About

Hi. I'm Michael Robert Powell and for 30 years now, I've traveled the planet - backpacking across continents - exploring more than 120 countries (also visiting territories such as Antarctica).

My story isn't the cliched: "I quit my job and sold everything to travel the world." No, I didn't get near the career treadmill. 

You see, way back in 1988 following graduation, I didn't know what to do with my life. And so, I left New Zealand for London completely aimless - except to enjoy live music and big city life.

But things changed.

A dice throw led me to travel around the Middle East (including Iraq + Syria).

For decades I wandered alone, without any social circle.

Never having a house or a car or a permanent job. (But once, I owned a TV.)

However in recent years, I've edged closer to 'normality' when I met my lovely wife ... in China.

Wei also enjoys a minimalist travel life.

So the trail continues ...

Wei + MRP at the crossing of High Pass on the road from Kashmir to Ladakh, India, 2017.

Arrested in Saddam's Iraq by the military; accused of being "a spy" (1989)

Drugged, abducted, robbed, ditched in Siberia, Russia (2005)

Hitch-hiking the Sahara Desert, from Algeria to Nigeria (1991)

Enjoying Carnaval; later mugged at knife-point in Rio, Brazil (2003)

Travelling overland from England to India, via Iran, where I was caught in a deadly bus accident (1990)

Amid a cyclone that killed 138,000 people - Bangladesh (1991)

Trans-Siberian route, Beijing to London (2005)

Caught in a war-zone around Angkor in civil-war Cambodia (1994)

Antarctica by ship - 14 land excursions; whisky + iceberg on New Year's Eve (2003)

Robbed by hotel staff, while suffering dysentery in Pakistan (1990)

Swimming with seals in Galapagos Islands (2003)

Amid riots in Indonesia (1999), Israel (1990), India (1990)

Horse trekking in mountains of Colombia - thru FARC guerilla territory (2003)

Flash-flood close call in Morocco (1991)

Skydiving in Argentina (2002) and solo parachuting in New Zealand (1992)

Slow boat down the Niger River to Timbuktu, Mali (2007)

Hitching the Himalayas, across Tibet to Kathmandu, Nepal (1994)

Escaping from Indonesia by fishing boat, hitching in an Australian Army Blackhawk to be the "first tourist" in new East Timor, on 14 Jan. 2000

Actively participating in a Voodoo ceremony in Togo (2007)