Reed Young that young Bermudians need to travel in order to realise and come to terms with a few home-truths about their own country.

"When you go on a trip like this, you realise that Bermuda is wonderful, but in the world scheme of things, it is quite an insignificant place. We live very insular lives here and, compared with the vast majority of the rest of the world, and the way they have to live, we are very spoilt.'' Reed's adventure -- which did include some hair-raising moments -- began last May when he and a friend bought airline tickets, but only as far as Boston.

After that, ingenuity (aimed at making their global trip as inexpensive as possible) came into play when they found a drive-away company that transports vehicles across the US. Driving one of these cars to Texas cost only the price of the gas. From there, it was on to San Francisco by bus where they managed to purchase a round-trip air ticket to Sydney for only $750.

Rather to his surprise, immediately on arrival in that sunny and bustling metropolis, Reed found work, selling flowers and pot-pourri: "People may laugh, but we made $60 for three hours' work. That's pretty good, considering that in Australia, you can get a bed at a `backpacker's hostel' for only $10 a night.'' After purchasing a second-hand van, they proceeded to drive right around Australia, pausing to dive among the sharks on the Great Barrier Reef -- one of the great experiences of the trip, he says.

The outback of Australia was hot, reaching 100 degrees at times, but it was after Darwin, travelling through the beautiful but barren countryside and aboriginal reserves of Northwest Australia that conditions became really primitive.

"People had warned us to take extra gas and it's a good thing we did as we had to fall back on our reserve supplies. It was that huge stretch from Darwin to Perth that really tested our patience. There was about 250 miles between each town and there's a real sense of isolation.'' After surfing at Margaret River, which has the reputation of being one of the three top surfing spots in the world, they travelled along the Nullarbor Road, the straightest in the world and, somewhat disconcertingly, peppered with dead kangaroos that had bounced in front of oncoming headlights.

Arriving back in Sydney, they were understandably pleased with themselves when they managed to sell the van, 15,000 miles later for $100 more than they had paid for it.

New Zealand, Reed feels, is probably the most beautiful and varied country in the world. As he describes it, "If you take the whole world and crunch it up into those two islands, you have New Zealand. It has everything -- wonderful beaches, snow-capped mountains, lakes, glaciers and tropical flowers.'' On Christmas Eve, he jumped 10,000 feet from an aeroplane, but exciting as this was, Reed says his method of celebrating New Year's Eve was even more memorable. When he decided to bungy-jump 280 feet, off the top of Skippers Canyon, he was making the highest bungy-jump in the world: "I think it's the closest you can come to death and survive. It took three days for my stomach to stop shaking!'' Asia, however, proved to be, for Reed, the overall most exciting leg of the entire trip.

By this time, Reed was travelling alone and admits he was quite apprehensive at the prospect. But after flying into Bali, he soon made friends and was able to motorcycle with another young man through the unspoilt areas, up the north-east coast of Bali "the parts that tourists have yet to discover''.

At the moment, he says, the villages, with temples rearing their tall, decorative roofs through thick jungle, remain much the same as they were hundreds of years ago: "We were objects of curiosity, wherever we stopped and all the children would come crowding round us. I travelled with a collection of juggling balls and would give the kids a little show. They loved that!'' Ironically, it was only in Singapore, reputed to be the cleanest city in the world, that Reed experienced the discomfort of bed-bugs.

"Hotels are very expensive there, so I went to these `crash-pads' that are set up in old office buildings, some floors converted into dormitories. The beds are crammed together and it was not a pleasant experience. So I got out of Singapore as soon as possible, even though it was interesting to take part in some of the Chinese New Year celebrations.'' A long bus ride took him into Malaysia. After visiting the hot and humid capital of Kuala Lumpur, he made for the cooler and beautiful tea plantation areas, up in the hills of Cameron Highlands.

After spending a week or so on the spectacular resort islands off Thailand, he travelled by bus to Bangkok, the capital of a country that Reed describes as "A second-world country. It's not `first' like the West, but a much better standard of living than what we think of as third-world countries.'' The other great experience in Thailand was "the trek'' he made through temperate jungles north of Bangkok. Walking through wild terrain, riding on elephants and rafting on bamboo rafts down wide rivers and meeting villagers in this still-primitive area was, he says, one of the highlights of his whole trip: "The Thais are wonderful people, very friendly and happy. I would have great conversations, with me talking English and they were talking Thai, but we seemed to understand each other. And they were all very keen to try and learn English!'' Reed Young flew back from Thailand via South Korea and New York. "I left Bangkok on March 5, flew for 36 hours and still arrived back in Bermuda on March 5,'' he laughs.

Asked how his trip had affected his general outlook, he thinks for a moment and then replies: "I think I learned how to live without the things we rely on and take for granted in the West. Your mind expands -- it's the difference between travelling a straight road and one that's full of unexpected, exciting turns.'' And, acknowledging that he had had brushed with danger, to say nothing of the occasional crocodile, and the constant presence of snakes, Reed says, "If you worry all the time about dangerous, negative things, you miss most of the beauty and excitement around you. I feel now, that if I were sent blindfold to a completely strange country, I'd be able to cope and make the most of it.'' TREKKING THROUGH THAILAND -- Mr. Reed Young pauses to take in the view on his long trek through the jungles of northern Thailand.

SNAKES ALIVE -- At Bangkok's Snake Farm, the largest in South-east Asia, and part of the Science Division of the Thai Red Cross Society, snakes are milked for their anti-venom serum which is then sent for use in hospitals.