2020 made me realize that we need to take control of our own lives, and take control of our direction in life. I have the gear, I have the idea, and Thailand is the ultimate setting to start this journey. Sometimes the fear of not knowing holds us back, but I decided to face that fear and I just said YES! January 2021
From 2016 to 2020 I happily taught primary school kids in a fantastic school in Chaing Mai Thailand, and I was delighted to be a member of the YouTube channel 'The Budgeteers'. However during the difficult year of 2020 I had two main realizations.
The first was that during the pandemic 'The Budgeteers' (my main avenue for fun and creativity) was basically on lockdown. Three of our trips/series were canceled, and although at the time I didn't really feel that bad about it (because let's face it some people out there had real problems) I still had a underlying issue.
Thijs, Lina, and I enjoying a snuggle during the filming of The Budgeteers.
As a traveler, as someone who gets their kicks out of adventures and exploring new places, I quickly developed a null void growing in me. I couldn't pinpoint the source of my depression until one weekend in November I decided to jump on my bike and head for Pai (a small town in Northern Thailand a few hours from my home). Immediately with the wind in my face, and the road twisting up ahead of me, I remembered the power of travel. The driving source for my creativity, my energy, and indeed my happiness has always come from the open road.
The second realization was that my chosen career in teaching (one that I love deeply) wasn't going anywhere. Kids will always need us, and schools will always need qualified, experienced, and awesome teachers (just like myself). At that time in my life I could feel a change was needed, but I didn't have the courage to take that final step and leap into fulltime content creation.
My role as homeroom teacher at a fantastic international school in Chiang Mai.
Then in December late 2020 just as a second wave hit the streets of Thailand, I jumped at my first chance in the calendar year to travel. A short 12 day adventure around a few unknown provinces of Thailand lay before me in the form of Nan, Lampang, Phayao, and Chiang Rai.
I jumped on my Honda Dream, took my camera and hit the road, and what a blast I had! Almost instantly I found my creativity flooding back, my happiness soared, and I came to realize that the time was NOW.
So I finished off my academic year at school, sold my few cherished belongings, and took my Honda Dream down south to start season one of my big adventures on the YouTube channel 'Paddy Doyle'.
My goal? To visit every single province of Thailand and create content about all my adventures in them, all 77!
So now that you know a little bit about my back story I encourage you to join me on this journey, I hope we can have some incredible times together!
Cheers!
