About me
Who am I?
Welcome to Nick’s Travel Diary! So who’s Nick I hear you ask?
Well I’m a 30 year old adventurer who’s been working and travelling all around the world for almost 5 years now.
I’m originally from the UK, but I’ve also lived in Australia, New Zealand and I’m currently residing in Canada, as I have done for the entirety of the pandemic.
The pandemic definitely made me have to modify some travel plans, but that also opened up the door to many more opportunities which I’ll get onto shortly.
Where have I've been?
Before I left for my first big backpacking trip, I had mostly just been on short holidays to destinations in Europe. The thought of going on longer trips never even seemed possible to me at that time. Even the thought of solo travel back then was a foreign concept.
My First proper backpacking trip was in early 2017, when I went backpacking around Thailand with a friend. This was my first time in Asia and although I already had plans to travel before this trip, I think this is where the travel bug really started.
When I returned to the UK I knew it was only a few months till I was planning to do a Working Holiday in Australia. Unlike my trip to Thailand where I went with a friend, this would be my first big solo adventure. I also knew there were plenty of other destinations I could potentially go to afterwards, if I decided I wanted to travel for longer.
In June 2017 I left the UK and flew to Sydney. This was the first time I had ever gone away solo and also the first time I was going to be staying in hostels. Thankfully I stayed in a very popular hostel in Bondi Beach for the first week, so it was really easy to meet people and it was a great introduction to hostel living. Following this, I flew to Darwin to complete the required regional work to get a 2nd year visa, then spent 2 months travelling all down the east coast from Darwin to Melbourne.
Before I knew it, my visa was almost up and it was time to move on, so my next stop was Queenstown in New Zealand. Having now had a years experience travelling, I was much more prepared for the move to NZ and I soon found myself a job and decided this would be a great place to learn to snowboard. My first year here was an awesome experience, I climbed my first mountains, got relatively decent at snowboarding and had the opportunity to visit some incredible places.
I always knew that I wanted to head back to Asia to do some more travelling at some point. So while I waited for the winter to arrive back in New Zealand, I headed off to spend 6 months backpacking around South East Asia. During my time there I went back to Thailand, rode across Vietnam on a moped, Scuba Dived in Indonesia and the Philippines, then also visited Laos, Cambodia, Singapore and Malaysia. This was a awesome trip and one I’ll remember forever, I had some amazing experiences and met so many awesome people along the way.
On my way back to New Zealand I had a week spare before I would start work ahead of the new ski season. So I took this opportunity to visit somewhere I never thought I would get to go… the Cook Islands. This place is the definition of Paradise and I highly recommend visiting here if you have the time.
Following my 2nd ski season in New Zealand it was time to move on. The next obvious destination for me was to do another ski season, but this time in Canada. I moved to Banff in Nov 2019 and with the exception of a 6 month spell living on Vancouver Island, I’ve been living here ever since.
How did I get into Hiking & Backpacking?
This is one of the questions I often get asked the most. The truth is I’ve always been an active person, but that was mainly due to lot’s of sport such as football and rugby.
While I did used to hike in the UK, it wasn’t very often and I’d normally grab my road or mountain bike long before looking for the hiking shoes.
So what changed? Well I think when I started travelling I soon discovered I’d have to adapt the activities I did depending on the location. So for example, when I was in Australia I tried to learn to surf and did lot’s of Scuba Diving, but then In New Zealand with the colder mountainous climate, I switched over to Snowboarding and Hiking.
Ultimately I think New Zealand is where my actual hiking and backpacking career began. If you have ever visited this spectacular place, it’s easy to see why. I soon found myself looking up at these beautiful peaks wondering how amazing the view would be at the top… the only issue was getting up there.
As I always try to make the most of my time in one place, I soon found myself wondering along many of the hiking trails in New Zealand, summiting peaks and completing epic multi-day treks such as the Routeburn track. This was actually my first multi-day trip. Looking back, while I certainly had the fitness to complete the trip, I was definitely no where near as prepared as I am now when I head out on trail. This is where my love for the mountains began. With Canada next on the list, everything was just going to getting bigger and more challenging from here.
What's next?
My original plan when I got to Canada, was to stay for a few years and try to travel around Central and South America whilst I was here. However; shortly after I arrived here, the pandemic hit. I feel extremely fortunate that I was able to ride this out in Canada, but it definitely affected my travel plans.
Instead of jetting off to explore other countries, I’ve instead been exploring around Alberta and British Columbia. The pandemic did open the door to lots of new adventures locally here in Canada. I had already been doing lot’s of hiking and backpacking, but every time I’d tick 1 trip of the list, I’d come back with recommendations to do 5 more. So going forward I’ll be continuing to explore around Canada, I have plenty of Ski Touring routes I want to do this winter, with my eyes on some larger objectives come spring.
I have plans to travel around Central and South America, along with plans to return to Australia. But as travel rules change on a daily basis, who knows where I’ll actually get to this year.
