Age: 30 years old
Belt: Purple belt under Chris Bowe, Gracie Barra Dundrum, Dublin
Profession: Traveler(!)
How many years in BJJ: 7 years in BJJ
Other martial arts: None
Where do you live: Ireland
Where are you originally from: Ireland

I turned 30 in April 2015 and I had moved to a new job in November 2014 in the medical industry, which was meant to be the start of a new and promising career. Everything I had spent the last 10 years working towards.

This was it, a new start, a new beginning. A new career with great perks, company car, phone, all expenses covered and a lucrative commission structure. My weeks now were starting to consist of getting up early, doing a full days work finishing at 5pm. I now was eating lunch in my car and getting an hour of rest before doing a 2-3 hr session several times a week only to finish training at 21:30, get changed and drive 1 hour 10 min home to shower, eat, sleep and repeat.

6 months into this routine I started to question myself: "is this it? ", "is this my life until I retire?"

So all the questions that came with the unexpectedness of a more set lifestyle was you starting point?
Yes, I wake up to count down the hours until I can go train and the bit in between is only to help pay my bills. I had everything I had ever worked for. Nice house, nice car, new suits, etc., but what if I don’t make it to 65? What if I’m too old to enjoy my later years? When is life going to start? When do I wake up and do something which I enjoy? This is not enough for me. This is not what makes me happy.

Okay, so there you are realizing that you needed to do something, what was next for you then?
In April 2015 I announced to my partner that we needed to go and enjoy our lives! She has never questioned my decision. This is what I need and have to do: 8 month trip around South East Asia. We saved hard for 9 months, rented our house out and jet off to "live the dream". I just wanted to train jiu jitsu and she wanted sunshine and adventure. I had thought of it all, or so I thought.

9 months…how did you guys manage to sort out the budget for such a trip?
After a few discussions and a calculated amount of savings per month I knew how much we would have and we could budget the 8 month trip to have €70 a day allowance. To maximize our travels we chose South East Asia where we were sure we would have sunshine and affordable living costs. The breakdown was 5
days in Beijing, 5 days in Tokyo, 25 weeks in South East Asia, 7 weeks driving the coast of Australia, and finally a week in Dubai to acclimatize on the way home. Even with all the planning our bills were not covered and we had to leave a chunk of our savings behind because society tells you not to have bad credit or to fall into negative equity. So my €70 a day was to cover accommodation, food, travelling and any other expense which may arise.

I sounds like a sound budget makes for good ahead planning. But you mentioned before that you had thought of it all…except for one thing…what happened?
Well, every day is a learning curve. Being as naive as l am and knowing the BJJ scene in Ireland so well and knowing the support the clubs in Ireland give each other, the biggest expense I had not accounted for was the walk in fees to the clubs.
I was in for a shock. My first session in Beijing was over half of my daily budget. I couldn’t continue with this and stay within budget, and it was only day 3 of my travels. Something would have to give. I considered less sessions, but training is what motivated me to travel. Should I eat less? Sleep in run down places?

That seems like some challenge for a tightly planned 9 months trip! What happen - did you change your plans?
This was my dream and on my first session I felt as though I had made the wrong decision in going. I had buyer’s remorse from 1 training session. I couldn’t believe the walk in fees. So late one night angered, disappointed, and in disbelief I ranted on BJJ Globetrotters Facebook page - not my style - but I felt I had nowhere to turn to. My dream was unraveling, but suddenly my news feed exploded with invites and support. At last the BJJ spirit is alive and well.

I am now 3 weeks into travelling and have been to Beijing, Tokyo, Bangkok, and now I reside in a village called Chiang Mai in the northern part of Thailand for the next 3 days. Everyday I still learn something. Last week I got 7.5 hours of training in 3 sessions. After battling jet lag, dizziness - and most of all the heat - I hope to increase my sessions to a minimum 3-5 sessions a week while I travel Thailand and Vietnam.
In 6 weeks I head towards the islands where I will be much more settled and will start morning and evening sessions and really experience the "dream".

I now wake up not counting down the hours until I can train or working on helping someone else’s dream. I now look forward to the mornings where I wake up next to a beach and I can drill with my partner, practice my movement techniques, do some yoga for bjj or even go for a jog before the midday heat kicks in.

Brian, one last thing before we send you back out on your journey: Would you care to pass on advice to your fellow Globetrotters?
After 3 weeks the advice I can give is:

• Find what makes you happy and just do it, be selfish, this is your life,
• Invest in a travelling gi, I did not know these existed and have 2 large Storm gis which takes up so much bag space
• Email all clubs prior to visiting and check if they do a free trial classon their website
• If you dont ask, you wont get..... Tell them you are on a budget and is there anything they can do

I hope this will help future bjj travellers and I would like to take the opportunity to thank Bjj globetrotters, Christian keep up the great work!