I’m an Aussie and took on my first management role in 2011. In 2012 I was voted best manager of the year and my employer rewarded me with an all-expenses paid trip to America for two weeks to visit San Diego, L.A, and Las Vegas.

Then in the same job in 2017 I entered my business into a national sales competition and amongst 400-something businesses nationwide, I won it. The prize was an all-expenses paid trip for two weeks to Texas, Kentucky, and Indiana, and they sent me.

This year; new job, two weeks in, my boss tells me the company want to start sending management to the U.S for integration, so as the first employee to ever go in the company’s 40-year history I was sent all-expenses paid to New York.

Three trips to America, three completely different, blindside reasons. Six states - east, west, south and mid.