10 Years of Travel.....

Why am I posting this.... maybe to gloat a little bit, maybe for a bit of nostalgia, or maybe it's to show that Nystagmus has never prevented me from achieving (most of) my goals, ambitious and dreams.

Why am I posting this today?....well cos I have a weird fixation on dates, and today is 10 years since Thursday 9th September 2010, 10 years since I first left England for Providence, Rhode Island and the rest of the world. Since then I have lived in five countries across North America and Australasia, traveled through South East Asia, Central America, South America, as well as visiting several more countries in Europe. I have proven my worth and gained my Australian Citizenship. I have achieved many goals along the way too, which has included completing my Advanced Open Water (for Scuba Diving) last year, and finishing my walk across the full length of New Zealand this year. I even got to live and work up a mountain in New Zealand back in winter 2012 where I spent all day everyday snowboarding......that's the dream!!! Not forgetting to mention ticking off a few bucket list items like jumping out of a plane, bungee jumping, and living up a mountain (I know I already mentioned it, but I dunno if you understand that I literally mean I literally lived and worked up a mountain....and I literally never use "literally" when I mean "figuratively")....

I have taken on and am learning several new skills, including climbing, bouldering, navigation, white water kayaking, boxing, gymnastics, as well as attempting to learn the German, Spanish, Indonesian and Australian languages.... it's probably fair to say that I am better at some than others....

And of course there's the awesome people I have met along the journey, as well as some of the cultures I have had the privilege of being exposed to.

And although 2020 was definitely a year where going home for a while was needed, especially with everything that's currently going on in England, I am still making the most of my current situation in Queensland... there are worse places to be than the Sunshine State.

.....but there's still more to do, still more to achieve, still more to visit, and still more to conquer on an ever expanding bucket list.

I want to stress this again, nystagmus or any other condition you may have, although it may limit you in some aspects of your life, IT WILL NOT DEFINE OR DEFY YOU IF YOU DON'T ALLOW IT TO.

.... Although, after all of this, I am yet to see any bears….