In this deeply personal solo episode, I take you through my full travel journey—from growing up in Norwich with no real concept of travel, to building a life around it in Vancouver and around the world.

This isn’t just a story about where I’ve been—it’s about how my mindset around travel has completely evolved over time.

From partying through Southeast Asia in my early 20s, to seeking culture, connection, and purpose in my 30s… this episode breaks down the different phases of travel, what changed, and why I now see travel as a long-term lifestyle rather than a short-term escape.

I also share honest reflections on burnout, money, building a travel-focused career, and what the future of travel looks like for me.

If you’ve ever wondered how travel fits into your life long-term—or how your relationship with it might change over time—this one’s for you.

To finish, I want to share with you, the audience, an episode where you get to know me more. I have been doing this for five years, and I believe sharing more personal details will help build a tighter Winging It community.

I hope you enjoy the episode and that it inspires you to travel for the first time or to dream about making it a lifestyle. Drop me a comment on your thoughts, too.

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⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 Why I’m sharing this story

02:00 Growing up in Norwich & early curiosity about the world

05:30 School trips & no real travel mindset yet

08:00 Moving to London & first exposure to diversity

09:30 Australia 2010 – the trip that changed everything

11:30 The moment I decided to travel long-term

12:50 Ukraine road trip & first taste of raw travel

14:30 Planning the 2013 backpacking trip

15:20 Leaving the UK & heading into the unknown

17:00 First culture shock in Bangkok

18:30 Southeast Asia – party travel & backpacker life

20:00 Australia – working life & maturing

22:30 Smartphones & how travel started to change

23:30 South America solo travel & shift to culture

25:00 Realising travel had evolved for me

26:00 India 2016 – second major culture shock

27:30 Meeting Emma & planning long-term travel

28:30 Health scare & motivation to live fully

29:30 15 months of travel as a couple

31:00 New Zealand, Cook Islands & finding “paradise”

32:00 Turning 30 mindset shift & continuing travel

32:30 Moving to Canada & new chapter

33:00 COVID & travel uncertainty

34:30 Starting the podcast during lockdown

35:00 Planning the 1-year world trip

36:00 Travel becomes a lifestyle, not a phase

37:00 The reality of trying to make money while travelling

38:00 Returning to work & rebuilding

39:30 How I see travel now

40:00 The future: combining work & travel

41:00 Why having a base matters

41:50 Upcoming trips & current lifestyle

42:00 Travel in my late 30s vs early 20s

43:00 Advice for travellers (young & older)

44:00 Final reflections on travel & life

45:00 Personal facts & closing thoughts

46:30 Where to find me & support the podcast

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Winging It Travel Podcast - Website

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Winging It Travel Podcast Credits

Host/Producer/Creator/Composer/Editor - James Hammond

Contact me - jameshammondtravel@gmail.com or james@wingingitproductions.com

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Hello and welcome to this week's episode and I've titled this one from Norwich to Vancouver how travel changed my life and my perspective and recently two things have happened so Norwich has been voted the best place to live in 2026 by the Sunday Times best places to live guide and this is where I'm from and where I grew up in the 90s and naughties then a few days ago I turned 37 which I cannot believe

real and unpredictable essence of global exploration, chasing moments over milestones, those spontaneous encounters, immersive sounds and unforgettable stories. Whether I'm hiking up volcanoes in Guatemala,

camping under the stars in British Columbia.

met incredible people, seen breath taking places and collected unforgettable stories. I now get to share them with you, alongside some of the most diverse and well travelled guests from around the world. Expect engaging conversations that bring fresh perspectives and inspiring travel tales. There are also raw, reflective solo episodes where I share personal insights, practical tips and honest stories from the road. This is a podcast for travellers, dreamers, backpackers and anyone who's ever thought, what if I just went for it and travelled. If you're looking for stories to tell, tips to share,

and experiences to inspire, then you're in the right place. There's so much travel content coming your way, it might just spark that trip you've been dreaming about for years. You can find Winging It, a more fantastic travel podcast from around the world at voyescape.com. The link is in the show notes. Let's go and explore the world. My earliest memories were of a young child being obsessed with maps and capital cities. That's the first thing I remember. I used to have this little Atlas book which had every UN country in it at the time.

