-Took 34 flights. Well technically 35.5 if you include my successful and failed skydive take offs. Plus had one gruelling 16 hour layover in São Paulo.

-Explored 24 countries and 6 continents. (Austria, Hungry, Slovakia, United States, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Ecuador, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwea, Malawi, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Kenya, and Uganda.)

– Travelled countless kilometres. I will do the full tally one day, but just the Africa leg over the last two months included traversing 11,312km by road. That’s over 7,000 miles. At least 59km by foot, including a 32km hike to Livingstonia, a 10km walk from Zambia to Zimbabwea and 17km trekking gorillas and chimpanzees. Probably around 63km by boats, including ferrys, sunset cruise ships, canoes, kayaks, and mokoros. And at least 2km by a motorised rickshaw.

– Circumnavigated 2 Islands on foot. The first taking just an hour and the second 23 minutes. (Gili Air, Indonesia and Bounty Island, Fiji).

– Jumped out of a burning plane at 1500ft and then watched its hot pink body crash into a thousand pieces into the lake below. (Skydive Taupo, Taupo, New Zealand, 7 Jan 2015).

– Freefalled to the earth at 220km an hour from 15,000ft, in a “Take Two” skydive as it should be. (Skydive Taupo, Taupo, New Zealand, 4 Feb 2015).

– Walked across the width of 1 country. Admittedly it only took 4.5 hours including a picnic lunch. (Coast to Coast Walk, Auckland, New Zealand).

-Surfed on a golden coastline. Well tried to surf. I spent more time being churned up under the water than actually on top of the board. (Raglan Surf School, Raglan, New Zealand).

-Drank cobra blood mixed with local rice whiskey. Surprisingly tasty. (Home Stay, Battembang, Cambodia).

– Swam with Dusky Dolphins and shreieked with fear when one swam right towards my nose, missing it by inches. I thought it was a shark. (Dolphin Encounters, Kaikoura, New Zealand).

-Kayaked in fjord land waters with monolithic carst mountains surrounding me and dolphins swimming nearby. (Real Journeys Overnight Cruise, Doubtful Sound, New Zealand).

– Fished in the Pacific Ocean, where a 4 foot shark appeared just after I put my rod in. Luckily it swam away and I caught six, eight inch orange coloured white fish. I had them filleted and battered at the chipy and ate them on the beach around a fire at sunset. (Gerrys Fishing Trip, Kaikoura, New Zealand.)

-Salthered myself in volcanic mud and bathed in sulphur water, before having a relaxing Maori massage. (Hells Gate, Rotoura, New Zealand).

-Climbed to the peaks of 6 volcanoes, some extinct, a few dorment, and a couple active! (Rangitoto, Mt Eden, One Tree Hill, Auckland, NZ; Tagariro, National Park, NZ; Mt Bromo, Java, Indonesia; and Mt Kinamintani, Bali, Indonesia).

-Tasted some of the worlds best Sauvignon Blanc, and some up and coming Pinot Noirs. (Malborough Wine Region near Nelson, Central Otago Wine Region near Queenstown, and the Wines of Wahikee, near Auckland. All in New Zealand).

-Danced a traditional Maori poi poi dance complete with white sponges tied to the end of a string. (Maore, near Rotoura, New Zealand).

-Weaved a braclet from flax. (Lake Anawaniphena, New Zealand).

-Stringed collected seashells onto a leather strand to make a necklace (Smugglers Cove, Nadi, Fiji).

-Sailed all day on an open top catamaran with my Stray peeps, drinking local cider from 9.30am. Best Monday morning ever! (Abel Tasman National Park, New Zealand).

-Ate a mussel burger at Fat Tui’s and an infamous Fergburger (Abel Tasman and Queenstown, New Zealand).

– Skinny dipped in a glacial lake. It took 15 minutes to regain the feeling in my limbs afterwards. (Mt Cook, New Zealand).

– Straddled both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres at the same time (Equator Line, Middle of the World Museum, Quito Ecuador and near Kampala, Uganda).

– Balanced an egg on a nail. (Equator Line, Quito Ecuador).

– Snorkelled with sea turtles, sharks, sea lions, and eagle rays (Kicker Rock, near San Christobol, Galápagos)

– Crawled into the shell of a deceased giant tortoise. Yes, they can get that big! (Santa Cruz Island, Galápagos).

-Climbed to the glacial line (5,000 metres) of the worlds highest active volcano. I’ve never felt so cold and out of breath! (Cotopaxi, Ecuador).

