This is Me!

Hola chicas and chicos – welcome to BackpackerBanter.com!

Cheers for stopping by to checking out my blogging antics – I’m doing my best to bring you heaps of advice, inspiration and chaos from my RTW adventures!

So Who Am I?!

My names Chris and  I’m a surfer by nature, a photographer by trade, traveller by choice, 25 years old and from Devon in the UK – although these days I’m living out of a backpack!

My surfing has spurred on my traveling and I’ve visited a whole heap of crazy places which I’m sure I wouldn’t have even considered without it driving me. Combined with my photography degree its sent me off on an eclectic (ooo check out that big word!) mix of trips which result in a mash of cultures, landscape and beautiful blue waves – with heaps of chaos, calm and banter in equal measure!

After spending a year in Australia living in a van that I put a bed in I decided that I wanted to see more of the world and share my adventures.

18 months later I quit my awesome job at STA Travel in favour for a life on the road – and since then I’ve been enjoying heaps of adventures and I’ve experienced more amazing things and met more epic people than I could’ve ever hoped for!

Another Tough Day In The Office!

I’ve hiked the Inca Trail, landed my dream job as a surf instructor in Ecuador, lived in the surf mecca of Australias Byron Bay, sailed around the Galapagos Islands and learnt learnt to SCUBA dive among hundreds of other things along the way.

There’s always some random chaos thrown in for good measure too – like the time I broke my face whilst surfing (ouch!), got attacked by stingrays (ouch again!) or ended up in a nudist movie when my travel funds got low!

As well as writing for this site I do some freelance work for the likes of TNT Magazine, Drift Surf Mag and STA Travel as well as being an on the ground hostel reviewer for HostelZoo.com, testing products for Blacks Outdoor Leisure and I’m a co-founder of travel blog RTWbackpackers.com  as well as running Top 5 Travel - it’s a busy life where I work hard but play harder!

I’m also really stoked at the recognition Backpacker Banter is getting too – being featured by the likes of STA Travel, HostelBookers.com and even The Washington Flyer -  you can also find out a bit more about me in interviews such as the one I did for Backpacks and Bunkbeds.

I will also point out that I’m fully aware the some of my posts have the odd mistyped word or grammatical error, to be honest if you’re picky enough to point them out you’re clever enough to overlook them – I’d much rather spend time exploring the world and surfing than triple checking my writing!

Enjoying Some Warm Water Waves

I hope you enjoy the banter – keep up with it via my twitter feed (@bckpackerbanter), my Facebook Page or simply add the site to your iPad/iPhone home screen – I’m a massive Apple geek at heart so it’s all nicely optimised for it!

If you see me on the road make sure you say hi and we can share a beer!

Take it easy

Chris

**Also just to keep you in the loop I do from time to time accept sponsored posts and advertising on the site – they’re helping to support the site and I try to keep them as unobtrusive as possible**