Where to start, this year is definitely up there with the best of my life. Its had its highs and a few lows too. 

I visited 20 countries and many more cities including: Amsterdam, Auckland, Bangkok, New York, Wellington, Berlin, Florence, Munich, Toronto, San Fransisco and many more. 

I met up with old friends and strangers who became friends, I met new members of family and caught up with old. 

I spent 2 months living in my van around Europe, 2 months living in a car I bought and sold in New Zealand, many nights in an array of amazing hostels. Slept on sofas and in the houses of friends and acquaintances. 

I travelled somewhere between 30 and 40,000 miles - by plane, car, boat, bus, pushbike and motorbike. I took way too many photos, over 20,000 and am still editing them.  

I learnt to say hello and thank you in at least 10 different languages. I found smiling to be a universal language. I slept in a jungle, I help a family build a home, swam with dolphins, worked as a milkman, I did school runs with kids, snorkelled with stingray and many other random activities. 

I’ve learnt more in the last year than I think I have in the last 5 if not 10. I’m trying to avoid cliche here but I’ve realised how alike people are around the world with similar hopes and dreams. It really upsets me how much the media distorts peoples views on this, but thats another conversation. The world is a much smaller place that you think it is and its changing fast. 

I hope I can hold on to what I have learnt, to do things without fear. I realise I’ve only scratched the surface too, there is a whole world out there I may never see but at least I’ve started. Thanks to everyone who took the time to look at the blog or post comments etc, just began as a little thing to keep close friends and family in the loop so the fact it’s inspired others and so many people have said to me how much they enjoyed it is a real bonus.