– Soaked in the near boiling waters of volcanic thermal springs. (Pallacatta and Banos, Ecuador).

– Processed coco. Turning the raw bean into a thick delicious dip for bananas, including roasting, shelling, grinding and boiling with milk. Yum! (Homestay, near Tena, Ecuador).

– Built my first fire entirely on my own. It took several hours, but it did roar through the cold night. (Hacienda Guachala, Ecuadors oldest hacienda).

– Donned an authentic Panama Hat, and learned how they were made. These erronesly named icons are actually 100% Ecuadorian made (Cuenca, Ecuador).

– Biked through the glorious wine region of Stellenbosch, tasting wines from four different wineries. (Bikes n Wines, Stellenbosch, South Africa).

– Canoed 12km down the Orange River taking in scenery of the lush, green reeds standing tall against a backdrop of pinkish hued mountains. (South African border into Namibia).

-Bumped along 1500km of washboard gravel roads, getting a daily seven hour long ‘African Massage’ for a week. (Namib Desert Roads, Namibia).

– Gambled at the Boxing Day horse races with two travelling friends I met in Cambodia – Daniel Hill and Nicole Benford. We were very happy that our winnings funded our day out, including some celebratory bubbles (X Racecourse, Sydney, Australia).

– Scrambled up a 300ft (100metre) red sand dune to watch the sunrise over the Namib Desert (Dune 45, Soussvlei, Namibia).

-Tried Mopani worms. It was difficult to take that first bite into the bulbous black head peering at me, but surprisingly ok once you started to chew. Fried in delicate spices and slightly chewy, I managed to eat three. (Mendosa Township Local Bar, Swakopmund, Namibia).

– Ventured into the Orkavango Delta in a traditional wooden mokoro boat, encountering a herd of angry hippos along the way. Pretty scary when you are in an easily capsizeable canoe with one of Africa’s most dangerous animals. (Maun, Botswana).

– Stood in the middle of the roaring waters of Victoria Falls with my toes peering over the edge. Health and safety nuts in the Western world would never allow such a dangerous adventure, which perhaps is why after skydiving, is one of my top travelling experiences. Feeling the water rush over you before it crashed 100metre below was a surreal, unique experience. (Angels Pools, Victoria Falls, Livingstone, Zambia).

-Spotted the Big Five – rhino, leopard, elephant, buffalo, lion- plus giraffes, ostrich, wildebeest, a brown hyena, jackels, baboons, monkeys, hippos, kudu, oryx, zebra, aligaters, and more during various game drives through Africa. (Etosha National Park, Nambia; Chobe National Park, Botswana; Serengetti, Tanzania).

– Fed a giraffe and petted baby elephants. (Giraffe Centre and David Sherwood Elephant Sanctury, Nariobi, Kenya).

– Ziplined through the lush green forests of Northern Thailand whilst spotting gibbons. (The Gibbon Experience, Chiang Mai, Thailand).

– Tattoed my leg. My first ever!. A henna one by local girl around 20 years old in the feudal lords home in a small Indian village. (Tordi, Northern India).

– Threw a clay pot with an experienced villager. Well attempted to make. (Tordi, Northern India).

– Took a Indian cooking class in the home of a housewife whilst her son Doogo ran around. I hope I can replicate the masala chai back home. (Orche, Northern India).

– Rode precariously dangerous bicycle rickshaws through the streets of Jaipur, Agra, and Varanasi. And on one occasion was rear ended by a motor bike at the end of a journey. (Northern India).

– Hiked up to Edakkul Caves. The caves weren’t that interesting and dodging the monkeys on the way up was a challenge, but the view was spectacular and well worth the steep climb. (Northern India).

– Watched the Bollywood movie ‘Singham Returns’ in a Jaipur cinema. And ‘Three Idiots’ at our feudal lodge in Allupura. (Northern India).

– Went on a wildlife safari and desparately tried to spot a tiger! The road crossing of a herd of elephants with a baby in tow making up for not seeing the tiger. (Northern India).

– Stumbled across a road procession on the final day on the 9 day Ganesh (the elephant god) festival. Watched the men dance with hand clappers and getting brightly coloured powder thrown on us. (Orche, Northern India).

– Drank a mango lassi out of a clay pot. One of the past lassis ever. (Jaipur, Northern India).

– Ate a rice and curry lunch using just my hands off of a banana leaf. Impressively only paying 100 rupees (US$1.65) for the all you could eat meal. (Mysore, Southern India).

