About Me

Hey/Hola/Hello! And welcome to That Time In!

So I kind of outlined the who & why on my very first post, but here I’d thought I’d go with a bit of a bio:

I’m the one on the right. Hence the masculine name. (Image credit: Lucas Low)

I’m Carl, in my 20s from Devon in England. I’m a Graphic Designer, but a couple of years ago realised I was missing out on the world, big time! So, I quit my job then to travel Asia & Europe with my lovely girlfriend Chelcie. For now I’m back in the UK, and as I didn’t take my MacBook with me on my big trip, I started up my travel blog a bit late! Hence the past tense title…

Random, uninteresting, partially travel related facts about me…?

  • My first trip abroad in 14 years was to Amsterdam for a friend’s 21st. That opened my eyes, that’s for sure…
  • I was called a “cheap b*****d” by a Dutch stripper. Which I found hilarious!
  • I’ve been to Barcelona so many times I’ve lost count – the plan is to live there – but never went in the Sagrada Familia until my 4th trip.
  • Me and a friend’s European road-trip didn’t see us get very far due to the van’s engine going BOOM!
  • I’ve been lucky enough to go to one of the most awesome and crazy festivals in the world – Las Fallas in Valencia! But no-one seems to know what it is!
  • I love the water – But I’m not a surfer! I’m a skimboarder and I love it! They need to catch on around the world though…
  • I didn’t realise what kind of bar I was in in Kuala Lumpur until two Malaysian ladies started stroking me and trying to chat me up…
  • I would never, ever, ever go back to Naples. No matter how much you paid me. Within reason anyways…

Oh and Asian food gives me a bit of a belly… (Image credit: Chelcie Pilbrow)

Recent years…

2012: Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, France, Spain, Italy

2013: Japan, Netherlands, Spain, Republic of Ireland, Hong Kong, Macau

2014: Spain (x2), Sweden, Portugal, Germany, TBA…

2015: Japan, TBA…

Throw in some fun festival times back in the homeland too, and I’ve been lucky enough to see some pretty cool stuff so far! But there’s a lot more to come! Hopefully you can join me by reading and commenting on here. You can also follow me on Twitter, check out the Facebook page, and feel free to drop me a line if you like what I scribble down or snap!

So get involved – I’m looking forward to having you along for the ride!

Copyright bit:
All images on this website are copyright of Carl Forbes 2012-14, unless stated otherwise.

74 responses to “About Me”

  1. You might want to try Philippines. We have a number of Good Beaches such as Boracay, Plaawan and Bantayan Island in Cebu. 🙂

    • I’ve been told a few times since I’ve been home that I should have checked out the Philippines! Maybe it’ll have to be one for the future!
      Thanks for checking out the site! 🙂

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  5. Thanks for stopping by 😀 I’ve always wanted to see Devon, I always hear it’s pretty. I’ll look forward to reading your travel posts!!

    • No worries. Thanks for returning the favour! 🙂

      Haha well it’s actually been really nice here the last few days. Reminds me that Devon can look nice when the sun’s out! Sadly doesn’t happen very often though…

    • Hey bud, thanks for stopping by already.

      Hmm toughie… I loved my time in Malaysia last year – Penang in particular. But also making it to my dream destination of Japan this year definitely didn’t disappoint! So it’s between those two. How about yourself?

  8. Hey Carl, I’m heading to Japan in September for my first time too! I’m definitely excited about that. My favorites so far would have to be Myanmar, India and Laos. They seem the most raw and real out of the places I’ve been.

    • Oh nice! Will be looking forward to reading about that! I’ve still got more to write up from my time in Japan too actually…

      Interesting choices bud! I’m yet to experience any of them myself. Never been particularly interested in India, but would love to visit Myanmar!

    • Thanks so much! I do my best 🙂 Yeah I’m very glad I’ve been able to see some great places, and I intend to be on many more yet! Cheers for stopping by!

  11. What an awesome blog, Carl! I love what you’ve done with the place!! 🙂
    What amazing adventures you’ve had, I look forward to catching up with your posts and seeing where you’re yet to go!
    “Cheap bastard”…memorable indeed! haha! 🙂
    ~Andrea

    • Thanks so much Andrea! Comments like this make all the brainstorming, photo editing and writing worthwhile 😀

      Glad you’ve enjoyed the site, and I’m sure there’ll be plenty more on the way that you’ll enjoy too!

  12. Wow! You have a very interesting Bio Page! Sounds like you live a very fun life. I had a similar experience in Beijing where I did not realize what kind of Karaoke bar I had stepped into until some questionably dressed girls started to come in the room to “entertain” our group while we sang. Looking forward to reading more of your posts 🙂

    • Thank you Liv! To be honest I don’t think it’s been that interesting this year so far (bar Japan!) as I’ve been saving hard, but I’ll definitely be trying to make up for that in the upcoming months 🙂

      Haha that karaoke “experience” sounds like a funny story. I can imagine the look on your faces as it was probably similar to mine ha…

      Thanks again for stopping by and I hope you are able to read more!

  13. i just googled Las Fallas and it seems like an interesting festival!
    thanks for dropping by my page, and your blog is very interesting, i can’t resist to follow! 🙂

    • No problem at all Kat, I’m glad my site was worth the return visit haha!

      Yeah Las Fallas is truly something. It was the best week of my life without a doubt! Great memories 🙂

  16. I love your blog! It’s brilliant! I would love to get into photography and design and attempt to make my blog look a lot more appealing and personal but I’m struggling to get my head around wordpress and themes and html and CSS argh too much! Do you have any tips for a novice? 🙂

    • Thanks so much Shell! Ha well I certainly have a long way to go when it comes to photography, and I’m not actually happy with the design of my site at all – but with design being the day job it’s hard to motivate myself to sit in front of my computer and re-do it during my free time ha! I will get it done eventually 🙂 So I really appreciate the kind words.

