Paul Harris: Warrior Walker’s 24k Mile Journey for Purpose, Peace & People - (PART 1/2)

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Paul Harris: The Warrior Walker joins me for an unforgettable two-part conversation that begins in trauma and ends in transformation. A man who’s walked over 24,000 miles around the UK coastline—twice—Paul wasn’t chasing a record. He was trying to survive.

From his early years as a shy, lost kid to becoming a Royal Marine, then a private security contractor in Kabul, Paul’s life has veered from extreme danger to deep reflection. He’s witnessed war, grief, and collapse. But it was a moment of breakdown back home, in the wake of losing a dream life in Thailand, that led to a message from a friend: “You should walk around the UK and write a book about it.” Paul did more than that. With no plan, no tent, and just £300, he started walking. And never stopped.

In this episode, we go deep into:

• Walking as a tool for mental recovery and reconnection
• Life in Afghanistan: the beauty, the trauma, and the wild stories
• How teaching kids in Thailand gave him more peace than war zones
• The power of vulnerability and why Instagram became his support network
• Finding purpose through simplicity, grief, and cold nights under the stars

Whether he was being watched by a wild stag in the middle of the night, dodging Taliban checkpoints, or sipping overpriced espresso in Kabul’s “Secret Garden” café—Paul’s story is one of radical honesty, resilience, and the healing magic of walking forward, one step at a time.

Resources & References Mentioned
  📷 The Warrior Walker on Instagram
 
🌟 What You’ll Learn
IDEAS: How walking becomes a metaphor for rebuilding a broken life
INSIGHTS: Grief can be fuel. Walking can be a spiritual act.
QUOTES: “Be careful what you say to yourself. The warrior within you is listening.”
FACTS: Paul walked more than the circumference of the Earth—twice.
RECOMMENDATIONS: Don’t wait. Just take the first step. 

Chapters

• 0:00 From Kindergarten Teacher to Adventure Seeker
• 1:14 Introducing Paul Harris: The Warrior Walker
• 1:39 Paul's Harris Epic Journey Walking Around The UK
• 6:36 A Tough Upbringing and Joining the Marines
• 11:42 Life in the Marines and Afghanistan
• 16:21 Transitioning from Military to Civilian Life
• 29:24 Celebrating the Afghan People
• 30:15 Fond Memories of Afghanistan
• 32:40 Transitioning to Life in Thailand
• 35:54 Struggles and Self-Discovery
• 40:55 The Healing Power of Walking
• 43:21 The Birth of the Warrior Walker
• 46:24 The Journey Begins
• 54:54 Support and Community
• 55:24 Part 1 Conclusion - Get Ready For Part 2

Transcript

 Fast forward when I was a kindergarten teacher in a international school for about four years. Wow. Teaching kids that were at one to six to 12, and basically going from the Taliban to singing nursery rhymes. Losing my mind in my mind. I was more comfortable in Afghanistan with the Taliban than I was singing to 30 school children, blah blah.

Black sheep little star, and doing all the movements, which I'm not gonna do for you now that turns out and turned out to be the tipping point. To me, kind of living the best life I now live. So that horrible situation turned out to be a blessing, to be honest. So yeah, 15 minutes, I couldn't breathe, talk, shaking, sweating, all the things I thought I was having a heart attack.

Mm-hmm. And I just remember I was in front of my dad and his wife, and I remember now, and I'll never forget it, the first things that came out of my mouth were, I feel like a failure. That's what came out. I went to this market once and it was full of Taliban, but I didn't realize that until I told someone that I went there and you know, geez, I remember walking through this market in Kabul and there's like.

A grenade launcher and there's a knife, and there's a pistols and weapons and just open, you know, to buy. Welcome to the Adventure Diaries Podcast, where we share tales of adventure, connection, and exploration from the smallest of creators to the larger than life adventurers. We hope their stories inspire you to go create your own extraordinary adventures.

And now your host, Chris Watson. Chris Watson. Welcome to another episode of The Adventure Diaries. Today I'm joined by Paul Harris, AKA, the Warrior Walker. Paul Harris has walked around the coastline of the uk, not once, but twice, culminating over 24,000 miles, which is almost the same circumference as Planet Earth.

But he wasn't chasing a record, but simply a reason to keep going. And Paul's story begins long before these epic walks, a tough upbringing, a former Royal Marine stints, his private security in Kabul, and then a dream life teaching kids in Thailand. And then in 2019, that dream collapsed. Paul found himself struggling mentally back home, directionalist and lost in the places that had really shaped him.

And in the depths of a mental health crisis, a message from a friend that read, you should walk around the UK and write a book about it. It really sparked a fire for Paul, and he packed his bags and off he went. No plan, no money, no tent. Just a pool to keep moving forward. And in our conversation today, Paul shares the raw edges of this journey, grief, burnout.

Loneliness grits, but also the beauty and the kindness of strangers, the freedom of simplicity, the power of walking to help mend what seemed was broken. And this wasn't about chasing records. It was to survive, to reconnect, to find some purpose, and to show others that no matter how far gone you may feel, it's never too late to step into a new and better story.

This is a conversation about mental health, about resilience and the magic of adventure and walking your way back into life. This is a two part episode. It's that good. So please settle in and enjoy part one. Of this fantastic conversation with Paul Harris, AKA, the Warrior Walker. Paul Harris, welcome to the Adventure Diaries.

How are you? I'm good mate. You? Excellent, excellent. There's a little fireworks coming off on the back of the I see that. How big a deal I am now. Uh, yeah. Must be a new feature that's that's completely thrown me. Uh, so yeah, welcome to the Adventure Diaries. How are you mate? It's good to be here, man. It's been a long time coming.

Has indeed it is being in Glasgow on the second lap and speaking with you in my hotel room. And then we've just always do this and I'm glad we can, can finally do it. I know we're kinda like passing ships a little bit 'cause I feel I've known you for ages and even though we've been trying to kind of get this in the diary, so it was good to chat finally.

So the frame for today really. Is year two lapse of the uk, the 12,500 miles, 20,000 kilometers. Phenomenal. Not once but twice. But before we get to that, there's some stuff I want to unpack and we'll, we will get into your journey as an individual, like through your formative years. You know, you spent some time in the military, and then we'll touch on.

Then the, the life will adventure. And I want to try, and I suppose what I'd like to get into is the mental and the physical side. You've been quite open about some of the mental challenges and the resilience and the fortitude and all that that comes from your adventures. And I think there's a lot of good messages and key points that I would like people to take away from.

