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It’s time.

We’re already seventeen days into the new year, and I probably should have made these resolutions long ago. After the best year of my life in 2012, though, it’s taken me a while to figure out exactly how I’m going to top it.

Oh, and a theme. I needed one of those too.

Last year it was building. Relationships, businesses, experiences and income, I built on them all. The building is going to continue in 2013, but the focus and approach is going to change a little…

Exactly one year ago today I set my goals and a theme for 2012. My plans were many and varied, but they all revolved around one word: building.

Twelve months on, it’s almost time to repeat the exercise. Before that, though, I need to see how well I went – one thing I learned in corporate life is that everybody loves to make plans, but few take the time to evaluate them afterwards.

So I thought I’d put together an annual report of sorts. Where did I succeed? Where did I fail? How well did I stick to my plans, and what needs to change in 2013?

Just before Christmas last year, I sat down to write about the previous twelve months. It had been a mixed bag, largely spent working in Australia while dreaming of a different, happier life. My passport lay mostly gathering dust until November, when I finally took a determined step towards that life, ditched the cubicle and headed for Thailand armed only with a backpack and a plan.

As the new year lay stretched out before me, I was filled with excitement and hope for what lay ahead. So how did it go?

Honestly, even better than I could ever have hoped. This is story of my 2012.

Somehow, in the midst of everything that’s going on in my life, I had managed to completely miss the fact that Christmas is less than a month away. Here in Thailand – or at least in Chiang Mai – the general lack of carols, tinsel and Xmas advertising helps with that a lot.

Around this time for the last two years, I have put together a list of gift ideas for those of us that can fit everything that matters into a backpack. Always a stickler for tradition (ahem), I figured I’d do it again.

Here, one more time, are my Christmas gift recommendations for the traveller in your life.

366 days. I can’t believe it has been that long.

One year ago today I flew out of Melbourne. My relationship with the corporate world, rocky at the best of times, was over. No more suits. No more meetings. No more corporate bullshit, and no more steady paycheck.

I landed in Thailand. I got very drunk. And then I took a long, deep breath and started living.