Here is a full list of My Printed Book Anthology By Jonny Blair (1980 – 2024)
Backpacking Centurion Series – A Northern Irishman’s Journey Through 100 Countries
My first book series is Backpacking Centurion which covers my journey from country 1 (Northern Ireland) to country 100 (Tunisia), from 1980 until 2015. This series of four books were written on the road and were finally released from 2020 – 2023. The first COVID lockdown (March to June 2020) was the time when most of the editing and formatting was done.
This Is The Next Century – A Northern Irishman’s Journey To 100 MORE Countries
My second book series “This Is The Next Century” covers my journey from country 100 (Tunisia) to country 200 (British Virgin Islands/Tortola) from 2015 until 2021. This series of four books were written on the road and were finally released from 2024.
Volume 1 – Aftershot (2024)
Volume 2 – Starogard Girl (2024)
Volume 3 – Average Inhabitant (EST 2025)
Volume 4 – Untitled (Possibly “Fool Circle”, “Timeful” or “Take Care My Friend”) (EST 2025)
Untitled Series – A Northern Irishman’s Journey To The 220 Plus Club
After New Year’s Eve 2021, I worked out that British Virgin Islands was my 200th country and therefore the third series will be my country count from 200 onwards until the journey ends. This is very much in the early days with no exact titles for books yet.
Following my “Backpacking Centurion” series, this next book, “I Went To Gdańsk With Somebody”, is the story of how I ended up in Poland.
My “Backpacking Centurion” series covers my life and journeys from 1980 – 2015 through my first 100 countries. From Northern Ireland to Tunisia.
By the end of 2015, just months after reaching my 100th country, I had been to a further 10+ new countries and was documenting my journey. When my long term relationship ended, and Hong Kong was no longer my base (2015), life changed. I was homeless, nomadic, restless and lost. Writing never stopped.
My “I Went To Gdańsk With Somebody” book is all about my route to Poland. It covers my childhood days, my first trip to Poland, my Polish friends from my many jobs, my 100 country journey and then it tracks that period of my life from March 2015 up until December 2016, when I relocated to Poland.
My next series of books will track my journey from country 101 – 200.
What is “I Went To Gdańsk With Somebody”?
How A Northern Irishman Ended Up In Poland.
I Went To Gdańsk With Somebody: How A Northern Irishman Ended Up In Poland
“Lightning strikes everytime she moves” – Calvin Harris.
“I Went To Gdańsk With Somebody” is the story from travel writer Jonny Blair after his epic “Backpacking Centurion” series came to a culmination in March 2015.
The story of how Northern Irishman Jonny Blair ended up in Poland is far from straight forward. Even the pages of this book are not enough detail to explain. The journey was long and fateful. It was a golden dream and a blackened nightmare all in one. But it had to be written and released. Not every Bangorian Northern Irelander dreams of a plate of pierogi with śmietana and a glass of grzaniec in a stare miasto. In this world, Jonny seems like the odd one out.
“He’s like a man with a fork in a world of soup” – Noel Gallagher.
It all started with a Gerry Taggart brace in 1991. Northern Ireland beat Poland 3-1 in a football match that Jonny attended in Belfast that night. Jonny’s journey to Poland took him via an ice cream hut in Bournemouth, a hostel dorm room in Bucharest, a visit to a windy cave town in Georgia, a Russian translator, nudity in Antarctica and a craft beer pub in Sofia. But it wasn’t as simple as that. Jonny doesn’t do simple. He also doesn’t do lazy, dishonest or boring. He writes from an unwiltable heart and a boundless mind.
“You’re a monsoon and a fire all in one” – Super Furry Animals.
Expect thrills and mishaps along the way. We read about Jonny’s first ever trip to Poland, a Stalin inspired poem, a night on the rip in Poznań drinking grzane piwo and a chilling visit to the German Death Camps.
Expect football, friends and beer to feature heavily. Jonny likes a drink and isn’t shy about it. He finds the comparisons between George Best and Kazik Deyna uncanny. Is it any wonder this Ulsterczyk ended up supporting the Polish green and white fifth tier club KP Starogard Gdański in 2016?
Working as a barman, a teacher, a PR rep, a travel writer and a broccoli farmer all add spice to this szalony journey. We end up in far flung places here. Tashkurgan in Afghanistan, Lam Tin in Hong Kong and Grödig in Austria all serve as geographical pins on this man’s globetrotting odyssey to Poland.
When the sun comes up in your unknown Polish town, don’t be surprised if Jonny Blair turns up cradling a dobra kawa and craving your Babcia’s pierogi ruskie.
“Love remains the drug that’s the high, not the pill” – Seal.
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I Went To Gdańsk With Somebody: How A Northern Irishman Ended Up In Poland is available online from many outlets.
In the meantime, get tore into the back catalogue – my Backpacking Centurion series is currently available in three volumes.
Here is the full chapter listing from I Went To Gdańsk With Somebody –
Chapter 1 – Ulsterczyk Chapter 2 – Gerry Taggart Ruins Robert Warzycha’s Night Chapter 3 – Best Break Chapter 4 – Polska Biało Czerwony / Poland White Red Chapter 5 – The Original Party Train Till Warszawa Chapter 6 – Coleslaw / Bolesław Chapter 7 – Big Bird Chapter 8 – Dog For A Girl Chapter 9 – Ferry Cross To Jersey Chapter 10 – Ulster’s Number One Chapter 11 – La La Lafferty Chapter 12 – The Don’t Stop Living Globe Chapter 13 – Living In a Land Down Under Chapter 14 – Tasmanian Devils Chapter 15 – We Will, We Will Broccoli Chapter 16 – One Small Step For Yer Man Chapter 17 – The South Pole Chapter 18 – Kong Phew Chapter 19 – Up Something Chapter 20 – Define The Gap Chapter 21 – A Hostel in Chișinău Chapter 22 – Whackpacking Centurion Chapter 23 – Basque In The Glory Chapter 24 – Gibraltar Ego Chapter 25 – Your Bacon The Pig Chapter 26 – Queue: Wait Chapter 27 – Magic Whip Chapter 28 – Last Plane Out Of Hong Kong Chapter 29 – Chitty Chitty Gong Gong Chapter 30 – Manama Na De De Du De Du Chapter 31 – Freetown Christiania Chapter 32 – Ladonia Chapter 33 – Fare Auld World Chapter 34 – Back To The Portman Chapter 35 – Greece Lightning Strikes Twice Chapter 36 – Stanislas Is Coming To Town Chapter 37 – Grzaniec Chapter 38 – A Bit of Krak Chapter 39 – Don’t Stop Lviving Chapter 40 – Chernobyl’s Witness Chapter 41 – One Almaty Decision Chapter 42 – Magnetic Kyrgyzstan Chapter 43 – Nights Alive On Monday Town Chapter 44 – Death Road Chapter 45 – Ruud Bullet Chapter 46 – The Wish Worked Chapter 47 – Dashkent Chapter 48 – Turkistan, Not Turkmenistan Chapter 49 – Get It India (Get It Intill Ye) Chapter 50 – A Night In My Town Chapter 51 – Holifest And The First Ever Pub Crawl In Bishkek Chapter 69 – Left Out For A Reason, (I’m) All Nude Chapter 53 – SV Grodig Baby Chapter 54 – 7 Seconds Away Chapter 55 – Crocodile Drumcree Chapter 56 – Blarney Rumble Chapter 57 – Zielone Ogórki / Green Gherkins Chapter 58 – Kings of Lyon Chapter 59 – Bruges That Won’t Heal Chapter 60 – Amsterdamned Chapter 61 – I Went To Gdańsk With Somebody