This is Not a Holiday

[Short of time? Read the Haiku review instead] I’ve only been robbed once while on the road. I mean properly robbed; of course I’ve had objects mysteriously disappear – a cap here and there, a bag of chilli grasshoppers, two beard trimmers in as many weeks in Ethiopia – but there’s only been one occasion on which a person has walked up to me and intentionally stolen from me. I’m not counting the time I was roofied in Texas as I’ve got no idea what happened then (see review of

[Short of time? Read the Haiku review instead] The trend in travel equipment today is firmly focussed on weight. Every item must be super-light, multi-purpose and have a half-life of 1000 years. This is a sensible drift, of course, and I’ve seen too many first-time backpackers automatically buy the biggest pack they can find, one the size of a small fridge, in the fear of being without some precious home comfort. With 100+ litres at their disposal, they fill up with such esse