“It looks like we might have made it to the end” – Blur.

So finally this week, the hat-trick is released. All three of my Backpacking Centurion books with the out-takes to come.

1 – Don’t Look Back in Bangor. 35 chapters, 297 pages. $19.82.

2 – Lands Down Under. 38 chapters. 292 pages. $19.86.

3 – Taints and Honours. 36 chapters. 300 pages. $19.58.

*4 – The Black Volume of misfits/subs/left overs/edits will probably be released at some point and will be priced $20.16.

I split the Backpacking Centurion series into 3 books, each around 300 pages each. I had to do it that way and it has now worked out for the best.

There’s always a back story with everything and as I sit here today, on the 20th April 2021, it is hard for me to fathom that actually virtually all of the writing for the “Backpacking Centurion” was FINISHED before May 2015. The following 16 months I was busy backpacking and trying to edit it and rearrange it on the move. Most of the editing was done in Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan or in Gdansk in Poland. Then I moved to Poland and stayed here. I fell into depression, despair. There was no pressure or no need to ever release that book. But finally, I have released it and not just one book, the hat-trick. All three were released within a year. Writing was easy, it always is. The editing, the publishing is a gruelling process and I hate dealing with publishers and others who think they know better than the writer. But I can’t do any of that myself. All I can do is write.

For the sake of history, in April 2015, these were the completed chapters and their titles back then and in the order they were in back then. Please note that the order changed, chapters changed, chapter titles changed, some new chapters were written and added, some chapters were axed or condensed. But basically the hat-trick was written and completed in 2015. That said, I am glad it has taken 6 years to release the hat-trick. The reason is, it is better now – I am happier with the end product.

However, when the publisher posted me a copy of each of the volumes 1, 2 and 3, I took my red pen immediately and began to read my own books and correct my own mistakes. Each book has AT LEAST 100 mistakes or changes I want made, yes again even in the final copies! All that really means is that if there is ever a reprint or a version 2 of each book, then the new one will reflect those mistakes. But I’ll leave all that for now…

This is how the book was meant to be in 2015 – yes one book, as a novice I had no idea that I had written 3 books, I thought it was just a book…in many cases, I only had the name of the city/concept in the titles of those chapters. It was only after re-reading my own book that the chapter titles became easier to place. Some of those that missed the cut will appear in the Black Volume (Volume 4). Some are simply in the dustbin of history.

