Arrivals and Departures: A Decade of Travel

This collection of journals traces some of the journeys undertaken by Armand Wadsworth and Jo Knight between 2014 and 2025. First published on the getrealtravel.com website, these accounts were never intended as travel guides, polished itineraries or neatly packaged travel tales. They are, instead, candid tales of the unpredictable, beautiful, exhilarating, and occasionally absurd reality of travelling to remote corners of the world in the early 21st century. From the long empty roads of Namibia to the high passes of the Andes, from sleeping in a campervan on forgotten European byways to catching cramped buses through India, the Americas and Asia, these stories reflect a kind of travel that is raw, unvarnished, and deeply human. Often, they read more like a ‘What Not To Do’ manual. They also offer insights into how to connect, really connect, with a place and the people who live there. At the heart of these travels is a shared wonderment. A draw toward wild places, rare birds, stories hiding in second-hand bookshops, and the occasional bottle of fine, and sometimes questionable wine. There’s a pull toward long trails, deserts, mountains, cold rivers, warm oceans, and the kind of detours that get you lost and found again, sometimes in the same day. These journeys are more than just anecdotes from the road. They are the product of, and an insight into a partnership. Jo Knight is not only ever-present in these pages, she is essential to them. Her resilience, unfaltering in the face of illness, uncertainty, and logistical collapse, forms the backbone of many of these stories. With a calm precision and a remarkable instinct for direction, she has navigated some of the most challenging landscapes on earth, whether that meant picking a route through the remote Andes mountains, or untangling a bus schedule in a remote, Myanmar border town at dusk. Equally important is what she saw along the way. The best of Jo’s photographs are included in this book, and they form a parallel narrative; her vision of people, light and atmosphere. Her images capture moments the words alone can’t; the grace of a bird in flight, the stillness of an Indian dawn, the humour and humanity in a street scene. Together, the writing and photography create a fuller portrait of the world; fleeting, fragile, and alive. Whether it’s falling ill with Chikungunya virus in Myanmar, enduring Coronavirus in India, riding out a typhoon in the Philippines, or navigatingmishaps and bizarre encounters in the Balkans and Greece, Armand writes of these experiences with wit, honesty, and a healthy dose of self-deprecation. These are remarkable journeys of both outward exploration and inward reflection.