Here’s the story of my dream.
At the age of 13, in PE in a Friday afternoon (I remember it like a vision of light) I was hanging upside down on the rope at the top and sung “one day I’ll fly away” at that moment I knew I wanted to visit every country in the world.
At 14 I went to Cyprus with my best friends family, secretly I rented a motorbike and hid it around the corner, at 5am every morning I crept out and drove for miles, seeing the most amazing places around sunrise returning at 9am, sneaking back into bed, when Simone and her folks woke, they were none the wiser (I did confess to her parents at the end of the holiday)
Later that year, my folks took me to Greece – Rhodes, I was further enchanted by the culture of another foreign place, my lure to travel deepened and when I returned I studied Greek at night school.
18, Poppy Colclough & I went back to Greece, I was at college at the time and since I should have been studying for my mocks, I wasn’t at college I was travelling, the college rang home, my Mum answered and candidly told them I was in Greece – I returned to college and was promptly invited to leave college (there were other contributing factors too!!)
That was the decision made, 3 months later on 17th July 1991, I left home and the UK and headed back to Greece, knowing I wasn’t returning on my return flight (my folks didn’t know this yet) I arrived and stuck £200 in a safety deposit box to get me back to the UK – that was before the days of low cost travel.
I had the total sum of £50, so the day after arriving I started my first job and two weeks after that Sarah Newman kindly plonked me in front of her manager Lynn Scott where I did, what I suppose was my first real interview and landed the start of a 7 year career in the travel industry with Airtours.
My aim was to travel and get someone else to pay for it, I never minded trading hard work for the luxury, some weeks we worked in excess of 90 hours, but when you love what you do you never feel like you are working.
That all started 29 years ago, I’m still travelling and still enriching my life, my mind and my soul – I’ve been to countless countries both for work and leisure. I’ve met some of the most incredible people, been welcomed into homes and communities, I have a surrogate Italian family, been shot at in Bethlehem whilst accepting dinner with a Palestinian family (despite Keith Stokeforlife Bell telling me not to go to the Palestinian area of Jerusalem)
I’ve eaten with Muslim families at the side of the road in Malaysia, I’ve flown across the barrier reef, been sucked on by leeches in the outback, seen glowworms in caves in New Zealand, bought ice creams for street children in India, unexpectedly dived with Eagle Rays in the Cayman Islands (thank you Trish Ryan) the list continues and I’ve been left with an incredible set of memories and I’m only just scratching the surface.
So, the moral of this story is NEVER QUIT ON YOUR DREAMS, whatever it takes or how long it takes – it’s your dream, GO GET IT and make it happen.
