Why I Started a Blog and What I Hope to Achieve

It all started with a simple question: “What would you do if you won the lottery?”

Which was met with an equally simple answer… “I’d do what I’m already doing, just with more money.”

And from that, I started to reflect on what I had been getting up to recently.

For some reason when I picture a travel blogger I imagine a gap yah-ing, daisy chain wearing hipster riddled in wanderlust claiming to have 'done' Thailand. This is an image I will try to avoid and to do that I think I need to know what my message is. What the purpose of all this is.

My main goal is to promote the lifestyle. I honestly believe that getting out and seeing the world is something everybody should do. It is a mind-opening, life changing experience. People often describe it as catching the ‘travel bug’. As much as that makes it sound like a viral infection; maybe it’s the perfect metaphor. It is a bug that goes deep into your system to your very core, and is going to be with you, possibly; for the rest of your life. I think that can be easily explained: once you get a taste of how much is out there you forget the bullshit and realise what life is about. The world is huge and there is so much to see and experience. Social media is already packed with enough inspirational quotes plastered on HD landscapes saying, “something travel something something”, clearly repeating this isn’t going to help persuade anybody. Instead, I’ll share some stories, some thoughts and some cultural observations. Humans are fascinating and I will try and give a taste of life out here. Wherever here is.

I will give an insiders look with an outsiders’ perspective. This process will allow me to see everything with fresh eyes again, reliving each experience as I write it. I have been able to find myself in an industry that promotes travel. I have worked in a number of countries teaching and guiding all sorts of people all sorts of activities – from kayaking to jet skiing, climbing to snowboarding. To those in the industry this is normal life, to an outsider it is weird, wonderful, distant and amazing. We work hard and take fun seriously. The word ‘lucky’ gets thrown at us regularly, but what makes one-person lucky time and time again? As soon as you stop leaving your life up to fate things start to become very different. Luck can be achieved by submerging yourself in the world around you.

I am surrounded by so many truly amazing people who have achieved such incredible things that I feel I am not worthy of creating such a blog – but then I remember that I don’t really care that much and I’m going to do it anyway. By sharing some stories, I hope to give people a taste; an image of what there is. I hope to provide some entertainment for the dreamers and answer some questions of what the hell have I actually been doing with my life for the last few years.

And if all else fails and nothing changes, at least I can say I tried.