# I can eat and breathe fire # I was flying planes solo before I was old enough to drive # I've dived on an active, underwater volcano # I lived in a tent for a whole summer while surfing in Devon # I helped set up a dive shop in Thailand when I was 27
After SXSW Interactive wrapped up, most of the "BritPack" headed off home. However I decided to make the most of my time away, so arranged to meet up with my girlfriend for a long weekend away in New York. I've always wanted to visit New York, but despite all my travelling, it's a place I've never managed to get to. New York is one of those big cities–like London, Sydney or Hong Kong– that you absolutely have to visit at least once in your life. We live in an age where American popular culture has penetrated the furthest reaches of the world, and New York takes centre stage in our collective consciousness. It's one of the places that you've seen so many times on TV and in the movies, you feel you know it, even if you've never been there before. It didn't disappoint.