My life: Peter Anderson

K I was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and moved to England with my parents when I was 10. I had red curly hair and a thick Scottish accent and we moved to a small, quintessentially English village. My accent changed overnight, out of peer pressure.

About a year later, in 1995, I was at home trying to find something to watch on TV. A football match came on - it was the Cup Winners' Cup semi-final, Arsenal against Sampdoria. Even though I didn't know anything about football, I could tell there was a big atmosphere. It was a tight match and went all the way to a penalty shootout. Ever since then I've been a fan of The Arse. I started getting really serious about football in 1997, when Arsene Wenger came along as manager - the way that he conducts himself and his philosophy towards football is amazing.

I started working in IT sales when I was 20 and, after five years, got the opportunity to work in Montreal, Canada. I'd sometimes have sales meetings in New York and used LinkedIn to find an Arsenal fan group in the city. I watched a match with 200 Arsenal fans. The atmosphere was amazing - it was like a home away from home.

I had no idea there were so many fans outside of London, especially in America, where I didn't think anybody even liked "soccer", as they call it. I fell in love with the idea of having a supporters club and, when I got back to Canada, I set up the Arsenal Montreal Members Organisation - AMMO.

I was heartbroken when my Canadian work visa didn't get renewed and went back home. A couple of months later my Mum was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer. She died in February last year. Four weeks later my Dad was fired. I was working for the same company and I lost my job, too. I was really depressed. My best friend, Jamie, suggested I go travelling, "Just go, it will change you," he said.

It was while drinking with fellow Gooners - that's the nickname for Arsenal fans - that I came up with an idea: what if I travelled with the goal of watching every single Arsenal match of the season live, regardless of where it was in the world? I thought of calling myself "The Travelling Arse", but my American friend said some people might get the wrong idea and he suggested "Gooner on the Road". And I would raise money to support the Triple Negative Breast Cancer Foundation.