and some cool facts about it like population, capital cities, demographics, continents, and the flag. So from an early age, I was actually pretty nifty at knowing flags, capital cities, and also general population information about countries. In terms of the flags, I was not quite on the level of Sheldon from the Big Bang Theory. However, I got annoyed in school because we would learn about rivers, mountains, soils.

and oceans in geography rather than people, capital cities, countries, language, et cetera. But this book was probably the early seed in my head. I've been interested in countries and the maps, but it didn't really necessarily transfer to me wanting to see the world. I just liked knowing about the world from a book simply because I felt like at the time nowhere was really possible. So growing up in the teenage years with broken up parents who both earned minimum wage jobs, it was all about survival really to a certain extent.

and getting through school, which I could not have been less interested in. I'm a bit of a creative, so sitting there learning maths, science, English, bored me to tears. And I do think it holds you back to a certain extent if you're that way inclined. I had three outlets in those years. One is music and learning the guitar. Second is playing and watching football or soccer, if you're from the US. And third has been in the Air Cadets, which is an organization in the UK.

which mirrors the armed forces and you can join each one, whatever one you like. Air cadets is related to the RAF. I was interested in planes. So I got to go flying, travel around the country, do drill competitions, flying gliders, do some aerobatics in planes. I was part of the music band there playing the trumpet and kind of learned the military side of the UK. But in truth, looking back on reflection, cadets is a bit like a tiny bit of brainwashing really.

because they tried to get you indoctrinated into that, know, God saved the king and all that stuff. But I did learn discipline. I made some great friends and it kept me out of trouble to a certain extent from where I was from. Because I grew up in a working class area, it's called a council estate in UK, social housing from other parts of the world. And the people around my age were good people at the time, but not really getting up to the best activities. And somehow

I got sidetracked from that type of behavior, should we say. And what was key in this period was a school I went to, which was not a school in my area. So suddenly I was in this area about 20 minutes from mine, where it's a middle-class school surrounded by people who had money, went on holidays to Spain, et cetera, and were not living in terraced houses in a council estate like we were. So it's kind of good to see the other side and it gave me a tad bit of hope.

But my friendship group at school really developed during this time away from the people in my estate. And even though the people I went to middle school with were in my school, high school, I kind of fell away from them and create this new group of people. So in sixth form, which is the ages of 16 to 18, I was going on school trips to Germany, Belgium, France. Mostly there were history trips, but it really was being like in another country with your friends, mucking about really seeing something different and trying to

and all the teachers there who are looking after the group. I remember at the age of 17, a group of us went to Berlin on a history school trip and suddenly we're allowed to drink and we're drinking a lot in the hotel. And I think we drank enough to make the minibar go dry. So that was a sign of things to come in the future, that's for sure. But at this point, there's no traveler in me. I just saw these trips and countries as places to go without really wanting to learn anything about them. And the point I'm trying to make here is that when you go traveling in your 20s,

at hostels. You do meet people a few years younger who are much more worldly and mature and people who want to see the world. But most of these people are private schooled or from a well-off family. And it makes sense they are like that because they had the money to go on skiing trips or go on safaris and Africa, etc. So they had that worldliness about them and I was miles behind that, absolutely miles off it. So they're exposed to different cultures unlike me. I guess you could say

I was kind of stuck into the British culture, but can't really blame myself for that. It's just the way it was at the time. However, I will say that the people you meet, like in those hostels that I talk about, especially the private school people are very pretentious, rude and jingoistic. But that's another discussion for another time. I did see some interesting behaviors come out of that as well. But yeah, that lot from private schools are a bit of a weird bunch. But moving on. So I rewind a little bit to the years where I had to work out what I was going to do.

Before travel came along and it was really down to two options for me. It studying music or join the Royal Air Force. Had a year wasted working at Next, a retail shop in UK, working part-time. But I did move out of the home, which taught me some key lessons for growing up real quick, which came in handy later on. After much deliberation and luck, I went to London to study music. Absolutely winged it, but I did pass an exam. I was pretty good at it. And I had no idea what was in store for me.

