourselves in thick forests, but most importantly, this smorgasbord of travel modes, beverages, grub and scenery has all been enjoyed slowly.
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