Sam Bowker: The Grand Tour Diary (2005 - 2006)

This is the archived journal of a 2005-2006 'Grand Tour' around the Eastern Mediterranean and along East Africa, written by Sam Bowker, whilst in search of his PhD topic.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Two years later...

For those of you who are still encountering this blog, adrift in the internet, life continues well for Sam. The Grand Tour remains a tremendously important part of my life.

The PhD thesis in Art History is coming along strongly, with one year to go. I have started lecturing and tutoring in Art Theory, and find this to be a wonderful occupation. I have been travelling since then, most recently on three months of Fieldwork across Europe. (Cairo, Budapest, Berlin, London, Paris, Madrid, and Barcelona). No blog was made for "Fieldwork 2008". Instead I wrote lengthy correspondences (postcards and paper letters), filled sketchbooks (which I did not attempt during the Grand Tour of 2005-6), and took elaborate research notes for academic purposes.

I started drawing visual records of these trips following "Central Australia 2007", a two-week journey resulting in a very chunky and colourful diary. "Christmas in Cairo 2007" attempted a similar record, but was more a unique family experience than the explorations of a solo traveller.

The immediate future for my travels is uncertain, though it is possible I will return to Europe later this year. If not, then the next great expedition will be a return to Egypt: the deepest deserts of North Africa in 2010, a challenging long-distance campaign to the Gelf Kabir.