In Search of Abdul Gassim

Arriving in Cairo the day before the revolution erupted was not the smoothest of beginnings for a planned overland trip following the Nile through Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia. In January 2011, Jim Geekie, along with his son Jerome, set off on a journey that ended up being more eventful than they could have imagined. The travelogue begins with Jim and Jerome finding themselves unwittingly immersed in the events centred around Tahrir Square, Cairo in the midst of the Arab Spring. This provides a rare first person account of the Egyptian uprising from the perspective of the traveller. When they finally manage to get out of Cairo, their journey progresses at a more tranquil pace, following the path of the Nile to Khartoum and eventually to its source in Ethiopia.

In Search of Abdul Gassim invites the reader to join the author as he explores East Africa looking for a world he once knew but which - like the author - has undergone significant changes in the past 25 years. Returning to Africa having lived there in the 1980s, the author is eager to revisit places of great significance in his development and as part of that process he hopes to track down a long-lost close personal friend, Abdul Gassim.

Despite the exotic backdrop, the focus of the narrative is on person rather than place, with the emphasis being on the day to day encounters the author has with local people (and occasionally fellow travellers) in parts of the world often considered out of bounds to tourists. While acknowledging, even celebrating, the diversity between people, the author seeks to find the common human experience that binds us all together, whatever cultural, geographical or religious differences may exist.

Geekie reflects on psychological and philosophical aspects of the experience of travelling, musing on the nature of self and the challenge we all face in reconciling the selves of our youths with the selves we have become. In Search of Abdul Gassim is a travel book that recognises that travel involves exploration not only of the outer world, but also the internal world of the traveller.

As well as being a seasoned traveller, Jim Geekie is a practising clinical psychologist specialising in psychosis, making him well-placed to comment to bring a psychological perspective to the experience of travel. Jim's previous publications include 'Making Sense of Madness' and 'Experiencing Psychosis', both published by Routledge as part of the ISPS book series.

About the author
Jim Geekie is a father, a traveller, a clinical psychologist, a Scotsman by birth and a New Zealander by choice. This is his first travel book. His previous publications include Making Sense of Madness (co-authored with John Read) and Experiencing Psychosis (lead editor). Jim views both travel and clinical psychology as ways of exploring the nature of what it is to be human.

Jim has lived in Scotland, England, Sudan, Ethiopia and New Zealand. He currently lives in a small hamlet in Lancashire, England. This bulk of this book was written while Jim was living in Auckland, New Zealand, shortly after he travelled to East Africa with his son, Jerome, in 2011. The text was then left to ferment for a few years before Jim got around to finalising this edition for online publication in 2014. Jim's future travel plans include travelling from Lancashire to New Zealand going overland as much of the way as is possible. That may or may not actually happen. If it does, it may or may not form the basis for another travelogue.