But to roll back to the, in fact, there's one thing I wanted to say actually before I forget. Do you know what the circumference of the earth is? I don't. You've walked more than the circumference of the earth. So the circumference of the earth is 24,900 miles or something. And you've just picked that. So well done.

Alright. So yeah, that makes me feel, I mean, that makes my head feel quite good. So off to a good start. So we'll get into all that. I can't do it anymore. My mind's gone. Yeah, mad. I've had loads of people on that have kinda done like all these, you know, mad adventures and the distances now always look at like, what does it look like?

And one, the one simple, you know, to, to jump the gun and to go into it like this anyway. But I feel like it's the main reason I'm on the podcast, but the easiest way to explain what I've done to myself is, and to other people when I meet them, because the distance is so far that it's hard to comprehend such a distance.

So it's basically the equivalent of walking from London to Sydney. That's how far I've actually walked. Yeah, that's mad. And I'd rather obviously walk in the UK 'cause you've got Scotland. Well, of course, yeah. The best part of the United Kingdom. No doubt. And we'll come into that. I mean, I'm not gonna lie, but I've miss Scotland.

It's left a big impression on me, man. Yeah, it's amazing. I mean, I've fallen in love with it more as I've got older and being, you know, a scot born and bred. It's quite hard to say that out loud firstly, but I, man, I just, it's, it's got so much to offer, but we'll come to that in time. So let's roll back then, Paul.

What was life like for young Paul Harris? What did you want to be when you were a kid? What was it like? Man, I feel like firstly will dip in and out of the walk. 'cause when I've walked such a long distance, it's actually left a big impression on myself. I. I've walked so long on my own that I've had time to almost go back in my life and look at it.

But a young Paul, quite shy, scared and lost. And the reasons for that. I didn't have a great upbringing. It was pretty tough to be honest. You know, my dad left when I was six. My mom got with someone who, probably someone she shouldn't have got with, and he wasn't a very nice man to myself, my mom, or us growing up, to be honest.

And then that left a lot of pain, trauma, and. Is this kind of thing, and then fast forward to. The age of 18, coming to 19, I joined the Marines. So that is a very fast kind of answer, but I feel like that covers a lot. Yeah, I mean, adventure seems to come from hardship for a lot of people. I know. We'll kind of touch into that.

I think so, man. I think that it's almost like everyone has a, everyone's got a hero's journey, right? Uh, and we'll talk about so many things in this hour, but. I still dunno what the answer is. I still haven't figured it out and I still think, what am I gonna do in my life? So I hopefully will shine a light on this conversation and topic that we're gonna have.

Many things that talk about just how everyone's the same. We all have the same feelings and thoughts and you know, I'm no different from someone else. So when someone listens to this, they may think, God, that's kind of like my life when I was growing up. I feel like it's not really spoken about enough, especially as a man.

But yeah, man, so that was me. Nobody's got it figured out, have they? I mean, I, there's the old cliche of the old saying, it is like even the board of directors at any organization you look at nobody really, no. Everybody's still figuring it out in their own way. They're all going through their own hardships, their own, their own struggles.

So you need to take chances and do your thing. That's a big one. Taking chances, man. We'll cover this, but yeah, so at the age of 18, I've got a brother, I've got a few brothers, but one specific brother, ed, he joined the Army and he was 16. And at the time I didn't realize it, I do now, but at the time I didn't realize it.

But he came home and he told everyone that he was joining the Army and so he was getting all of the attention from the family, you know, and how proud they are and I so great. And 18-year-old me, he's like, well, I want that attention. So it honestly was. Right. I've gotta do something better. And it was either join the Paris or the Marines.

I dunno why, but I just went for the Marines and there we go. Yeah, I'm 18, coming up to 19 and I'm in bloody. I thought I'd try. I'd thought I'd just give it a go, which is a theme of my life now. I thought I'd just give it a go. I didn't know what would happen. I didn't know really what it was about. So a bit of escapism there.

And there was a lot of people that I look up to now and still in touch with from that time in my life. But that was the start of the journey for me. That the toolbox of Paul Harris was started to form there. The Marines was a kind of thing that I never imagined I'd do, didn't think I'd be able to do it, and I just kind of kept getting further and further.

I passed the training and all of a sudden I'm like, oh fuck, I've gotta do this now. Yeah. Christ pre and port, well, not post Marines, but pre Marines. What kinda condition were you in? Like physically, mentally, were you outdoors? Were you what? What were you like before you? I loved being outdoors. I think I've always loved being outdoors.

Physically. I, again, I didn't realize, and I think I still am in that place where I didn't realize how fit I am, mm-hmm. Or how capable I am. But back then, as an 18-year-old lad, you know, it's quite daunting to be 18, turning 19. And I look back on that now, and I know certain people, and I see people that are 18, 19.

I think, man, you're so young. You know? And, and I was that guy and, and all of a sudden you're in there with men in their twenties, they're married, they've got kids, they're freaking like. Ripped, bro. I'm just the sy little kid, you know? But again, that's another lesson because I think it was something like 60 to 70 lads that started day one and 16 to 18 of us finished.

Oh God. You know, so it's colossal drop out rate. Yeah, it's the hardest training in the world fact, uh, and anyone that's listening to this that knows about War Marines know that that's true as well. It's relentless. And the motto at the time was 99.99% need not apply. You know, but it's for a reason. And I'm very proud of the fact that I got through.

But again, straight away, you know, you've got some guy that you're looking at and he is ripped, you know, the, the, the definition of what you would think, I guess what a Marine would look like. And then next to him, you've got sort this sy little kid and you think that guy can't do it. And if you have to put a bet on who would pass out of the Marines, it would be the strong guy.

But it wasn't because strength and. Courage and resilience comes in many different forms and a lot of it's in the mind between the years. Oh, all of it's fine. Never judge a bit by a cover. No. As they, as they say. Yep. Yeah, so that's that one. So I'm in the Marines at this point now. I always wanted to just try, there's a minimum service of four and a half years, so I'm half a year in pretty much just over that and I'm like, oh man, I've gotta do four years.

You know, I, I would almost go as far to say now that looking back on that I didn't wanna do it. But again, it's that resilience and determination and curiosity and, yeah. I dunno if you've got any questions about the Marines, because I'll rather than talk and I, yeah. Well I know you served time in Afghanistan, didn't it?

Was, was that within the Marines or was that, that was so yeah, within the Marines. I mean, my first posting of the Marines, I think I missed the Iraq War by a week. So my first posting with my troop was that a bunch of us got posted up to FA Lane, actually near Glasgow. Oh, that's really, that was my, I feel in the Marine, they're always trying to fuck you over in a way.

