UKC

In this article, regular UKC contributor Charlie Boscoe reflects on the travelling and climbing lifestyle that many people aspire to.

"I've been on the road for almost 4 months straight, and memories are flooding back in uncontrollable bursts as the train passes through the familiar scenery of North West England..."

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=4878

In reply to UKC Articles: Really good stuff, can't say i've done much travelling but can definitely relate to some of the stuff in here!

In reply to UKC Articles:

Beautifully crafted piece capturing the highs and lows of travelling

In reply to UKC Articles:

Nice article - the only aspect I found frustrating was the assumption that other people on a train were leading lives full of regret, simply because they weren't travelling the world. We all dream differently.

In reply to Tall Clare:


Yep, agree Clare. If you are writing fiction you can put whatever thoughts you want in people's heads but when it's reportage it can be a bit presumptuous to, well, presume, you know what they're thinking; especially if that is that they are jealous of you! Nevertheless, still an interesting piece.

In reply to UKC Articles:
Well written piece, could have a bit more thoughts on what drives this, to me, seemingly restless push to move on; a life not quite in control (which clearly has benefits: its often from chaos that the best experiences arise). In its own way, though, the accumulation of experiences, when pushed to extremes, is not much different from endless shopping. I walk past colleagues' computer screens at work and catch pages of near identical shoes or dresses and I do wonder what they are trying to buy. Not saying I'm not guitly of similiar (for a long time, it was going to gigs: always had a few lined up), though I try to recognise this and temper it with reflection (how many crap gigs I've been too).

While I myself would like some more travel, I usually find myself happy with Scotland. If only the weather could be more reliable. All I really need is somewhere remote to sit & enjoy the peace & look at the clouds (which thankfully circumnavigate the earth), to sleep in the wild!

In reply to UKC Articles:


"In this article, regular UKC contributor Charlie Boscoe reflects on the travelling and climbing lifestyle that many people aspire to."

Mostly seems to be about someone who can afford spend a lot on jet travel, but isn't willing to share any insights or help on how 'us who aspire to him' can do the same.
Why are you surprised when nobody wants to talk on trains when you have that attitude toward them. Maybe most people don't have as much courage as him. Might as well block them out with headphones.
This article comes across as very smug... 'living' whilst everyone else (as people mentioned) are having supposedly boring unfulfilled lives. Oh and don't forget one standard summit pic and 3 poor cliche random photos.

I hope I read between the lines all wrong here.
Or maybe it is just pretentious substance-less sentiment

In reply to Tall Clare:

I took it that the author made the assumption in order to justify what he was doing.

In reply to galpinos: I'm sure Charlie's pleased that the article is getting talked about even if not everyone is complimentary! But I think he makes plenty of suggestions in the piece suggesting he sees the other side of the coin - not having a sense of "home", feeling guilty for being blase about drifting past the dramas of other people's lives etc. So if he is justifying himself, he seems to be doing so knowingly which I can respect. We all make our choices.

In reply to AymanC: The article was about what the travelling lifestyle is like, not about how to acquire enough money to engage in that lifestyle.

In reply to UKC Articles: Hi Everyone, thanks for the feedback. There seem to be a few people interested in how you get into leading expeditions and this plan seemed to work for me - get as qualified as you can, get as much experience as you can, hassle expeditions companies repeatedly (this last stage took about 2 years!)

Feel free to give me a shout if you want any advice about how to get into it,

Charlie