From the ages of 18 to 32 I drank to excess and took other drugs. This culminated in a stay at an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) centre in Western Australia in 1987 that saved my life, and I’ve been lucky to have been able to abstain from alcohol and other drugs since then.

Drug addiction (and alcohol is just another drug – albeit a very damaging and addictive one) is a serious and mostly sad affair that hurts not only the addict but most of the people close to them, and I do not wish to make light of addiction in any way.

AA saved my life – I have no doubt whatsoever that I would have succeeded in another suicide attempt had I not been at the AA dryout centre.

What is “Doing a Geographical”?

“When people attempt to escape their substance abuse problems by changing location it is known as an addiction geographical. In Alcoholic Anonymous, they use the words geographical cure to describe how alcoholics keep moving from place to place to get a fresh start. They may do this many times during the course of their addiction. With each new location they will promise that this time it will be different.”

https://alcoholrehab.com/alcohol-recovery/aftercare/addiction-geographical/

In the early stages of my drinking, I travelled for fun and adventure and because I had dreamed of travelling one way or another all of my life; later most of my trips were “geographical”.

So, this section of the website is about my travels during my drinking days. I will try and be as accurate as possible but many details are hazy as I was drunk a lot of the time.

On many of my early travels, I travelled and adventured with Shane. We enjoyed the early years of our drinking.

We were both heavy drinkers; I became an alcoholic, Shane didn’t.