MY STORY

I guess it was inevitable I would end up travelling the world for sport. Not that I showed any promising talents on the pitch, court or course whilst growing up. I loved playing tennis, and still do but was never going to make it to the top. I wasn't a bad right-back for the school football team but I was never called up for the county squad, the equivalent of a national team call up when at school and my golf talents amounted to being overjoyed at beating my parents at the local crazy golf.

Knowing I wasn't going to set the world alight and get anywhere near winning a Premier League title, Grand Slam or Major I had to quickly think about the road ahead. My first love in the working world, at the age of two(!) was broadcasting, thanks to Mum & Dad buying me a microphone. Although I have to say the salary was very low at that age.

I did find the microphone fascinating though and played around with it at home as much as possible. Telling stories, presenting live radio shows from my bedroom. What a childhood. When Mum & Dad could drag me away from the mic, it was travel, adventures and sport.

As well as discovering broadcasting, sport and travel had been a huge part of my life from the start. My first holiday was aged one - this wasn't a case of me very quickly getting to grips with air travel but accompanying my Mum to Crete. At the same time, Dad had already introduced me to Newcastle United. Passions were being instilled into me and I had settled on three brilliant ones. Broadcasting, travel and sport. What shall I do with these passions, you say? Well, it turns out, quite a lot!

From riding the waves of the mid-Atlantic whilst the Onboard Reporter for Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing in 2014 to hanging off the side of the world's tallest building filming a story for CNN on how Dubai's Burj Khalifa lit up for the World Cup, my experiences of sports travel have taken me to all corners of the globe and covered a wide range of genres and topics.

MY STORY

Shortly after this photo was taken, I was told I couldn't go straight into the working world and had to go to school first. So, I put my microphone down for a few years and went through school before attending Gateshead College where I studied Media Studies. It was here I was really able to begin my broadcasting career, as I used my evenings to go to the local hospital to present on hospital radio. I'm not sure 'Tom Bushell's Nighttime Social' was a massive hit with the patients, but it was a brilliant learning ground as I dreamed of a career on the radio. Practice makes perfect and I had began my journey and got my bearings in a radio studio.

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I then headed to the University of Surrey and gained my degree in Media Production (Technology), as well as presenting on the student radio station for the three years I was a student. During my second year, I was nominated for 'Best Male Presenter' in the UK at the BBC Radio 1 Student Radio Awards. Although I (only slightly) missed out on the top prize, (my calls for a recount have so far been ignored), I was soon presenting for the Capital Radio network on the Overnight Show. My third year at University consisted of lectures and student radio during the day, and overnight shows on the Capital network by night. I basically didn't sleep for a year.

Once University was complete, I was able to get a nap and after catching up on some shuteye, I enjoyed four years on various radio stations across the Capital network which included broadcasting live from Leicester Square to hosting the huge Party in the Park outdoor music festivals.

As far as my early childhood passions went, I had made one of them, broadcasting, into a career. Now it was time to tackle the other two, travel and sport.

MOVING TO DUBAI

In 2008 I made the move to Dubai to join the radio station Dubai 92, part of the Arabian Radio Network. It was a hugely exciting time in my life. I had left home at 18 to attend University, and then lived in London which were both big milestones, but moving abroad was a step up. As soon as I settled into the city, the world opened up. All of a sudden my friendship group consisted of Australians, New Zealanders, South Africans, Americans and of course Emirati's.

Given Dubai's location in the world, so many destinations were all of a sudden just a few hours away, doable over long weekends instead of long haul missions from the UK. Nepal became a favourite just four hours flight time away. Thailand, Hong Kong and Singapore were seven hours and incredible places to explore, and the likes of Qatar, Oman and Jordan were a hop, skip and jump.

Work was good, presenting music radio on Dubai 92 and hosting the city's biggest music gigs such as Jools Holland, Kasabian, Maroon 5, the Emirates Airline Jazz Festival and Westlife's Reunion Tour.

Two of my passions were fully up & running in the working world. Broadcasting and travel. Just sport to tackle next. For a split second, because of Dubai's climate and therefore playing golf and tennis much more regularly than I ever did in the UK, I did think perhaps I still had it in me to make it in professional sport. That thought process was quickly deleted after another long ground stroke or wayward drive.

