In September 2019 I was unemployed, living with my parents and anxiety was getting the better of me. So, I went away. I spent five months stepping outside my comfort zone and being kind to my brain. And then the world completely shat itself. This is 157 days Before Covid.
125 BC, New York - I didn’t quite make it to Saturday Night Live, but I made it to the same building on the same night. If you look closely, you can see Taylor Swift.
155 BC, Vancouver - When they say ‘talk to locals’, we didn’t expect an elderly man to tell us a 30 minute story about the Canadian man who inspired James Bond.
30 BC, Budapest - This macaron shop is famous for inventive flavours. My favourite was ‘bourbon and bacon’, which was definitely more bourbon than bacon.
11 BC, Halong Bay - This photo was taken just when Covid was transitioning from ‘moderate threat’ to ‘ pretty big deal’. The calm before the storm?
59 BC, Dublin - I got my face printed on a pint of Guinness and clocked Ireland with one photo.
108 BC, London - St Paul’s Cathedral. Not a cloud in the sky. This happens maybe once a year.
126 BC, New York - The Nom Wah Tea Parlour in Chinatown is the oldest dim sum in New York. It’s almost as good as the one in Meadowlands.
87 BC, Wadi Rum - Riding through the desert on the back of a ute is definitely up there with preferred modes of transport.
60 BC, Dublin - I’m pretty sure I was the oldest person on the pub crawl. Or maybe the German with the peach fuzz was 30.
49 BC, London - The Natural History Museum. Can you spot the dead whale?