On 16th December 2004 I was with a friend having a beer in a bar on the Koh san Rd in Bangkok, Thailand. It was the last week of my bumming round the world and we had a decision to make.
Do we go home for Christmas or spend it on the beach in Phuket. Neither of us had been to Phuket and we thought it would be an awesome end to living out of a back pack for the last 18 months but on the other hand Christmas at home with the family was also appealing.
So we flipped a coin and went home to the UK.
Flipping that coin a second earlier or later could have sent us into the path of the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami.