Ten years ago to date I left my home in Zurich and moved to turquoise heaven: Kuredu, a tiny island in the mesmerisingly beautiful Lhaviyani Atoll and its surrounding Indian Ocean.

Here I am, the little guy on the right, with the other two members of our Kuredu snorkel guide team in 2005. And what a team we were. An adventurous, easy going Australian, a high-strung, energetic Brit and a romantic, idealistic German in search of his true home. Kuredu was just the first of many intense experiences involving the sharing of limited living and working space with people from all over the world.

The good times I had, the bad times, the lessons I learned, the walls I banged my head against, the broad variety of people I met and learned to not just live with but also appreciate… none of that would have happened had I just stayed where I was already comfortable.

My world is bigger now and, thankfully, I am changed forever.