"Life Is A Journey" psychocy's Profile

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UNDER CONSTRUCTION

I'm STILL re-working my VT pages and adding a LOT of content, so please continue to bear with me if something doesn't make sense or seems half-finished. Feel free to explore!

Gearing Up

Jumping The Gate

The Roman writer Marcus Terentius Varro said "The longest part of the journey is said to be the passing of the gate."

Those words still ring true after 2000 years.

For years I have felt a keen longing to visit certain parts of the world, to immerse myself in rich cultures, to connect with my ancestral history of, and to eat copious quantities of Cornish pasties. If I could just get past that gate, that inner doubt that was holding me back. In late 2003 I vowed that it was time to pack up and jump that gate.

A Whirlwind Tour Of... West Cornwall?

How To Tour Britain On The Cheap

I decided to spend 3 weeks alone, backpacking across Britain, the land of my ancestors. No half-measures. I planned like a madman. People figured I'd finally lost my marbles. I was going to visit everywhere, see everything, and bring back the photos to prove it!

I bought a round-trip ticket for March 2004, saved up a couple hundred bucks, and cleared the debt off my credit cards. As the time neared I grew more and more nervous. And excited.

And then... I was off! I made a whirlwind trip all up and down... well, basically up and down the Hyde Park area of London and west Cornwall. $800 American dollars, it seems, is good enough to buy three weeks of tea and scones, not much else. And there is such rich history in Britain, so much to see, that three weeks is barely enough time to explore one town!

A Worthy Effort

Planning A Long Trip Requires Outside Expertise

Still - what I did manage to see, be it by the good grace of the locals or by my own tenacity, I loved! I had the greatest time of my life, made lots of new friends, almost died twice, and I DID bring back photos to prove it - 600 of them! The only thing I regretted was not having more time.

That's why, shortly after I arrived, I decided I needed to make another trip. In March 2005 I went to Britain once again, and this time I brought my girlfriend. No measly 3 weeks this time - we decided to take 3 months... on a bigger budget, of course. The planning began all over again.

Happy Travels

This Is A Funny Photo... Seriously

We left for Britain a day late, thanks to an ungodly blizzard that shut down Logan Airport, and missed our London to Penzance train. The nice train employee wouldn't refund our money or set us up on a different train so we spent some of our precious little funds on a slightly less attractive mode of transportation - bus.

Still, the ride wasn't half bad and although nobody would move to let Tracy and I sit together, I did make the acquaintance of a very large Englishman named Bob who loved American football, smelled very strongly of sour milk, and had one heckuva snore.

And So On

All This At Only 8 Quid A Night ?!

Finally, we arrived in Penzance. We got set up in our lovely and (most importantly) affordable lodgings, and then we started exploring. Our good fortune in finding a special bus deal allowed us to explore Scotland, Wales, and England for criminally low prices - and all the while, due largely to my extraordinary bargain hunting skills, we managed to stay in respectable establishments like the one pictured at the side.

Good Times

Tracy & Me On Top Of The World

Truly, our stay in Britain was, once again, a wonderful and life-changing experience. We hope to go back again this year, and perhaps make a stopover in Ireland. I hope you'll take the time to check out the rest of my pages, which, I assure you, are almost entirely without the terribly dry and sarcastic sense of humor found on this homepage.

Go on... have fun!

CLEAN: a novel by, well... me

The front cover of CLEAN

I would like to add - if I may be so bold - that during our three month trek in Britain I penned a novel. Though mostly fiction, this novel features many of the real-life places and events I experienced in Britain. The book is called CLEAN and it is currently available through fine booksellers worldwide. You can also preview or purchase the book by following this link:

http://www.cleanbook.net

Intro Updated Jun 15, 2007
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Comments (31)

Smoore730 Aug 28, 2008 at 9:35 AM Report Abuse

Happy 12 days after your birthday... I just got to my computer
Mikebond Aug 17, 2008 at 4:04 AM Report Abuse

Happy birthday, Ken! Best wishes from Italy, Michele
Geoff_Wright Aug 17, 2007 at 10:17 AM Report Abuse

Hi Ken, Happy Birthday for today. Hope you're OK back home? Regards from Cornwall.
uglyscot Aug 16, 2007 at 10:47 PM Report Abuse

Have a very happy birthday. Congrats on the book.
edachsund Aug 16, 2007 at 10:45 PM Report Abuse

wish you have a great day on your happy birthday!
mary2u99 Aug 16, 2006 at 11:43 PM Report Abuse

Happy birthday to you and enjoy the day.:-)
deecat Aug 16, 2006 at 5:49 PM Report Abuse

Congrats on the publishing of your novel! Today I wish you a most wonderful birthday from Chicago.
Treshi Mar 31, 2006 at 7:34 PM Report Abuse

Hi Ken, Thanks for visiting my pages and the comments are appreciated..I'm glad that my country went into your list of places to visit one day...Greetings from Sri Lanka!!!
evaanna Mar 3, 2006 at 11:32 AM Report Abuse

Thanks for visiting my Cornwall page. I certainly enjoyed my stay there as much as you did.
Pawtuxet Jan 30, 2006 at 5:46 PM Report Abuse

Hi there...and thanks for visiting my New Hampshire page. It's a wonderful state and you should be proud to be in that Lakes region. We have good friends in Meredith..winter home in Concord. What could be better than that?