The random move to Singapore!

Hi and thank you for visiting Black Lad travel. This post is about my story and how I managed to move to Singapore with just myself and a backpack.

Back in the UK, I graduated as a Computer Forensic student and had just landed my dream job working as a Computer Forensic Analyst. I managed to bag the job straight after university which you would think I would be buzzing about, but for some reason, it just didn’t seem enough. I just wasn’t content, and I never really saw England as home which is why I turned to travel a lot.

So, how did I end up Singapore? After University 2 friends and I decided to travel to Southeast Asia, as you do. The bless thing is that once you get to Southeast Asia, things are pretty cheap so it’s just the initial flights that you need to save money for. The cheapest and best flights turned out to be flying in and out of Singapore from the UK so that would be our first and last stop.

When I got to Singapore it was life-changing for me - I remember walking out of Marina Bay Sands (pictured Below) and just thinking to myself ‘wow this is incredible, I want this life’. At the time I could barely scrape together a couple of quid so it was a distant dream for me as it’s probably the most expensive place we travelled to in Asia.

During the last few days of the trip, leading up to going home, I honestly just couldn’t picture leaving Singapore. I had never been somewhere so dreamy, and the way of life here just looked perfect; the vibe, the atmosphere, everything was on point. It got to the point where I just decided I didn’t want to leave. I ended up turning to my friends on the last few days and saying: “I can’t go back, you boys go – I am going to stay here and see what I can do”.

Of course, when I got here I was travelling and had in my plan to return to the UK so I didn’t have anything lined up when I decided to stay. I was struggling for money (still living in the student mindset), but I just chose to stay because I saw potential in myself here. I stayed in hostels and used this website ‘couch surfing’ to find places to stay. At one point I was staying in Malaysia to save money and taking a bus to and from Singapore. At the time I just thought to myself ‘let's see how it goes, what's the worst that could happen? If all fails, I can get a flight back to England.’

I gave myself two weeks and told myself that if I didn’t get a job or an interview at that time, then I will admit defeat and go home. I wouldn’t have the money to stay anyway……well, not until I received a blessing from above! Can you believe my luck – I put a bet on France to win the World Cup and won $300 and then a few weeks later won another $1000. It was a sign to stay for a bit longer and honestly thank god I did.

After a few weeks, I managed to get a job with a British company who got me my visa. I legit turned up to my interview in jeans because I was only supposed to go travelling!

I also found a place to live in Singapore and could afford to get by without having to travel to and from Malaysia (which was peak btw). It honestly just all came together.

Staying in Singapore was the best decision I have ever made – yes, I left behind a Computer Forensic Analyst job which I had studied for but there’s no reason why I can’t go back to doing that in the future. For now, I am living in the moment and creating memories that will last a lifetime.

I believe that life is about swimming or sinking. Was I just going to sink in a small dormitory room shared with 8+ people and feel sorry for myself or was I going to think what can learn here? I guess I just saw things differently – I thought about how unreal is it that I am surrounded by 8 people who have all come from different walks of life. If you open your mind, there’s so much to see.

Just remember you’ve survived 100% of the bad times you’ve been in my G’z!

Thanks for reading my story, feel free to read more of my blogs below

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