Sports broadcasting it has to be.

In 2012 I made the move across the corridor at the Arabian Radio Network and joined Dubai Eye 103.8 which is a news and sport radio station. I became their Head of Sport and presented the daily evening sports show. By this time, I was also the anchor for the Middle East wide Sport on 7 TV show on City 7 TV. Thanks to both gigs, I found myself interviewing some incredible people. The likes of Roger Federer, Andy Murray, Serena Williams, Rory McIlroy, Lewis hamilton and Tiger Woods to name a few.

Working in sport also took to me some incredible events around the world. I reported from the London Olympics, Melbourne Cup, AFL Grand Final, Volvo Ocean Race, Wimbledon and countless football matches. In fact, my first press conference as a sports reporter was Diego Maradona being announced as the new manager of UAE football team, Al Wasl.

Over the next few years, I hosted some of the region's biggest events such as the Middle East Sports Industry Awards, Asia Sports Industry Awards, DP World Tour Championship and Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships to name a few.

I'll never forget a moment at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship working as a young sports reporter and about to interview Rory McIlroy for a TV report. I was told I could ask three questions, so I waited patiently for Rory to be brought over to me in middle of the media scrum. I had my three questions ready to ask Rory and was very focussed on exactly what I was going to ask. He had just signed his 10-year deal with Nike. As I was rehearsing my questions in my head, and the camera all ready to film, Rory was brought over to me. 'Here we go' I thought as he came over. As I was about to begin my three questions the media manager also grabbed Tiger Woods and said to me, 'Tom, can you do Rory and Tiger together, please?' I was stopped in my tracks, I was rehearsed for Rory, but all of a sudden I had the greatest golfer of all time standing opposite me too. Star struck I proceeded to mumble my way through some questions. It was a brilliant moment of experience for me. I had just interviewd Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods on the fly.

ATTEMPTING TO SAIL THE WORLD

Life was great, so why I then decided to accept an offer to be Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing's Onboard Reporter and sail around the world reporting on what is called the 'most challenging sports race in the world', is beyond me! It must have been the fact that it literally combined all three of those childhood passions. Broadcasting, travel and sport. The job was too good an opportunity to turn down, so I left all my positions that I had built up over the years in Dubai in radio to TV and set sail into the sunset.

The job had everything I loved about life.... until I was being smacked about by 40 foot waves in the mid-Atlantic trying to file my latest video from onboard the boat. It was one of the most challenging jobs I have ever had, in fact, it is the most challenging but it was also one of the best.

Witnessing some of the most stunning sunrises and sunsets where all you can see is sea and sky for days on end is really rather special. The sights at sea make you feel insignificant and inspired in equal measure. I felt extremely proud and privileged to have the job I had. I was working in media, telling stories, creating content all whilst seeing the world - well's its oceans at least.

The Onboard Reporter role was unique. As a sports reporter, you very rarely get to be part of the team you are reporting on. A football manager doesn't look up to the press box at half-time and bring you on to add something different to the game. But this was different. You are embedded in the racing team complete with full kit with your name on your back and everything. Although rules state you could not help in the sailing department, you are there to help out in other areas like keeping the crew fed and hydrated, keeping the boat clean and tidy. Glamorous, ay? These were all jobs to do on top of the main role of reporting on what was happening onboard each day to send back to race HQ and then the media outlets. Videos, audio packages, images and more. I had a work station below deck in incredibly cramp conditions - where editing videos are writing daily reports whilst the boat was being hit by huge ocean waves was just a little challenging, but thrilling.

Some of the highlights of being part of the team were sailing from Hong Kong to Vietnam through two typhoons to racing around the Atlantic for weeks on end. Sailing such large distances does funny things to the mind. One minute you are exhilarated and loving life, the next minute you are hating it. Adjusting to life onboard a professional round-the-world racing yacht took me a while. Cooking, albeit heating freeze-dried food, was a dance between balancing and trying not to burn your hands with boiling water. Filming on deck whilst not being hit by a wave washing over the boat took some learning - I went through three cameras in my first few weeks. Getting to grips with how the toilet onboard worked, I blocked it once to much annoyance to the crew, and adjusting to very limited sleep were all part of the job. As they say in sailing circles, its only fun when you get back to dry land and can share your stories from the oceans with everyone else.

