At the end of June and beginning of July 2023, Maryke and I travelled to Réunion Island. At the time we had no idea how much our lives were about to change. We did not know that both our children were still ahead of us, or that a few years later I would be seriously thinking about leaving the career I had known for most of my adult life to become a full-time content creator. We were simply there to explore.
It was not a polished kind of holiday. We showered in parking lots in the dark of night, improvised when we had to and kept moving. That was part of what made it memorable. There was a freedom in not needing every part of the day to be comfortable or predictable — only in wanting to see what was around the next corner.
The kind of place that makes you feel small
Réunion felt almost impossibly dramatic. We hiked trails where one careless step could have had serious consequences, surrounded by steep green walls and valleys that seemed to fall away beneath us. It was beautiful in a way that demanded your attention. You could not really move through a place like that on autopilot.
Then, almost without warning, the island would change character again. Dense mountains and forests gave way to the ocean, heavy clouds, open horizons and weather moving across the water. It felt as though a ridiculous amount of nature had been compressed into one small island.
Then the volcano erupted
One of the most surreal moments came while we were flying over the island: the volcano was erupting. By that point Réunion had already felt wild and alive, but seeing the volcanic landscape from above made the whole place feel even more extraordinary. It was the kind of experience that does not need much embellishment. You just look at it and realise how fortunate you are to be there.
That trip gave me enough adventure to make me want that feeling for the rest of my life.
I did not come home from Réunion with a plan to become a content creator. Life moved on. Our family changed, our priorities changed, and the years became fuller than we could have imagined at the time. But the feeling from that trip never really disappeared.
Looking back now, I can see it as one of the moments that quietly changed my direction before I knew I was changing direction at all. Réunion showed me how alive I felt when I was exploring, photographing, filming and experiencing somewhere completely new. Years later, as I make the decision to pursue content creation full time, I think part of what I am really chasing is that same feeling — and the chance to build a life with more of it in it.
