I decided the best thing to do would be to shut-up, and put the camera down.

Circling over Sydney, the Qantas hostess in the jump seat opposite me showed all the classic signs.  Her hands tightly pulling her body into the seat. A light sweat on her brow. A face full of fear. The plane continued its descent. Steadily holding my video camera, picked up from the Akihabara district in Tokyo,  I panned sideways to capture my partner, continuing my documentation of the vacation. "Turn - that - fucking - thing - off .... right - now". With clenched teeth, her usual bubbly voice was more, say, calmly satanic, than normal. The plane fell further, we were going down.

In a Homer-esque moment, I slowly realised I was surrounded by two women, one a passenger, one a professional flight attendant, who were both currently shitting bricks. Scared of flying. Really scared. I decided the best thing to do would be to shut-up, and put the camera down. Out the window, the perfect Australian sun light glistening on Sydney Harbour, racing across the bridge, the downtown area, and the Opera House, would that day, be wasted. I have never again had such a perfect aerial view of Sydney, one of the worlds most scenic cities. Within minutes, the wheels hit the tarmac. The mirror-image scared lady sandwich I found myself in, continued. But now, it was a look of absolute relief. Instantly, well, after no more than a nano-second of being on the ground, both women had returned to normal. To cut a long story short, taxi-ing back to the terminal I had a chat with the flight attendant, and yes, she really was scared of flying. She had been a Qantas hostie for more than ten years.

So, what do I do, when every single flight I take, my drugged and boozed up partner is practically having kittens for the entire duration of the journey? What do you do, when you start a travel blog called No Planes?

Today, I booked a one way flight to Indonesia. For both of us. In about 13 days time, we shall see how that turns out.

Perhaps I'm not doing the proper research for extended travel.

A week has passed. Since the last post, I have stopped working. That now makes two of us, unemployed team noplanes. I'm ready to travel right now, if it wasn't for unwinding some of the complexities of life that I seem to have acquired, such as an apartment or two, and a bunch of unimportant possessions. I've realised the concept of grabbing a small bag and heading off to the unknown, sits well with me. No tickets have been purchased, no further plans have been made. I'm pretty sure I'll pull the trigger tomorrow.

I've been doing some research. This week I watched the story of a guy who was sending kilo bags of hash from the Philippines to South Korea, through the post. Ultimately, he got greedy, and got stupid, and got caught. Another story was the young English girl sending hash, through the post, from India to Europe. She got greedy, and got stupid, and got caught. Moral of the story, perhaps I'm not doing the proper research for extended travel. But really, too much research is a bad thing. Why did Police Academy spawn seven sequels? All thanks to research. This journey needs to be spontaneous.

Damn. This is real life, not Police Academy, and I'm not Officer Carey Mahoney. I need to do some research.

Its time for the unknown, the chaotic, the unexplained. Borderline anarchy.

My name is Nate. Tomorrow I finish work. My entire life, I have wanted to do nothing but travel. When it comes to the human hierarchy of needs, I'm a textbook case. Most of my essential needs were sorted out a long time ago. Food, shelter, friendship, love, respect of others and respect from others, are all being fulfilled. I've since moved on to savings accounts, insurance policies, career, home - is that what life is really all about? No. Now that the basic needs have been taken care of, I can finally dedicate my life to the only thing I have ever really wanted to do - see the world.

Its time for the unknown, the chaotic, the unexplained. Borderline anarchy. Why? I want to understand the entire planet, the entire human condition. Why? Self actualisation, dude. It's about the journey, and the destination. As yet, I don't have a destination. In a few days time, I will book a plane ticket to take my partner and I from Perth, Australia, to Bali, Indonesia. From there, it will be a long journey, preferably, staying away from planes. The entire plan so far is Perth to Bali, stay a few days, go somewhere else, repeat. One day, we should pop-in to the Netherlands, where my mother now resides. But, thats not the destination.

In my mind, this is a guaranteed way to get the holiday of my dreams. Simple, just three steps. One: leave my job, two: purchase a one-way ticket overseas, three: use the ticket. Surely, it shouldn't be too hard from here; a trip to Indonesia can be had for a couple hundred. Today I Googled: "ferry from Jakarta to Phillipines". First hit: "Indonesian Ferry Sinks - 29 Dead". The next few Indonesian ferry related hits were all to do with pirates, bombs, death, generic melee, and old fashioned tropical diseases. So, perhaps a bit more research may be needed. I'll do it on the way to the airport.

Why? Either I wither away, spending my life working for heartless, prescription drug taking, narcissistic parasites in one soul-less company after another, or, I don't. The amount of time I spend in any one place will be decided by either the quantity of delicious ethnic meals that cost less than a dollar, or a preponderance of abandoned soviet era military bases and miscellaneous modernist architecture.

The plan is to continue blogging, unless pirates steal my laptop. Next update will come when there is something to report. I guarantee you I will show you the world in a unique way, so check back. In the meantime, if you haven't already seen my blog on Perth, Australia - my birthplace and home, check out 6000 TIMES. The updates over there will soon be put on hold.

Nate.

WHAT IS NO PLANES?

Currently located in Perth, Western Australia. In a few weeks, we could be anywhere. Check back soon.