– Smoked the untouchables version of a cigerate and later saw how a village women makes them earning a mere 100 to 150 rupees a day. Equivalent to US $2.00. (Jaipur and Allapura, Northern India).

– Tasted all sorts of street market food. From the masala chai teas on every street corner in India. To freshly fried samasoas in Jaipur, to a palm leaf smothered in a honey like substance and topped with a mountain of morsels including cardamom, rose flower, and fennel, then rolled together and eaten. (India).

– Visited a tea plantation and a tea factory and learned how tea makes it’s way from bush to bag.(Kerela, Southern India and Kalinuz Forest, Uganda).

– Treated myself to an Ayurvadic massage. Being smothered in an oil whose scent I couldn’t ascertain. (Cochin, Southern India).

– Rowed on the Ganges at both sunset and sunrise and watched how Indians worship and say goodbye to their loved ones. One of the most somber experiences on my year out. (Varanasi, Northern India).

– Slept on an overnight train from Alipura to Varanasi. Not getting any rest on the hard, narrow, hanging from the wall bed. Partly paranoid that someone might steal my bag and partly worried that the two guys and two beds hanging from the wall above me might come crashing down on me at any minute. (Northern India).

– Toured the Tara paper factory outside of Orche and saw how a union of women are transforming their lives by converting left over shirt fabric into recycled paper and then amazing products like lamp shades. (Northern India).

– Cycled leisurely through the streets of Mamallapurum stopping off it see two stone temples. (Southern India).

– Meditated at an ashram in the French colony of Ponducherry. (Southern, India).

– Walked barefoot in the sand with the waves lapping at my feet in the Bay of Bengal. (Mamallapurum, Southern India).

– Floated down the Mekong River in a traditional narrow boat on a two day journey through muddy waters spotting elephants and visiting Buddist cave temples. (Laos).

– Participated in a traditional local blessing ceremony in a small Laotian village. The local woman tied our wrists with strings whilst saying a prayer for our onward journey. We also had to drink rice whiskey shots and eat some of the offerings to the gods. (Laos).

-Cooked a Thai feast at a cooking school in Chaing Mai, which had a sign that read, “We guarantee to make you look pregnant when you leave!” They definitely lived up to their promise. (Chiang Mai, Thailand).

– Cycled the length of Vietnam from Ho Chi Min City to Hanoi. Ok there was a small overnight train journey in the middle, but I covered most of it on two wheels, including the 1 hour 15 minute continuous climb up and over Hue Van Pass. (Ho Chi Min City to Hanoi, Vietnam).

– Sampled the street food delights of Hanoi. So many little morsels of happiness. I’d give almost anything to sit down again on a street corner plastic chair and have that meal of white rice noodles, a bulging plate of fresh herbs, fried pork soaking in a light delicate fish sauce, accompanied by a plate of crab spring rolls. Heaven! (Hanoi, Vietnam).

– Kayaked the misty waters of Ha Long Bay at sunset with the sweet Spanish lady, Chillis. ( Ha Long Bay, Vietnam).

– Strolled through rice paddy fields at dusk, with my then Norwegian roommate Yvettee, and expertly negotiated my way out of becoming a local villagers second wife. (Lombok, Indonesia).

– Coverted the pod of a local plant into a bright pink lipstic, which I instantly adorned. (Lombok, Indonesia).

– Road bareback on an Asian elephant. The most scary experience ever! I kept thinking I was going to fall off. (Elephant sanctuary, Laung Prabang, Laos).

– Trekked through the Kalinuz Forest in Uganda in search of chimpanzees. After a long hunt, we eventually found four high up in the trees. I even got shat on by one female chimp. I’m hoping like being pooed on by pigeons in London, that it means I’ll have good luck for the rest of my trip. (Kalinuz Forest, Uganda).

– Trekked through the Impenatrable Forest for five hours to spot mountain gorillas playing and eating in the trees. The exhilaration of tracking them through dense vegation and finally sighting the large silverback sitting proud amongst the undergrowth will live with me forever. (Impenatrable Forest, Uganda).

– Kayaked across Lake Victoria to the source of the Nile, the worlds longest river, and past one of the points where Ghandi’s ashes were strewn after his death. (Jinja, Uganda).

– Waved at, smiled to, took photos with, and chatted with literally hundreds of locals. All which greeted me with warmth and curiosity in equal measure. The most exeburent and friendly of whom were the Indians, the Vietnamese, the Malawians and the Ugandans.

– Made many new lifetime friends from all over the world.