In this new occasional section we share some of the travel photos from our archives – when we paid our dues but rarely our way. Times were tough, hitch-hiking was a favoured mode of transport (even through the Sahara, which was surprisingly easy) and luxury hotels were places we tried to sneak into to have a swim.

We’re talking bad hair days galore, I’m sure…

Guilty there I’m afraid. Haircuts were far down the list of priorities when it came to actually spending money, as you will see. Still – all good fun and useful experience – it certainly makes us appreciate Grown-up Travel even more…

I was lucky enough to live in Ghana for several years in the early 1990s, and witness the rebirth of democracy when Jerry Rawlings’ NDC government declared that the country was to have its first free elections since 1979 – after many years of one party (one man) rule. I helped a German student of journalism to cover the 1992 election process and was present at this NDC rally at the local stadium. We also got arrested and taken to the Ghanaian equivalent of the CIA, from which most people didn’t return in good health in those days – but that’s another story…

All pictures from this era were taken with my very first (non-digital) SLR, a Canon EOS something which I eventually sold to a fellow traveller in Africa. The quality is a little poor due to the age of the original print when scanned.