About
THE SHORT VERSION:
Born in Cyprus as the child of armed forces parents, my childhood was one that involved moving from country to country every three years. Now I have always said that ‘travel is the ultimate education’ and I feel quite privileged to have had the opportunity to see more than my fair share of the world, however the downside to this was that every three years, after just having really got settled in and making good friends, I was upping sticks and heading off somewhere else to do it all over again.
From the age of 8 to 18 I went to a boarding school in the deepest darkest depths of North Yorkshire, England. I went to university (twice) and dropped out (twice) and really sort of struggled to find my feet for a long time, never quite knowing what I wanted to do with my life. I split with my then girlfriend, packed up and got on a plane, ending up in a small town in southern Indiana. I got a job in Bloomington and generally had a great time as the local novelty to all the hillbillies in all the local bars - all was going well till my visa was refused and I was deported from Philly in 2003.
After being told that I would be banned from the US for 5 years I moved to Canada instead. As I had already met Britt (my fiancée and owner of http://uneboutiquetreschic.com) and Toronto was closer for her to visit me than the UK. A year in TO and then back to the Yorkshire where I had previously established a Blacksmiths forge Not satisfied with that I moved to London to get a ‘proper job’ as everyone might say. I worked in recruitment for years and even started a specialised desk recruiting for SEO’s. I then set up my own recruitment firm, which was going well until I hired an old friend of mine to work for me, needless to say that was where it all went wrong. Never mix friends and business…EVER!
To be honest it was probably the best thing that has happened to me as I took time to reflect on why everyone felt the need to screw me over and more importantly, what I wanted to do with my life. Thankfully I have Britt by my side as she has been flying in and out of the UK at every given opportunity to be with me. We got started blogging and I put my head in the books with a view to completing my CIW exams. Since then I have acquired a sizeable online portfolio and spend pretty much every waking hour working on projects that I know will pay off in the long term – BANS being just one of them!
Britt and I plan to marry in the states next year (2009) and we are currently sorting out my paper work with an immigration lawyer so that I can come back stateside and we can continue this fantastic journey together.
I am almost 30!
