Old Boy Gordon Barlow (1956) has written a variety of blog-posts on budget-travels and expat living in which he reflects on his experiences through life, from a childhood on a Darling Downs sheep-station to retirement in a Caribbean island tax-haven.

After jobs in Brisbane and Toowoomba, Gordon left Australia in 1963 as a newly qualified accountant. Following experiences in England, Canada and the Bahamas, Gordon and his wife Linda (also an Australian, whom he met in Greece in 1964) came to the realisation that they were addicted to the expat life. Before finding jobs in New Hebrides (now Vanuatu), a year in Perth in 1971 is the only time they have returned to Australia other than for holidays.

From what was to be a 2-3 year stint, Gordon still resides in the Cayman Islands 43 years later. Gordon was the first full-time Manager of the Cayman Islands Chamber of Commerce (1986-1988) and since 1990 he has publicly commented on social and political issues. More recently he has written reports and commentaries for his personal journal/blog, which began as a successor to weekly columns in a local newspaper. The posts (and the columns before them) were mostly about the politics and commerce of his island home, written for a local audience. Some however were about international affairs, and others (for his grandchildren) related incidents from his budget-travels through the Middle East and eastern Europe with their grandmother.

Now retired, Gordon is interested in swapping travel and expat-living tales with other Old Boys. Gordon says: “The internet never dies, and every once in a while there is a rush of new readers of one of the more interesting-looking posts. The editor(s) of this new OBA site would not thank me for submitting one of the 800-word samples, so I will only offer links to anyone interested in exchanging them. Or anyone at all, really: why not?”

Barlow’s Cayman - blogspot

https://neilbegley.com.au/stories/contributors/a-k/gordon-barlow/

https://www.expatfocus.com/caymans/expat-experiences/gordon-barlow-444/