Hi everyone!
My name is David and I grew up in Melbourne Australia. After finishing my degrees in Performing Arts (Acting) and Criminology I decided to move to Edinburgh to try living somewhere else in the world.
I fell in love with Edinburgh on a previous trip in 2007. I found Edinburgh to be one of the most enchanting cities in the world. Its land had been wared over for millennia, which gave the city its gothic tone. It's building, while beautiful, had a darkness to it you don't find in other capital cities. This contrast between beauty and horror stayed with me. After returning to Australia and starting my degrees, I would research Scottish history as a hobby knowing one day I would return.
Upon my return in 2013, I first worked at a hostel. I enjoyed talking with guests from all around the world.
I started running my own tours from the hostel and I really enjoyed it. I made friends with a few of the local guides and I was asked if I wanted to audition. As I have already been guiding guests, I felt it was a natural fit for me.
I enjoyed being a professional tour guide so much that I decided to stay longer than I originally planned. I quickly learned four different tours. Those being an Old Town tour, a New Town tour, a Horror tour, and an Edinburgh Castle tour. A year after becoming a tour guide, I met the woman who would become my wife. She was from Belarus, so I didn't want to leave Europe as I would be too far from her.
In 2016 I briefly worked in Prague and a tour guide to be closer to her. Prague is also an amazing place to live in, but I really missed Edinburgh. I decided I loved both her and Edinburgh too much to leave, so I married her. After a tough year of visa struggles and paperwork, my wife and I are both happily living in Edinburgh since October 2017.
In 2017 my wife got me into Harry Potter and I soon became a Harry Potter tour guide. I also decided to create my own tours on Airbnb experience called "Hike the Legend of Arthur's Seat" and "The Edinburgh Folklore tour"
Since the pandemic, I decided to bring my stories online. At first, I was using 'buy me a coffee' to send personised stories to people. I eventually decided to make my own virtual tours to give people from around the world a taste of what Edinburgh has to offer. The first virtual tour I created was my "Harry Potter, Magic in Edinburgh Virtual Tour". I wasn't sure if virtual tours would be appreciated, so I decided if all else fails, I would have a tour, my nieces and nephew, back in Australia would love!
I later created the virtual tours of "Edinburgh Old Town" and "King Arthur and the Scottish connection". As virtual guiding became more popular, My Harry Potter tour was picked up by Airbnb Online Experiences in June 2020. The tour became so popular, in October 2020 I brought on a friend of my Jule to host the tour in both English and German. I have also started work on a virtual horror tour!
When the restrictions easied I went back to doing live tours again. But I haven't stopped doing online tours and I will be to continuing my journey into being an online virtual tour guide.
