This Travel Blog, Don’t Stop Living is Fifteen Years Old Today!!

However, it was actually July 2007 when I drafted the first blog post and came up with the idea of a travel and lifestyle blog about my journeys, called Don’t Stop Living. I started the blog because I was inspired by two fellow backpackers I met – Mike and Lee in the Planet Traveler Hostel in Toronto, Canada. They were both English backpackers with travel blogs. Before I had met Mike and Lee, I had never even heard of a travel blog!!

Mike Burkimsher’s Blog: Ball of Dirt/The Long Way Home

Lee Price’s Blog: One Life and One World

Lee Price and I in Toronto, Canada – the man who inspired me to start a travel blog

Having a beer with fellow travel blogger Mike – the guy bottom left who inspired me to start my blog back in 2007 in Toronto, Canada.

Here is a photo of me in Toronto in 2007, taken by Lee, the day I had my notebook out and was writing my diary and physical notes. This was where the travel blog all began.

Glory Days Loyal: August 2007 All Blog Posts

I met Lee and Mike in the Planet Traveler hostel in Toronto. Weirdly Lee and Mike didn’t keep their travel blogs going after 2008.

“In the blink of a young girl’s eye, glory days” – Bruce Springsteen.

Before Don’t Stop Living, What Writing Did I Do?

I have always been writing in some shape or form. I write every day. I love to write. As a 10 year old I wrote a football fanzine for Glentoran with my best mate Michael McClelland. By the age of 23 I had written for about 10 different football and music fanzines, including editing my own football fanzine, “Here We Go…Again”. At University I wrote for the magazine there, Nerve. I also worked in PR in London, writing press releases for companies and placing articles and products into newspapers, magazines, TV, radio and even online. Then I quit the PR world of London in June 2007, booking a cheap one way flight to Toronto. As well as all that, I write poetry. I have well over 1,000 unpublished poems – I really want to get them released soon. I have 4 physical books released, have another few on the way and have also released two e-books. Here are some photos of me writing down the years.

“I need a job so I want to be a paperback writer” – The Beatles.

My room for writing at Jozef K Bar, Gdańsk. I finished some books in this room.

Travel Writing in Taiwan

Writing my book in Termiz, Uzbekistan

Doing a bit of travel writing while waiting for my tea in Seki Square, Azerbaijan.

Travel Blogging in Pyongyang, North Korea

Travel writing in Xiamen, China.

Don’t Stop Living is ALSO the name of an album I wrote and played guitar on back in 2001. Here is a photo of that cassette tape album –

Sunday’s Inspiration: Don’t Stop Living

Don’t Stop Living blog, my social media and my books are littered with quotes and anecdotes from others. I copy from my heroes because everybody does that. Noel Gallagher is a genius and one of the biggest influences on my life.

“I’ll put on my shoes while they’re walking slowly down the hall of fame” – Noel Gallagher.

Backpacking in England: 8 Quirky and Quick Music Related Sights to See in London

Changing Faces of Don’t Stop Living 2007 – 2022

In those last FIFTEEN years, the front page of Don’t Stop Living has changed many times. Here are some of the previous looks. I’m happy with the way it is now, the redesign was done expertly by Hannah Henderson, The Useful Human so thanks Hannah! Thanks also to Trevor Warman, a fellow backpacker and blogger who alerted me of Hannah. You can see Trevor’s story at Nomadic Backpacker.