The fact of the matter is I struggled to really get to grips with the job I was there to do. I suffered with horrendous seasickness in the biggest sea conditions, especially when we were sailing upwind with the boat really fighting to get over the top of big waves. Going the other way, downwind, was great fun as with the wind behind you the boat is much quicker and surfs through the waves. Upwind is like a never ending rollercoaster, one you can't get off... "Skipper, how many more days at sea are we?" "Seven days, Tom" the skipper would reply.

My dreams of completing a circumnavigation of the world didn't come to fruition. Six months into my 18-month contract I was let go. I really wanted to be an integral cog in the team's success... I wanted to do anything I could to help as well as reporting on everything that was going on. I just didn't get to grips with life onboard quick enough and I was really useless in the highest of seas.

After being told I had lost my job, I was gutted. This was such a huge opportunity but deep down I knew that it was going to be a miserable year ahead. As well as the gutting feeling, I also felt a little bit of relief. With a new found respect for offshore sailors who race around the world, I took myself off for a drink in an Irish bar in Cascais, Portugal, where our race base was located and wondered what to do next.

What to do next was a good question to ask myself. All the roles I had in Dubai before attempting to sail around the world had gone to other people. My time had come and gone. I was a ship lost at sea not really sure where to turn. One positive though, this ship was in an Irish bar and not in the middle of the Atlantic being battered by waves for weeks on end.

LONDON'S CALLING

I did manage to get myself work freelancing at ITN Productions. In their sports department they would edit down press conferences and post match interviews and highlights packages that publications would then use on their websites for their video content. Shifts were eight hours long, not hugely paid, but it was something to get me going and a platform to build from.

I also did some work for LloydBell Productions for their horse racing coverage, putting packages together for the event radio stations at the likes of Cheltenham, Newmarket and Ascot. Ahead of Ascot, I attended a lunch in which Frankie Detorri was speaking at for an interview I was doing with him.

I was recording the interview on my phone and at one point, Frankie accidentally knocked my phone out of my hand only for the screen to crack upon landing. Frankie was very apologetic and when I saw him a few weeks later, he came up to me to ask if I had got a new phone yet.

I soon got a breakthrough with BT Sport, who were looking for reporters for their BT Sports Score show on Saturdays. I have to thank the legendary sports broadcaster Jim Rosenthal for the break. We had worked together a few times in Dubai and enjoyed a few dinners together. He was excellent when I moved to London and would meet me for coffee at The Ivy now and again to check in on how things were going. It was Jim who had told BT Sport to get in touch with me and it was a wonderfully nice gesture from him.

The BT Sport job was exactly the kind of gig I wanted to be doing and the reason for leaving Dubai. To be a part of national channels, broadcasting live, being in the thick of the action and in a much bigger media market. It was a great gig, being sent to a different stadiums to report on a game and broadcast live with any updates through the match. Mark Pougatch was the host, and even though we didn't meet, I enjoyed our two-ways through the lens. Even though BT Sport weren't allowed to send reporters to Premier League or English league games we were able to report from Scottish games, National League games and cup games. The highlight was reporting live from the touchline at Wembley for the non-league finals day. I loved it and it was a brilliant live TV experience, something that I never did in Dubai.

I also freelanced with CNN having done a little work with them in Dubai and was delighted to have a few stories commissioned. One of them was reporting on LA Galaxy's hunt for youth talent in London 10 years after they paid mega-bucks to sign David Beckham.

Whilst being back in London was brilliant, I struggled to make sure there was enough work coming in each month to survive in the city. It is an expensive town at the best of times, and having built up my profile in Dubai over the best part of the last decade I was starting from scratch again in a much bigger market, with a lot more competition. I wasn't cutting through anymore as much as I was in Dubai. BT Sport I loved, but often there would only be one or two shifts per month, especially with the fact they weren't allowed reporters at Engliush league matches. I was dipping into savings every month just to get by, to the point where I remember being really excited after one good month of income and treating myself to a warm coat, something I hadn't had for a while having lived in Dubai.

It became clear to me that it wasn't good enough anymore to just be another sports reporter. I needed to be known for something. I needed to carve out a niche for myself, which would lead me to being hired for my expertise. I needed more in my arsenal, and I needed to break away from just being another reporter.

