Time for a change.......

My life is changing so this Blog by definition will change too.  After nearly 10 years of sometimes sporadic blogging, it's really time for a change....  

A re-brand. 

New title.  New background.

More regular essays.

More work for me - taking it more seriously perhaps?  (Not that it's ever been unimportant, at least to me - it has.......but its importance in my life is increasing now....).

I will add more non-travel related essays - there are a number of them in the Blog Archive anyway (dip in - I'm sure thjere will plenty there for you to enjoy).  Topics will include, for instance:

• Political stuff - it's a bit of passion of mine, post-Brexit (which we all know opened a HUGE Pandora's box of ills in my home country.

• Book and music reviews and critiques.  I read a lot and enjoy a wide variety of music.  As an opinionated git, I'm happy to share my views, make recommendations or criticise.  

• Sports stuff.  Particularly football and F1, my two main interests.  And criticisng FIFA.

Whatever else springs to mind.

But the travel stuff will continue.  Poland is a big country with a rich history and many beautiful regions and cities that I have not visited, so I will for sure remedy that and scribble about it here.  I'll be visiting Britain regularly to see my kids and my grandkids, my sisters and nieces and nephews.  And of course there will be holidays - a return to Croatia this July is already booked.

I want to add some fiction.  Years ago, I used to write a lot and it's something I intend to try my hand at again.  Way back in 1992 or thereabouts I even wrote a full-length novel about sex, booze and football that is finally, after considerable efforts over the past couple of years, close to hitting a bookshop (or at least an Amazon/Kindle website) near you.   Here is as good a place as any for it to see the light of day.  I will detail more about that, on here, nearer the time.

I started a website a couple of years ago, with the aim of using it to market my book (and a couple of other projects I'm working on sporadically) and ultimately replace this Blog, but on reflection I think this is a better platform.  Anything I wanted to do on the website can be done just as easily (in fact in some ways easier) here.  So as these other projects progress, news will be posted - and probably advice sought too.  And extracts, from time to time - testing the water.

As well as content, the appearance has changed, as you can see.  Much as I liked the original title, "Around the World in 80 Expense Claims" no longer applies - for a start I've submitted and haggled over WAAAYYYYY more than 80 of the buggers over the past 20 years.  In excess of 800 I should think  So after much thought - well, 10 minutes or so - I decided it should be called, drawing on the alter ego I decided on when I opened my Blogger and original Gmail account, back in 2010, The World According to Travellin' Bob..   There, that's the rebrand.

I've also changed the backgound a bit, as the old aircraft-wing-out-of-a-plane-window was equally no longer relevant (although I have to say I did like that one).  I hope you like the new one - let me know either way: I'm always open to ideas.

I hope you like the changes, I hope you like the content (new and the old Archived stuff), and I really do hope that you interact with me.  Comment is Free, to paraphrase The Guardian newspaper, and I would love to hear from you.   Good or bad, it will all help drive what appears on these pages - your suggestions can and will provide an inspiration for my work here.

So - to start the ball rolling, I'm adding a piece that goes into more detail about what has prompted this exercise, and explains how my world is changing again....for better or worse.  Exciting times ahead for this old boy......

Happy days!

                                                                                  Warsaw, March 2019