Adrian’s Story
Adrian was born at the dawn of the new millennium in Glendale, Arizona, a town nestled amid the arid desert backdrop of the Valley of the Sun. His parents hailed from practically opposite ends of the country: his father from South Dakota; his mother from Florida. Thanks to their diverse origins, Adrian’s parents ensured their son experienced the United States from coast to coast at a young age.
By 2003, when his family relocated to Jacksonville, Florida, Adrian had already traversed America numerous times via Interstate 10. These adventures fueled lifelong passions for history and travel, and later inspired the FarawayHolmes™ brand.
Adrian experienced several tragedies during his early years, beginning with the unexpected death of his father in 2005. These events pushed him to seek creative and adventurous means for release, renewal, and growth.
Adrian began piano lessons shortly after his father passed. His musical instruction continued for the next ten years under the direction of several talented professors. He participated in numerous local, state, and national competitions, and once even delivered a private performance at the Florida Governor’s Mansion in Tallahassee.
Despite strong encouragement from friends and teachers, Adrian decided against pursuing a performing arts degree in college. He instead chose history and business. In 2013, he graduated from Trinity Baptist College with his Associate of Science degree at the age of sixteen, then two years later graduated with his Bachelor of Science from the same school at the age of eighteen. At the time, he was the youngest person to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in the school’s history.
After college, Adrian became a high school teacher while pursuing graduate studies at Sam Houston State University. He quickly abandoned these endeavors, however, due to financial and time constraints. After a couple of years, he recognized his greater passions transcended the classroom, beckoning him to switch careers for positions in aviation, a world all too familiar from his childhood.
In 2013, Adrian also quietly launched his professional creative career with the publication of Cello Canto No. 1, “The Lullaby,” his first original composition to receive a live public performance. Over the next few years, he independently produced several other music projects including his most notable work to date, The Pirates of Penzance: Revamped and Revisited. In preparation for the album launch, he hosted a successful interview series with various notable stars of stage and screen who appeared in previous productions of Gilbert & Sullivan’s classic operetta. Such stars included Robby Benson, Karla DeVito, Kaye Ballard, and Patricia Routledge, among others.
Despite all this growth, Adrian knew his journey wasn’t complete. He loved teaching and making music, yet for some reason, Adrian knew there was more for him in life. Following another relocation to a smaller city on Florida’s Space Coast, Adrian tried to prove to himself that he had arrived. He was free to be the person he felt he was meant to be. But he wasn’t—at least, not quite yet.
After several years in the classroom, Adrian knew the time had come to truly find his ultimate passion. It wasn’t in the music. It wasn’t in teaching, education, or even in learning in general. It was in this very activity that he began his life. His passion was for exploration.
Adrian quit teaching in the summer of 2018. Three days later, he was hired by an airline and has since worked for multiple carriers, experiencing new places and people with each. Nowadays, Adrian finds himself living all his dreams while incorporating the knowledge he gained from each of his past careers. Thanks to his new lease on life, he has since reinvented his brand from simply Adrian D. Holmes, a brand about finding himself, to Faraway Holmes™, a brand where he—and, by extension, you—can find where to go next.