In the end, and after some time working in PR back in Dubai I decided to go back to London and see if I could break through into the sports reporting freelance world. I didn't feel as settled as I once did in Dubai anymore. I had left to conquer the seas, and having returned earlier than expected I never really settled in again. I was no longer broadcasting and it didn't feel right. I missed what I loved doing. Time for a new challenge, and location.

I moved back to London in 2016 and set about trying to get freelance work coming in. I very quickly realised the years I had spent out of the country meant I didn't have the huge contact base that helps with getting gigs. Whilst I had gone to Dubai and built up a solid CV and brilliant experience, that didn't seem to count for anything in a world where its all about who you know.

My mind started to think about a way I could once again combine broadcasting, travel and sport and on one sunny day in London I decided to take a trip to Putney to soak up the atmosphere of the Boat Race which was taking place.

Whilst walking along the Thames, feeling envious of everyone else out with friends and in groups of people (I found London quite hard to get a social group together after the ease in which it happened in Dubai) my mind was busy. I was amazed to see the infrastructure of the event. Parks had big screens along the Thames showing the race live, there were food stalls in fan zones and all sorts of entertainment along the river to add to the atmosphere of the race.

All I had ever known of the boat race was the actual boat race, little did I realise the extent of everything else around it. Over a cold pint riverside, my mind began to think. "What a great occasion this is to attend, how many tourists are in London today and have no idea about the fun they could be having here, at an historic sports event? How did the Boat Race come about? Why does it have such culture importance?"All these thoughts were running through my head, and all of a sudden I started to think about travel blogging but concentrating on sports occasions. I liked that idea and as I travelled home across London my mind was excited about what I could do.

At home I started researching travel blogs. It was something I had never really thought about doing. My career up until now had all been about broadcasting, getting gigs in radio and TV. The thought of building something from scratch had never entered my mind and I had no idea where to begin. I googled "travel blogs" and came across blogs about travelling on a budget, travelling to great food destinations, luxury travel, train travel, aviation blogs, camping, road trips, country specific blogs, the lot. But not, sports travel.

Have I landed on something? Could that be my niche? Has all the experience I have picked up so far led me to this? I feel excited. I quickly signed up to Nomadic Matt's online travel blog course. At least that will give me some first step guidance on blogging!

I started to research different countries and their sporting culture, heritage and events and got even more excited. This is my way forward! I can become an expert in sports travel. I have enough experience to build upon. I've been to sports events all across the world, I have a starting block.

But, I need to work out a way of how I do this financially. How do I travel extensively without an income? How do I sustain this? How do I get going? I need to figure out the logistics.

Around this time, in 2018 I had been back in Dubai a couple of times hosting events. I hosted the Asian Sports Industry Awards in Bangkok and then on the way back back, I hosted the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai. During that trip, I was offered a job back in the city as Head of Video at a publishing company.

A few months ago I probably wouldn't have considered it. I was too busy building things in London. But now, with a new ambition and new goals, perhaps the security of a monthly salary would be good for me? It would mean I could travel a little easier, free of any income worries albeit, I'd be fixed into a job so I couldn't travel extensively. But, at least I'd have a solid platform to begin this new blogging direction.

I took the job. In doing so I had to say goodbye to BT Sport, which was painful but I was able to justify it by having a clear direction for my future and this new direction wasn't about reporting on what was happening on the football pitch, but more telling the story of destinations through their sporting events. I spoke to CNN, and they said I could still do stories for them from Dubai anyway, so that was an easy decision.

I returned to Dubai to earn a salary and build my blog.

BACK IN DUBAI

I settled back into Dubai with ease. It was home for me these days. I had a renewed lease for life and was eager to get going. I spent six months in my Head of Video role but a lot of promises that were made to me about the company wanting to go heavy into video content and then not really committing to it eventually made me a little frustrated. I moved to another job at Coca-Cola Arena as Media Manager when offered the position at the end of 2018.

With the first six months back in Dubai being a case of trying my hardest to get things going in my Head of Video job, the blog had taken a back seat. How often has that happened? I'm going to blog! Oh, wait, I have a job and no time for that. It was the same old story, but the ideas around my sports travel blog were always in my mind.