You know? So send you to Scotland. It's the easiest, the quickest way to do it. Bourmouth, right? And so that you get like a first, second, third choice. Yeah, and my first choice was Plymouth, I think. Yeah. Then it was Taunton, they're both right down south and then that was it. And they sent, they have a look at it and go, nah, we'll just send them up the top.

You know, straight away you're getting done over. But my first posting, yeah, there was a lot of casualties in the war, obviously. Mm-hmm. And. My first post was to carry those bodies off the plane. Mm geez. And so at the time there was a lot of press coverage obviously, 'cause it took up most of the press and our postings were to do the carrying the, the coffins off the planes of the fallen lads.

And I did a number of them. And looking back on it now, I was obviously that was a wake up call. Like, holy fuck, this is my life. I've gotta get through this man. 'cause I don't wanna die. But I was obviously in a way that my chances of that were quite high compared to the normal person gonna the office in Glasgow.

Yeah. Confused. Yeah, I know, man. Yeah, I mean that's especially in a, in a young lad, you know, without trying to reduce this, but what kind of skills did you learn in the military then? Because I can imagine the physical hardship and stuff that goes with it. You know, not being in the military obviously, but in terms of like the mental side of it.

'cause that must be quite a hard thing to deal with as an individual. Strengths are so many. I'm, I think, 'cause I was surrounded by so many lads that were like me. It's one of those things that you don't realize you've got, or skills you don't realize you have until you leave that and you're around. I don't mean to say this word, but you're around normal people.

Off the top of my head right now, the strengths I took away from the Marines was just the value for the things that you might not think about. Obviously, I was physically fit, I was mentally strong, resilient, but it was this curiosity still to kind of push the, I dunno if this is a good or bad thing, but I think it's a good thing.

But it was almost a curiosity to push my life too far. To the max and because I lost a lot of friends, it was almost like I, I spoke about this I think with Alice recently, but whenever I have a bad day, and I do still have them days, I always think about my mates that died and in a situation where I don't wanna do it.

So it might be gonna work in a coffee shop for a shift. It might be to travel somewhere. It might be to do a podcast, it might be to do something. But when I find myself thinking about the fact that I might not wanna do that, I think about them and I think about the fact that they would love to do what I'm doing right now.

If it is going for a coffee, if it is going to work a shift, you don't wanna possibly work. It's that. And that is kind of, my North star is deaf, as you probably know 'cause you're following me quite a lot. But I talk about death a lot and I used to be very, I didn't wanna die. Don't wanna die 'cause life's great.

But it's kind of my North star in a way that I think about my friends that have died. And then you have family, friends. Everyone has that, and I use them as my motivation to do hard things. Yeah, I love that part. I mean, the whole gratitude thing as well. The, the fact that people might moan about, you know, going to exercise or going to do a hard shift or stuff.

But if you, you reframe that in so much as you get to fucking do that, you know, where others don't. So, you know, you should really see the value and stuff in that. So, yeah. Yeah. Hi everyone. Chris here would just a we reminder. If you've been enjoying the stories here on the Adventure Dies, could you please take a moment to press that follow or subscribe button on Spotify or Apple Podcasts?

It's such a small thing, but it makes such a huge difference to the show. It helps to show, reach more ears, brings more voices to the table, and really helps keep this adventure going. So if you're up for more wild stories, more adventures, and more thoughtful conversations, then please hit that follow button.

On Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your podcasts. And thanks for being here and spending time with us today. It is really appreciated. So hit that follow button and now let's get back to this episode. So kinda touching on transition from the military to that. Dealing with that, I can imagine that the mental side of that, like falling, you know, soldiers.

And then thinking about your tenure and your time coming out, how did you deal with that? Did you have a plan to transition out at the moment saying, well, no, because funny, say what I did after I left the Marines. 'cause I, a week after leaving the Marines, I was on a desert island on a TV show. Oh yeah.

Christ, that can't value, I didn't even put that in conversation frame. Yeah. A week out of that on a show called Shipwrecked on Chapel. Yeah. I'm using, yeah. So six months on the desert Island with people, but at the time, now I look back on it. That was a really good way to decompress. Yeah. So maybe they should, maybe the government and the military should offer a service.

They could do, obviously do the military, then we'll put you on a desert island for six months so you can sort it head out. Yeah. You know, but I don't feel like they do that. So what made you then jump into the, the melting pot is Afghanistan after that. So at this point I'm working in Bournemouth, kind of just being normal again.

My idea of normal and I'm hating it and I don't really like it. It's quite boring. It's the same thing every day. So yeah, I get a call from my brother and he's like, mate, do you want a job? Of course. I'm like, yeah, sure. He sends me a message, it says, mate, send me a cv. You'll get it with your experience from the Marines.

And that job then led me to be flying out to Thailand in February, 2012 to stay there and base myself from there. And I was there for four weeks. Never been to Thailand before, never wanted to go there, but absolutely love it as we'll. Get onto, and I'm then part of the security or private security network.

So I'm basically living in Kabul in the city center, and I'm doing usually six to eight weeks there. Four weeks off for the American government, like a kind of NGO company that democracy International. So they says it in the name. Really? They try, and I have mixed feelings about this now, but back in the day in 2012, um, I was making good money and I was kind of living in hell every day.

What was the DN life of like in Kabul Wild. So our job, we would, I say compound loosely, but I dunno how much trouble I get. I think it's got 10 years, you know, so I think I can talk about this, but I'll, I'll keep it loose. We are in a compound, but that was basically just a house in, in the city center of Kabul.

We had some locals working for us, obviously, and in our jobs there, there was team, there was maybe four to six of us at any one time. And it's our job to secure the compound that we're standing. It's hard to talk about this sort of thing in the sense of, you know, if you're learning to read or you tell your daughter how to read.

You just tell her how to read, but you don't actually understand that your daughter doesn't have to read. So when I talk about this stuff to you or anyone, I just talk about it like it's normal. Mm-hmm. I've quickly realized that it's not. Mm-hmm. So now you've asked me this question in my head, I'm like, actually, what did I actually do?

Yeah. You know, it's so second nature for me. But yeah, our job was to make sure that everyone was safe within the compound. We regularly had NGOs come and stay or live there. Basically, journalists, lawyers, charity workers, and we would protect them and get them from A to B within Kabul City Center. So they might want to go to the shops, they might wanna go to Parliament, they might want to go to a meeting.

It's our job to go out and protect them in a wagon. So usually you've got your driver who's a local national. 'cause again, this sort of thing for me is normal and if there's any people that watch this that are in the military, they'll know what I'm gonna say. But a lot of people don't. So if you get into some trouble and you are driving the car and I'm in the city Seneca Ball, I dunno where to go quickly.

