Currently...

I now head up Marketing and Expedition Development at pioneering expeditionary company, http://www.secretcompass.com/" rel="nofollow">Secret Compass.

Secret Compass leads pioneering and exploratory expeditions to remote regions. The aim of the company is to promote awareness through exploration. We specialise in post-conflict areas, and places that get 'a bad press', thereby promoting developing economies and opening people's eyes to the world. Run by ex-Parachute Regiment Officers, the company enables adventurous and independent-minded people the opportunity to explore the world’s wild places and diverse cultures.

So far this year I have helped to lead an expedition to the little explored Zagros Mountains in Iraqi Kurdistan.

In September I shall be heading back to Mozambique to help lead a world first traverse of an only recently discovered rainforest in the north of the country.

Before I escaped...

I’d studied law and qualified as a solicitor before realising that the 9-to-5 was not really for me. Frustratingly I could never quite get a grip of what I really wanted to do.

My search got going at the end of 2008 but a lot of it was aimless searching on the web looking for my perfect job. Fast forward two years of this and I stumbled across Escapethecity.

It was a moment of clarity for me - here was a forum where there were others exactly like me, who knew there was something else, but could not quite put a finger on what that was.

There was a “Heroes” section where people who had made the biggest leaps were interviewed. I was hooked.

After a few weeks I spotted an ad: “Managers required for barefoot beach lodge in remotest Mozambique”. This was more like it - give me some of that.

I applied and got through the various rounds and eventually got the position.

I spent the next 9 months as a manager at a beach lodge in Mozambique.

My moment of truth...

My moment of truth came in Mozambique. I would often have to go to nearby islands by speedboat to pick up guests who were due to come to our lodge.

I think it was a Tuesday morning and we were skimming the waves at a rate of knots over the turquoise coloured ocean. I had the sun beating down, the wind through my hair and all I could see was miles and miles of empty coconut tree lined beaches. I remember thinking, "This is not too bad for a Tuesday morning, I am sure most of my mates are sat at their desks wondering why they are there". I think I realised then that I had to live and breathe my job rather than endure it.

I now work for this fantastic pioneering expedition company and I get to go to far flung countries as part of my job. I am also involved in the day-to-day running and promotion of something I genuinely have a passion for.

Planning for it...

I didn't really have to plan for it because both were jobs that I was fortunate enough to find on Escapethecity. There were however times before and in-between when I had to fall back on my legal qualifications and get temp legal jobs to keep finances moving.

I would however advise people thinking of making a big move into something completely different to take your time over deciding what it is you want to do and to save as much as possible so you have that buffer for when you do finally jump ship and give up that monthly pay cheque.

The worst and best bits...

Worst bits:

- The uncertainty and the years of thinking that I would never find something I actually wanted to do

Best Bits:

- Jumping ship on a job I did not want to do

- The positive reaction of friends - I think a lot of people would love to make a big change.

- Genuinely enjoying what I do on a day-to-day basis.

- Getting to go to amazing places several times a year as part of my job

Best advice...

I was once told by a superior during one of those all too painful performance reviews that I should probably look for something that I loved because being in the legal profession was clearly going to make me unhappy.

The fact I couldn’t hide my distaste for what, to me, was a pointless exercise was a blessing because it forced me to start searching for what I wanted in life.

Useful resources and information...

I owe most of my good fortune to Escapethecity. It puts all the different ways of inspiring people to look at making a change into one place. I was lucky enough to find two opportunities that were good fits for me. It is just too easy to get lost in the internet looking for your perfect job and Escapethecity enables you to find people who might have done a similar career and see what sorts of things they have crossed over into or even completely retrained for.