I began life at Coca-Cola Arena. It was a brand new entertainment venue for Dubai, the city's first ever indoor multi-purpose state-of-the-art venue that would host the biggest music gigs, world tours, sports events and huge productions. It was hugely exciting. Having joined the project as the venue was still being constructed, the team was still reasonably small and we all became great friends. Week by week, the venue neared completion and our heads turned towards opening night.

We would have brilliant hard working days in the office, then all enjoy a drink afterwards. Maroon 5 opened the building to a sell-out crowd and a new era of entertainment had arrived in Dubai. Even though I wasn't presenting, or broadcasting I was happy and settled. I even had the thought that perhaps my presenting days were behind me, and perhaps the blog idea was one that would be put into the 'nice idea, but I never did anything about it' box. A shame, but after the years following the sailing job, I was pleased to have found some contentment again. It felt good.

Then, Covid-19 arrived.

SPORTS TRAVEL TOM'S STORY

Hi, I'm Sports Travel Tom

Travelling our world to showcase the best sports events, destinations & experiences to you is my passion. Thanks for visiting my online home. If you'd like to know more about me allow me to introduce myself...

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TRIP REPORTS

THE PANDEMIC

One of the industries you do not want to work in during a global pandemic is one that essentially gathers 20,000 people together inside an arena to watch a gig. We battled on for a little while, working daily - mainly putting out press releases about another gig being cancelled but it wasn't long until we were told we would be working from home.

Whilst we were all grateful for having jobs and being paid, there was no denying this was all very unusual. Once all gigs had been cancelled and there was nothing on the horizon the days were quiet. I was living in an apartment in the downtown area of Dubai. Days would come and go, then the weeks and the months. Everything was so uncertain. I spent my weekends playing tennis against the wall on my balcony - I used my folding clothes hanger resting up against the wall as the net - and I spent my weekdays working, half days at this point and trying to maintain some degree of exercise.

Then. With all this new found spare time. My passions came back to the forefront of my mind. "What happened to that sports travel blog, Tom?" "What happened to that YouTube channel, Tom?" Oh yes! I had kind of forgotten about it to be honest, I had settled at the Arena, even at one point, such was the fun I was having working within live entertainment, I was thinking about a new career path within entertainment venues. But now, nothing is certain anymore.

Lockdowns continued and to fill my days I joined an online YouTube course. I know how to film videos, tell stories, edit - all the essential ingredients of video storytelling but I thought it would be useful to get up to speed with any YouTube insider tips and best practices. As I went through the course, I was getting even more excited. Those initial feelings of wanting to tell the story of our world through sport & adventure were re-awakening.

Once lockdown had eased, I decided to get out and begin filming videos for a YouTube channel I had set up, called The Sports Explorer. I loved the name, it seemed to fit my niche of sports travel and exploring the world through sport. I was so excited, I got t-shirts made up with the logo on the front and my website on the back and set about filming what I could.

Sports events had not yet returned in Dubai, but there were plenty of adventures I could embark on. Only a few hours drive out of the city of Dubai you will find the incredible Hajar Mountains - Hajar meaning Rocky in Arabic, so essentially the Rocky Mountains of the Middle East. There are some wonderful trails within those mountains so I started to film guides on how you go about tackling them. I would then film bike rides you could do in the mountains, kayaking adventures and more across the whole country.

A few months in, and we were able to to return to work too. The Arena staged the odd, small-scale, socially distanced gig as some green shoots of normality appeared, and having finally got going with my travel blog I was using all my spare time to film, edit and publish. I loved the process of seeing how well the videos were doing and I had some good early success, such was the appetite of people wanting to get out and go on adventures after so long indoors. I had some momentum.

Then, work came to an end.

In the spring of 2021, it was clear a venue the size of ours couldn't continue to operate with such a light schedule. Whilst lockdown was all but over in Dubai, restrictions were still in place around social gatherings, face masks, working in offices, eating in restaurants, going to the pub. In fact the only place you could really enjoy without any restrictions were the mountains! Which certainly was helping The Sports Explorer! I was called one day from my bosses to be told the news that there was no way the venue could afford to keep all of us on as staff. I had two options, leave for good or take the next 6 months off (unpaid) and return in October. I opted for the latter - at least some security on the horizon should nothing else come up in the meantime.

