My 40th Birthday In Britain

One of the best parts about hiking the Camino de Santiago Portuguese Route with my dad and brother in September meant it was fairly easy to talk them into staying in Europe to help me celebrate my 40th birthday in early October. Even better because not only did my step-mom Kathy fly over to join us, we decided to celebrate my birthday in Britain with various friends I’ve met from around the world!

Dad, Tyler and I arrived a day early, picked up the rental car, and stayed in an interesting neighborhood near Heathrow. The next morning we walked around Windsor Castle while we waited for Kathy’s flight to arrive. Once together we turned the car west and drove out to Cheltenham where we would be based in an AirBNB townhouse for the next few days.

We’d picked Cheltenham partly to get out of the city and mostly because my friends Dirk and Holly lived there. They were part of my pandemic family, having spent more than a year “stuck” on Koh Lanta, a tiny Thai island during COVID-19. Dirk and Holly moved to the UK and I hadn’t seen them since Lanta and we spent the next few days meeting up for happy hours, going on cross country runs, and enjoying some delicious Thai food.

Cheltenham is not just a pretty town, it’s also a great jumping off point to explore more of the area including the city of Gloucester, the archeological site of Avebury, and of course, Stonehenge.

After a much too brief visit we headed back into the city, dropped off the rental car, and checked into our London flat. The day we arrived was my birthday so we set out on a stroll around town to find a few proper ales to celebrate. That night we booked a table at an old British pub near our apartment and invited friends.

We were joined by Kevin and Ophelia, another couple I’d met in Thailand during COVID. They were still living in Asia but were traveling around Europe and decided to make a stop in London for the celebration. Sarah, another friend from Thailand lives in London, travels a ton, and was luckily in town to join us too.

Also part of the party was Gareth, a Brit I’d met while I was working at Night Halt 2 of the Snowman Race in the Kingdom of Bhutan. During the event he was dropped off at my camp in the Himalaya via helicopter to write about the run and we spent a morning sharing my bottle of highland whiskey. He returned the favor on my birthday by bringing me a delicious bottle of spirits from his hometown.

After a long night of celebrating we spent the next day walking around the city being tourists and visiting spots like the Tower of London, Big Ben, and riding the London Eye.

On our last full day in London we met up with friends for a picnic in the park and were joined by another couple from Koh Lanta, Matt and Victoria. It was a whirlwind of a week and I was incredibly humbled that so many family and friends traveled so far to help celebrate my 40th birthday.

And just like that our time was up. Dad and Kathy headed to the airport to fly home to Arizona, Tyler took an Uber later to catch his flight to Denver, and I eventually hopped on a train to check into a flight to Morocco. After a short stay in Marrakesh I returned to Europe for one last hurrah, working at the iba tradeshow and celebrating a belated birthday with my FoodTools friends in Munich, Germany. Prost!

Leading up to my birthday I thought about the decade of my 30’s and kicking off my 40’s. I took some time to write down what I most enjoyed from the previous 10 years and posted it on my birthday. I think it’s safe to say that I’m pretty excited to see what AntiComfortable adventures I find in the next decade!

Published: October 5, 2023

I ended my 20’s as the youngest President of the Rotary Club of Santa Barbara. Not long after turning 30 I gave away most everything I owned, moved out of my apartment, couch surfed for months, eventually moved into my DIY Honda Element camper and started living on the streets.

I ran a marathon every month for 2 years and got addicted to ultramarathons, eventually running a 100 mile race. I bought an old VW Westfalia campervan, moved in, got rid of more stuff, picked up a freelance marketing client, quit my job, and hit the road to travel full-time. For 5 months I drove all around the United States visiting friends and family, crewed Scott Jurek as he broke the speed record on the Appalachian Trail, explored 11 National Parks, camped in Key West and paddled on the Rio Grande.

As winter approached I wrote down 6 countries on a piece of paper, rolled a die, and when #6 came up I parked the van and booked a one way flight to Ecuador. I bounced around from the Amazon to the Galápagos Islands and then hiked the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. When I returned to the US I ran Rim-To-Rim-To-Rim in the Grand Canyon again, drove my van across the Trans-Canada Highway from Vancouver Island to Newfoundland, hiked The Wave in Arizona, then returned to South America to bicycle tour through Chile, Argentina and Uruguay.

After that I joined a 4 person relay team in a 3,000 bicycle race called Race Across America, then ran the Plain 100 mile running race, enjoyed the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta and parked the van again, this time to motorbike through Vietnam and Myanmar. I spent the winter in Australia followed by touring New Zealand in a campervan, sold my Volkswagen and moved into the bed of an old Toyota Tacoma 4×4.

I worked at a trade show in Germany during Oktoberfest and then bought a backpack and hiked the Camino de Santiago along the French Way. After that I renovated a slide-in pop-up truck camper for my Tacoma and spent a summer driving it to Alaska, up the Dalton Highway, all the way to Deadhorse where I swam in the Arctic Ocean. Next I spent 2 months living in Bali and got “stuck” during the global pandemic on a tiny island in Thailand where I ended up living for a year and a half, made a lot of great friends and bicycle toured for 2+ months around the country.

Coming home to the States I visited family and friends for the first time in 2 years, became a Spartan Trail Race Director, and worked as an Official Photographer at the Western States Endurance Run. Recently I helped plan and manage an ultramarathon in the Kingdom of Bhutan where I hiked the Snowman Trek and met the King. I explored Angkor Wat in Cambodia, went back to Koh Lanta in Thailand, and visited Tokyo.

Leading up to my 40th birthday I found myself back in Europe checking out Istanbul, Athens, and Crete, I spent 2 months living in a ski town in Bulgaria and just finished hiking the Camino de Santiago Portuguese Route with my dad and brother. Currently we’re in the United Kingdom celebrating my 40th birthday with family and friends from around the world and while I have no idea what the next 10 years will bring, I’m definitely ready for another AntiComfortable decade! #BringOnThe40s