A New Personal Hero

Monday 1st February 2010, 1.40pm, Somewhere over Northern Laos.

The last time I was on a plane - leaving London in November - I managed to disgrace myself by laughing too loudly and animatedly at Bruno, the film I watched on the journey. I'm on a plane again now, flying back in to Thailand to secure a 30 day Visa. If I'd crossed the border by land as I had hoped then for some unknown administration bureaucracy bullshit reason I would only have been granted 15 days, and I'm not sure how many I'll need yet.

This time my choice of in-flight entertainment and tool for disgracing myself once more is the book that I'm reading: Down Under, by Bill Bryson. Bryson, if you've not already been acquainted with his work, is a travel writer. He visits various destinations around the globe (obviously Australia in this case), potters about a bit, takes in some tourist attractions and sight-seeing opportunities, walks around until he gets lost, spends more than a civilised amount of time in bars testing the beer, and then writes it all down. It sounds like pretty bog-standard reporting doesn't it, but it's anything but. He is unfailingly, in every situation no matter how mundane, the most witty, observant and downright hilarious writer I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Cackling away at 20,000 ft again I have had two fellow passengers ask what I'm reading due to my inability to stifle laughter. I have urged them, as I urge you now, to read something by this fantastic man - because that is what travel writing should be.

He has that enviable and not often found quality that all great writers possess - when you reluctantly put the book down you are left wishing you knew the author. What I would like more than anything is for Bill Bryson to be my friend, for us to go travelling together and write about our adventures, to spend time in his magnanimous and unassuming company and have him continue making me laugh. Throughout the course of reading this book I have found a new and very deserving personal hero. As I offer my amateur snippets of writing from the road for your perusal, Bryson and his books are truly something for me to aspire to. Big dreams, small means, I know... but we all need someone that makes us want to be better than we are.