Welcome to my blog!

Current Location: New Orleans USA

Hi Everybody,

I have finally decided to start my own blog about what I get up to and where. Why? Ummm.... can I get back to you on that one? Now I know most of you so far will already know me but in case someone who does not let me introduce myself. I am a Canadian born, New Zealand raised Englishman who is addicted to traveling. I currently am a student at the University of Toronto and a GMAT instructor for Kaplan.

Let me talk about travel, something that I feel passionate about. I travel, as a traveler, not a tourist. I like to spend a large amount of time in one place, working if possible, to get to know the local population and local culture and experience what it is actually like to live in this country. You cannot get this from spending a week or so and being a tourist in that country, all you get is a pretty photo book and a phony feel good feeling telling you that you are "seeing the world". You will notice if you follow my  blog for a while, that I will tend to stay in one place for months, almost always working or studying there while I am there, so I can really understand what the place is all about.

Ironically, however, I am starting this blog from a place where I am on holiday in for a week, New Orleans in the USA. I am spending Christmas and New Years here with my mother. I already have a fairly good impression of what the United States is like and I will be posting about that and my impressions of the city of New Orleans in my next post. To my American friends, DON'T PANIC! I know sometimes I come off as American bashing but I actually like the United States, and I promise to talk about all the things I like about it as well as the things I don't.

Next week I will be heading back to Toronto, Canada, my home base for the past 5 years and where I will be spending the next 4 months. During my time there I will comment on Canadian life and how it compares to life in other parts of the world. I may also, when I have little else to talk about, write about some of the big trips that have occurred in my life thus far, such as my trip to France in 2003, Malaysia in the Spring on 2009 and Semester at Sea in Summer of 2009. If I am really bored or especially frustrated at them, I may descend into ranting about my favourite sports team, Arsenal, a football (soccer) team in the English Premier League for those who don't know (their 3-1 win over Chelsea today is part of what motivated me to finally start this blog). By the time May come along I will be in West Africa, working for an NGO in Cote D'Ivoire for 3 months, then in the fall I will be heading out to East Asia via (potentially) the middle east, so stay tuned! Lots more coming in 2011!

Anyway, I think that will do from me today. I will do a write up on New Orleans sometime closer to the end of the week for you. Until then, please leave a comment, telling me what your favourite travel experience was and why?

A la prochaine

Tristan