Just music, practicing, and even London didn't know much about it. Not really interested in seeing it. Just more about studying and doing the next thing for music. However, being in a much bigger city with so many nationalities and people did make me grow up pretty quickly. Suddenly I was surrounded by people in my class from all walks of life, all different levels of musicianship and ways of thinking. It was a wake up call because compared to Norwich, which is a very white place, I suddenly started to learn about all these different cultures.

and see these people in the street alongside me, hang around with some of them at college, and also go and visit their eateries where I lived in London. So I did love the first two years. So to travel itself, during the middle of the four years, I've talked about this on the podcast a few times, I went to Australia in 2010 with my friends to watch the Ashes, which is a cricket competition between England and Australia. And we went to Melbourne and Perth. Couldn't really afford it at the time, just said yes and winged it, but I used my credit cards, my student loan.

little money I had and that trip changed my life and my view on travel for sure. Can't quite put my finger on it but something to me flipped like a switch. Bit of culture shock but in a good way. I loved everything about Australia, the place, the smell, the cleanliness, the weather, the beaches and Perth was the first port of call. I just couldn't get over how cool this place was. Very new, great weather every day and the Australians were such a good laugh. The beach culture

does play a part. mean, when you grow up in UK, the weather is so grim that when you go to Australia, for example, and it's like sunny every day and there's no worry about the weather, you can just chuck on a t-shirt and some shorts and head out. That experience was super cool. And to make that even better is with my mates from school, a life-changing moment. But maybe something inside of me did wake up there. Everything I had done to that point didn't really have a purpose to it. I was still working things out.

trying to complete this music thing, trying to get better at maybe being good at guitar and trying to make it in the music world and the music industry. I 21 at the time, a few breakups. Of course, that's what happens when you're A bit discontented with the musical side of things though, because I really wanted to change. I knew I wasn't going to be good enough and it's quite unforgiving, that environment. It's a bit like sport really. mean, you know, to a certain point you're good, but then the next level is really tough and it requires a bit of luck.

even more hard work. And up to that point, I've been playing the guitar for about 10, 12 years every day. So a bit burnt out, I'd say as well. So I needed something different, something new and exciting, something unlike what any of my family had done before and even most of my friends. And I've shed more details of this moment, but when I was in Perth at a cricket match at the Waka Stadium, I ran on guy who was Australian, but his parents were from UK and they immigrated to Australia. Time to get work and permit, a car and explore the country.

He wasn't a big fan of the UK despite his dad being from Leeds. So I knew from him, the way he described it and Australia and what I was experiencing at the time, I knew I had to go back. So up to this point, I'd always been a bit lazy, always looking for the easy way out, more interested in football on the weekends, putting on a few drinks. I guess I lost my way a little bit by practicing because I kind of lost a bit of heart. But all that changed on my flight back from Australia, back to London. I've never been so depressed returning from a trip before. It was snowing, it was cold, straight back into classes.

It was an exciting time. It was the unknown that awaited me, but it's also tough. Patience was needed. I had to get this degree done, which was two years away really. It really was like, oh, can I do well? The pandemic year was not great. I just about passed it, but not the best grades. I pulled it a little bit back in my last year, but really was not into it. My heart was not into it. I just wanted to get away. But I did work hard and I saved money in London at a job.

2012 trip to Ukraine for the euros and we road tripped from London to Donetsk in the East, obviously before the war started in 2014. So we saw different parts of Ukraine. We saw Donetsk, Kiev, Lviv, Jukasi and a bit of Dnipro as well. Got lost, an absolute journey. We stopped off in Europe at places like Krakow. The days before smartphones. So it was a paper map, trusting the roads and the map.

hung out with locals at weddings, got offered vodka on so many occasions by the Ukrainians, which obviously got us drunk and got us into many, many funny anecdotes. And we saw England football team be absolutely dross again. But this trip opened my eyes to a world not as curated perfectly like Australia or Germany. It was a bit rough around the edges, rugged, edgy, and I liked it. And it sparked something inside of me. So my buddy, Mike Butler, pulled me to one side and he said, look, Hammo.

I want to come with you on your trip. I was like, oh yeah, yeah, cool. Morn and merry. Like, come on. He's like, I'm interested in New Zealand, Australia, Fiji for three months. I love that. I was like, right. He goes, but I want to go to Southeast Asia for three months before that. Are you interested? I was like, I mean, yeah, I'm in, but where the hell is it? Obviously I knew because of my Atlas information, I knew where it was, but I had no information about these countries or what to expect. But because of the Ukrainian experience, my personality had switched. I want to take more risks, maybe wing it more.

