When the idea of circumnavigating the globe hit me, it haunted my thoughts and got me pumped up for first few weeks or so. But then I started to realize what that would mean. Plenty of stuff gets in the way of our dreams.

Pretty soon all I felt was not only excitement, but also loneliness and fear. A fear of being wrong, not having enough expertise or money, or just messing things up. I felt overwhelmed when I looked at the map and considered the whole world. Anything worth doing is filled with uncertainty. Following our dreams can be lonely, very lonely.

It was a roller-coaster with lots of emotional ups and downs. There were many times when it seemed like an easier choice to quit and do something else, but I was so committed that it just wasn’t an option. I was driven by the desire to avoid looking back years later and tell myself: ‘there was something I wanted to do and there was even a point when I could have done it, but I just didn’t have the courage to try and take the opportunity’.