Jamie Bowden
"All things considered, there are only two types of men in this world: those that stay at home and those that do not" Rudyard Kipling
Welcome to my small collection of observations from my time travelling round the planet. Unfortunately most of my older snaps have been lost and plenty more recent ones have ended up down a digital plughole due to my technical ineptitude, but a few have survived.
Travel has been my passion since my first independent trip 50 years ago this year as an 18 year old Inter Railing round Europe.
Since then, I've been very privileged to have visited over 140 countries including every one in Europe, and all but one US States, (Alaska since you ask!). Every county in the UK & Ireland and also the opportunity to live and work in over twenty countries for my work managing airport operations for British Airways and presenting travel programmes for the BBC.
Travel has changed dramatically over those 50 years and the internet and 'no frills' flying has introduced foreign travel to millions of people who otherwise would have stayed at home. Has the experience actually broadened most peoples horizons? Do we now understand the cultures of the world better than before? Its debatable. Many beautiful locations and cities across the world now struggle to cope with the staggering numbers of visitors - a problem known as 'overtourism'. ' As media spokesman for British Airways and presenter and commentator of travel programmes on tv and radio, perhaps I should take some of the blame for encouraging more travel, but even now with a bit more research and planning its still easy to get a taste of a country or city without going to the places everyone else goes to. Every country has more than one city - the alternatives to the capitals are in my experience much nicer to visit and consequently much more authentic.
Even for a flying fanatic like me, the 'airport experience' has in too many cases, become an ordeal to endure rather than an exciting part of the travel experience. In 1978 when I started working at Heathrow, the passenger numbers using the airport that year were 32 million. In 2024 that figure is projected to be 82 million!
As with 2022 and 2023, most of my travels this year will focus again on trips closer to home and mainly by train and car with a couple of trips further afield to unvisited countries. 2023 travels came to an abrupt halt in the summer following a fall resulting in a brain haemorrhage which led to a ban on flying and driving for six months but thankfully I was given the go ahead by doctors to fly and drive again so 2024 kicked off with a trip to Morocco..!
February: Morocco
March: Japan
April: Malta
May: Greek Islands - Andros & Tinos
June: Driving tour - Ireland
July: UK
August: UK
September: Budapest, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia and Venice
Feel free to email me via jamie@jamiebowden.com or call/WA me on +44 7779 353040.
Note to Media: Please be advised that I won't be conducting TV or radio interviews on potential summer flight disruption at UK airports or any operational/marketing challenges affecting British Airways.
February 2024
2024 Trips planned so far.....
Morocco: Feb 15th - 28th.
Fly to Agadir in the south and slowly make my way north buy bus to Essauaria and then by train to Casablanca and finally by train down to Marrakesh.
Japan: March 10th - April 8th:
Inspired by Monty Don's series on Japanese Gardens I'll be following the 'blossom' trail from Nagasaki north to Kyoto then ending in Tokyo.
Malta: April 30th - May 3rd
Four days in Malta to visit sites and museums associated with the pivotal role played by the island during WW2.
Greek Islands: May 14th - 24th
My annual trip to Greece discovering unvisited islands. This years trip to the Cycladic islands of Andros and Tinos will take my total number of Greek islands visited so far to 53.
Drive Ireland: June 8th - 24th
Following a similar route I made by motorbike a decade ago, but hopefully with better weather than the 17 days continuous rain I endured in 2014! The main event as before will be a (hopefully) top down drive the length of the Wild Atlantic Way before a coastal journey round the north and down to Dublin before returning to England via Anglesey and the Welsh Marches. www.thewildatlanticway.com
Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia and Venice Sept 16th - 29th
New part of the world to explore. Nice stopover in Budapest before continuing by air to Baku. From there it's a slow trip by train and bus to Tbilisi the capital of Georgia for a few days and then by bus again through the Georgian and Armenian countryside to Yerevan. This trip completes with a 2 day stopover in Venice on the way back.
