Why I do my best thinking on a night bus in Southeast Asia
I’m writing this from Singapore, one week into six months away. Kuala Lumpur first, then a bus down here, and I’ve already exercised more and eaten more good food than I did in the whole of 2026. The book’s out, the laptop’s shut most of the day, and I’ve got no job to open it for. Which is the point.
Why travelling
Every good decision I’ve made started somewhere that wasn’t home. The name for my book came to me in a case of mid-flight boredom. Half the music I’m proudest of was written in rooms I was only in for a week or less. Even the day to day work stuff, the proper grown-up career decisions, tend to arrive in my brain on some beach or a night bus, never at a desk.
I think it’s because home is full of my own habits. Same walk, same coffee, same six thoughts on rotation. Travelling breaks all of it. Sometimes you’re a bit lost, a bit tired, and your brain starts making connections it couldn’t be bothered to make when it knew where everything lived. Creatively that’s where the gold is.
Six months travelling? Well, I’m not out here to switch off. I’m out here because this is where I switch on.
What I’m going to do with the book while I’m gone
Nothing too strenuous, deliberately.
I’m leaving copies of the book behind. I’ve brought four paperbacks with me and I’m going to leave them in four places across South East Asia. A hostel bookshelf, a cafe, a bar with a shelf nobody checks, somewhere I haven’t thought of yet. I just like the idea of the book, out there in the wild, for whoever picks it up. If someone finds one and tracks me down, that’s the best review I’ll ever get. If no one does, the books are having a better trip than most people.
Writing from the road has always sounded like such a romantic notion to me. This blog will be mine mostly. I thought about doing travel content, but lets be honest… there’s enough of that. I’m looking to see whatever the trip shakes loose about the book, music, and whatever I end up thinking about on the fourteenth hour of a sketchy bus ride.
Reading too… I’ve not read a novel properly since I finished writing one. That’s getting fixed, starting with Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library.
So anyway…
I’ve no idea if any of this works from a traditional marketing standpoint. Leaving books in cafes doesn’t exactly scream scalability does it? Blogging from a cheap hotel room in Singapore doesn’t sell paperbacks. But the book’s about chasing something great without a sensible plan, so it would be a bit odd to do anything structured.
I would love it if you are reading this because you have found a copy somewhere between here and Hanoi - let me know where you are, your story and where that book ends up.
