seemed like a good idea at the time.

My Dad has always said:
“There’s so much more of the world to see.”

As a family, we very rarely visited the same place twice because of that mindset. Between us all, we’ve been lucky enough to see some incredible places around the world and I definitely inherited that love of travel.

Then in Summer 2024, I was dating a guy who’d set himself a challenge to visit 40 countries before turning 40.

The only issue was he was already thirty nine and a half and only on 35 countries.

He wasn’t going to make it.

That night I got home and counted how many countries I’d visited myself.

Twenty eight.

Not bad.

I had thirteen months until I turned 40.

One country a month?
Doable?
Completely unhinged?

Probably both.

I do love a challenge. I can’t help myself.

So naturally, I spoke to my two best friends, Ruth and Jen.

We’ve known each other since playgroup. They are two of the most important people in my life and I trust them implicitly.

Unfortunately, they are also absolute enablers.

Most people respond to my ideas with caution.

Ruth and Jen respond with:
“YOLO.”
“Let’s do it.”
“I’m in.”

Which is how we ended up finding a Facebook group called Extreme Day Trips from Manchester Airport.

It sounded exhausting.

Before long though, we’d done a day trip to Iceland, an overnight trip to Popeye Village in Malta, Christmas markets in Prague and eventually, for my birthday celebrations, I completed the challenge in the Masai Mara.

Naturally then, I was left with one question:

What next?

Then one day in the Extreme Day Trips group, I spotted somebody talking about a really, really ridiculous challenge.

Three countries in one day.

Surely not.

But apparently… yes.

So I booked flights to Basel.

The original plan was fairly civilised. Visit Switzerland, Germany and France in a single day. Eat nice food. Cross the Three Countries Bridge. Maybe make it to a little town in Alsace that looks like Beauty and the Beast.

A wholesome European adventure.

Then padel arrived.

Completely out of nowhere, this relaxed little food-and-travel trip suddenly became:

“…I wonder if I could play a match in every country?”

At this point the voice was already there.

The one that says:
go on.
you absolutely should do this.

I mentioned it to Zeb the club manager at Soul Padel in Stockport.

He did very little to discourage me.

After several very long conversations with ChatGPT, I was suddenly fully committed.

I’d found the clubs.
Worked out the timings.
Joined WhatsApp groups.
Followed Instagram accounts.

Worse still, I’d started talking about it out loud.

That’s always the dangerous bit.

Once you say something out loud, it becomes real.

And suddenly I could see it.

How cool would that actually be?

My main concern at the time, foolishly, was logistics.

Could I physically get between countries fast enough?
Would the matches fill?
Could I avoid taking taxis everywhere because I wanted it to feel like a proper adventure?

With the support of my trusty AI friend, I became completely convinced it was possible.

It was also pointed out to me that, in terms of things an addicted padel player would do, this was extremely on brand.

At the same time, I was spending evenings and weekends building the Addicted to Padel website between matches and obsessing over every tiny detail.

The connection suddenly felt obvious.

This should be the launch.

The only problem was timing.

I’d only bought the domain on 18th February and the challenge was booked for 27th March.

Which gave me barely any time at all.

And somewhere in all the excitement, I’d accidentally managed to contact these clubs in a way that made me sound like a semi-professional athlete or some kind of influencer.

The reality was slightly less glamorous.

I was a complete beginner with about 200 Instagram followers, most of whom I went to school with.

At this point the doubts started creeping in.

I felt stupid.
Embarrassed.
Like I’d massively overcommitted myself publicly and was about to humiliate myself internationally.

Fortunately, one of my regular partners Laura, who is genuinely one of the most positive people I’ve ever met, refused to let me spiral.

She encouraged me, supported me and made me believe it could actually happen.

So I got back on board.

The Playtomic matches were live.
The strangers were joining.
The route was planned.

And somewhere in the back of my mind, there was now another thought quietly forming.

If I could do three countries…

Could I maybe do four?

The challenge was officially on x

 

this is the exact moment i started publicly committing to the idea.