Whereas the locals do. So that local knowledge thing works and it does when I was walking, you know, so yeah, they're driving, I'm sat in the seat, the passenger seat, and usually we have weapons on us and then they're in the back. And it's our job to get 'em safely to wherever they need to go. Wait for them while they're there, but again, we won't stay still.

Because if you're sitting in the same place, the Taliban obviously will always be watching you, and they'll get into the fact that you've got this habit and that's the prime to get tacked, and then we'll get 'em back home safely. And then we just did that 24 7 for however long we were there and, uh, it was fucking tough.

Yeah, I was gonna say, going from my days at a, to, to, you know, traverse the streets of Cabo. Must have. Yeah, I'm absolutely. I remember, man, like I love coffee, as you can tell. Yeah, my driver, Habib, he's a really good man. I still talk to him now. I remember that we'd, we'd drop people off at the, uh, I can talk about this I think now 'cause I'm not, we used to drop people off at Parliament, and as I said, there'd be meetings for 3, 4, 5 hours.

So I'm not gonna sit outside for 3, 4, 5 hours. So I would say to Habib, like, should we, he's like, should we go back to base? I'm like, nah. 'cause we're gonna have to come back and pick him up anyway. So I'm just like, take me somewhere. So take me places. And he'd be like, Mr. Paul, we can't go there. And I'm like, who's in charge?

Habib? And. Yeah, but it kind, I, I just didn't tell the guys back at the base, you know, because I just had, even then, I've always had this inquisitive, wanna push the limits while I'm somewhere, I wanna see what it's really about. So I, I'd end up going to coffee shops on my own and Yeah, you know, I remember there's a story that is called TV Hill, so if you've ever seen the news and in the background, the, the journalists are usually reporting for the BBC or whoever.

And in the background you'll see like these big hills, mountains. I went up there, but I. And I went to this market once and it was full of Taliban, but I didn't realize that until I told someone that I went there and you know, geez, I remember walking through this market in Kabul and there's like a grenade launcher and there's a knife and there's a pistol and weapons and just open, you know, goodbye.

Um, so I go, I really wanted to go up to the top of that hill. Mountain to see the view. So I get to the top and Warren, my boss there, well my, my brother was my boss when he wasn't there, but, or when he was there and the shifts and stuff like that. So Warren at the time was my boss. And I dunno if you've ever met any South Africans, but in the, in the military wise, they are absolute, if you kind of go to war or in a rugby match, you know their rugby team's number one, right?

Yep. God fearing, you know, they just, they, I dunno. They eat like babies for breakfast, bro. Yeah. Both strong. Anyway, Warren was my boss and he is, I used to go to the gym with him and be scared to work out of him 'cause he's just a different man, different beast, you know. But he was in, in the ops room and I'm at the top of this hill right now, mountain.

Right? I message him, go, mate, I'm gonna go to the top. He's like, whatever you do, don't go there. It's kind of Taliban do not go up there. I was like, no. Okay, no worries bro. I won't go up there, put my phone in my pocket. I said to Pete, why the fuck did you not tell me there's Taliban? But he's like, Mr. Paul, you said you wanted to come up here, you know?

And then I'm like, we quickly got down. But again, I spent two years out there and I just remembered to close this side of my life off. It started to mess with my mind a little bit. 'cause I'd go six to eight weeks in Kabul and then four weeks off in Thailand. So I've gone from the most dangerous city in the world to the most chillest country in the world.

Geez. And all of a sudden, I dunno when it happened, but there was almost this transition that in Kabul I became really relaxed. I was gonna say, did your sense, you start to soften a little bit? Not, or take time to kinda sharpen, rather get back? Yeah, well, kind of the day that I remember the most is.

Reference. So firstly Thailand, I'd be there on leave and it's a beautiful country. I absolutely love it. I remember hearing dogs and there's a lot of wild dogs in Thailand. But I'd, I'd wake up sweating 'cause I'd hear this dog and it would just, I was always on on so I couldn't decompress. And at the time I'd always drink quite a lot.

I've got partying all the time and I was burning the candle at both ends. Absolutely. But then more dangerously, now looking back on it, when I was in Kabul, there's kind of like two instances where I thought I've, I've had enough, now I've gotta change 'cause it would be dangerous. But the first one was that one day me and my brother were working together and we randomly just went out the front gates and we walked with no weapons, no nothing in our shorts and t-shirt in the summer.

We walked to the local. And we just went for a swim in the, in the pool, like nothing was happening. And I was just in Glasgow in a swimming pool. Wow. And now looking back on that, I'm like, Jesus, man. Two foreigners. We are gold to the Taliban man. And we'd swim and cracking it. They could have shot us, killed us, kidnapped us.

What? I dunno. Wow. Um, so that was that. And then the primer for me, the prime moment was I did a quite a tough tour in the summer. It was in Ramadan and it was really hot. It's 40 degrees, 45 degrees out there. I dunno if people know, I actually didn't know. But Kabul is six and a half thousand feet above sea level.

So you're kind of flying into a city in the mountains high, high up. So the air's thinner and stuff like that. But in the summer it's 40, 45 degrees. But in the winter, I think it was minus 17, minus 19 was the coldest I felt. But it was a summer Ramadan. Everyone's a bit more wired out there that the guys, the Muslims, the Afghans, you know, because they're not eating, not drinking, it's hot.

It's, you know, it's tough for them. And Kabul's absolute nightmare. There's no, you know, you'll go past the almost a Range Rover 'cause a businessman might own that. And then you've got someone pulling a horse and car. It's just, you know, it's like back in time. But yeah, I did a really hard tour. It was eight weeks and it was tough.

And I remember flying from cabal to Dubai and then Dubai, Bangkok, we were flying to Dubai. And I just remember being in this taxi, I just landed, it was a really hard tour. And I look left and I see the Bir Arab, the B Khalifa. Mm-hmm. And I can't compute it in my brain. Like I can't, I'm looking at it and I'm in this BMW five series taxi, and it just doesn't go in my, I can't grasp it.

And that for me was the time I realized it enough's enough man. Like how much money can, yeah. I was only doing it for the money to start with and I was basically a pirate, you know, trying to get my silver coins and I got to the point where I real, I think it was there that I realized that money's not the be all and end all don't chase the money.

That's when I realized that. You know, and I suppose the longer you're there in that role, in that environment, you know, dare I say it, then your life expectancy is probably dropping, isn't it? You know? 'cause you're, you're exposing yourself to extreme dangers. But since I've been on the walk and since I finished the first lab, I've had offers to work for the Japanese government out there and I was tempted for five minutes.

