I have spent the last few days thinking about this and reading through the blogs my colleagues (well, more friends) wrote. And as I think back on 2016 it really gets harder and harder for me to pinpoint my highlight with Ticket to Ride! A few days ago was my birthday and Linley sent a photo of me dating back to 11 October 2006. The photo was from when Ticket to Ride interviewed me for a job to help run this surf trip which they had set up! They didn’t have many options as I was one of only a handful of qualified coaches in the country at the time so they were stuck with me and I obliged. I only ran 3 weeks of that first trip as I was in my second year of University, but absolutely loved it and the people I met as well as the whole experience of showing people the country I love, South Africa, as well as spreading the stoke of surfing!
The end of 2016 marks 10 years of me working for Ticket to Ride, which is pretty crazy actually, especially in this day and age where moving jobs every couple of years seems to be the done thing! There are some pretty easy guesses as to why and what keeps me motivated! Well let’s start with the fact that I am sitting in Sydney right now with some of South Africa’s top junior surfers coaching them at the biggest junior event of the year, the WSL world juniors, and I am allowed the flexibility to do this. But this year I have been to Portugal, Germany twice, Mozambique twice, Indonesia for almost 2 months, the UK, France, Spain and the Azores (a personal highlight getting to represent South Africa coaching the Junior team at the world champs). Not a bad year of surf and travel really!
But let’s get back on track, the highlight of my year with Ticket to Ride came in the form of a letter from someone who had been on a trip, just a short hand-scribbled letter saying thanks really, but it put into perspective what I do and in some ways what I try to do. Now I’m not going to type out the whole letter, and there were various parts to it, but it ended with these words “You’ve devoted your life to helping people like me enjoy themselves and change their outlook on the world, and I hope one day to effect someone’s life the way you have mine”. I thought that was pretty cool, not only as a reminder of why I do what I do, but also to be in a position where I have the opportunity to do that. We make our choices in life and never know which is the ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ choice as they all become a part of our journey, but having the opportunity to meet people and get to take them surfing, or even when I am sitting at my laptop and organising a trip or selling a trip, knowing that I believe in the product I am ‘selling’ is a pretty special thing!
We all have our personal reasons for doing what we do, each to their own as they say! I know this was about my highlight, but another highlight is definitely the people I work with, from the officegoers to the trip leaders sharing their stories and lives with complete strangers for anything from a week to 13 weeks with the full SA and Mozam trip! It’s a big commitment so here’s a little toast to you guys, living your own dream but helping others live theirs too!
Massive thanks to everyone for coming on a trip with us in 2016, and I must say what a privilige to work with the individuals I do, thank you to each of you. Oh, and Mullet’s and drone footage also got me amped in 2016!
2017 let’s go!