Me and Mikey have booked all the trip of STA travel to a certain extent, all the flights around the world ticket. And I waved off my mum and my sister at Norwich bus station. A little emotional, but there was not one bit of me that thought I was making a mistake. I knew this was the right thing to do. I had my little night out in Norwich saying goodbye to my friends. I was going to see some of them in Rio de Janeiro for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, which would be 18 months later. But I was off into the unknown, into the wider world and how exciting.

No smartphone, just a bit of money and a bit of wanderlust heading my way. So met my friend Mike at Heathrow and I managed to navigate the first part of the journey solo by getting a bus and then a train to London and then to the airport. A great start. You can't really describe that feeling bottled up inside of you for the first time when you go on that unknown trip to somewhere completely adventurous and new for you. When you step on that plane, it's a whole brand new adventure. And for me, it was never about

going back really. This was it. This is like a one way ticket almost. And reality it was. I mean I had my flights booked to Australia but I never had one booked back to the UK. So heading off into Asia for the first time. Didn't know much about Thailand or Bangkok. All the whole area as a whole as I've said before. A pure wing in it in all senses to me. I think this is where the brand started probably here right now on this flight. Hence the name of the podcast.

When we first arrived into Bangkok, it was an absolute culture shock. And I do recommend this because it really gets you thinking on your feet. The smell, the heat, the shower gel bursting in my backpack after about a 14 hour flight. That went all over my clothes. That's not a great start. The mosquitoes biting my leg eight times on my first night. That's not great either. The hostel dorm rooms had six people in it. So I'm sleeping with other people who are a bit noisy, snore, et cetera.

No earplugs in those days for me. I don't know how I slept actually thinking about it. People everywhere and people trying to scam you every time we stepped out of the hostel. It was a full on first experience. And the first couple of days, I didn't know what hit me really. I even contemplated deep down that I might have made a mistake. But I soldiered on and meeting people in the hostel with Mike really helped with that. For the first couple of days, we're obviously trying to see the place ourselves, but as we start to meet people and over time,

we started to hang out as a group. However, as time went on in Southeast Asia, I was learning so much about each country, meeting all the people, I said, so Love D hostel where I throw you back to a few episodes ago, where I talked about how great that week was in Bangkok and how many people we met. It's so cool. It was absolute glorious time. It was like aimless wandering around Bangkok. had so many nights out, mini tours, temple tours, great hostels, a lot of partying.

Definitely hedonistic, not much learning of culture, I'd say. There are a few things in there, like the killing fields in Cambodia was a tough day actually, especially getting offered to shoot a cow afterwards with a grenade launcher, didn't feel right. We learned a bit about the Vietnam War as well. So there were a few learnings in there, but mostly I think it was about meeting people similar age, having fun and drinking all the time. And this type of travel continued right into Australia six months later.

When we think about it, looking back, Q experience, that's four weeks on the bus doing the same thing, albeit slightly more expensive, but seeing great places and hanging out with new friends. Australia started like that, then it started to die down because we ran out of money. But how I look back on travel at this point is definitely more people-based. As I said, not interacting much with local culture and questionable decisions on certain tours and activities, which I'd look back on today and cringe at really.

and learn the bits along the way for culture. So I think my travel at this point is very much about me and about my new group of friends. And I think that's only natural when you're younger, in your early twenties. But I suddenly felt like I found a brand new group of people who love travel like Mike and I. I got very attached to my new found friends. Even now I'm slightly sad that I haven't been able to see many of them again since this trip. And that is over 13 years ago.

And to summarize, I think this type of travel is a time that everyone should go through once when they're younger, at the very least. Just grab a backpack, pick an area, do an overland travel for a few months, see and do as much as you can with anyone you meet. Say yes, do the best adventures. And honestly, it's the best time, especially if you're younger hearing this, but also if you're older, be a slightly different trip. I'll come to that in a second. It's still just as good, but I think those carefree days when you're make it even easier.

But I will say when I finished the six months and Mikey went home to London and I stayed on in Australia to work, that changed me however. Suddenly I was a bit more mature. So I started to realize what getting paid well means. mean, Australia pays well traditionally for backpackers. Selling the money wasn't basic like the UK. But also you learn how precarious that can be if you don't have a job because the money will last but not very long. Australia is expensive country.

had to adapt to job challenges and live a normal life really compared to the previous six months. It was a big change. I worked in Melbourne in an office, lived in a proper apartment for a little bit and a hostel and lived the Melbourne lifestyle, made work friends, did routine things. Been in a new country, it was fun, but I had grown since I left London, I feel. Australia is a dream life of both worlds. I went to Margaret River where it's beaches and I went to Melbourne where it's city life.

