I travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape me

Embark on a journey of self-discovery through travel experiences and insightful recommendations.

Selfishly, this Travel Blog is going to be just as much for me as it is for you

What I mean by that is, it's changed my outlook on life so much that I don't want to forget what I did, how I felt, what I learnt and how much I grew as a person. I truly hope you can either relate or understand and take some of this with you into your own life.

You will see all of my blog posts specific to each trip and country(s) I visited, however I wanted to start this off with an insight into my first ever couple days of travelling, the moment I stepped foot off the plane in a brand new continent, not knowing anyone, not speaking the language, not really knowing what I was getting myself into, and just my two backpacks on my shoulders. Let me tell you it was an eye-opener, I felt so out of my depth, questioning if I had committed to something I wasn't able to do.

BUT, how proud I am of myself looking back on the novice traveller I was, to someone now who decides to go to a new country with only a few days of notice, someone who embraces a new culture, challenge and thrives being in uncomfortable situations as that is truly where the growth takes place.

And so it begins, a 33 year old chap who has travelled a lot in terms of holidays, but never as what I refer to as a full-time traveller, on a budget, staying in hostels, with a backpack and venturing into the unknown, starting at the deep end in a new continent, South America.

Looking back now I was such a novice, I landed in Argentina and straight away tried to order an Uber, which didn't work. I had a number of shady looking 'taxi' drivers speaking in Spanish to me, I was sweating because of the heat, and most likely nerves. I was too scared to jump on a local bus (like I saw all the other travellers doing) as I didn't know how it worked, I didn't even get buses in England. So I retreated to the very overpriced taxi stand which was about 6x of the bus fare, but at least I was making my way into the city now.

I arrived at my first ever hostel as a solo traveller, tried to pay the reservation only to find out I needed cash, and Argentina is very well known for it's inflation and cash issue where ATM's run out of cash! I couldn't get my Western Union account to work, however within the first 5 minutes of being in the hostel lounge, an Austrian girl got talking to me and let me use hers, she even decided to walk with me as she knew where the store was and she was a complete stranger 5 minutes ago, a first glimpse into the traveller community.

It was time for lunch, and I probably did the most novice thing ever, and hit an American sports bar as I was uncomfortable trying a local restaurant. It was time to check in to my dorm, a 6 bed, looking forward to meeting my room mates, only to find out all 5 were from Spanish speaking countries. So there I was, in a brand new country, continent, hardly spoke the language, didn't know anyone or where to go, I felt overwhelmed on my first night to be completely honest and thought is this for me.

After my first night in a dorm room, with a couple people getting in super late, a couple loud snorers and one person getting up for an early flight, this was a steep learning curve that I wasn't in my typical comfortable hotel room anymore, but I guess that's why it was £6 compared to £25.

I decided to get out in the morning to explore, and go for a nice coffee, this time at a local place which was of course slightly intimidating (which sounds funny to say now) but it immediately made me feel better that I didn't just resort to a Starbucks. I went back to the hostel for a walking tour, a great way to learn about the city, but most importantly meet people, and this was by far the best decision I made.

Straight away I got talking to an American girl in her late 20's, who spent many summers in Tahoe with her family, of course similar to me. I overheard a couple of English accents behind me, and then got talking to a couple chaps from Fulham, literally a 20 minute walk from where I lived in London. During lunch I was opposite a slightly older couple from France, who luckily spoke good English and they were of course familiar with the ski resorts I grew up skiing in. So very quickly in the space of a few hours, I felt a sense of calm, belonging, and that I was going to meet many different types of people but with many things in common, and all with one objective...to EXPLORE THE WORLD.