Andrew Simpson

As we cruise the Mediterranean I ponder on the fact that very few of us are fortunate enough to earn a living doing the sort of things we would choose to do for pleasure. Exactly how this happened to me I'm not quite sure – certainly not the result of brilliant planning. And more recently I have been the beneficiary of technical advances. As a writer, illustrator and yacht designer, modern developments in communication make it possible for me to ply my trade while voyaging. I write these words in Poole, England where my landbound base is. But I could just as easily be on board my boat, Shindig, cruising in Greece.

A sailing boat – the perfect travel accessory

Cruising under sail is a form of tourism – it's as simple as that. But tourism with a difference. To visit the same region first by plane then by boat is to see it in an entirely new light. The plane effectively injects you into the commercial mainstream of your destination, leaving you prey to those waiting to relieve you of your money and deprive you of the chance to see a place as it really is. A boat, on the other hand, allows you to enter through a friendlier door, more directly to the heart of a place, where from the start you meet the real locals face to face. And you take your home and those objects that identify your personality with you.

There could not possibly be a better way to travel.