I’ve always had a fascination with architecture, especially uniquely constructed buildings. My earliest memories are linked to Crystal Palace Park, where we lived opposite. I spent many happy hours there, both in awe of and slightly afraid of the huge stone dinosaurs (I was only five or six at the time). I’d wander around the boating lake and watch the bigger kids from a distance in the adventure playground that was off limits to me at that age. The park was an incredible p

In 1996, I embarked on a solo backpacking trip around India for one hundred nights – the journey that inspired much of Towards the Within . In those days, there was no social media or mobile phones, and instead of Spotify, I carried a Walkman loaded with cassette tapes. In some ways, they were simpler times. When I returned from a trip around East Asia and Australia in 2017, I realised how much I’d lost by taking endless digital photos and being glued to my mobile phone – how

India was not the first country I travelled to, nor would it be the last. Yet it has held something within me that remains very special, spiritual even. It was a trip taken after what I considered a lifetime of running from my past, and it was there that I finally found a sense of freedom. Perhaps it was the mystique of the place, or perhaps it was a land so opposite to my own that it anchored me long after I had left. To this day, I am often caught off guard by a memory. But

There’s something special about travelling alone. For many, the idea of venturing out solo into a foreign country like India can feel...