An insight into my life and my reasons for traveling.

Hey #Steemit community!!
Firstly I just want to say thank you for all the support! 200 followers already?! That's music to my ears. I appreciate all you amazing people taking the time to check out the little people on Steemit like me! So once again, thank you all so much!

A big thanks to @victorsilab for featuring me in the #payitforward contest, it really helped me get some extra exposure, and thank you to @thedarkhorse for organising such a create platform for noobs like me to get some decent exposure! I'm so glad there are initiatives such as this on #Steemit

@daveks for checking me out, featuring me and giving me some great exposure! I love your posts and look forward to seeing more of you work too!

Another huge thanks to #travelfeed for helping us travelers get forward on #Steemit, @for91days, thanks so much for following me, giving me good advice and putting in a good word for me at @curie. Which brings me to my final thank you's! Thanks so much @curie for really giving the support to the travel community, you guys really help give us great exposure! And of course thanks @Jessbear for introducing me to #Steemit and being my travel buddy!

You people are what makes #Steemit so great!

This post will not be featuring anywhere in particular, instead I though I'd share my story and my reasons for traveling.

I was a chef in Perth, Western Australia for 7 years, and for most of that time, I wasn't earning much higher than minimum wage, and was working long hours. This put a big strain on my relationship at the time as my partner always worked days and I worked nights, so we mever saw each other.

I ended up spending most of my pay on alcohol and take out food, because I was depressed constantly with my life, and what I had to show for it. I ended up in a continuous loop of working, buying booze, running out of money.

On top of that, I was fed up with my government and a lot of people from my city, it was full of racism and right wing bigotry. The news was even worse, all that was ever reported 'was what countries you'll get killed in' and 'this country is full of terrorists'.

In the end I was just fed up, I made a plan with my partner to save enough to travel on a tight budget long term, while volunteering at places to help people and animals in exchange for food and shelter. For me in particular, the most important thing, was finding faith in humanity again, finding the good side in everyone, and finding more like-minded people.

I've been on the road for a year and a half now, and haven't had a day of depression since leaving the 'rat-race'! I've also met so many beautiful people, and warm hearts that have really put the world into a different perspective for me.

I still love cooking and have started learning all I can from locals about their traditional cuisine, so I can share it with the world some day!

I still don't have plans to return home, and if all goes well I'll continue volunteering at places that need help caring for animals, or making life better for people.

Thanks for reading my story, And I hope to share many more with you all! Keep following and upvoting if you like my content and I'm really looking forward to sharing my next post which will be all about New Zealand! Home of Lord of the Rings, hot springs, beautiful, laid-back people and lots of fun things to do!

I'm the @backpackingchef and I'll catch you all in my next post!