Welcome To Leighton Travels!

Welcome To Leighton Travels!

After nearly five years as Leighton Literature, the time has finally come to relaunch this blog of mine. In the beginning I barely knew what kind of blog I wanted, I simply had some short stories to share from my travels around the world. A friend of mine suggested the alliteratively pleasing Leighton Literature. So, with hardly a moment’s thought, it was clickety click, and a blog was born.

R.I.P. Leighton Literature. Born October the 29th 2014. Passed away September the 29th 2019.

In the five years that have since passed I’ve been through several professional (not to mention personal) reinventions. From eventful teaching posts in China, Cambodia and Spain, to superb travel adventures around Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Japan, England, Scotland and Serbia.

Welcome to Leighton Travels! At Belgrade Fortress, Serbia. August, 2019.

Travel is what makes me happy, and what I want to continue doing, above all else. Thus I began documenting every single trip I’ve ever made, a library you can browse here. So far there are over 500 articles from across 32 countries. And I still have hundreds more that I need to write up. There will be more short stories to share too, sometimes it feels like there just aren’t enough hours in a day.

Welcome To Leighton Travels!

These days I live as a digital nomad, working online and basing myself wherever I want. Sounds great, right? Well, it kinda is. On the one hand I get to choose my country and live life mostly on my own terms. However, achieving and maintaining this lifestyle is a huge amount of work. Always having to grapple with a new language and culture. Living out of a suitcase. That constant need for a solid WIFI network and a quiet working environment.

Welcome to Leighton Travels! Settling down to work in Tooting Bec Common Cafe in London. July 2019.

It was from this new lifestyle that the idea for Leighton Travels sprang forth. I’m hoping it’s self-explanatory, after all my name is Leighton and… oh, never mind. The challenge of morphing Leighton Literature into Leighton Travels has not been an easy one. Luckily, I was able to work with some talented people through the global freelancing platform Upwork.

A shout out goes to the amazing Upworker Tushant Khanna, who created the Leighton Travels logo. Tushant has a great talent, enthusiasm and curiosity, all of which served him well in working with me on this project. Tushant is based in Delhi, where he runs his own design house, Publicis Sapient.

As for the actual on-site redesign, this was carried out by the fantastic Jitendra Patil, who worked tirelessly to transform the somewhat clunky look of LL into today’s site. Patient, diligent and with a knack for problem-solving, I feel I couldn’t have chosen a better developer. Jitendra is based in Indore, which he says is “the food capital of India!” It’s a bold claim, maybe one day I’ll visit and find out for myself.

RIP Leighton Literature.

Indore, India. Ah, maybe one day…

Photo courtesy of DeepakNigam.

Elsewhere, I’ve been to hell and back solving a million and one technical problems associated with changing domain name. In this respect, I should also thank the good folk at WordPress for helping me sort out all kinds of unforeseen crises, including what amounted to a complete Google rankings meltdown. I can’t even begin to explain how it felt when, for a few days, I fully believed that five years of hard work had just been flushed down the toilet.

Welcome to Leighton Travels!

Last, and most definitely not least, I want to thank the people whose unwavering support throughout all of this have been so crucial in getting me to the other side in one piece. Thanks to Henry for putting a roof over my head, Walking Dead banter and a steady flow of late-night Twirls. And of course thank you to my wonderful Sladja for being with me on this journey, literally every single step of the way. What did I ever do without you?

Please do go and explore Leighton Travels!