Over the past six years I have travelled through Australia, Mexico, North America, Spain, Ireland, South America, Cuba, New Zealand and Slovenia. In 1997 I started working on a series of travel books charting my adventures in these countries. They tell of my experiences and of the colourful characters I met along the way. The reason I started writing these books was to show people just how much fun and adventurous travelling can be, and how it is not as dangerous as many might perceive. I also wanted to show that travelling alone need not be as lonely as you might think. These books are a perfect example of that. Another reason is that I have a terrible memory, and so at least this way when I'm old and grey, sitting in my rocking chair with my pipe, slippers and incontinence pants, I'll be able to read my books and think, blimey did I do that? To the End of the World and Back was the first of these books to be published. In the summer of 2003, a year after the publication of my second book, Hot Footing Around the Emerald Isle, I hiked solo for 280 miles across Ireland, from Wexford to Donegal, in aid of asthma research. I raised £1342 for two the charities involved. As well as writing books I write for Backpacker World and Walking World Ireland in Dublin, Mysterious World USA, Take your Car UK and the Slovenia Times newspaper.