Lewis Banks deposited himself in another country to finally leave home.
Many professional footballers have flown the coop by their mid to late teens to pursue their dream but Banks got to spend 12 years with local club Stoke City.
"I had lived with my parents my whole life, so I was quite lucky in that regard," he said.
"I was nearly getting to the age of 22, so I felt that I might as well go now and experience living away."
And so he decided to go the whole hog and move to the west coast of Ireland to join Sligo Rovers.
"I got a call off an agent one day and said there was interest from Sligo," Banks explained.
"And I said yes on the spot and get me the first flight over, and that was it.
"It was just the opportunity to come back to full-time football. Trying to prove myself again was massive for me.
"The move really appealed. Coming across the Irish Sea has been good fun and a learning curve for me. I've grown up a bit.
"While it's too early to talk to the club about next season, I'd be open to staying."
Banks spent 12 years at Stoke altogether and was the club's under-23s captain but he couldn't break through the glass ceiling and left for non-league Stafford Rangers last August.
Perhaps it would have been different if he was still with the club after it's Premier Division relegation last season.
But while the versatile defender-midfielder trained with the first team, he never made a matchday squad.
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"It was tough," he said.
"Unfortunately I never got to take that next step, really.
"I was getting to the age that if I wasn't going to play men's football, there was no point in being there. It just came to an end, really."
Sligo is a new start and, having settled in to his new surroundings, Banks believes that things are improving after a slow beginning under new manager Liam Buckley.
Even this early, the game with basement club Finn Harps tonight feels like a bit of a six-pointer.
"Liam's been great," said Banks.
"He's looked after me, when I wasn't playing he's said why and that he believed in me.
"He loves to get the ball down and play in the right areas and we've been doing that more lately, scoring some nice goals.
"We want to be winning more matches, getting up the table. It has taken time to gel but in recent weeks performances have been a lot better.
"Beating Dundalk at home shows what we can do, and drawing in Cork away.
"But we need to get more results now. We've got big games coming up".
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