An expat for 10 years – part 1

How my journey started…

3 October 2013 is rather an unusual anniversary for me. It marks 10 years since I left the UK to start my life and adventures overseas. It wasn’t my first time working outside the UK though – I spent 1998-1999 in Sarajevo as the SFOR/NATO spokesperson. It was there I was bitten by the foreign bug and it is absolutely true – travel and living in a foreign country does broaden your mind and I was also fortunate enough to have a job that was full on every day…

Being interviewed by Combat Camera – the US led internal communications team that kept the 34,000 SFOR/NATO troops up to date.

Although I returned to the UK and I toughed it out for a few years, life just wasn’t the same. Just as I left a good job with Laura Ashely in 1987 to join the Royal Navy, in September 2003 I traded in a nice secure corporate job with Standard Life in Edinburgh for a three-month contract working for the EU Special Representative in Skopje. As I flew out to Skopje with two bags on October 3 2003, there were a few that thought I was bonkers. At this point you may want to make a cup of tea – although I have split this “story” into three parts, this post covers four years….