As a long term tourist, multiple country immigrant, backpacker and self defined "whackpacker", life on the road can lead to neglect of those things we did in our homeland. I remember turning 16 way back in the mid 1990s and what it meant at the time, for a boy growing up in Northern Ireland. I could legally work anywhere in the United Kingdom (and overseas territories). I could legally buy cigarettes and pyroglyphics. I had a National Insurance card. And, suddenly I could play the Lotto / National Lottery. In fact, the United Kingdom's National Lottery, known now as the Lotto, only started around 1994. It was a phenomen at the time and many of us embraced it and jumped on the bandwagon.

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How To Play The Lotto When Travelling Abroad

While I first entered the Lotto in 1996, I left Northern Ireland behind in 2003. At the time I studied and worked in Bournemouth in England. There it was still easy to enter the lottery and do the odd football bet, of which Lock in Lee and I used to famously and regularly win. We developed a niche for wacky football bets. Although, I was still able to play the Lotto every week.

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Then I realised that by backpacking and travelling intensely around the world, I didn't need to neglect my habit or my chance of winning a million dollars, pounds or euros. However, I could put my lottery numbers on for the following few weeks in advance whilst partaking on a backpacking journey. This was useful because you can still check your Lotto results overseas. Of course as I travelled all over Europe watching Northern Ireland matches and backpacking the sights of textbook cities and wacaday micronations, I always hoped, and still hope my numbers come up. But still, that never happened, YET! It was a pipe dream. The internet made the world smaller and made it easier for us to keep up with our hobbies whilst abroad.

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This also worked for me in football as I could check my team's results easily, and eventually I could watch online matches on my laptop. I didn't miss home so much anymore as we could be globally connected. I could also use Skype to contact home to speak and see (though not physically) my family and so all those formalities I had back in my homeland could also still happen, albeit online and in a less physical or face to face sense.

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While winning the lottery might seem far fetched - it is literally one in a million, we are all still doing it. Part of us are all "Del Boys", you know the drill - "this time next year Rodders, we will be millionaires". Money has never been my dream or driving force in life though. I would rather have health, happiness, honest friends, vitality, recognition. But at the back of our minds, money would bring stability and eliminate the fear of bankruptcy. I could also travel more. I could visit family more. I could even pay someone to try and get the apology from 'you know who', that caused my depression.

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So the big win awaits me, and you, and most of us. We live in a world of "hit and hope". Overall though, we all want to be happy and healthy. This should be our guiding star.