I moved to Tokyo to open a bar last year. I'd already lived in a few cities across Asia, but moving was harder in my 30s.

Londoner Holly Graham moved to Asia the day after she turned 24. She lived in Thailand, South Korea, and Hong Kong, with her career shifting from teaching to writing to bartending. I moved to Thailand to teach English the day after I turned 24.

I realized right away that I wasn't built for my native London, and wanted to create a life outside the UK. My next home was in Seoul, for two years, followed by a decade in Hong Kong — the one place I truly felt at home. It was there that I got my career back on track and left teaching, for it hadn't been part of my career plan, just a means to an end for living a life abroad.

I landed my dream job as the food and drink editor of Time Out Hong Kong and found myself falling in love with Asia's cocktail scene. Hong Kong's bartending community felt like my people — I finally found a place where I truly fit in. I turned my focus to books and bartending I'd worked in hospitality on and off since I was 14, running plates in a London greasy spoon, and decided it was time to get back into bartending.

I later moved on to become the managing editor of DRiNK Magazine Asia, while I was simultaneously bartending at The Old Man Hong Kong. I traveled with the team to do pop-ups and became even more ingrained in Asia's cocktail world. The Old Man went on to take the No.

1 spot at Asia's 50 Best Bars 2019 , and my eyes were wide open to this fascinating world. I eventually left the bar to concentrate on writing and went on to publish my first book.