When I was growing up, one of the many lessons my father taught me was how the world opens up when we have choice.  The best way to generate choice in our lives is by educating ourselves, whether it be the traditional route of earning university degrees or simply reading a lot of books, gaining experience in a new trade, traveling the world, or even learning a new language.

Having the ability to visit, study, work and live in a country other than where we were born is a gift and in my opinion, one of the most important elements of a well-rounded education.  The importance of travel for our education is yet another lesson my father taught me and for this reason he took our family on a vacation to somewhere new every summer, many of the destinations international. His example played a significant part in my decision to spend a semester abroad in Florence when I was studying for my undergraduate degree at a university in America, the country in which I was born.

My desire to live in another country started to heat up in my early 20s, especially after I became close with a group of New Zealanders who were living in the US for a few years to play rugby.  After spending time with these warm people and hearing about their foreign culture and land, I wanted to move to New Zealand.  At the time I applied for and was granted a special type of one year “work abroad” Visa for people under 30, a program designed to link up American travelers like myself with odd jobs in other countries such as picking fruit.

Turns out I never went to New Zealand due to unforeseen circumstances, but I did come across an ad in the local paper several months later leading me to my first job in the gambling industry with publisher Casino City.  My role with Casino City involved all sorts of travel around the world, introducing me to people from places such as London, Vancouver, Tel Aviv, Costa Rica, Malta, Manila, Johannesburg, Sydney and so on.