The issue was, by this point the summer was approaching in Dubai and my flat was due for renewal. The idea of paying for my apartment for another year whilst not earning didn't sit well, and because of the summer heat in the UAE, not many people were out exploring. I pondered my options, and decided upon a thrilling plan to take The Sports Explorer to the next stage.

AMERICA!

I had noticed that America had got rid of many of its Covid restrictions and that sports events were back on, complete with sell-out crowds. Given the restrictions on travel and quarantine regulations in many countries, I was amazed to see I could fly from Dubai to New York direct with just a negative test result, and crucially no need to be kept in a hotel room for 10 days straight upon landing. And the greatest advantage about America was that once I was in, I had a vast land to travel around without crossing borders. I made my decision, put all my belongings in storage, sold my car, counted my pennies and set about a three-month journey across the USA where I would film videos on attending iconic sporting events as well as embarking on some great adventures. It made sense, The Sports Explorer had started well, I had built up a bit of an audience, now it was time to expand.

Once I landed in New York, it was like a different world. People everywhere, everything open and when I arrived at the Yankee Stadium to film a video on what it's like going to a Yankees game, I couldn't believe how many people were there. After a very quiet year, it was all quite overwhelming.

From New York I travelled to Pittsburgh, Altoona, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Nashville, South Lake Tahoe, Los Angeles and back to New York. In total I spent 108 nights in hotel rooms and well & truly blew my budget. I filmed, edited and published 21 videos, met incredible people and experienced huge highs as well as some scary and not so fun situations. It was all a thrilling trip... and I had achieved what I had set out to do, grow The Sports Explorer YouTube channel. One thing is for sure though, I needed to invest in more than two Sports Explorer t-shirts! You can read my diaries from my American trip here.

Okay, so what's next for The Sports Explorer? I'm a long way off earning money from ads on YouTube and I don't feel I am ready to seek sponsorship. My audience is growing but its still small. You just have to keep going, right? Week by week, publishing videos. My only problem? Money.

Quite simply, over the last few years post the sailing race I have been dipping into savings far too often. First in London trying to break into an industry. Then as Covid hit and started to chip away at salaries before they ended completely. At least I have been out and done something useful, being proactive. The alternative was to carry on paying for my apartment in Dubai through a hot summer, when no decisions are made and there was little room in the job market.

But, I do need to now earn money.

SCOTLAND

I had made the decision not to return to my job in Dubai. The USA trip had inspired me to keep building the Sports Explorer channel and I felt like I had built up some momentum. I had also been offered to MC some events as sports events began to come back online in Dubai so I took a leap and told the Arena I wouldn't be returning in October. With a little bit of freelancing hosting the DP World Tour Championship, an event I had done pre-pandemic for a few years and the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship I was okay for the next month or two. On top of that, the Mubadala World Tennis Championships asked me to MC their tournament too and I was hired to host the BMW World Cup of Golf event. So I had some work coming up but I also knew I had to bring in a secure salary again to really get myself back on track income wise. America had been expensive!

The other thought rattling around my head was my want to continue growing The Sports Explorer. To be based in a different country to the UAE where I had already covered a lot of content would be the ideal solution so that was a part of my decision making when deciding to leave the Arena.

Whilst searching for options, Scotland gave me an answer.

I took a job at a start-up in Edinburgh as Sports Editor. This seemed to fit the bill completely. Edinburgh would be a perfect location to be based for Sports Explorer reasons - a city high on the agenda for tourists and full of sport and adventure, and a short distance from Scotland's highlands where there are endless stories to capture. It all made sense, so in early 2022 I shipped all my belongings I had packed up in Dubai to Scotland and set about beginning a new life.

As always, a full-time job meant The Sports Explorer took a back seat as I settled into a new city and a new way of life but I soon got into a rhythm of working during the week and at the weekends heading out to film a video. I began with Edinburgh, showcasing the likes of Arthur's Seat and its sporting events such as Murrayfield and Hibernian FC. I then made my way to the Open Championship which was being staged at St Andrews just up the road which was a brilliant experience to capture in the summer of 2022.

I felt like this was a good routine for the next couple of years. Integrating my way back into the UK media market through work and on the side, building my Sports Explorer blog. But then, 8 months into the new job, a new city and a new routine, redundancies hit.