Yeah. 'cause the much good, but I just didn't wanna roll that dice. 'cause in my head I'm like, if I go back there. I'm almost attempting my own fate. You know, I have a lot of friends in that realm and obviously I've got a lot of ex-Marine friends and military friends and people you meet on the circuit and it's just a normal thing to do, but it's not normal.

Yeah, I, I was gonna say like, so the risk of kinda leaning too much into the dangers side of all that, 'cause it clearly is what it is without needing more air time, but thinking about the people. The culture. So trying to shift that from, so firstly, what was it coffee like in Kabul? I, I, I gotta write a book about coffee, by the way.

I just remember this place called Ardine, which is the garden. I talk to you like everyone knows what kabul's like. So out there, it's, it's obviously a war zone, dangerous city, but there's also a lot of military, private security, normal people in government roles, et cetera, et cetera. War and turmoil makes a lot of money.

So out there, you've gotta have the normal things that you would have here. So coffee shops, shops, but the thing is the prices. So you'll pay 10 pound for an espresso 'cause you want an espresso, but, and everyone's on really good money. So it's kind of like a infrastructure within an infrastructure. So I remember this place 'cause it was like, it was called the Secret Garden, and that's where I actually used to go when Habib, you were waiting for the guys.

I'd go there. So you go into this place that's almost like this mud heart. I wish I took more pictures or had the pictures. You go into this through the door. Habib can't come in because he's in Afghan, which is annoying, but. That's just the way they have it out there. And the guy on the gates Afghan with a gun and you go through and you take your weapons off and then they do the security, and then you go through and you're in the garden.

So in this garden, it's like this most plush, beautiful greenery, plants, roses. And someone who's French comes up to me and I'll takes my order. So I may. France and I order the the cross on and I order the coffee and we sit and I chill and I look up and I can't really see much 'cause it's quite enclosed.

I just see this really blue sky and I genuinely could have been anywhere but Afghanistan. So, you know, it's an escapism, but you're always on and you're always wired. They've got your weapon, you know, you're like, oh, I've got, if something happens. But yeah, the coffee was great. There were Italian restaurants.

There was an underground bar that we went to, just have a beer, you know, and then we'd go sort the Afghan bread man. Oh a, yeah, you love like a, I can only explain it in the sense of you'll go to a bakery here and go for coffee and in Glasgow's load a really good ones, and you'll get a coffee and a pan of chola.

But out there you'd have a coffee and an Afghan bread and oh, they make it with their feet and it's freshly made and it's just really nice, man. So yeah, the coffee was great. Ah, fantastic. The people, I just wanna give a shout out to them because I always do, but the Afghans in general are amazing. Amazing.

They're kind, they'll give you their last tea, their last bit of bread. They, they'll do anything for you. It's just that they have unfortunately grown up in their country that is Afghanistan. So the 1% don't make up for the 99. And what I found was that Afghans don't even like the Taliban, obviously. And again, I feel like that's the demographic of the world we live in.

The 1% don't make up for the 99%. Yeah. Yeah. So I'd really like to shine a light on them because they're kind people, they're good people, and they just live in a country that's full of war and murder and natural gases and heroin and all the things. But that's a different thing. Yeah, exactly. And that's why I was kinda wanting to touch on that because there's some wonderful human and and cultures in some of these really war torn areas, and it, it doesn't get the, the air time it deserves.

What is your fondest memory looking back if you have one of Afghanistan? Wow, no one's asking that. That's a good question. My fondest memory of Afghanistan is being fortunate enough in an unfortunate place and time to see the beauty of that country. Yeah, yeah. I just have this, our compound was looking out.

To the mountains 'cause you're so far, I know in the winter the snow is there and are so beautiful man. And not many people are there 'cause they, you know, they can't be there. And again, that's the theme of my life. Going to these places, doing these things that not many people do. I dunno that I'm trying to prove that too myself.

I don't know. But I like to do that. And that's my fondest memory. The people and. Yeah, it's wonderful. I mean, I've spoken to a few people that have done various things in some of these countries in the Middle East and some of those areas that our government don't want you to venture into. You know, whether it's speaking to someone in Lebanon, for example, to some guiding and stuff out there and, but that's now obviously, you know, the whole conflict that's going on a minute, it's like kinda NoGo area, but there's areas that just natural beauty, the people, they're so welcoming and yeah, I think humans are great, man.

Like. Wherever we are. You know, when you mention that, then it just takes my mind to Syria. Yeah. I've always wanted to go to Damascus. Yeah. And that's not a thing now, but, and you know, even cabal was part of the hippie trail. Yeah, back in the eighties, people, I've got a really great friend, lady called Sue, and she's in her eighties and she holidayed in Kabul when it was holiday able.

She was based in Iran and she's an amazing person. She tells me these stories and I'm like, oh my God, you know, because it seems so foreign now. Oh, isn't that you've just made me think I've seen something on Twitter or X, whatever the hell it's called a few weeks ago, and it was. What Iran was like pre the revolution or like the careful stepping into this territory.

'cause I don't fully, uh, understand it all, but before it became under almost a dictatorship and it showed you what the advertising was like, what the, the, the men and women were like on the beach. So, you know, the social side of it. And it just looks like another world. It looks fantastic. Cabal was in the sixties and seventies, you know, women were in almost miniskirts, you know, like.

But it just, it's a sad state of affairs and unfortunately, what I do know about Afghanistan is that it's a very central place and it has a lot of natural resources. Far back as like 1600, there's been war there. That's another podcast. Yeah, no, exactly. I've read a lot of history books and there's, I've a favorite book that always talks back about Babylonia and, and the wars and stuff back then, you know, when, but yeah, that is a whole other podcast and it's own like, so shifting lanes a little bit then, Paul, your transition out of the military.

What was a time period then from getting out of like private security and coming back to the UK and then, you know, before you took up the walk? How, how did that come to be? So I obviously was working in Afghanistan. I did the thing that I told you about, I did the story there. I thought to myself, I can't do this anymore.

And I love Thailand. So by this point I've been in Thailand for two years and, and I absolutely love it as a country. And anyone that listens to this has been there. They'll testify to that. Beautiful. The people, you know, it's always about the people, but yeah, the people and the eat and it's very cheap in a way.

You know, I love being there. And I had a friend, Emma, and she's from Cardiff, and I'd met her out there and we got talking because it's just, you know, expats gravitate towards each other, you know, I just remember having a conversation with Emma and told her what I told you, and she said, wait, why don't, you should be a teacher.

