Well, it looks like you want to learn more about me and my story up until now. Thanks for taking an interest, I love getting to know fellow backpackers, and hopefully, you enjoy learning about me.
Growing Up
I had quite a bit of travel as a young one, unfortunately, most of it I can’t remember. My Dad was in the military so my mum followed him wherever he went. This led to me being born in England, in the Kent area. I lived here until I was about 1 and then moved to Germany, again following my Dad. We lived near Paderborn, which I am told is a lovely part of Germany.
When I was three, my Mum decided it was time to move back home, and we moved to Northern Ireland, where my Dad would join us when he wasn’t serving. This is the country which I know as home, and where I lived my life growing up. Although, it’s pretty cool to say I had lived in three countries in my first three years.
Family Trips
Like a lot of backpackers, my love for travelling came about thanks to my family. I was lucky enough to visit 4 countries with my family growing up, we went on a holiday nearly every summer. My family have been kind enough to take me to Florida 3 times! I still can’t believe it, and as a backpacker now, I can appreciate how much that must have cost and I’m forever grateful.
It is because of these holidays however that I decided backpacking was for me. I had one holiday lying by the pool too many. We were in Fuerteventura and it hit me that I could be literally anywhere. It wouldn’t matter where, because we were just by a pool. We weren’t experiencing the country, exploring or anything. This made me question my whole perspective on travelling.
I no longer wanted to go on holiday just to relax, I wanted to go on holiday to learn things, experience new cultures, see new landmarks, and explore the local towns and villages. I wanted to travel to see new countries, not just lie by the pool.
Hobbies and Work
Now I know what you’re thinking, I just said that my family paid for me to go to Florida 3 times, however, they have not paid a single thing for my backpacking journeys.
From around 14 years old, I took an interest in graphic design. This sounds really nerdy but specifically in FIFA- the football (soccer) video game. After doing this as a hobby for a few years, at about 16 years old, I began to accept client work. This mostly consisted of YouTube thumbnails. Another few years later, I began to do video editing too. Again, this mostly consisted of YouTube videos.
As you can tell, I was pretty entrepreneurial from a young age, so I never really pictured having a standard 9-5 job, borrrringgg. Who wants to live life like that, really? No offence if that’s your current situation, but you can still do something about it! Now as a traveller, I can’t stress this enough. Life wasn’t made for 9-5s, life was made for memories.
My creativity led to me earning a full-time wage while still in school. And living at home, I had next to no expenses. This allowed me to save a good amount of money to begin backpacking, but I wanted to make the money stretch as far as possible, so I could travel for as long as possible.
When I took the leap into full-time travel, I relied more on graphic work as the Wifi often isn’t good enough for large video files. However, it kept me going. Along with this blog, to which I dedicate around 30 hours a week.
Now, I’m lucky enough to say that I’m a full-time travel blogger. By visiting my site, you have helped me get into this position- thank you! Because of the ads you can see on this site, and posts like my one on the best Colosseum tours, I am able to generate a good income from my blog which allows me to continue to travel full-time.
My Backpacking Journey
My first plan was always to go interrailing around Europe. Having it on my doorstep, it would be a sin not to explore it. Balancing the Schengen vs non-Schengen areas was a little tricky but I am glad to have experienced it.
Next, the Banana Pancake Trail. 2023. I intend to spend about 7 or 8 months in Southeast Asia, hopefully having an amazing backpacking journey. After this, the plan isn’t concrete but after a few months at home, I hope to be backpacking the Gringo Trail, living my best life in the Americas.
Of course, I still have my goal of visiting every country. One of the things I look forward to most is backpacking in Africa. Yes, the whole continent. It intrigues me and excites me soo much and I can’t wait to get out there and see it for myself. From Egypt to South Africa, and everything in between, just wow. What a continent, I look forward to it eagerly.
A Last Word
Thank you for taking the time to learn about my story. I would love to get to know yours! If you would like to talk, feel free to contact me and we can chat about all things backpacking!
I’ll leave you with this. There is a whole world out there waiting to be explored. 195 countries, each entirely different from the last. Get out there and see them. What’s the point in living life working at the same job for 50 years, getting to see the world for 2 weeks every summer? Memories are worth so much more than money. Money comes back, it always does. Experiences are invaluable. Live life to the fullest and you will have no regrets. It truly is A Backpacker’s World.