I've been a hack since 1997 - funnily enough, I got my first piece published the same week Diana pranged her car -when Lord Spencer showed up at the funeral, lambasting the media as existing at " the opposite end of the moral spectrum", I knew I'd found my calling in life. Been doing it full-time since the end of '99.
On the plus side, bagged loads of free trips to places like the Philippines, Hong Kong, Germany, Italy, Dubai, Scandinavia, Malta, Latvia,Cyprus (shithole), Southampton, Portsmouth, Falmouth, Newcastle and Liverpool. Also got given 2 free tickets to Tokyo for a week, just for meeting someone from a communications company who did some installation for Virgin. Subsequently, my family and friends think I am a smug, jammy snot who just gallivants around the world, and is much richer than he lets on - sadly, this isn't the case.