She was a teacher. And I thought, what? And that's how I ended up staying in Thailand. So I had no qualifications, so I just wanted to give it a go. And there's like a theme here. Fast forward, and I was a kindergarten teacher in a international school for about four years. Wow. Teaching kids that were at one to six to 12, and basically going from the Taliban to singing nursery rhymes.

Losing my mind, in my mind, I was more comfortable in Afghanistan with the Taliban than I was singing to 30 school children, blah blah. Black sheep and Little Star, and doing all the movements, which I'm not gonna do for you now, but that. Comfortable then. Yeah, that must have been nice actually, considering the hardship and stuff and being so on edge, coming out of, I say this with love, but it's like having a classroom of 30 puppies and they just so happy to see me every day and I didn't think anything other than that and I was happy to see them.

I was like their dad and their brother and their helper and like, they gave me so much love every single day and that really helped me and it gave me a purpose, it gave me money and it mostly just gave me a lot of happiness. I. Uh, I didn't actually care about the money 'cause, you know, rent in Thailand's cheap and I was making good money out there more than I was in the Marines, which is ironic and it absolutely changed my life.

But it also, so we're at the stage now where I'm a kindergarten teacher, right? So before the Marines it gave me this curiosity kind of, there's gotta be more for me in life. The Marines gave me all the things that you would imagine it would, the fitness, the mental side of it, the physicality of it, and the kind of, you can do hard things.

Shipwreck gave me the confidence to speak in front of people that I don't know, and Afghanistan gave me this almost success for life, more so than I already had. And then teaching in Thailand gave me the sense of that there. There's a purpose. You need to have a life that's full of purpose. And if it's bigger than you, it will be a good life.

But if it's not bigger than you, basically if, if you do something that's just for money, just for yourself, you won't last long at it or you'll be miserable. But if you do a job or something that is bigger than you, so serving other people. You all live a good life. Yep. And that's where we're at now. So, yeah.

So then I then came home because I had a visa for seven years. It had been good. I had a week's notice to leave and didn't know what the hell I was gonna do. I made my life out there like I was happy to. I thought I'd made it, man. I was like 36, 37, like, oh, this is, I've made my life. It's so good. I'm working 20 hours a week.

I'm teaching 30 kids a week. They're coming to me over the 20 hours. So for instance, Monday, three till four, five kids come. And then four till five, three kids come. But those same kids come again a couple of days later. So basically in 20 hours in a week's work, I was teaching 'em a number of times, but I was making really good money and I thought I'd completed it.

I was about to open another school. I. Like a private teaching school down south and I just, honestly, I was working out though. It's the sun, it's hot. I just, I, I've genuinely completed my life right now and I've got a whole long way to go. So this curve ball of not being able to stay, I had a week's notice I was on a plane flying to London one way, and bearing in mind I've been away for seven years.

Was that COVID? Paul, why brief? This is before COVID, so this would've been 2019, right? S September, 2019. But they said to me, now you've mentioned that, that you can come back in six months, Uhhuh, but six months on from September, 2019 is March, 2020, so that wasn't obviously happening, but my life. Erupted and went really wrong when I got on that plane.

So I'm flying one way to London. I'm living with my dad, who I don't really get on with. We just never have. He left me when I was six. We, you know, I'm not the first person this has happened to, so I don't wanna give that card kind of, of, of playing that card. But I, you know, it was tough. And I was in hol bro, like when people meet me now.

When people watch me now, listen to me on podcast, whatever it is, they can't imagine that I didn't talk about my feelings. I'd go, I, I, before I talk about this, I just want to say that when I now look back on this person that I'm about to talk about, which is an older version of myself, I can't, it's so alien to me.

It's like I'm talking about someone else. So if anyone is struggling right now. If anyone is really struggling or hating themselves, or, you know, I'm gonna talk about some things now that are gonna be hard to talk about and hard to listen to. But if you find yourself resonating with this, then I wanna provide you mostly with some hope that you can completely change your life around no matter how old you are.

So let's go with this. So, uh, yeah, I, I'm, I'm hating myself, man. I, I just was living my life so greatly out there and I was so happy. And then I find myself in a foreign environment, which is where I grew up. I don't know the area, like I know, like everything has, is the same. But I'm different and I've been all over the world and doing all the great things and living a really good life.

And, and then all of a sudden I'm in Bournemouth, which is not great for me, and it's a great place. But at that time it, it wasn't great for me. I had my dad and my, his wife and my brothers, but I didn't tell them. I didn't tell them anything, you know? Are you okay? I'm good. I'm walking down the high street in Bournemouth and I see some friends and I, you, you know, you know me.

I go up to people, I hug everyone. I just turned around, man. I didn't wanna see anyone, didn't wanna talk to anyone. Like every day was an absolute fucking battle to get out of bed, to go to an office, to work in insurance that I hate. No disrespect to anyone that does that. If you love that, that's your jam, but it's not mine.

And I hated myself and every day. It just got worse and worse and worse and I didn't tell anyone. I honestly hated myself, bro. I can't even tell. I, I look in the mirror. I didn't really look in the mirror. I didn't look at anyone. I didn't keep eye contact with anyone. The way I was talking about myself was awful.

You know, the worst things you could possibly say to someone, I'd say to myself, and probably worse, it got to the stage where, this is September, 2019. It got to mid-December, so three months later and I have a panic attack and I didn't know what one was. I thought I was actually gonna die, you know, couldn't breathe.

I was hyperventilating. And obviously I, this might sound controversial in a way, what I'm gonna say, but it's only my experience of my life. But that turns out and turned out to be the tipping point to me, kind of living the best life I now live. So that horrible situation turned out to be a blessing, to be honest.

So yeah, 15 minutes, I couldn't breathe, talk, shaking, sweating, all the things. I thought I was having a heart attack. Mm-hmm. And I just remember. I was in front of my dad and his wife, and I remember now, and I'll never forget it, the first things that came out of my mouth were, I feel like a failure. That's what came out.

Obviously I'm not, but that's what I felt like. And then nothing still changed, so I've not thrown any shade at anyone in my life. I just carried on doing the same thing, and then COVID happened. The worst fucking time as well. Language. I look back on that now and I think it was a good thing for me. Yeah, because I started walking a lot.

So I am walking now and every day that I we're working from home, right? We only do a few hours a day. If you hit the target, you can finish. Whereas when you're in the office, it doesn't matter if you hit the target, you're just there, but you hit the target, you finish. So I hit that target early, early, and I rewarded myself because I was in Bournemouth.

Right on the beach at six miles of beach. That's beautiful. I just rewarded myself by walking and I've always been a good walker. 'cause the yamin in the Marines and the, I just love being outside, but this is where I really appreciated that I could be outside, especially in that time. I really appreciated that and it just made me feel good.

