I entered the world in Dublin, grew up in Melbourne, lived in Las Vegas, found love in Acapulco, drank milk out of a coconut in my sponsor child’s home in Cebu, chased one of my dreams in Beverly Hills, drank coffee on the Eiffel Tower in Paris, studied Spanish at a school in Playa del Carmen, tailgaited an NFL game in Miami, loved every bite of my Fergburger in Queenstown, rode four-wheelers across a Costa Rican beach, swam with a sea lion in Bahamas, ordered a gourmet steak in Rosario and fed it to the stray dogs in the street, learned the samba in Florianopolis, was chased down by angry working girls at “The Racetrack” in Macau when caught filming them, played clapsticks with aborigines in Sydney, dove off rocks into the crystal clear waters of Dubrovnik, added to the thick graffiti on Romeo and Juliet’s wall in Verona, saw my soon-to-be-a-superstar friend Coby Grant’s show in Galway, ate far too many quesadillas in Puerto Vallarta, cruised to Grand Cayman Island and Cozumel, sent myself broke while shopping in Buenos Aires (literally, I didn’t have enough for a taxi), slept in the most romantic, candlelit hut on the beach of Tulum, danced night into day in Mykonos, rode a four-seater bicycle around the quaint medieval streets of Lucca, was intimidated by the Haka in Auckland, was a proud bridesmaid in a beautiful wedding in Indiana, got food-poisoned in San Miguel de Allende yet still felt like I was in paradise, hot-air ballooned over Napa Valley, watched the stunning sunset at El Parque del Amor in Lima, hand-fed kangaroos and wallabies on Phillip Island, mingled with the rich in Cannes and Monte Carlo, stopped by San Jose to play poker at Bay 101, sat in a strange hospital in Hvar as my best friend had the spikes of a sea urchin removed from her foot, got lost for one afternoon in Rio de Janeiro, accidentally found myself walking the streets of Hong Kong’s LFK alone like a deer in headlights while wearing my gym gear on a Saturday night, drove down the Great Ocean Road for the first time last year (shameful admission!), was too hungover to appreciate Rome, constantly spent five minutes inside to cool down followed by five minutes outside to defrost during a shopping trip in Singapore, learned how to (almost) surf on the Sunshine Coast, joined a Carnival samba school for one of the most joyful, powerful and uplifting nights of my life in Sao Paulo, felt at home in San Francisco and San Diego – it’s true how they say it’s just like Australia, spent spontaneous nights in Zagreb and Montevideo thanks to canceled flights, secured a padlock with “my one” on the N Seoul Tower in Seoul, was overwhelmed by the beauty of Yosemite National Park, held up the leaning tower of Pisa with my feet, learned more Spanish in Mexico City (still learning…), danced with stray dogs in the streets of Kyrenia, played carnival games in Santa Cruz and beach volleyball in Fiji, ate the most incredible homemade spaghetti in Milan, met Mickey Mouse in Orlando, still remember the smell of the markets in Hawaii, tobogganed on my bum in Pennsylvania, swam in the crystal water of Lake Tahoe, rode a bike through sunny London town (in October!), ate a chivito in Punta del Este, didn’t have anything stolen while in Barcelona, but did face a butt-naked man walking around Las Ramblas, wine tasted at a French Chateau in Beaujolais, could easily retire in stunning Naples, was fascinated by the stories of the Berlin Wall, posed with La Gorda in Medellin, spent a peaceful weekend of seafood and cocktails with no one else but my book in Larnaca, got stormed on in Florence, explored the quirky freetown Christiania in Copenhagen, rode a Gondola in Venice, laughed until my stomach hurt at a comedy show in New York, climbed a volcano in Santorini… and I’ve only just begun.
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