A year ago today, I was sitting in the SilverKris lounge at Singapore’s Changi Airport (the one in T3) and ending what was the most unbelievable journey I have had around the world. I had spent over 2 months, journeying around the world visiting new countries, meeting new people and just having a blast. I was sad to see it all end, but I did have the comfort of enjoying the lounge with my friend Cat. Little did I know, this lounge visit would change my life.

While heading to the buffet for a coffee top up, I saw someone sitting at one of the tables who I thought I knew, considering there was a coffee stand that way, I took a swing around that way to suss it out. The person who I thought it was, turned out to be him. The owner of the company I worked for at the time. It was surreal. We sat down and caught up and had a good chat about travelling, work, how hard it was going to be to go back to work etc for me. We got to chatting about where I would be going in the future. I told him the truth that I wasn’t sure, that I didn’t get my green card for the USA but some friends were tempting me to go and live and work in Canada. We got to chatting and he dropped a bombshell. If I wanted a job in the USA, he could help with that.

My head span, my mind was going a million miles an hour. The first words out of my mouth were “Don’t be joking with me on that” Considering I had been wanting to work/live in the USA for a good 5 years by that stage, with attempts previously failed. I did not want to get my hopes up. He was serious, I told him that I would have an answer to him in a couple of weeks when I would see him next, as I needed time to think it over and we were quickly approaching boarding time for both our flights (actually departing only a few gates away).

Well, we all know just how that turned out? Because here I sit, in my apartment in Seattle. I am one happy man because life is just the way I have wanted it for so long. Sure things took a bit longer than expected to get over here, but no journey is ever without its ups and downs. So on this one year anniversary of the end of a massive trip, I don’t want to think of it as an ending, but more on a beginning, the beginning of a new journey. A journey towards my future… one that I am incredibly grateful for.