Here you'll find raw and real travels by an old school backpacker - meaning: zero blogger BS - no ads, no affiliate links, no sponsors, no tours, no social media, no crass commercialization.

Travel for the pure love of traveling

THE CANDY TRAIL comprises my pictures and words, covering the 'why' of travel - not the how; focusing on history, culture and the journey.

If you're wondering, I support myself with temporary work and own very little, rejecting societal conventions and consumerism; simply drifting the world, belonging nowhere but enjoying everywhere.

A younger self: Michael Robert Powell at Nemrut Dagi in Turkey - 1989, age 23.

Hi.

I'm Michael - call me MRP - from Aotearoa / New Zealand, offering travel stories and inspiration from 30+ years across 120+ countries & territories.

I'd never dreamed of a nomadic life; I just stumbled into it by accident.

You see, back in 1988 at age 21 – I was a bit of a hippy with a punk-rock outlook who’d just finished an aimless arts degree and now had no further goals or ambitions.

Except, to leave NZ for the UK to enjoy the Indie music scene.

Some months of edgy living and dull jobs in Edinburgh and London soon gave way to a dice toss, which ignited a backpacking trip to the Middle East (for 5 months, including Syria and Iraq).

This journey aroused a drug-like desire to see the world.

Suddenly everywhere was on the map and decades of travel addiction began...

MRP in Luxor, Egypt, in 1995.

Living out of a backpack.

Traveling overland in Africa, Asia and Latin America, interspersed with long-stays on beaches or amid cities.

Life was always nomadic, moving fast or slow.

Then, in late 2014, I edged closer to 'normality' when I met my future wife in China.

Luckily, she also enjoys a simple travel life.

So we backpacked India, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, to name a few, and in 2019, we began van life around China.

In 2023, we're backpacking again.

MRP at the Aral Sea, Uzbekistan, 2011.