This project began November, 2020
Who am I and what is this?
Well first of all, hi – thanks for reading this! I’m James.
I managed to escape the grid. I skipped the script and decided to live radically different when I hit adulthood. This is a culmination of all my experiences and hobbies.
I moved to a foreign land, got rid of my phone for 4 years, and approached things from a totally different angle.
For a large chunk of my life I was in professional sports, though injuries and alternative live paths brought me elsewhere:
Now I fly, swim, fight, bike, trip, and run all over the place!
I carry that mindset around with me: Be professional in whatever you do. Adeptly odd. Confidently funky. Professionally strange.
I’m a fitness fanatic, music & tech dork, and consciousness astronaut.
Basically this all started one day while baked in the bathtub and thinking about how to make $. I’m pretty much just a strange guy wandering around the earth and having things happen.
I wanted to be real
The digital world is superficial and intelligence is artificial these days. I spend childhood in virtual worlds and escaped to the real one. I ditched the digital realm and moved across the globe. No phone, no problem.
It was great, though while pursuing professional sports (soccer) I branched off due to injuries and began working online as a freelancer. I managed to become self-sufficient early.
I started this site as a repository of all life stuff – from documenting my strange adventures to giving guides and reviews. Just anything that I like or want to share I post it here. Like social media but I have no one to impress – there is no like button on this site. It’s all real.
I’m a nut
A fanatic of fun and addicted to adventure – I love going beyond what’s normal and embrace the strange. It’s all part of the experience. Let’s open the nutshell.
The Rocky Mountains sparked that desire to explore the wild and extreme. Moving to Brazil ignited the urge to experience humanity.
Robberies at gunpoint, high-level professional sports, near-death seizures, and paragliding on LSD – these experiences shaped my mind and desire to seek out the different.
I’m a travel and adventure nut. An experience lover. I crave to view this world and all its aspects – good or bad. The only way to become found is to first be lost.
I’m a bit obsessive with the best – the best equipment, sights, atmosphere, music, time, experiences. I avoid the paved path and wander to test out new ones.
Of course, I love health & wellbeing. I eat well, sleep well, and train as hard as I can. I try to push my body to the limits of our human potential – within reason.
I say within reason – I did a heavy amount of damage to my body through my sports career; be it a T3-T4 disc compression, torn ligaments, 6 years of MTSS, etc. Thankfully transitioning to barefoot shoes helped monumentally with my injuries.
I do strange things
I love to adventure, bike, climb, run, swim, play sports, etc, and everything else under the sun. Catch me going snorkelling or playing beach footy on a sunny day or rolling in Jiu Jitsu when the warmth is gone.
But that’s not strange, is it?
No, I also go to very weird events, experiences, and festivals. I like to dress in odd outfits, go to unusual ceremonies, and do things very different.
I want to help you
Forget the ‘life coaches’ and paid courses – I will help you for free. Just ask. I will gladly give my insight and direct you in the right way. I managed to escape the grindscape, I want to help you too.
I speak native English, good French & Portuguese (Br), and mediocre German. I love languages and want to learn more!
So that’s myself in a nutshell. There’s a lot more to it than that though 🙂
You want more info?
Here’s some more info on my developmental years, where I’m at now, and how I see the future to be.
I’m just a dude from Canada, I’ve had the last 8 years living abroad in various places such as Brazil, the Netherlands, Denmark, Croatia, Germany, and now Portugal.
I grew up in Calgary, Canada, and spent most of my developing life there. A standard middle-class suburban house with a caring and encouraging set of parents – a Belarussian classical musician and a Canadian hunting father. I was mostly interested in sports, music, and video games.
At a ripe young age I had the fortune of heading to Brazil to play football (soccer). Cumulating aprox. 1.5 years between the ages of 12 and 15, I was back and forth between Calgary, Rio, and beautiful Belo Horizonte.