      Hmm not sure what tips I could give you, except not to stress too much about those elements. Simply look for a theme that you’re happy with and get writing. You won’t really need to worry about HTML and CSS whilst you’re using a WordPress.com site. Heck my understanding is only basic – I can build HTML emails, but I wouldn’t know where to start when it comes to a website ha! I think the only extra bits of HTML I’ve added on here are the social media icons and Liebster badge.

      So I guess just keep it simple for now and let your writing do the talking. I’ll be looking forward to reading more! 😀

    • No worries at all Sasha, it was my pleasure! Glad you were able to stop by and have a browse of the site 🙂

  18. Hi Carl, thanks again for visiting/following my blog, I like a lot yours, definitely more rich and interesting 🙂
    Sorry to hear about your not so exciting experience in Naples, but I get your point. Give further chances to Italy though, maybe Genoa and Liguria region next time (good connections flying with BA or Ryanair)? Take care, ciao!
    Gabriele

    • Hey Gabriele! No worries at all. It was a pleasure to stumble across your site. Yeah I’d be more than happy to see more of Italy, even if I don’t have any plans for it any time soon. I certainly wouldn’t judge the rest of the country just from my bad experience of Naples 🙂

      Take it easy!

    • Hey Linda, no worries. I can’t say Latvia is somewhere I’d ever previously considered, but who knows what the future will hold. I know it will have a glowing recommendation from you at least 🙂

  22. Hey Carl, Cool blog! It’s always great to read about other people’s travelling experiences and you have some great material on the site. At hitchhikershandbook we normally publish stories and articles about hitch-hiking and travelling. This is how we do it: http://hitchhikershandbook.com/your-contributions/travel-stories/. We also host a weekly travel photography competition in which we would love you to participate. Here are the details: http://hitchhikershandbook.com/your-contributions/travel-photography/. If you are interested then please don’t hesitate to get in touch. Your friends in Barcelona, Ania & Jon Happy travels!

    • Awesome thanks guys! I do love my photography, so I’ll definitely be keen to get involved 🙂

      Very jealous of your location too haha! Take it easy.

  23. hi carl,
    thanks for liking my recent post and dropping by.
    looks like you fell in love with penang after just one visit, great!
    we have been back yearly the last seven years and stil can’t get enough of it!
    look forward to hearing from you again.
    cheers!
    kap

    • Oh I’m very jealous that you get to go back every year! I certainly don’t think I would ever get bored of it either.

  24. So you decided to join the small clan of Uncle Spike followers Carl…. That makes me a happy blogger now – I really appreciate you making that special mouse click.

    Hope you like my upcoming posts and if you get bored one day, maybe you’ll enjoy trawling through some of my older stuff too.

    If you have any likes, dislikes or suggestions about my blog, just let me know, either through ‘comments’ or via email. Always welcome reader input 🙂

    Have a great old day…

    UNCLE SPIKE
    uncle.spikes.adventures1@gmail.com

  25. Hey, thanks so much for liking my post on Diwali. Traveling gets in your blood doesn’t it? You need to add Incredible India to your list of places to visit. You won’t be disappointed! Namaste. . . Happy Diwalli!

    • No worries, I loved the colours on show. Travelling definitely does get in your blood yes, although I have to say I have no real desire to go to India sadly.

      • Hey, that is OK. We are all different! Where is your favorite of the places you have visited? Where are you really wanting to visit? Namaste. . . .

        • Oof favourites… That’s a toughie! I guess I would say Barcelona, Penang, Tokyo and Ko Tao in Thailand so far. I’m really wanting to get to Sweden & Iceland after my next trips. But the list is just massive, I’m sure you know how it is 🙂

          • My fave is Venice with NYC second. Fave country is Italy, fave people Indian. Want to see Petra and Machu Pechu. Architect loves Barcelona! Italy to me had the most beautiful art, architecture I have seen anywhere. Incredible creativity!
            Our first trip to Roma , flew Icelandic Air. Bought beautiful blankets and sweaters. We could spend 3 days on the way home in Iceland for free as they were desperate for tourists. Stupidly we declined because we had been in Europe for 6 months! (With students)

  26. Thanks a lot for dropping by, Carl. I’m glad you find my blog interesting enough to follow too. I’m looking forward to reading more of your travels! 🙂

  27. I saw on a screenshot of your blog on Gap Year’s list of “Ten Awesome Travel Blogs”. Just by looking at that I knew I must follow you! Your blog’s layout is great and I am very excited to read about your adventures around the world! 🙂

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  31. Carl ! This is such an amazing blog. I recently traveled to US with my boyfriend and I can imagine how amazing it must have been for you.
    You should definitely plan a trip to India, I’m sure you will have a great time and we would love to host you.
    Cheers!

  32. Hey thanks for the visit and like on my blog, you have a great blog here.

  33. Sweden! I’m hoping to be able to make it out there this year. But there are so many places to see and so many delicious things to eat that I’m not sure I will be able to swing it, but who knows! Safe travels!

    • Thanks Lily! I really need to get on with trying to plan that – but then I could say the same for any of my trips this year at the moment.

      Hope you do manage to make it there. Happy travels to you too!

    • Thanks muchly Julie! Shame you found me whilst I was on a bit of a hiatus from the blog, but I hope to be back with many more soon! 🙂

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