Graham Racher's photostream  

I'm me!? And my friends would agree with that! Things that stand out are that I got the travel bug back in 97 and have managed a couple of trips a year since to out of the way places ... see map!

Hmm, do I like Africa?! I'm interested in wildlife, conservation & photography and my trips often lean that way. My biggest trips have been when I managed to take a sabbatical and I headed off to South Africa for 12 weeks; 8 weeks on a conservation course and 4 weeks just travelling from PE to Cape Town. I even received my pass certificate from FGASA - Field Guides Association of Southern Africa. It's only for Level 1 theory and not the practical (not enough time), but it's nice to have. Another big trip was when I resigned from work and took a career break. For this I crossed Russia by rail in 30 days and then worked my way down/across China for by rail and river for 30 days. I finished up at Macau and Hong Kong before heading back home to London. I'm now back to working and 'normal' holidays! Well semi normal ... in the last four years I have travelled to Jordan, Turkey, Antarctica via the Falklands and South Georgia, sailing round Svalbard in the Arctic Circle, Sri Lanka, sailing round the Galapagos islands for three weeks, Namiba and oddly enough I went back to Antarctica last February so I guess I like the snow as well as the sun ... okay lets face it it's the wildlife and atmosphere. I have visited many so called developing countries. Visiting these places helps to put things into perspective ... and it's a wonderful thing to do!

Other activities I've done include: I got my PADI open water back in 2002 and will get round to doing more; though I snorkel when there is a chance (the two weeks spent sailing around the Galapagos Islands were fantastic for this). I will try most things and have skied, parachute jumped, abseiled, zipped wired through rainforest canopies and have white water rafted several times in warmer climes, cold water isn't appealing! I also like walking but don't do as much of it as I'd like to. My most notable treks have been Mount Kinabalu in Borneo and Jebel Toubkal in Morocco, oh and a week hiking volcanoes in Sicily. I even ended up on a horse in SA and in 2008 I bought a bike and got back in the saddle which so far has been used mostly for cycling to and around Richmond Park. Other things for fitness are 90 minutes of yoga a week - though to be honest I have switched to squash these past few months, though I seem to be the whipping boy amongst friends for that!

I'm a big music fan and go out to the Academy, Forum, Roundhouse, Koko and Empire amongst others on a regular basis with friends; music tastes vary from indie, dance, world, rock and back. I must be getting older too as the frequency of theatre trips is increasing! I gravitate to the smaller fringe theatres. I also like comedy, Mark Thomas is a favourite, cinema and eating out at interesting little places around town with friends.
I guess I have come to the conclusion it's better to work to live, than live to work.
And that although I take some things seriously ... that doesn't include myself all the time 8-)