It was sunny. I now know that walking makes me feel creative. It makes me feel, it doesn't discriminate, you know, like you can walk. You can be however heavy you may be, you can. And that's metaphorical as well. You know, you could have a lot on your shoulders, but walking helps you. For me, it's when I get clarity, it's when I'm my happiest.

It's when I see other people, it's when I appreciate the sounds and I get taught. I love it, man. I talk about it now. It's be smart. I just love walking. You know, it's not everyone does it. You might go to the shops, you might go to see a friend, you might walk the dog. And where I'm going with this is if you don't walk, you should start.

Yeah, I mean there's so much science behind it and it's so simple. Even if it's five, 10 minutes in the fresh air, it's amazing how you could, you know, ruminate on something. 'cause the type of day job that I have sometimes if you're stuck and you get in your own head and the negative self talk and whatever it is, when you're in that bit, and it's hard to get out of it.

And you just walk for five minutes, even get out your front door. It's amazing how things just become clear and it's, yeah, so anybody's, I mean, listening, just, you know, try and make a habit, you know? That's so good. It's like, so honestly, like I love it, obviously. I love it. And we're gonna get onto that, but yeah.

Yeah. So I'm walking a lot, you know, I'm walking marathons at that point. On my own 'cause it's COVID and no one's seeing anyone. And I'm seeing more cows than people and I loved it, man. And you know, it's the Jurassic Coast. It's beautiful, it's stunning, it's savage, it's great. And then one day, like everyone's origin, story and hero's journey.

Yeah. I dunno how it happened, but it did. And I'm on one of my favorite walks at the time in the pub, and I'm walking from Swanage to a place called Kauf and it's sunny and I feel good. And then I'm happy. Right. And then my friend Rory. He slides into my dms at the time on the Instagram I used to have, and he just says, bro, you need to walk around the UK and write a book about it.

And that little crazy, outrageous, insane message changed my life. Wow. Wow. I like talking about this. Wow. Yeah. Did he ever think you were gonna do it or was he being flippant or how did that come to be was he came in just like that and I'm now fast forward. I'm in Brighton, so I'm nearly on the home straight of the first lap.

Right. And he came and walked with me and we obviously got onto the fact that what made you send me that message? And he told me that he was watching Ross Edgeley who was swam around the uk. Yeah. So he was watching that and Ross trained at the Marine base in Ston, in Devon. And he told a PTI like a PT in the Marine version, their savages, that he was gonna swim, I think across the channel almost.

And the PTI Marine said, don't be a pussy. Why don't you swim outta the uk? Okay. You know, and that he watched that and he's from watching that he sent me the message. Yeah. And at the time he just saw that I needed a purpose. And honestly, I talk about this a lot, but the way I can describe it is when I did get that message metaphorically.

Yeah. It was like bit a match and my life was the flame. Yeah. And you chuck it on this bonfire room. Yeah, that's Honestly, I can I take myself back there now? I'm like so excited. I was like, I've gotta do this. And for three weeks I did it. I was gonna do it, wasn't gonna do it. What about money? What about a wife?

What about a marriage? What about a home? What about money? What about a career? They were all stumbling blocks that an hour would go by. I'm not doing it another hour, I'm doing it. I was constantly up and down. Society deems it not successful if you don't follow the average Sheep Jones, whatever you wanna call it.

You know, I would say as far it's been pushed upon us that we have to have a house by a certain age and a marriage by a certain age and children. And if you're not in your way, in your pension, when you're older, if you don't have those things, you are deemed as not successful. And I call bullshit on that, you know?

But unfortunately, 'cause I've done it, you've done it. We do it. You'll go shopping, you'll go on holidays. Someone will have a nice car. Someone you, I'm so unsuccessful. You'll go on Instagram. You haven't got what Ronaldo's got. 'cause you can just literal, I was doing it earlier. I was on Ronaldo's Instagram.

Now he's got like a hundred, no 600 million followers or something. I don't know. It's crazy. And I'm looking at it thinking, dude, this guy's got life on lockdown and I'm such a failure. It's bollocks. Comparison is a thief of joy. Does this say it is So, and when I was in that head space, I would do that.

I'd go on these Instagram accounts, I'd look at the what people post, and it was completely smoke and mirrors and it made me feel shit. So if you are in a negative head space, just put your phone down, man. Yeah. Alright. Put some music on, go for a walk, go see some friends. Go see people in real life. But yeah, so.

Long story short, three weeks went by from that message and I'm on day one, step one, bro. Wow. That's such a short window, man. That's crazy. Yeah, but so it's not, because as you know, there's probably times in your life or people that listen to this. You've had these messages, these thoughts, and if you don't act upon them quickly, I have foresight to know that I won't do it.

'cause we won't because we think too much. Don't think do. So I was like, right, I've got nothing to lose. I set up my Instagram, the Warrior Walker, and I just thought, fuck it, let's go. And I just give it a go and, and now I'm the first person to walk it twice. Yeah. And congratulations. Congratulations. I've got some funky questions for that later, which will come to later.

I mean, I know that gripped you and you're like excited and you've got on it, but how about I was scared for, yeah, I mean, because it's. It's a huge undertaking, like over a year to like kinda walk, you know, three, was it three years roughly for the two laps? Give the numbers quickly. Yeah. Just to set the tone.

So I started endorse it. Yeah. I went clockwise round the coast and the Isla sky in Harris and all the way back to Dorsett. That took me 19 months. And I had a six week break, but I already knew on the first lap why that I would go again, which we can talk about when it comes up again, but, and then I then thought, right, screw this.

I'm going to London. I'm gonna go the other way round and do it in a year and raise money for charity, which I did. Yeah, I, yeah. Fantastic. Fantastic. So what I'm going to get into with some. So you get the message three weeks later, the boots are on and you're on the roads. Yeah. Logistics, cost, food, fuel, bags, like all the things.

Yeah, all the things. Right. And at what point you're in that, do you start to really realize that this is working for you mentally, that this is doing doom, that it should be doing again, you have these like moments in your life that you now look back on and, and they're pivotal moments. So for me, I'm three weeks, I'm about to go.

I've set my Instagram up, I leave on a Sunday and Saturday afternoon slash night I've been packing all day. I've got this massive bag and I've packed all the things. 'cause in my head at the time, I think it's gonna take me a year. How'd you pack for a year? What do you even take for a bloody walk around the uk?