So I had a mix of nature, fellow expats in hostels, but also maybe expats who settled their permanently in jobs and a very similar culture to the UK. Met so many great people in my year in Australia, but it only one year. I did not extend for a second year and I knew I was leaving a year later. Just a quick pause in the episode there. If you're enjoying the podcast and getting value from these conversations, one of the biggest ways you can support Winging It is by leaving a five star rating all of you.

on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you're listening right now. It generally helps the show reach new listeners and keeps the podcast growing. And it's free and it only takes a few minutes. Alternatively, if you'd like to support the podcast in another way, you can also buy me a coffee over at buymeacoffee.com forward slash Winging It. It's a simple way to help cover hosting, gear and the time that goes into creating these episodes. And I seriously appreciate every coffee that I receive is only $5. You can also head to wingingittravelpodcast.com

to book your travel through my affiliate links. That just means that if you book your flights, accommodation or travel gear through those links, it helps support the podcast at no extra cost to you. It allows me to keep sharing these stories from the road. And finally, if you know someone who loves travel, storytelling or meaningful conversations, please share the podcast, whether that's by word of mouth, sending an episode to a friend or posting it on social media. It really does make a huge difference. Right, let's get back into the episode.

The biggest change for me during that year, I think, and for a lot of travelers actually, since probably 2014, like I'm talking about now, maybe 2015, was smartphones. And they became so accessible. Apps started to arrive on the smartphone. I got my first iPhone 5C, if you can remember them. And suddenly I had a camera. I did not have a camera for that six months traveling, can you believe? The photos that I have are from other people. And it's easier to take photos and videos.

And the biggest regret I had today from that period is I should have started a podcast on YouTube, Imagine Attraction on that. So I didn't have any of that for my previous six months. And now I had all of this on my trip in Australia. And I realized that when I left Australia to travel to South America, suddenly people were on their phones a bit more. Still a good time. Communication was still a bit like before, but deep down I knew travel had started to change. Home and people were much more accessible in my pocket. I didn't feel like I was out on this massive adventure anymore.

as solo traveler because you have to make more of an effort to meet people and it's not as popular in South America as the classic route of Southeast Asia because South America is huge. So you will meet some people but just not a lot on the same trail. Ultimately I knew I kind of miss people a little bit. Also not as hedonistic. Older mentally maybe. The alert of partying every night didn't appeal to me as much anymore. I wanted to learn more about the place I was in. I wanted to do some hikes for the first time.

And I felt like it was a pivotal moment in our friendships and lives. We're doing something out of the ordinary for our group in a foreign land, miles away. We did some cool activities like the VEVEDA tour that my friend Mark organized. That's pretty cool. But also people were progressing in their lives, either through jobs or relationships. And I felt like I was lagging a little bit behind at this moment because I was still thinking about traveling on this trip. So my age here was 25. Sounds so young right now, but people were cracking on with the normal stuff, shall we say.

stressful job and I was buzzing again to be out on the road and get that bug back into me again. No idea where we're going. It's a bit of a culture shock thing going on for India because it's a completely different level. I needed that. Despite being fairly experienced in travel, it was on a different level there. The dust, the number of people, the spices, the food safety aspect, different cultures, the trash, the beauty of the Himalayas, the heat, my word, breathtaking views.

Sites Outless World and we did really traverse different types of topography there in the mountains but also lower down in India saw Taj Mahal, iconic sensory overload. I didn't really take a lead on this trip. I was following my friends Scott and Stuart, their brothers, to cities and places I'd never heard of and actually felt like I just needed a detox from Norwich where I was living at the time and a normal working life. And up until India, I tried to give normal life a go but I started to feel it just wasn't for me.

being early on in the relationship that we would give travel a go to Southeast Asia and do the working holiday visa in New Zealand and aim. And I'll be honest, New Zealand deep down was on my radar. I loved my time there and I to do the Australia of New Zealand, which is go there and work for a year. We actually met at a not so glorious temp job in insurance, organizing paper insurance policies and getting them signed off and then put them in envelopes. Boring. Doesn't really come close to it, but it paid weekly. Overtime was available.

and we both could save money and we had an aim and almost a date or month to leave. One situation did knock us back however, probably a few months actually. And that's my trip to the hospital for month where I had two surgeries to remove an infection from a sepsis infected hip. I don't recommend it, not fun. It was bloody painful. And the first surgery got rid of it and then aggressively came back again. So I had to go back in two days later. I was on morphine on tap. I was high as a kite.

