Towards the end, I got to experience hitchhiking, missed my flight home, got stranded at the airport, yet still made it back in time for my friend's wedding!

Were there any funny incidents on the trip? Or interesting stories?
I was crashing at this gym during my stay in Stockholm. It is a self-funded gym by the athletics who train there so everybody has free access to the facilities. I tend to stay up late on the computer and one day two guys came in at midnight. Obviously, they did not expect me to be there while I was equally surprised that people actually train at that hour. One of them looked like Ronaldinho and I said, 

-"Dude, what you doing here?" 

Did you have any favorite places that you visited?
I would have to say the world’s happiest city. Copenhagen was where I met the most people and had some of the most memorable experiences. I also got to meet The BJJ Globetrotter himself, and got to train with a team that knows how to have fun. From parties to no push-ups, no lining up and all hi-fives after training... HOW COOL IS THAT?!!

While in Sweden, I stayed with a friend and crashed at a gym in Stockholm, was hosted by an amazing couch surfer in Copenhagen, and got invited to Switzerland by a beautiful family I met in Malmö. The hospitality I had received was unbelievable.

What advice would you give people who want to travel and do BJJ but aren't quite ready to 'take the leap'?
Save up and plan early if you can. Get in touch with the gyms you want to train at. The BJJ community is very welcoming. Read The BJJ Globetrotter if you need some more reassurance.

Anything else you want to add?
Thank you to everyone who helped made this trip such a good experience. I am very impressed by the concept of BJJ Globetrotters and am absolutely happy to be part of it. Here's a proof of my badass passport:

On my return to Russia I practiced with Kristian Cestaro, a black belt who lives and teaches in Moscow. I had 5 or 6 trainings a week. After every training I wept in the changing room, because my injured arm still caused me troubles. But I promised myself not to give up. I wanted to get to know what BJJ is, to get its gist. In summer I went to Spain where I spent three months training with the brothers Jorge and Augustin at Climent club."

Taking into consideration these facts I understood that I had no chance to get a rich competition experience in Moscow. So I decided to get it abroad. A difficult competing period started. During those 6 months I competed in Tokyo, Amsterdam, London, Kiev, Lisbon and Stockholm. And in all these cities I had some good results: a gold, a silver or a bronze. And one more very important thing: Everywhere I found new friends. It was really great! Every championship gave me a lot of experience. 

During every trip I had to face different problems and mistakes. But I was so passionate about BJJ and the competitions that all this stayed in the background. My main problem was that I do not speak English. In fact, I speak only Russian. But I can assure that actually it is not an obstacle, it is not a problem. If you want to learn, to achieve something in BJJ the first thing you should do is to rise from the sofa and go to the mats. The language you speak does not matter there."

It was probably somewhere around late white belt, early blue. It all stemmed from Eddie Bravo's first two books (Jiu Jitsu Unleashed and Mastering The Rubber Guard) - for two reasons. Firstly, Eddie's philosophy that the half guard was a position you could reach in one step from practically any position in Jiu Jitsu in one step. Secondly, it was the first example I had come across of teaching a 'game'. There was a lot of technique out there, but not so much of a structure to hang those techniques on. I found his books gave me a place to start. I've evolved in my own way since then, but I still use a lot of the techniques that started it all today.

Oh, all the time! And on some level, perhaps they are right. There are guards that are mechanically stronger than the half guard out there, that have more attacks and better defensive options. But when those guards get passed or threatened, sometimes you're going to have to rely on the half guard. So I think it still has its place. And when in doubt you can always point to Lucas Leite as an example of someone playing the basic half guard game at the highest level. So it can be done!

You were an instructor at this years Summer Camp as well as last years - How did you feel like this years camp went?

I just really wish I could have been around more and attended more of the other instructors' classes! It was a real shame that Gianni couldn't make it, but to have so many black belts and just generally skilled, experienced grapplers under one roof and sharing their knowledge was phenomenal. Also to see so many different faces from last time shows how much the team and the idea has spread. Looking forward to the Fall Camp now!

Not really. When I started out, I never really expected to ever win a competition, to be honest. It came as quite a surprise when I won my first medal and, a little later, when I won my first gold medal. As for being an avid competitor - I was fairly active, but honestly there weren't that many competitions around in the early days in the UK, so I just did all of them, really.

Pretty good, to be honest! I managed to take gold in the lightweight division. I had two fights, finishing them both by submission (and with submissions I taught at the globetrotter camp, no less!) The final was against Ilke Bulut, a really tough guy from Switzerland who I had had some very close matches with at purple but who had just received his black belt. I got myself in some slightly precarious positions but managed to get out and eventually finish him with an ankle lock.

It's not a very popular opinion, but I see Jiu Jitsu as a sport, and whatever the rules are it's in your best interest to adapt your skill set to capitalise on them. People will do what they have to to win, and when people's guards have developed to the point that they are almost impassable, people are going to find other ways to either control positions or score. The recent change that limits the time in double guard pull is a welcome one and should get rid of the really ridiculous matches with five minutes of two people rolling back and forth in the middle of the mat, facing each other.

There have been lots, but I think fundamentally it comes down to Chicago and California. I'm not sure Denmark counts any more because I've lived here on and off for over a year. For America though, I think it's simply because I have had more time there to get to know people and really build friendships and feel at home there. But I've visited and trained around a lot of places, and there has never been a time or place when I haven't felt welcomed. That's just one of the great things about the sport.

I am not a huge fan of the closed team structure which is still common in the BJJ world. Personally, I will always fight for Roger Gracie and represent him because he is my instructor, the man who gave me my black belt and, before that, a man who helped me in a lot of other ways when I couldn't really support myself through Jiu Jitsu. So I owe him for that, and to change teams and fight for anyone else, taking all that into account, would be hugely disrespectful of me. That said, I have friends from lots of different teams all over the world. I will coach anyone from any team who needs someone at a tournament, and I will train at any team that will have me. I mean, whilst I've been in Denmark, I've been training at a Checkmat club (Arte Suave) and they've been hugely welcoming. I think teams are only as big an issue as people choose to make them, and I have huge respect for what Christian is doing by allowing people who might otherwise be excluded from some parts of the competition system to compete under a neutral banner for free.

At least monthly, pretty much. But it comes in waves. I might be in one place for a month and then five different countries in the next one. I think I'll settle for saying 'a lot more than most people'. 

But if I told you the secret, then everyone would be doing it! Honestly, it's less about how to get income in than it is about making sure you limit how much you are spending. I earn my money through teaching classes and seminars and through refereeing, pretty much. But what makes everything possible is having friends across the world who are willing to put you up wherever you might be. This takes hotels and rent out of the picture. That, plus taking cheaper flights, not spending money that you don't have to and working enough to get a little money in...that tends to do it, honestly. 

Just a big thank you to the whole community, to Christian for giving me the opportunity to teach at the camp and be part of everything he has put together, and to my sponsors Scramble for keeping me looking good whilst I do what I do. :)