From time to time, I get an e-mail from a young person asking me for advice on how to become a professional adventurer. Certainly, making a living from doing adventures seems pretty appealing.
But really, I ended up becoming a 'professional' rather by accident. When I was younger, I used to enjoy scraping together what spare cash I had to go on adventures - walking across Spain, hitch-hiking around America, cycling across Ethiopia or Pakistan or Peru. I always just did this on my holidays and never had in mind that I was going to make money through my experiences.
Then, I decided to go on a really giant adventure - Cycling Home From Siberia - which took me more than three years and through such wild places as Papua New Guinea, Tibet and Afghanistan. For the first time in my life, I wrote a blog about what happened and bought a video camera to film the adventures.
When I got home to London, I still didn't have any thought about becoming a 'pro adventurer'. But then a publisher read my blog and asked me to write a book. I started to be invited to give paid talks in schools. National Geographic heard that I'd filmed the journey - suddenly there was a six-part television series.
Things grew from there. I had a successful career - with corporate motivational speaking all over the world, translation deals for the book, and writing opportunities for papers and magazines. Right now I am in the middle of another madcap trip - Walking Home From Mongolia, a 5,000-kilometre expedition - and filming it for a new television series.
However, going pro has some less appealing sides. Now, when dreaming up new adventures, I have to focus and wrestle with the career side of it, too - speaking, writing, filming, sponsors and media partners.
I think back wistfully to the days when I used to embark on good, old-fashioned adventures - when my motive was simply to feel alive and learn about the world and about myself.