The intrepid explorer, back on home soil

Well, after over a year stateside, this chap sneaked back into the UK last week! It was a discreet arrival and I was a little dazed for it felt like the end of an adventure.

I'll never forget it. One sunny day in September 2007, I found out that my short-lived career was about to expand a little. A little over the transatlantic.

A few months later in early 2008, I was living in Herald Square, right in the middle of Manhattan, New York, with a 10001 zip code. The first city that had visited on my trip around the world, was now, home? Waking up in Manhattan was spectacular, if a little surreal.

After three months, a new life in Chicago beckoned and I didn't really know what to expect. But in many ways, with more time in Chicago I enjoyed it more and got to know the place really well. I was also very lucky to find a place in one of the tallest buildings in Chicago and home was a 63rd floor apartment with some of the best panoramic views of the city.

I truly had the time of my life! So to leave it all behind was hard, especially leaving behind a special girlfriend and some new friends, but it is great to catch up with family and friends again. I just need to work out what's next!

On that note, who knows what is next. When I came back from travelling three years ago, I was dazed even then and I thought that I wouldn't have another adventure for a while. At that time, I posted these famous words on my original blog:

AFTER AN EPIC TRIP AROUND THE WORLD, THE INTREPID EXPLORER FINDS HIMSELF BACK IN THE UK, WHERE WILL HE GO AND WHAT WILL HE DO NEXT? FOLLOW THESE CHRONICLES INTO THE REALM OF THE UNKNOWN... THE TRAVEL OF LIFE RATHER THAN CHARTERED FLIGHT, IT'S HERE, IT'S REAL, IT'S THE INTREPID EXPLORER BACK ON HOME SOIL.

Since then, there have been more adventures, both in terms of a fair few chartered flights (believe me!) and the travel of life - I'm now an uncle and that's a bit of an adventure in itself!