Some short trips in between to Portugal and whatnot solidified the athlete mindset and general career path at a young age alongside some psychological conditioning – both good and bad.
It set in stone my desire for adventure, too.
Not to mention a heavy plethora of injuries to basically everywhere in my legs, it set the foundation for a unique journey.
Right after graduating high school, I set my eyes on the Netherlands. Why? I’m not sure. I remembered scrolling Reddit.com/r/IWantOut and realizing that I disliked highschool and living in my hometown. I didn’t know why, but I realized it’s such a vain and counterproductive society. Where isn’t though?
I had no idea what the Netherlands was like; I had no connections, no job, and I was a fresh and go-lucky 18 years young adult with his first true tastes of freedom. I sold all my stuff, computers, car, etc to afford some time.
By happy mistake I chose to live in Leiden – a cozy and cute student city in the heart of the Netherlands. From there, my internal growth skyrocketed. I was still following the professional sports route while exploring the cosmos of psychedelics.
You can read more about Living in the Netherlands as a Canadian here.
Unfortunately, I developed a spine injury after a while which sent me back to Canada for a short term. After a quick hiatus and closing the Canadian chapter, I went after Denmark.
Likewise with cute Holland, I had no knowledge of Denmark. I meandered about for a term before deciding – damn – Denmark f*king sucks. I met a beautiful Slovakian girl who my took my heart for a while, though I slipped away to Croatia for a change of environment – Denmark was not a place for me.
Living in Denmark as a Canadian stunk, so I got out of there.
Arrival in Croatia was an immediate change of pace. Warmth, comfort, flavor and a little grit. Rijeka was an incredible place and I stayed there for a while. I developed, grew, and relaxed there and highly recommend it.
Read up on my Living in Croatia as a Canadian post for a full overview of that experience.
As my Visa expired and life pointed me in other directions, a variety of incredible synchronicities and friends led me to the behemoth – Berlin.
Oh Berlin. I thought Germany was lame. I mean really, how cool could the capital of Germany be?
Well, it’s insane. Packed with content and potentially overwhelming, I got lucky and found a nice place before 2020. Then Coronavirus happened.
Back to Canada in March of 2020 – when shit hit the fan – and I got to reconnect with family, friends, the wilderness, and ambient stress/anxiety that Calgary presents. It was essential to growth though I hope to not repeat that too often.
Returning to Berlin from Oct 2020-Oct 2021, I made a move to Portugal in order to enjoy a quieter life, stronger nature, and to integrate new learnings.
In present times I work towards an adventure race while running this site. I’m currently situated in the Algarve (Portugal) in a lovely house in a nice location. If you’re around the area (or Eu in general), please send a message and I’d love to have you over for an evening! You’re genuinely welcome to sleep at my place, provided you’re not a creep.
I’ve been focusing on creating a more permanent home base. After 7+ years abroad, you end up wanting a place to return to!
I have all sorts of plans for the near and deep future.
Plan 1 is to obtain citizenship in Eu (Portugal). That way Visa and residency issues are a thing of the past!
Plan 2 would be to prepare for some deeper, wilder excursions. On the radar are the following:
- Explore the desert, mountains, and urban landscapes of Morocco.
- Bike from Berlin to Kazakhstan, checking out some derelict Soviet Space Stations along the way.
- Explore Africa & Rwanda – I’m feeling a call to go to the jungles, deserts, and savannahs.
Plan 3 (10 year goal), I would like to build an eco-house. Somewhere in the hills, by the sea, or near a river. Fully self-sustaining eco-home type deal where I can utilize geothermal, solar, or hydro electricity for power and grow a permaculture garden for food. Hunting and gardening for the rest of my needs.
I don’t plan to be 100% off grid as the internet and connectedness seems to be omnipresent and quite useful, though I’d like to distance myself from the shit-show of modern life. Trying to find that gentle balance.
I enjoy freedom and as a life goal I would like to explore/experience as much of the world as I can during this lifetime. After all, why are we here anyways?