16 to 19, And World Travel 🌎

➡️From school, to ➡️college, to ➡️work, ➡to the world. 🌏

So, at 1️⃣6️⃣, I left school 👨🏻‍🎓to attend college 🏫. I wasn’t doing so well, looking back. I could see why now—I’d been through medical struggles in my early 👶🏻 years. I even flatlined ⛑🏥, and been brought back to life. That kind of thing changes you. Of course, your brain blocks 🧠 the memories, but there’s lasting trauma to overcome ⛑.

I met God at an early age, and had gone to heaven 😇, but God sent me back to cheer all you lot up with my guitar 🎸, and to sing to you all🗣!

Anyway, I came from a world-traveling family 🌎. My Uncle and Aunt lived in Australia 🇦🇺, and I decided to go away to travel to Asia for 6️⃣ months.

First, I needed a job. There was a photography developer's close by 🎞 📸, and I managed to get night work 🌠 there, from 🔟PM to AM... Sunday to Thursday shift... except I would 7️⃣days a week, because on Friday, I would get paid time and a half, and Sunday paid double time! 💰💷💷💷 Almost as much money 💰 as the other five days put together!

It was a technical job, and I got put to work with an Irish guy 🇮🇪 ☘️. We had to run 7️⃣ machines that ran the negatives into sleeving—It was all automated, but it could easily go wrong ❌, and we were there to fix the machines and keep them all going smoothly.

I picked it up pretty fast, but there was one machine I didn’t like—the rewind machine—because the photo negatives 🎞 came out in order. Once the spool had collected them, they needed to be rewound for the final packaging, in addition to the actual photos📸.

So, the rewind machine was operated by a foot switch... and while the spool rewound, it would give you an electric shock‼️! ⚡️⚡️It was kinda painful, and I went and told my boss straight away‼️ But, I was told to get on with it, and that it wasn’t that bad. I was a stupid, shy teenager that didn’t stand up for myself well enough... so every night I would get electrocuted ⚡!️ We would have run a stack of spools, and it was usually me who had to go from the main bulk of machines over to the rewind machine, and do maybe 6️⃣or 7️⃣spools in a row. The whole time, you had to hold the spools down, and the faster you went the more you got electrocuted... ⚡️❗But, if you went slowly, you would get into trouble because the main bulk of machines would easily go wrong, and negatives 🎞would start flying out onto the floor... Two of us could handle it, and one on our own if we were lucky 🍀, but if one was trying to fix one machine, and there was a problem with another machine, we both were needed... so I would be rewinding, and be told to hurry up—which meant spinning the thing faster, and stronger electric shocks!⚡

This was a big famous company, but I won’t mention the name, in case of potential legal issues.

Occasionally, I got to do dispatch work, but not very often. After two months, I asked my boss for a raise! It was difficult work, not to mention the minor electrocutions every night... My attendance was good, and I felt I deserved it. My boss refused, and I walked!

I knew I was going overseas to Asia, so I gave up the job and the entitlements with them, and went to an agency.

I got paid more money 💰 to do less work, but at the next job, they told us that if we workers talked at all during work hours 🤫, we would be fired (a practice that I now heard is illegal).

It was the most boring job ever, checking returned items, and we would secretly try to talk to each other... This was another big, high street company. It's strange such practices existed...

After 2️⃣ months, and being told off for chatting during the work (by the way, that consisted of taking a big box 📦, cutting the top flaps off, checking the shirts 👔 in the box were the same size and colour [and they always were], and then putting them back in the box 📦, and doing the next one... Mind-numbingly boring!),the boss called me over, and I got the sack!

When my line manager told me, I said, "thank you" profusely, grabbed my coat, and drove home🏡! You weren’t allowed to switch agency jobs... but if you got sacked, they couldn’t do anything but give you a different job!

I worked for a week or two on a factory line with magazines... It was stressful work, but then I got moved to work for a hardware supply warehouse—the easiest and best job I had like that! 🛠🔨🧰⛏🔧⚙️🔩 It was collecting orders of tools or other bits and pieces.

I amassed a couple of thousand pounds, as well as money I spent on the flights ✈.️ I even remember the price, and this was in 1️⃣9️⃣9️⃣6️⃣ that I bought the ticket 🎫... £3️⃣6️⃣4️⃣—return to Thailand 🇹🇭 via India 🇮🇳 on the return, after the first 9️⃣0️⃣ days.

I left in 1️⃣9️⃣9️⃣7️⃣, the day before my birthday 🎁, and I got to have my 19th birthday on the plane ✈️. I celebrated with 2️⃣ Australians 🇦🇺. We drank every kind of drink 🍻🥂🍷🍾🍹🥃 from the flight attendants... beer, wine, cognac, champagne, and smoked cigarettes 🚬 on the plane, as it was allowed in the 9️⃣0️⃣s. I had an amazing journey with that Aussie couple, and got off the plane in Bangkok very drunk️ 🥳🤩🤪 !

