Three years ago, I left Vancouver for South Africa via London, with plans and planes booked to spend time in Asia and Australia, and anywhere else in between. We all know how that one turned out: I started diving in South Africa, figured out how much I loved it in Australia, and have barely looked back since. I’ve spent 8 months at home in the last three years, and this Christmas will be the fourth in a row spent in a country other than Canada.
Last October 12th, I left Vancouver and took a bus, three planes and a ferry to get to the British Virgin Islands to become a dive professional. I don’t think I fully understood what I was getting myself into back then: the long hours, the exhaustion; the lack of sleep, of food, of a ‘normal’ life. This last year seems like it has been the longest and the shortest of my life. The BVI seems light years away, I feel like I’ve been so many places and done so many things since I left there in January, and yet that was this year.
Since leaving home again this past April, I feel like another big trip is in the works, but this time it’s not really so much a trip as it is just my new life. Being a travelling divemaster (and hopefully one day, dive instructor) is what I do. A lot of the people I meet ask what do I do back home? Well, my friend, this is my home for the moment, and right now, I’m working the only job I really want to work.
This amazing journey of the last three years has taken me to 12 countries on 5 continents; I’ve met some amazing people and made some incredible friends, and I don’t plan on stopping any time soon. I’m incredibly lucky to be able to do what I do: lucky to have my health, my (relative) wealth – money isn’t everything!, the support of my incredible parents, sister, extended family and good friends. I’m loving life, enjoying every new opportunity, and every new experience.
I don’t know where I’m going next, and it doesn’t really matter. For now, I’m happy to be where I am and doing what I love. Who knows what the next year will bring, but I’m sure it will be an adventure.
The Travelling Twin 