I recently did an interview for legendary walker Karl Bushby. Here are my answers to his questions.

1. Do you believe your experiences have had a positive effect on you?

My experiences have certainly had a positive effect on me. They have
moulded and polished me in several ways:

• self-confidence
• understanding of the world
• physical fitness and health
• helping me sort out what are my priorities in life
• making me more patient, ambitious, tolerant, focused and responsible

I did not have particularly high self confidence before I set off to try to cycle round the world. I had never achieved anything particularly exciting, I was never The Best at anything amongst my peer group. And my ambitions for my life were correspondingly average.

Completing the expedition made me realise that not only was I capable of far more than I ever thought, I was also perfectly capable of standing in front of large audiences and communicating my story.

I rode through many countries that I had negative preconceptions about. Countries more known in the media for danger, intolerance and terrorism. But, without exception, my encounters on the road made me realise that the vast majority of people in the world are good people.

Certainly there are bad people in every culture, but I know now that I can visit any country on Earth and find good, interesting kind people who will do their best to look after me and make me welcome.

I was never much of an athlete, and still am not. But I am now aware of the very, very high levels of physical fitness and achievement that we can reach. The human body is an incredible tool and it is so sad the disregard with which we treat our bodies and yet still expect to live long, healthy pain-free lives. The old Latin saying “mens sana in corpore sano“, “A sound mind in a sound body”, is more true today than ever.

Spending years alone in the world’s wild places gave me a tremendous appreciation of the beauty of nature, how tragic our treatment of it is, and how good for your soul it is to spend time “out there”. At the same time though I was also very lonely on the road. I missed the depth of the relationships you have with family and proper friends. I realised that these were the most important in my life and that I ought to treat them with more gratitude than I had done in the past.

This attitude shift also fits in with a resolution to be more patient and tolerant, that my life was too important to me to settle for mediocrity, and that being born in a rich and free country gave me a strong obligation to not fritter my life away.

2. Would you encourage others to a embark on a similar journey to your own?

I constantly encourage other people to embark on the journey that they feel passionate about. That may be getting a job that they care about rather than one that pays well, or it may be a literal journey or expedition. I have had so many good experiences on the road. I have met so many good people, learned so much about other cultures and humanity in general. The hardest thing I have ever done was building up the nerve and the energy to begin the journey. That was the most difficult and the most frightening part. The rest was easy compared to that! And I have never regretted it.

3. Do you believe if more people would experience extensive travel it would have a positive net effect on a community over all?

I think that for extensive travel to have an effect on a community as a whole would require so many people to travel that it’s not realistic. I think that it is down to the lucky few who have travelled a lot to tell as many people as possible about the positive experiences they have enjoyed in foreign countries.

4. Do you see a future for adventure and exploration within humanity?

The world is opening up so much. The internet allows everyone to read and learn about adventures and exploration. Airfares are relatively cheap. So adventuring has never been easier. I feel that the important thing for people undertaking adventures is to think about what they can offer to the communities they pass through. I have received so much from my travels – kindness, assistance and support – and I fear that at times I have not reciprocated with what I can offer. If we consider expeditions to be two way affairs then we will be able to do a lot of good.