Really poorly actually, was in ICU for a week, I had my own room at the hospital, had to sign papers to consent them to replacing my hip, etc. Got pumped with drugs for the first time. Still struggling from that actually, 10 years on. I made a recovery, wasn't easy with the repercussions, but it did keep me up the arse a little bit to get traveling again and living life to the full. That was definitely a moment for me to wake up and crack on with my aims. So we set off to Southeast Asia.

New Zealand and that is absolutely paradise. could not believe what I was seeing and talking about paradise. I had an obsession since the early days of reading the Atlas book that I wanted to find paradise on earth. I had no idea where it would be. I knew it would be palm trees, beaches, clear water, hot weather, little islands. I thought it'd be Hawaii, but I went there in 2014. Wasn't that impressed, but Cook Islands was definitely the closest I've been. Fiji rivaled it little bit.

and we'll see if French Polynesia this year will rival that as well. We made lifelong friends, memories, and we had a decision to make. Because this is a crucial trip which relates to today. Due to age constraints on the working visas around the world, if you're from UK, Canada, New Zealand, etc. We realistically only had one left because we're approaching 30. And Emma asked if I fancied Canada. And I said yes, even though it's never on my radar.

almost like a culture shock really. Going to islands like Vanuatu, knew nothing about it, but I knew there's a volcano there. So we really did see stuff that maybe was a bit different than before. But also an important milestone at this time is the fact that I knew that we were traveling to an extent beyond 30 because I had that weird thing where I generally believed that I would stop when I'm 30. Emma's a few years older than me, but for me personally, it's like, well, 30 then it'll be done. But I started to realize, you know what?

We would have spent most of our money on the travels after New Zealand and back in UK. So we need to get back on track financially, plan the trips for the second year of the permit because we obviously had to leave after two years and sort out what to do next. So 2019 was a year of living in our own apartment for the first time, having our own TV for the first time, earning decent money and having a routine. And we needed it, but it was one problem. And we all know what that is. Fast forward a year.

COVID. We all know what happens. No one could have predicted it. An absolute curve ball in life and in travel and all plans out of the window. The last trip being Vegas actually, think weekend or two before all shut down for my mum's 50th. I remember people wearing masks at the time thinking, what are they doing that for? But yeah, that was it. And first up, the questions we're all asking before travel really is how bad is this virus? Make sure we get vaccinated, hopefully take stock.

Can we survive it? Is it that bad? And then once you start to learn the details of the virus, you start working from home, obviously, you start to realize that life has changed and travel has definitely changed and travel is not even on the radar at this point. And for us, we're working from home. It starts to become not a novelty anymore. And we assess everything like a lot of people did. Some serious questions came up relating to Canada, but also travel. Like, where are we going to go? Can we stay?

Can we even travel to some countries had in our minds? Like what are we going to do? So first of all, we had to figure out how to stay in Canada because we hadn't reached our aims in terms of money financially of saving for a trip. But also see in the US, for example, we didn't get a chance to see that much and also planning the next stage of travels. So we got lucky with enough points for permanent residency, which gave us five years to play with. That was a relief. But next question is, how do we see travel in the future? Would it be the same? Where could we go? Can we even go? How long for?

going to work on revamping those early episodes, but still nonetheless, it got this podcast off the ground. And it's great speaking with other like-minded people as we're stuck at home working or at least can't travel for the foreseeable future. And I've loved every minute of winging it since. What a choice that was. And hopefully you do too. And what about travels? So we felt like we'd missed out a little bit on US during COVID and off Canada as well. So we committed to another big trip in either 2022 or 2023.

And we went for the ambitious one year trip and a $60,000 Canadian dollar plan to save. Which definitely wasn't enough. Anyway, so we started to save big time for this and I could not be more excited or impatient to get going on this trip. And during this period of working up to the trip, I realized that working these office jobs was not something I wanted to do long-term. I needed to do something more meaningful to me. So I threw everything into the podcast with the aim of this being my full-time job.

when we traveled on a year trip, but more on that in a bit. But this was a switch in my mind, the next milestone if you like, that I now conceded and accepted that travel is for life. Not just a period of time. I think for me, it's a lifestyle of what to work with in travel and money from it, what the freedom it offers, what to see the world. And this was my new mission. So this was definitely a big change.