I didn't even know it was a thing. I knew that I had to walk and I naively, even with my experience in the military and Afghani life. I remember watching a weather forecast and thinking, oh, that's not very big. I got this, you know, but the weather forecast scale, right. So it's bloody Yeah. You know, so I, I set off, but the night before I set off, my dad actually, uh, just stopped me in my tracks and I remember it.

He just said, you don't have to do this. And it threw me off. You can imagine I'm nervous, I'm scared I'm breaking it, man. I'm like, I'm so like, what the fuck am I doing? And I just remember saying to my dad that, what do you mean? He's like, you don't have to do this. You've proved yourself. You've proved it already.

You know, you've proved yourself enough. And I just remember saying, yeah, but I need to prove it to myself. You know? Like, I need to prove it to myself that I can do this. It's not about anyone else. So I then the Sunday I step up. I haven't got a. I can't afford one afford. I've got a massive bag on my back.

Osprey were great, just they've give them a shout out. They've always given me my packs, but yeah, they gave me it 'cause they thought I was absolute lunatic. Probably didn't think I was gonna do it. I set off in COVID, so it's just another layer of like, what? It was about 30 kilograms on my bag. I've got 300 pound in my bank and I didn't think of anything else but doing it.

I'm so laser focused, man, I, I know that now, but I just. I just remember all, I'll say reference the, the start is, it's actually funny 'cause I was with Tommy, he was my mate. He was working at Osprey at the time and he came to the start line, right? And I'm getting a bit emotional. He's getting a bit emotional.

He is a great man. I remember prior to the walk, I'd go to Cafe era at the time because I obviously didn't have great coffee taste at that time in my life and, and every Sunday, but no, no. Cafe era is good if they want to fund me on my next adventures. Oh yeah. You know, wash points to the podcast. Yeah, they're fantastic.

Coffees. They are good on the high. So yeah, I, I remember every Sunday I used to meet him and we'd go for a cafee in Bournemouth at the, at the top of town and I'd just talk to him for like an hour, two, three, and then we'd go to the gym. And it wasn't months into the walk that I realized actually what he was doing.

I was just listening to me and I was offloading like so much. And he was such a good friend though. Fricking just listened. He didn't say anything, man. He was just listening to me and I didn't realize that until I was walking. But yeah, I, we did that. So I remember he sort of like, he's there. We're at the start and I'm getting a bit emotional.

He's getting emotional. Other people that are there, there wasn't many. But you know, they're, they're similar maybe. And I'm thinking at this point, oh my God, I don't wanna do it. I don't wanna do it. And all of a sudden I didn't know where Tommy went and I hear on this music 500 miles by the proclaimers.

He's like, play that To make it, to make it like, let's go. So I put my bag on. And I just remember, I don't know if, like, again, it's my opinion, I don't know religious wise, but I do believe there is something, I just remember having this like, uh, this feeling come through me like this, I don't know, like a hot flush if, I dunno what one of them is.

But it was like that, it just remember thinking like, it just step, I was just about to step off and it said to me my thoughts, my mind. I don't know, like just step, you're in the right place in the right time. This is what you're meant to be doing. And I just stepped off. You know, that was the kind of second step.

'cause as I've mentioned before, when you do anything in life, it might be going to the gym, it might be going to this job, it might be asking that girl out. It might be asking that guy out. It might be doing something outrageous. But the first step is actually the mental one to tell yourself, right, let's do this.

And the second step is making that call, is sending that message, it's going to the gym. It's that. So I had that and I quickly realized day one. How fucking big the UK is, bro. Didn't even make math, man. I didn't even make a difference for weeks, months. Wild, you know, like 12 and a half thousand miles. It's like the, the shape of the uk it's like, oh bro, someone just take a biscuit and crumbled it.

And it's like, you know, that season I hated whale for a little bit. Yeah, because it just was like whales go all the way out and back in again. I was like, oh, I don't want, man. But you mentioned about food, so I, I didn't think at the time, so I set the Instagram up. It's called the Warrior Walker, right? So the reason I called it that is I saw a dreamt for, I don't know again, but there was this quote that I saw and it said, be careful what you say to yourself because the warrior within you is lessened by it.

That is So like how it basically, how you talk to yourself Yeah. Affects how you think, how you are, what you do, where you go. Yeah. And that was for me, that one of many now mic drop quotes that I read and thought, okay, enough enough man, you gotta stop doing this. So I stepped off. I didn't think anyone would care.

I didn't think anyone would be interested. And that quickly became apparent that that was bullshit. 'cause everyone cared and everyone wasn't. Yeah. Yeah. And I remember like day one. Walk in and it's on my Instagram way back when, but I haven't looked. But I remember I wasn't gonna set up an Instagram. I was just gonna go and Tommy, it's always Tommy, but Tommy said, mate, you need to set up an Instagram because people are gonna wanna see this.

It's also a journal if you do write the book. And thirdly, this is gonna be an epic thing to watch. Yeah. And so I'm so grateful for that because Instagram. Became my community, my family. Like I've met my partner on Instagram. Yeah. You know, that's how we connected. Exactly. Right. It's, and that's, that's what I wanted to say.

'cause, and this comes up time and time again on this, there's so many negative connotations. I'm on Instagram more than I should be. Everyone is, we, we know that. But it's a part of it. It's a part of our world where we like it or we don't like it. And for me it's about documenting. And memories and trying to create that little bit of, you know, whatever it is, legacy or what, whatever phrase you want to throw at it, but mm-hmm.

It's also got a plus side because that's how I reached out, that's how I became aware of you and your, and your journey. That's how I reached out, you know, and we'll talk about the kinda mental side of that and how we actually connected and I'm so glad you did. We wouldn't be here chatting today, so no. I sat on the Instagram and I didn't think anyone would care.

I didn't think anyone would be interested, and obviously that quickly became not true. People. I could give you stories and hours of people I've met, things I've done because of Instagram, and it almost was like the UK saw something in me and my walk as almost like living through me, but also just wanting to help me.

And to summarize this, I left day one as a bit of a lone wolf. I didn't think anyone cared. I, you know, and I quickly started to realize they did. People would offer me rooms. People offer me hotel rooms. People would buy me hotel rooms. People were buying me Kit were donating money to me. Were donating money to charity.

On the second lap, people would drive hours just to walk with me. Just to kind of meet me, this guy they've heard of and someone they look up to, which I still find crazy and humble and I love it. And the humans of the UK are just fucking kind. Thanks for tuning in to today's episode. For the show notes and further information, please visit adventure diaries.com/podcast.

And finally. We hope to have inspired you to take action and plan your next adventure, big or small, because sometimes we all need a little adventure to cleanse that bitter taste of life from the soul. Until next time, have fun and keep paying it forward.