Stamps in my passport - Number 1 on my list - New Zealand

Stamps in my passport - Number 1 on my list - New Zealand

It's been a while since I've updated my blog - but there's a good reason for that.

I eagerly await Sky's response to my planned sequel -
'A nervous middle class idiot from the Black Country goes abroad'.
I think it's a ratings winner myself.

People tell me it's been the coldest March in memory in the UK. Without sounding smug, I wouldn't know. For I have been a busy boy - on a mission to achieve five more of my 30 things to do before I'm 30.

To achieve these five milestones I've travelled more than 17,000 miles; travelled by coach, ferry, car, plane, bus and rubber ring.

I've travelled back in time; made one day last almost 48 hours; seen dolphins in the ocean; seen the world's largest squid and got scalded in a thermal spa. I've reconnected with one of my oldest friends - I've met new people from almost every continent on the globe.

I've slept in dorms with smelly strangers and I drank with green painted leprechauns. I got soaked through to my skin and I got sunburnt.

I drank with saxophone players, fled from a rock gig with the help of two guys who had, in their past set a British guy's hair on fire, and was serenaded by an obese Maori in a disability scooter.

My next few blogs will offer just a snapshot of my recent travels and my quest to broaden my horizons and experience more of what this wonderful world has to offer. They won't include everything - I couldn't bear to write, and wouldn't want to inflict upon you "and then I did this, and then I went there and the German guy on the plane said to me". Instead, these are just a few of the highlights.

It all started in Wolverhampton - the glamorous setting for all good travelling tales.

It was 7am. It was cold, drizzly and misty. There was something Lowry-like about the landscape around the new coach station. Shadowy, hunched-over figures; expressionless faces; as grey as the winter weather. But the mills and factories of the north west were instead replaced by the commuters of Wolverhampton - my home city. Making their way to another monotonous day in a drab office in Birmingham.

And me - well, I was waiting for my National Express coach to begin what would be a 40+ hour journey to complete Number 1 on my list of things to do before I hit 30: visit New Zealand.

The past six months have been some of the most difficult in my life. When I booked this adventure it was through a desperate need to escape. But here I was, in a better place, not running away anymore, but excited to be setting off on a new adventure and start a new chapter which would rip me out of my comfort zone.

Now I mentioned that my story started in Wolverhampton. It needn't have done. I live in Dudley and the second stop on my coach journey was...Dudley. I'd needlessly travelled seven miles, spent £12 on a taxi, sat and froze in a drafty coach station, got up 45 minutes too early and wasted an hour of my life which I'll never get back.

If I'd managed to mess up my journey to my neighbouring city, how on earth was I going to travel to London, fly to Los Angeles and then on to Auckland without similar itinerary cock-ups. I guess only time would tell.

But I arrived safely at Heathrow and as I sat in the departure lounge I thought about where I'd been, where I was going and what I was setting off to do. I'd never flown alone before. I'd never been outside of Europe before. I was going to miss my friends and my family. But - this was my time now; my chance to explore more of the world - and hey, if all else failed - at least I'd get a stamp in my passport for the very first time.

Coming up next time - New Zealand, hostels, glam-packing and Naylor.

But for now - as I type this at 4.00am due to my body clock failing miserably to adapt back to UK time - I'll leave you with the theme tune to the first leg of my journey. May I also add that other travel companies are available but if you are down and felling blue and with nothing better to do, don't just sit there feeling stressed, take a trip on....