Thailand 🇹🇭 was an incredible place! Before the internet 💻was going, it was a very different place from now as well. No one knew about it, outside of long-term backpackers! 🎒 Everyone out there was on six months or eight month journeys... Or maybe one or two years, or perhaps a 5️⃣ year trip...

We used to read 📚, play guitar 🎸🎼 , and dance 🕺 💃 all day... swing in hammocks, month after month just chatting and laughing 🤣🤣🤣 together. We were like a little global family, watching sunset 🌅 and tanning on the beach.

I had this map 🗺, and I used it to find Turtle Island 🐢🐢. It was remote, but it looked cool. I thought I would just go sit on the beach for a bit... 🏝 ☀️ 🌏 🌺 and I stayed there for three years! I learnt to scuba dive 🐠🐡🐙🦑🦐🦞🦀🐢🥽 and snorkel. I loved it... I took to it easy, and I loved going under water. I swam with sharks 🦈—only small, 2️⃣ meter black tip reef sharks though. I learned all about the sea. I found out there were over 1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ species of sharks, and only 3️⃣types ever were dangerous. The great whites stayed in colder regions, and the other kinds were very rare there. I was very brave, and would go along with more experienced divers close up to sharks 🦈. I loved them, the corals, and the billions of fish 🐠🐡🐟I saw.

My greatest day in the water 💦was when a call came through to a scuba diving school about a whale shark 🐳sighting... My neighbor was an instructor 👨‍🏫at that dive school, and offered me 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇬🇧 and a young kiwi girl 🇳🇿who was also 1️⃣9️⃣and was my best friend there (we were the youngest two travelers there) a chance to snorkel on the boat. There was no more dive gear as they had students, but we could go with a mask 🥽 and snorkel with a pair of fins each.

We jumped at the chance! Whale sharks are like friendly giants... they only eat plankton, which are tiny plants and fish, and they get very big! They are stuff of legends to the diving community... Some people had lived there for years, and have done 5️⃣0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ dives, and have never seen one...

We got quickly to the boat, and off it went... It was a long way out at sea. When the boat stopped, it was there. Confirmed sighting! 🐳

My neighbor told his dive-masters to take his students, and geared up, grabbed his underwater camera 📸, and went off to search for the whale shark! 🐳

We jumped 🏊‍♂️🏊‍♀️ in with him and another girl and guy who gad gone to snorkel... and by chance, the guy happened to have the same first name as me.

It was just blue water...no coral. It was too deep. I couldn't see this big old find. Oh, it is a fish, not a mammal—the biggest fish in the whole ocean! 🌊

One of the girls called my name, and said, "It's behind you..."🐳

I turned around, but nothing... I surfaced again, and said, "Where?!" I realized she had been talking to the other guy. Then, I looked at him and pointed down... I put my mask 🥽 below the surface, and there it was, right next to me... within a foot! OMG! 🐳🐳🐳‼️‼️

It was so close to me, it brushed against my finger. It was soft like velvet... I pulled my hand back. The diver rule is: "We Touch Nothing."

It passed by, and I could see all the diving students below following it, and my neighbor trying to get a good picture 📸.

WOW! WoW! WOW!

‼️‼️‼️🐳🐳🐳‼️‼️‼️

WoW! WOW! WoW!

It was about 1️⃣4️⃣ meters long, and 2️⃣meters wide!

It had other smaller fish, about a meter long stuck onto it. Later, I found out they were called "ramoras." They liked to hitch a free lift! 🐟🐟🐟🐟

We stayed with it for an hour. The divers followed it going up and down, and way off their proper dive plan! 🤣

They have amazing royal blue colouring, with sky blue spots in lines dotted on their backs! Incredible! 😎

I've heard that the top of the fish is like sandpaper, but certainly, the side was like velvet. 👀

We all got back on the boat safely. Hooray!

The captain turned, and we headed back to shore, jubilant and full of smiles and laughter together😎😜😂! The sun was bright 🌞, and we received a great welcome by the others on returning! 🍻🍺🍻Much beer was drunk that night. What an incredible day!!!

🐢🐠🦑🐙 ⭐️✈️🏝🌠💎❤️💙💜

Thank you World Travelers 🌎 for teaching me to scuba dive, and once again, to luck 🍀 for bringing me to such a beautiful island 🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴 ❤️❤️ !

Thanks 🙏🏻 😊 for the beers 🍻 and the laughs 😂, and bringing me up from a teenager to a man! 🧔🏻

People of all ages, from the oldest ones at 74 down to us at 18 and 19: You all taught me so much! 🌍I learnt so much about your countries, and about life !

And thanks 🙏🏻 to the Thai people 🇹🇭 that showed me peace and friendship! Every single Thai person made eye contact 👁 with me, and smiled... every single backpacker as well 🎒. I was smiling all day long, every day 😊. I still try to greet people with a friendly smile 😊 wherever I go. I learnt this from the Thais, and it felt so much better and I really felt a connected "oneness" there ✌🏻. Oam xxx xxx.

🔴Red 🔴 x

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