Gilles Barbier
Gilles at Tongariro Alpine Crossing in the Tongariro National Park, New Zealand
It is never too late…
A trip through Senegal in 2002 in a “Taxi Brousse” started it all! Back then, I had no experience of independent travel, and even less of countries outside of Europe or Northern America. 15 years later, I cannot help but dreaming of and organizing new trips to Africa, South America or Asia, always looking for places that are still not on the radar of mainstream tourism…
On a personal note
After graduating from NEOMA Management School in Reims (France) in marketing in 1996, I left Paris, my hometown, to work in Germany for five year. Afterwards, I moved to Vienna, Austria, where I spent almost 15 years. I finally decided in 2016 to come back to France, for personal reasons.
I have been working approx. 20 years in various positions in Sales, Business Development & Management, first in Internet DotComs – during the great hype and the even greater crash – then joined the printing industry in 2002, before returning to Entrepreneurship & Start-Ups in 2016.
Gilles in Semliki National Park, West Uganda, Africa
Travel Photography, Travel Blogging
Before I started my trip Around The World in 2007, I created my first website OneYearOff.net. At this point it was meant to be my Travel Dairy, since I realized that without clearly reflecting and writing so many strong impressions, a lot would be lost. That is why I chose the current format of rather detailed entries. To my surprise, lots of people visited this website and I received many friendly feedbacks as to how useful the site was. Considering that I do not write regularly but only after a trip, this success was indeed astonishing.
Now I want to take this to a new level. That is why I created GrandEscapades in 2014. Yes, another Travel Blogger joining the legions…
I must have taken about 100.000 pictures over the years. More than 900 (and counting) are now listed with one of the leading, fastest growing Stock Image Agency, ImageBroker in Munich.
Where to turn next?
I will keep the focus on Africa, South America and parts of Asia, enough to keep going for two decades or so…
I actually have not worked on a list of places, countries or areas, as I expect this list to change repeatedly, depending on regional developments and travel experiences.
Comments are closed.