Marcus Proctor, an Australian of Irish descent, spent six years backpacking across the world visiting 21 countries in total, and he had several international adventures. Now, he’s written a book about those experiences entitled Happy Traveller, a book which he describes as “not for the faint-hearted”.

In six years he travelled more countries than most of us will see in our lifetime, calling many of them home along the way. In Ireland alone, he lived in Cork and Waterford as well as Belfast, while also exploring several parts of Europe and beyond, from Malta and the Netherlands to LA and Toronto.

Along his colourful journey across the globe, Marcus spent time working as a rent boy on Santa Monica Boulevard, which he says came about through his “adventurous spirit”.

 

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“I was living in a gay hostel in London and the manager had an escort website,” Marcus tells GCN. He goes on to tell us of his alternative identity as ‘Corey: Horny Aussie Surfer’ that he embodied for his work.

“Was fun doing that, and cruising in general, for a couple of years but after that, it felt the adventures became a bit darker,” says Marcus, “like being mugged and fighting [the mugger] off and getting a gun stuck point blank in my face after the guy wouldn’t pay.”

Despite the scary nature of the anecdote, Marcus joking adds that he did get his money in the end. “It was a pretty crazy time,” he says. “LA is an entity all to itself.”

 

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We asked Marcus what valuable lessons he learned during his time backpacking, to which he tells us, “not to judge a book by its cover.”

“I met some really beautiful people while travelling or renting or when I was homeless and living on the streets.”

He adds that the world would be a better place if people in positions of power had as much wisdom and empathy as those he met on his travels and even through the rougher parts of his adventures.  Although there were scary times during his six years of backpacking, Marcus assures us that “I did have fun adventures as well.”

To learn more about Marcus’ story, you can read an excerpt of his book in TNT Magazine and you can follow him here for more details about his upcoming book Happy Traveller to be released later this year.