Punting started for me when I was around 20y.o. I had the odd bit of luck pulling up clubs, but one night a mate who I was out with said to me and another mate he'd been down the RLD of Norwich the week previously and said it was only £20 for a bj. We pretty much left the club immediately and it ended up with us three finding two WG's who took us back to their flat for £20. I was hooked from that night on, we all agreed it was probably cheaper in the long run not buying drinks and spending the night trying to pull.
From then on we'd still go for a few drinks but then nip down the RLD streets and pay for it. Personally I found it easier, less hassle and some of the girls back then were stunners. I also found it was exciting, you had the build up of looking for the best looking girls then deciding which one to pull up next to, it was also a tad frightening as back then police were always patrolling around so this made the punt a bit more edgy. (Doubt one the mates see it that way as he got caught once and ended up in court, but that's another story) Those first few years we'd be down there at least three times a week, and having 2 girls a night. It was bloody fantastic.
Still to this day, all three of us still punt. All settled down, but once we go for a drink it soon turns into discussions of the past, but now it's a case of scrolling through the internet on AW. We've even been away on punting weekends. I think it's good to have people you can discuss punting with, been occasions where one of us has advised the others not to bother with crap WG's.