Before smart phones or even mobile phones I travelled to Singapore, my first overseas trip. QANTAS took my mate and I on an adventure with no planning. We had a package deal (airfare and accommodation) and except for the travel brochure pictures we had no real idea what to expect. Young, inexperienced and naive come to mind. We got on a lot of wrong buses but had a lot of laughs.

Singapore was clean, well designed, hot and busy. We did the obligatory city tour, cramming our necks to catch a glimpse of various local attractions. We quickly decided this type of tourism was not for us. The guide could have been telling us anything, we had no reference point or internet to confirm or deny and we missed most of what he was pointing at!

I looked up a colleagues daughter and she showed us how the locals played. I soon discovered that Tiger beer, high heels, tight skirts and squat toilets are not a great mix. Met a bell boy, went to the hotel staff party and slept on the beach. Woke up surrounded by elderly Singaporean’s doing tai chi. My first travel experience beyond the tourist realm.

My mate and I had the motto ‘when the going gets tough…‘ We used it, when a seedy night club got a bit sleazy … head to the toilet, out the back exit, in a cab and back to the hotel before our suitors even knew we were gone. That story still earns a laugh from us 34 years later.

I have been to Singapore many times since then. It’s still clean and the design is even better especially the underground walk ways that help with avoiding the heat.

Travel is a series of steps, each one leading to another story, adventure or sweet memory. “Making a sweet memory…” that’s what the Balinese would say in the 80s to start up a conversation. But more about Bali later. Every step I take on my life of travel builds on the previous. Each step improves, enhances and grows my knowledge and my desires to take the next one.

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