My family is very important to me. I'm passionate about my work, but I'm passionate about having a job that facilitates me spending time with my son. I'm not working all hours of the day and that's allowed me to go on trips with my wife and family. I appreciate work has to feed into facilitating all of these things, but work-life balance is hugely important for me.

Me and my wife love to travel, we've got a two-year-old and we don't want that to hinder us. A lot of people stop going on adventurous holidays when they have children, but it's important for us to live life and enjoy the world.

When I first moved to Scotland, I'd only visited once. I'd had one weekend visit, and then I moved in with my then-girlfriend. It was a bit of a punt. "Let's see what happens, maybe it'll kind of work out for six months" sort of thing. 12 years later we're married and we've got a kid. So I'm still on the fence! *laughs*

In Edinburgh you've got Arthur's Seat, all these other amazing walks, and you're only an hour from the Highlands. I was just amazed by the access to all these hills, Munros, and the scenery that you can enjoy in Scotland.

You don't have to be four hours away up some ridiculously obscure and isolated hill. I love the accessibility of these amazing, beautiful spots that are so close to such an incredible city. It's amazing what is on your doorstep. I'm from Surrey where it's quite leafy and very green, but it's just not Scotland.

My first experience with Trakke was when I worked with a whisky company called Jura. We did a collaboration with Trakke where we released wash bags and these lovely big backpacks that were all co-branded. I managed to get my hands on a wash bag. I didn't manage to get the backpack, which I was gutted about. 

I was then gifted a Trakke bag by my wife and my sister, they got me one of the smaller backpacks, which has now been everywhere with me, from dog walking trips to bagging Munros. And then from there, it was a journey to a slightly larger backpack to the larger Storr hand luggage backpack. 

First and foremost, sustainability. It’s nice to know Trakke bags are handmade locally by local people, not just something that's been made abroad where people aren't paid what they should be paid, with material that's probably not sustainably sourced. 

In terms of work and travel, I need to rely on something that isn't going to break. You can get these expensive bags, clothing, whatever, and they just don't last - you're paying a lot for the brand.

In regards to Trakke, it is about how solid they are. I know they're going to last. There's also an element of style. I like my clothes and I like looking good. That goes hand in hand in my industry, working with cool brands and you have to look the part. So the way something looks comes into it, but it very much has to be heavy duty. If I'm going to spend money on something, I want it to last almost indefinitely.

More trips abroad with my family, that's what we live for. I love the excitement and anticipation of where we're going.

We have a goal of visiting 40 countries before we're 40 and I think we're at 37. So the plan is to get in a few trips to places we haven't been, somewhere a bit different. So there's excitement about the uncertainty of where we're going to go next and where we're going to be and the adventures we're going to have.

Japan has always been somewhere I've wanted to go, it's incredible culturally and just so different to our day-to-day. It was in the plan but COVID obviously made that difficult for a few years. Having a lockdown baby also made it difficult. So, the idea of what the Japan trip would've been, a Trakke bag slung over my shoulder, a big adventure, that now has to include all my son's gear, the pram, the chest harness for the kid, and whatever else we need to pack. So, it will be a different trip, but I'd love to think it will come to fruition soon.

"I can't decide if a lots happened since my time with Dan, or not much....in a good way. I think parenting with a toddler makes every day feel pretty special and fulfilling and so as the old saying goes....every day is an adventure.

Works very much the same, still slinging around many bottles of whisky in my Assynt 17, still not let me down. I'm swimming lots more which means my trusty wee Fingal is getting used loads as a little kit bag...and it'll be getting used for all the lovely spring walks to come, in fact I'll be doing the river Avon heritage trail this weekend as that will be the bag of choice for Rain jacket and dog treats. Might even treat it to a fresh coat of wax for the inevitable rain.

We have been on plenty of family trips cramming them in before the wee man has to go to school...not made it to Japan but a fantastic trip to Italy with our 'his and hers' Storr bags as well as a good few Canary islands trips and multiple walking trips in the UK....log cabins and hot tubs, that sort of thing.

Overall, life's good and full of adventure both home and abroad and Scotland continues to be beautiful."