Just before I stepped on the plane, my dad said to me – “say no to nothing…but within reason”. This has hands down been the best advise my old man has given me. I will admit I didn’t think it would lead to me jumping out of a plane at 14000 feet with one of the worst hangovers of my life. Being the youngest of a family of 4 high achievers I have always been the “failure”, rubbish grades and not even a gold star on my notebook, but I am the risk taker I have always lived for the thrill. I made a promise to myself as a young teen that I would pack my bags and move to Australia for a period in my life, and that is exactly what I did in 2015. I back packed the East, North, Centre and South of the Great Down Under. Slept in deserts under the stars, scuba dived the Great Barrier Reef, white water raft down crocodile ridden water in Cairns. Safe to say I “said no to nothing”! But after all those crazy experiences, it was when I was hanging my washing out to dry that a nasty little White Tail Spider crawled up my right leg and took a bite. Over the period of living in Australia I learnt some valuable lessons, some much harder than others. Making new friends as an adult does not come easily, so it shocked me when I had to put myself out there and go looking, and now I have friends for life all around the word. Another lesson was money, turns out that dries up pretty quickly when you are backpacking, so learning to budget and spend wisely now comes naturally in everyday life. But the most valuable lesson I took away from my travels was discovering the kind of person I am. I really do love meeting people from every background and culture and thrive in taking chances. While all these lessons were valuable, so is making sure your travel insurance doesn’t expire – Oh! and your passport... doh! Also I should add, I now keep the gold stars on my desk and reward myself, maybe too often. Every story is different as well as every adventure, and more often or not are a guaranteed laugh. – So what’s yours?