Wednesday 28 May 2014

Off the road (for now)...

What an incredible end to an incredible season. I still can't quite believe that Arsenal won a trophy a couple of weekends ago. It almost feels like the FA Cup was the first trophy we've ever won, that's how overdue it is.

What made it particularly special for me was the success I had with the fundraising. With all your donations, I managed to exceed my target of $15,000 for the Triple Negative Breast Cancer Foundation before the end-of-season deadline. Once again, my thanks goes to everybody that helped me reach that very important goal.

With the season now over, and therefore my challenge, I've had the chance to reflect on a memorable roller coaster journey, and I'm quite proud of how I managed to make something feared impossible, possible. I travelled for 8 months, from the start of the football season to the end, never missing a match and always with a roof over my head, despite only having a few grand in my pocket. Actually, it wasn't me that made it possible at all, it was the Arsenal family; without all those warm-hearted people putting me up for a few days each (sometimes a few weeks!), the trip wouldn't have been viable.

People are saying that I've done an amazing thing but the true heroes are Andy, Trevor, Olivar, Jesper, Graeme, Jeff W, Kurtis, Brett, Colin, Miles, Barry, Davy, Jeremy, Par, David S, Kevin, Paul, Blake, Jordan, Channelle, Seth, Nick, Luke, George, Elia, Kanika, Diya, Scott, Phillip, Sean, Matt, Geof, Mick, Jonny, Andrew, Ali, Ahmed, Neil, Shane, Ashley, Adam, Yukie, Kevin, Jeff T, James, Veno, Arsya, Anand, Thierry, Seany, Dung Pham, Running Man and Jay! I think I've remembered everybody, but due to my complete lack of organisation and terrible memory, somebody might be missing, so I apologise in advance!

Anyway, the above people are the ones that helped out by giving up a couch, an inflatable bed or a guest room. I was a complete stranger to them but they welcomed me into their homes and set the benchmark as members of the Arsenal family. Bravo.

Right now, my focus lies on bringing out a book on my adventure. There's a lot of work to be done, but expect it to be released towards the tail end of the year barring any disasters. If it goes well, who knows, another adventure could be on the cards.

Finally, I'm holding a Twitter Q&A session, my first of hopefully many, Tomorrow at 9-10pm UK time. Remember to use the hashtag #AskGOTR. You can ask anything, providing it doesn't get me into any trouble!!! If you're not already following me on Twitter, you can do so here.


COYG