I was incredibly burnt out from working COVID and life to a certain extent, and we both needed a change and could not be more relieved to get out and start traveling again. But because of this, it didn't put me in the best place for being in the business mind with the podcast and content wise for YouTube, which I had in my mind. I didn't start my YouTube channel. I should have started it there as a vlogging account before traveling, getting used to creating videos and try to do that content as we go.

It would have been hard, but I do know a lot of YouTubers who get traction whilst on the road. And from that time, van lifers really did well. And maybe that could have been an area where we got good traction as a travel couple doing van life for four months at a time in the summer. Anyway, didn't happen. So that's annoying. It could have been what if, you know, what if I started then as opposed to two years ago? Anyways, I'd have put that year trip on my YouTube channel. I didn't really film for YouTube.

that well, but I did the best I could. So check out Roaming with Hammo if you'd to see those videos. And what I've learned since then is I had no business plan for the podcast and I'm being honest with myself here. I wasn't really in that headspace. I just wanted to travel and have a break. And I think to make a business out of podcasting, you need to be in that mode to make money out of anything really, but also podcasting as well. And I was a bit naive that you can even make money on the podcast. I thought, you know what? I'll just keep releasing content and that'd be enough.

It was a failure and I had to start again and it was so tough going back to an office job that I thought was never going to happen again. That was a low moment and there's plenty of low moments in this first six months. I knew it would take three years to get back to anywhere near the levels where I can maybe leave again or recalibrate or do something different. I could do remote work or freelance or earn enough money myself, be location independent, et cetera. We still aren't.

We're still working towards that dream, but we're very close and on the right path. And it's just over three years from that point. So more to come on that hopefully later in the year. So what are my thoughts on travel now in the years since and how do I see it? Well, I've had some incredible trips to Central America and Asia since then. I travel pretty much on every part of my PTO that I can muster up. I earn decent money with my job. So I can afford to go to places that cost

A fair bit of money, but it's not a huge concern. However, I do miss being free with my own time to decide how much I can travel or not, but that will come in the future, I'm sure. But travel is now a lifestyle choice. I know that in the future, my own income and work will be intertwined within travel. Can I travel a year with no income? Absolutely not. Can't do that again. So what does it look like in the future? I generally see it as one to three months at a time, earning my own money still within that, new places and trips alongside working.

on my Winginit Productions business, this podcast, producing other podcasts, and editing video for other podcasts or YouTube channels, as well as my own YouTube channel as well, which is monetized. So that excites me. If I'm away for two months, I'll work enough to keep money coming in. But then if I'm at home for two months, I'll work on more projects to make more money. That sort of dynamic, that is the future that I see. I think this would enable me to earn and travel together and have a long-term travel lifestyle where choice is at the forefront of what we do.

We don't have to travel for six months if we don't want to, but we do have the choice if we want to do so as well. And that is important. Another key milestone for us in terms of long-term travel is having a base. So the reason we haven't taken the leap yet is that we need a base to be creative, chill out, see friends and family, also have a place to store our stuff. We don't own anywhere. So this would be more than likely Norwich in the future in the UK. It's not a bad place to be. Hence it was named the best place to live in the UK. That's where we're from.

The price of housing is actually really good compared to Vancouver, for example, and it feels like maybe the right decision for the future. So up until that point, I feel like we're doing trips that are more expensive. I did Bhutan, even though that's a collaboration, but if I didn't have a collaboration, I would have still gone and that would have cost a lot of money. And we've got French Polynesia coming up for a 10 year anniversary. That's not cheap either. But as I have this full-time job right now, I can afford to do it. When I'm freelance, it might be a little bit harder.