Contents

Chapter 1 – Fool Circle (2015)
Chapter 2 – My Childhood Sweetheart (1984 – 1991)
Chapter 3 – Arconada…Armstrong! (1982 – 1990)
Chapter 4 – My First Backpacking Adventure (1991)
Chapter 5 – The Great Exam Heist (1994)
Chapter 6 – Where Were You While We Were Getting High? (1994 – 1996)
Chapter 7 – The OXI One (1997)
Chapter 8 – The Good Friday Disagreement (1997-1998)
Chapter 9 – My Favourite Mistake (2002)
Chapter 10 – The Lock In (2004)
Chapter 11 – The Night I Sacked My Flatmate (2004)
Chapter 12 – For Your Arms Only (2004)
Chapter 13 – Lauren (2005)
Chapter 14 – Barfgate (2005)
Chapter 15 – The £70 Taxi (2005)
Chapter 16 – The Monopoly Pub Crawl (2005)
Chapter 17 – Travel Blogging Killed The Radio Star (2005)
Chapter 18 – Isle of Wight was the Isle of Green (2006)
Chapter 19 – The Best Rock Band Ever (2006)
Chapter 20 – Bite (2006 – 2007)
Chapter 21 – Don’t Stop Living (2001 – 2007)
Chapter 22 – Getting Drunk for $10 US in New York City (2007)
Chapter 23 – Dust From a Distant Sun (2007)
Chapter 24 – A Fast Flight to China (2007)
Chapter 25 – Beaten by Belarus in Bobruisck (2007)
Chapter 26 – Sticking it in a Dentists Mouth (2007)
Chapter 27 – Right Backs on the Left (2007)
Chapter 28 – The Three Amigos (2007)
Chapter 29 – Pink Pants, Red Faces, Green Shirts, Blue Lagoons (2007)
Chapter 30 – SOENISC, The Glory Years (2005 – 2008)
Chapter 31 – Cherries Are The Team For Me (2003 – 2005)
Chapter 32 – The Day We Got Relegated (2008)
Chapter 33 – Travelling Without a Wallet (2008)
Chapter 34 – The Helen (2008 – 2009)
Chapter 35 – Hungarian Dancer (2008 – 2009)
Chapter 36 – The Night I Killed Myself (2009)
Chapter 37 – Hat-trick of Crescents and an Unstoppable (2009)
Chapter 38 – The End of the Road at Hereford (2008)
Chapter 39 – Xinying, Chiayi City and the Don’t Stop Living Globe (2009)
Chapter 40 – The Non-Existent 2am Bus to Taidong (2009)
Chapter 41 – Girls I Shared a Bed With (2003 – 2009)
Chapter 42 – Living in the Land Down Under (2009 – 2011)
Chapter 43 – Midnight in Canberra (2010)
Chapter 44 – The Night I Won The Karaoke (2010)
Chapter 45 – There A Bottle O in Wesley Vale? (2010)
Chapter 46 – A Dream Uninspired Return to Taupo (2007 – 2010)
Chapter 47 – Doing Drugs With Maradona (2010)
Chapter 48 – Proper Frostbit (2010)
Chapter 49 – The Full Montevideo (2010)
Chapter 50 – Tres Fronteras (2010)
Chapter 51 – Hi Ho Silver Mining (2010)
Chapter 52 – All Your Dreams in Ollantaytambo (2010)
Chapter 53 – Milking Cows in Colombia (2010)
Chapter 54 – In Of Africa (2011)
Chapter 55 – Sweet Home Parramatta (2011)
Chapter 56 – The Adventures of Panny Yu (2010 – 2011)
Chapter 57 – The Day I Worked in Two Continents (2011)
Chapter 58 – The Last Plane Out of Sydney’s Almost Gone (2011)
Chapter 59 – Chris’s House Party (2011)
Chapter 60 – Seoul Mates (2011)
Chapter 61 – The X Man (2012)
Chapter 62 – Internations, Teaching English and Travel Blogging (2011 – 2013)
Chapter 63 – Chaos in Laos (2012)
Chapter 64 – Christmas in China (2012)
Chapter 65 – Backpacking with Mum and Dad (2013)
Chapter 66 – Kinabalu (2013)
Chapter 67 – Safari in Tanzania (2013)
Chapter 68 – Feeding Hyenas in Harar (2013)
Chapter 69 – Top 99 Things to See and Do in Pyongyang (2013)
Chapter 70 – Countries I Never Write About (2003 – 2013)
Chapter 71 – Staying in a Kibbutz in Israel (2013)
Chapter 72 – Haya’s Wedding (2013)
Chapter 73 – A Decade Away (2013)
Chapter 74 – O Little Town of Bethlehem (2013)
Chapter 75 – Hebron, Palestine (2013)
Chapter 76 – Night Train to Baku (2013)
Chapter 77 – How Many Azerbaijani’s Can You Fit into a Lada? (2013)
Chapter 78 – This a Visit to Stalin’s Town (2013)
Chapter 79 – Khor Virap and Noravank (2013)
Chapter 80 – How Not to Get Out Of Nagorno Karabakh
Chapter 81 – Turkish Delights (2013)
Chapter 82 – A month in Iran (2013)
Chapter 83 – Top 5 Pubs in Iraq (2014)
Chapter 84 – Some Alarms and Some Surprises, Please (2014)
Chapter 85 – Nicky Barmby (2004 – 2014)
Chapter 86 – Huddersfield at Home (2014)
Chapter 87 – Chairman Mao’s House (2014)
Chapter 88 – Islands You’ve Never Heard of (2014)
Chapter 89 – Fortaleza (2014)
Chapter 90 – Oiapoque and the boat to French Guyana (2014)
Chapter 91 – Sloth Island (2014)
Chapter 92 – Suriname Return (2014)
Chapter 93 – FIFA World Cup Final 2014 (2014)
Chapter 94 – Mexico 86: 28 Years Later (2014)
Chapter 95 – Hiking Tajumulco, Central America’s Highest Peak (2014)
Chapter 96 – Firefight (2014)
Chapter 97 – Belize Please Me (2014)
Chapter 98 – Staying in the World’s Most Dangerous City (2014)
Chapter 99 – Scuba Diving in Utila (2014)
Chapter 100 – The Hemingway Inn and My Writer’s Lairs (2014)
Chapter 101 – Andorra’s Box (2014)
Chapter 102 – Cousin Paul Reunion (2014)
Chapter 103 – The Figure of Eight (2014)
Chapter 104 – Kishinev (2014)
Chapter 105 – Transnistria: The Most Bizarre Republic (2014)
Chapter 106 – Dracula Country (2014)
Chapter 107 – Veliko Tarnovo (2014)
Chapter 108 – Skopje (2014)
Chapter 109 – Kosovo (2014)
Chapter 110 – Poddy’s Day (2014)
Chapter 111 – Haggis, Tatties, Neeps and Deep Fried Mars Bars (2014)
Chapter 112 – A Lifestyle of Reunions (2014)
Chapter 113 – Siauliai (2015)
Chapter 114 – The Republic of Uzupis (2015)
Chapter 115 – Return to Riga (2015)
Chapter 116 – Halfway to Helsinki (2015)
Chapter 117 – Suomi Sauna (2015)
Chapter 118 – Helsingor and Copenhagen (2015)
Chapter 119 – Daniel Reunion (2015)
Chapter 120 – Can You Afjord it? (2015)
Chapter 121 – Countries That Don’t Exist (2015)
Chapter 122 – Backpacking Centurion (2015)
Chapter 123 – Rock Idle (2015)
Chapter 124 – Premier League Your Bacon The Pig (2015)