About Us

Welcome to the Global Treats Travel Blog!

My name is Scott and this is my first foray into the world of blogging.  The decision to become a ‘blogger’ is due to the fact that I recently quit my permanent teaching job and comfortable lifestyle, reduced my possessions so that they fit in a backpack, and started a year-long adventure in South-East Asia: beginning in Thailand.

Background

It has been an interesting journey to get to this point.  Having grown up in the Norfolk Park area in Sheffield (back then a council-owned concrete jungle), I left school with no qualifications.  Music was my only interest and I was determined that I was going to become a rock star after seeing David Bowie performing at Live Aid on the TV.

I reluctantly began working at Royal Mail after leaving school.  It quickly became apparent that this was not the life for me.  I left my full-time post, only to return as a casual worker (no sick or holiday pay).  As an 18 year old, I felt my future looked pretty grim.

I then began a computer course at a local adult education centre and started using this new thing called the internet.  An EU-funded job opportunity then arose: teaching people in the local community how to create their own websites.  Having quickly learned how to use html, before I knew it I was a website builder, eventually making sites for over 200 organisations and businesses and teaching new skills to adults in deprived areas. This work led to me teaching web design to both secondary and primary school children.

University

Eventually, the funding came to an end and I was at a loss again.  I had enjoyed working in schools, so I decided to do something no-one in my family had done: go to university!  I spent 4 years in higher education and, despite my doubts, I left university with a first-class Ba Hons degree in primary education.

Teaching

I got myself a teaching job at a small school in Sheffield and I thought that was that.  Finally, a full-time, permanent job.  An actual career!  Something I never thought I’d have!  I taught over 200 children over a period of 8 years and had some great times, making wonderful memories.  Unfortunately, the education system in the UK is in a total state.  Teachers are leaving the profession in droves, suffering from burnout at the sheer workload.  Most of the work is pointless and serves only to tick Ofsted boxes; having no positive effect on the children at all.  I soon found that I could not bear seeing children being tested every 6 weeks and witnessing first hand the effect that the pressure has on young minds.  I’d had enough and that is not the mindset a teacher can be in.  I quit in 2018 for a life of adventure!

Bhuna

Throughout all this time, I have played in various bands in Sheffield.  I formed a band called ‘bhuna’ who had a good following in Sheffield.  We had a sniff of record company interest by a label who preferred us to the Arctic Monkeys who they said, “would never make it whilst the singer uses a Sheffield accent.”

The Bowie Contingent and Jungle Lion

I also played occasionally in ‘The Bowie Contingent’, a superb band dedicated to performing David Bowie’s music as he himself played it on his final tours.  However, once I started teaching, I thought my playing days were behind me.  Within the first few six months of teaching, I was asked to join a band called ‘Jungle Lion’, a 12 piece ska covers band.  I had seen them live a number of times and they were awesome so it was not a difficult decision to get back on stage!  I played with Jungle Lion for 7 years and played some fantastic gigs and made some amazing new friends.  One of those being Joanna: a girl from Poland.

Meeting Joanna

Joanna came to the UK after completing her Master’s degree in Krakow, Poland.  After initially working in London, she came to Sheffield after being offered a job there.  She had not heard of Sheffield before but quickly came to love the city.  Our paths had crossed before at a party but the first time we ever spoke was at a rather crazy night out in Sheffield’s West Street Live bar.

I had a teacher’s strike the next day so decided to go out and have some midweek fun.  I was actually about to leave West Street Live and go home when a friend insisted I stay and bought me a very strong cocktail, which he called “The Scott Bomb”.  How my life would have been different if I had left!

After dancing the night away in West Street Live, a group of us decided to get some beers and head to Devonshire Green, a local park in the city centre of Sheffield.  There was a group of us but, one-by-one, people went home, until there was just me and Joanna left.  We stayed up all night drinking beers and chatting; Joanna would occasionally run around the park to force herself awake (not because she was bored, let me add!)  Eventually, we said goodbye and went our separate ways.  I would see Joanna twice again over the next couple of days, at Jungle Lion gigs, then she left the UK, first to go back to Poland, then to travel around India.

About 6 months later, Joanna was back in London but she came up to Sheffield for her birthday.  I went along to spend her birthday with her and I’m glad I did because that night was the beginning of us being together 🙂

Travel

Since then, we have travelled quite a lot: mainly around Europe, but also for 5 weeks in India. We were always going to do an extended travel and now is the perfect time as we were both frustrated in our work and also disappointed by the direction of the UK, post-Brexit.

Get In Touch

We hope you will enjoy reading about our adventures around South-East Asia and beyond.  We tried to find the more obscure places and attractions in every place we visited

I would love to hear any feedback and please, if you like what you’ve read so far, subscribe using the form on the right of this page.

Scott xxx