Richard Loosley
Forty-five years after I first considered writing a memoir, I finally did when, like many others, I had nothing else to do during the COVID-19 crisis. Having shared my adventures with countless people over the years was all the motivation I needed to put them on paper, as so many of them had suggested I should. I hope they were right.
This became a mission to share these adventures with a broad audience. So, I trust that you will enjoy reading about travel disguised as tourism in the 1970s.
My initial experience in the travel industry began after I first set foot in Australia and New Zealand in 1972, when I worked as a guide on the Fox Glacier in New Zealand’s Westland National Park.
After returning to the UK, I met someone who changed my life. Ashley Butterfield ran and managed adventure tours, and that seemed like a fun thing to do, so I signed up for one. Later, we developed a strong working partnership and organised and ran overland tours to India together using public transport from 1975 to 1979. These early experiences taught me many things, but most of all the importance of resilience, adaptability, and empathy as we travelled from the United Kingdom through Europe, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan to New Delhi.
These tours ended suddenly due to the abdication of the Shah of Iran and Russia's invasion of Afghanistan, and this travel experience could not be recreated in today’s world, which is dominated by political unrest, religious conflicts, and the aftermath of COVID and war. Remember, this was a time when there were no mobile phones or the internet, and travellers communicated by writing letters.
I continued my travels, making numerous trips to China and Hong Kong by train, travelling through Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, and Mongolia. On a pioneering journey in the 1980s, my group was among the first Westerners to cross the Torugart Pass (a challenging 12,000-foot pass) in Eastern Kyrgyzstan to reach Kashgar in Western China, and we then continued along the Silk Road to Beijing. Over the past 50 years, I have been lucky to travel widely, visiting every continent except Antarctica.
My career has taken me to the USA and Canada numerous times. I’ve explored regions and countries as diverse as Syria and Saudi Arabia in the Middle East, as well as North and South Africa, and islands as remote as Tahiti in the Pacific and Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic.
While sailing aboard the ocean liner QE2 in 1984 and 1985, I experienced how the other half lived and served as a member of the social and entertainment staff, organising and hosting onboard entertainment for renowned international singers and theatre performers during a world cruise and on the transatlantic route from Southampton to New York which included numerous sailings to the Caribbean.
Quite by chance, in 1991, I was unexpectedly employed as the personal tour manager for the CEO of Time Warner Corporation in the United States on a ten-month world tour. After returning, I spent three years as a research and commissioning editor compiling a worldwide hotel guide. On one occasion, this involved visiting every island in the Maldives by open boat with a hotel, which was a good way to get a tan! I was fortunate to work at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, and again at the 2012 London Games twelve years later.
These journeys have taken me to more than 70 countries, using every mode of transportation: ships, trains, planes, and automobiles.
My perspective on life has been shaped by the diverse people, cultures, and religions I have encountered during my travels. Remember to treat others as you would like to be treated and to see the positive side of life.