To summarize, I'm excited for the future. I love travel now as I did back then. As I speak today for this episode, I have trips to Finland, Estonia, Paris, French Polynesia, UK, Malta, Eastern Canada, BC, and the pipeline. Voyescape continues to provide opportunities for media events, media trips, which I'm open to as well, wherever they are in the world. The El Salvador tour that I'm hosting this year will be pushed back to 2027, so more to come on that.

and I start promoting that big time late in the year. We love summers in Canada, so we have lots of islands to visit here in BC. And we do have a long weekend trip to Toronto on the horizon. But traveling in my late 30s is much more intentional than when I set off 15 years ago. I love the free walking tours now, meeting local guys and travelers, interviewing them for the podcast. I still love staying in hostels, but only in private dorms now. can't do shared rooms anymore unless I have to. I love meeting cool people still though.

or as wild as CoPP partying sessions, but they're more wholesome and I love where I am with it as we speak today. I'm really pleased I went through that phase in my early twenties because I learned a lot about myself there, about how I see the world, getting out of my comfort zone, meeting people, navigating tough situations without smartphones or easy access to Google. That's a cool lesson to have in the bank. As much as I can emphasize this enough, I do recommend going on those.

crazy trips if you're younger, but also wholesome trips when you're and maybe just putting away the phone for most of the day. And I even tempted to go on a trip and not take my phone. I'll take a camera to record the stuff, but not be on social media and not even document it that much. We'll see. See what happens with that. I think that kind of wraps up where I am today. Love travel as much as I did. Want to carry on to the end of my life and let's see how it goes. If you stick to the podcast, I'm sure you'll hear about it on certain parts of the journey.

I'm pretty excited about it. Hopefully this sort of content inspires you to travel and maybe think about places you haven't been to, take your leap. I've got great episodes with many different places from around the world to check out if that will help you travel there. And that's a little bit about myself. There's loads more to talk about within that. I could expand on many of those different subjects, but they are for other times. Hopefully that gives you a little bit of an insight into me as a person and as a traveler. So thanks for tuning into a very personal episode. I'll finish with actually

some random facts about me, if you want to know. I still love music. Jimi Hendrix is my hero of all time. I still love football, not as much. I start to realize sports don't really mean that much as you get older, but I still love that. Coffee is a huge part of my travel and real life. So I do like to try out different coffees. Black Americano for me. I still think meeting people is essential to life. Meeting people from different cultures, learning about that.

soaking it in, asking questions, getting vulnerable. Because once you learn that side of things for that place, you can take it back to your real life. So I really emphasize that in a world where polarization is rife at the minute, it's a pretty scary time. I genuinely think these people make bad decisions because they don't travel that much. Go and speak to people within these countries and just understand a bit more. I'm sure you make better decisions because of that. When lust is still the number one thing, I think about travel every day.

I can still sit there daydreaming. My favorite pastime is going on Skyscanner and looking at flights and reading blogs about different places and getting ideas. That's still a fantastic hobby of mine. I just want to say thanks to tuning in. Get in contact if got any questions or comments. I'll see you on the next episode. If you want more information, you can check out weanittravelpodcast.com for episodes and stuff about me and countries I've talked about and everything else.

to get in contact maybe with help with starting a podcast or you're a podcast who wants some help. WingingItProductions.com is my business website. You can check that out. You can head to BuyMeACoffee.com forward slash WingingIt to donate $5 to Buy Me A Coffee to help the production costs of this podcast. You can check out my YouTube vlog, Roaming With Hammo on YouTube. Also, this podcast is available on Voyescape.com, which is the network that I'm part of. They have

other great travel podcasts on there and a varying different levels of different types of podcasts. Could be immersive episodes like the Armchair Explorer. Could be talk about sustainability like Erin's podcast, the Curious Tourism podcast. Could be a quick snapshot of a place like Traveling Tem or Points and Miles. We've got three or four of those on the network as well. So check those guys out. And finally, for winging it, thanks for tuning in. I appreciate you all. I've turned 37 a few days ago. It's a bit wild.

But let's go on to the next couple of years and get some decent experiences out there. Learn more about the world, enjoy ourselves and be kind to each other. think that's lasting message of this episode. Thanks for tuning in. Keep winging it. See you later. And that's it for this episode on winging it. I hope you took something from this episode where it sparked a new idea, offered a different perspective or simply let you feel part of the journey. If you enjoyed it, leaving a quick rating or review on your podcast app really helps the show.

reach new listeners. And if you know someone who might connect with this episode, share it by word of mouth or social media. It makes a huge difference. Head to voicecape.com for more amazing travel podcasts as well. And thanks so much for listening. I'll see you in the next episode. Until then, keep winging it.