Booty spent two years by the seaside in the late 1990s when his father Martyn was lining up for the Shrimpers.
And Booty is looking forward to being back in the area tomorrow as Gateshead take on Blues at Roots Hall.
“I grew up between one and three down there,” said Booty.
“I do remember things briefly too.
“I first started speaking when I was there so I grew up with the accent.
“I remember going to the pier and also looking out the back window of our house watching dad run round the cricket field in the off season to get fit.
“It’s always nice going back and mum and dad like making the trip down to the game as they’ve still got friends there.
“They say it’s one of their favourite place they’ve lived and they’ll be there on Saturday with their friends which is nice.
“It’s rare I get the chance to play one of my dad’s old teams but it doesn’t change too much for me.
“You always want to win whoever you’re playing but it will be a good game.”
Booty missed Gateshead’s 1-0 win at Roots Hall back in February.
But this season’s visit was one of the first matches the midfielder searched for when the fixtures came out.
“It’s always one of the games you look for first,” said Booty.
“You know how good the atmosphere is going to be and that it’s going to be one of the toughest games away from home.
“We know how good Southend are too.
“It’s probably not been the greatest start for them and they’ve probably not got the results they’ve deserved but you always know it’s going to be tough there.
“The atmosphere is always intense and you know you have to be fully up for it.”
Gateshead have made a fine start to the season and head to Roots Hall sitting fifth in the table – despite suffering a shock 7-1 defeat at Dagenham & Redbridge a fortnight ago.
“Everyone has seen how good the start we had was but then the Dagenham game was a freak one really,” said Booty.
“You never want to lose 7-1 in a game and looking back at I we can’t believe it happened but we showed we had a bit of weakness at times.
“Everything that could possibly have gone wrong across the whole season went wrong in one game I think.
“It’s probably a good thing it all happened at once and we’ve bounced back well.”
Gateshead lost 2-0 at Forest Green before beating Boston United by the same score-line on Tuesday night.
And Booty has been pleased with the level of performance.
“We should probably have won against Forest Green and then the other night we beat Boston which was nice after two defats,” said Booty.
“All in all it’s a been positive start.
“We’ve got 20 points from 10 games and we can’t be much happier because we’d have snapped your hand off for that at the start of the season.”
However, Booty is determined to build on the strong start and secure a top seven finish after last season’s issues when problems with the stadium meant Gateshead were unable to play in the play-offs.
“First and foremost we want to better last season,” said Booty.
“We all know the shenanigans that happened with the play-offs but at the end of the day we still found ourselves in them at the end of the season.
“Anything better than that this season is what we’ve targeted.
“The start we’ve had has given us a real solid foundation to build on.
“We’ve always targeted the play-offs but anything more than that would be a massive bonus.
“We want to be right up towards the top come the end of the season.”
And Booty will do all he can to make that happens.
“It’s a cliché but I want to play as many games as possible,” said Booty.
“I think I’ve played every minute of every game so far and hopefully that can continue.
“Touch wood I won’t get any injuries and then we’ll see where we are come the end of the season.”
Booty’s dad Martyn played alongside current Shrimpers boss Kevin Maher during his time at Roots Hall.
And Maher has been impressed by how well Booty junior continues to perform.
“He’s done brilliantly,” said Maher.
“We watched him at Maidstone and he’s someone we know quite well.
“We’ve watched him and I think going to a team like Gateshead suits him and has really brought him on.
“He’s got great quality on the ball and great delivery from set pieces.
“It will be good to see him on Saturday but hopefully on the right side of the result for us.”