The one risk with a start-up is of course the business not being settled, and there are going to be peaks and troughs along the way. Sadly for the company I worked for a dip had appeared and funding was tight. Things had to be shaved down and my role was one of those to be cut. It was a scary moment of course, a new city and now without the security of a job but there were no hard feelings.

Luckily for me, the redundancy happened in September 2022 and I had a few gigs coming up, again back in Dubai for the DP World Tour Championship which meant at least I had a couple of months to work out my plan with income still coming in, although I did start to consider moving back to Dubai. Just 8 months after returning to the UK.

It was the security of Dubai which I was attracted too... but I was conflicted. I knew my heart wasn't fully committed to a return to Dubai but I also knew I could set myself up there as a freelancer and with the city on a huge comeback after the pandemic there were plenty of events I could be MC'ing in a market where I knew a lot of people. There are of course plenty of events to host in the UK, but I don't have the industry profile to be able to quickly get work coming in.

With my mind in a twist, I decided for my 40th birthday to climb the UK's tallest mountain, Ben Nevis in the highlands of Scotland. And whilst I would do it to give my mind some thinking time, I would also film the experience for The Sports Explorer YouTube channel.

It was a day that made up my mind on my future.

I set off from Edinburgh, via Glasgow up to Fort William on the train. I filmed the journey as my video would be a guide from Glasgow's train station to the summit of Ben Nevis, hoping to offer travellers a simple guide to the top of the mountain. I was having a lot of fun filming, travelling and was excited about what lay ahead. I had never climbed Ben Nevis before so it was going to be a day of exploration.

I arrived into Fort William at 6pm welcomed by torrential rain, which is more than I could say for a taxi. It took me two hours to get one from the train station and I was wondering if I had made a complete mistake. If the rain was to continue like this into tomorrow, the hike up to the top is going to be miserable, let alone challenging to film.

Eventually a taxi arrived to collect me from Fort William's train station and I arrived at my hotel, got some dinner and went to bed before getting up at 6am on the 7th October, 2022, my 40th birthday.

I pulled back the curtains. I couldn't hear torrential rain but was it just a short break before it began again? When I went to sleep, it was tipping it down. Curtains pulled back, and thankfully my view outside was one of the car park, trees, the mountains and, low and behold, a little glimmer of blue sky! We are good to go!

The whole day was brilliant. It's a hard slog walking Ben Nevis. Not particularly technically challenging, a path guides you all the way to the summit but it's a pounding experience for the legs. Big stones to heave across, small stones to watching your footing over, countless switchbacks as you gradually climb. Undeterred by a brief downpour as I set off from the Ben Nevis Visitor Centre, I climb up and out of the Glen, now the blue sky becoming ever more prominent in the sky. Rainbows appeared, I was in my element filming the story, finding great shots to capture and going through my script notes as I filmed each piece to camera.

Around 2.5 hours into the climb, I began to get above the clouds which had reappeared and the weather closed in as I got closer to the summit. I had left a little later than planned in the morning and whilst the mountain path was reasonably busy as I was walking up, everyone else was walking down. The wind was heavy, but not strong enough to knock me off balance, snow had started to fall and visibility was minimal. I could sense I was close, perhaps 30 minutes away from the summit and as another group of hikers heading down past me I asked if there were still people on the summit. "We were the last ones, mate" was the reply.

Soon afterwards, I reached the summit and I was the last one. I was there on the top of Ben Nevis, in freezing conditions, at the highest point of the UK, on my own. I filmed some final lines to the camera to complete my video, took some shots of the emergency hut (for a moment wondering if I may need to use it) and remembered I still had to get back down to the bottom. It was a little scary being up on my own and the anxiousness set it a little... do I wait it out in the emergency hut? Or start making my way down? Just at that point, a man called Chris appeared. I wasn't the last one up! Chris as it turned out had been 25 minutes behind me. We took some photos of each other on the summit, then decided it would be best to walk back down together.

At the bottom, after a gruelling 4.5 hour decent, we had a pint in the Ben Nevis Inn, a glorious sight at the end of a day on Ben Nevis and I had made up my mind. I'm going to stay in Edinburgh and set about getting freelance work whilst continuing with my blog.