It's been quite the journey for Ryan Porteous, literally and metaphorically.
Let's take the former first. He's gone from Dalkeith to Los Angeles in a career trajectory that started with the Hibernian Under-20s and a loan at Edinburgh City.
He then played more than 150 games for the Hibs first team - and more than 80 for Watford when he moved south of the border.
The man from Midlothian has row racked up 52 appearances for Los Angeles, the cross-town rivals of the better known LA Galaxy. A transatlantic trip that makes him smile when he remembers how it all started.
"Dalkeith, I know man. I could be the first ever, actually, to be fair," Porteous laughed when asked about his journey to California.
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"It's some place. It's good. I stay in Pasadena. So a little bit outside the temptation zone, as I call it. I stay pretty close to the practice facility as I can't be doing with the traffic every day when I'm in and out to training."
The smile on his face, the tan on his skin and the use of the phrase "practice facility" all lend themselves to a man loving life and adapting fully to his situation.
