All posts by Jon

Bad For Running, Worst For Fighting

June 14, 2016 Jon Leave a comment

Back in 2014, while attending the Northwest Overland Rally, I stumbled across a guy displaying flip-flops. In search of some equipment that I was going to take with me to Europe, one thing I wanted was a good pair flip flops. I knew that a lot of the countries that I was going to would be quite warm. I was also looking for something that would hold the weight of the backpack and the long walks. So on that Saturday, I start talking to a guy named Griff and he gave me the lowdown of his business. He was a retired Army Ranger that got out of the service and wanted to create a business that he could make a living off of and help the people that were affected and some of the worst war-torn countries. I wasn’t really in the mindset of buying anything, but I was more curious of why there was a flip-flop company at an Overland meet? It just didn’t mix in my head, but I think curiosity got the best of me and after about an hour or so of talking about everything from my goal of traveling the world to his time in the service. The conversation gradually sway towards Combat Flip Flops.

Las Vegas
He offered to give me flip flops and a day bag as long as I write a good review on his products. One bad thing about that was that I didn’t have a website at the time, so in some ways I credit him for starting this site!

Once it was time for my trip, the flip flops was big part of my carry on because I wanted to be comfortable on the plane and if they lost my bag, I could live in them until I got my bag back. Out of the airplane in Amsterdam, I was in and out of my flip-flops until I got into Italy. When it started getting warm enough to keep them on all day long and I didn’t see my shoes for two weeks. At first the weight of the backpack was giving me blisters on the bottom of my feet because (truth be told) these flip-flops are really not for long distance backpacking trips, But once they got broken in, they could take the abuse. I managed to walk least 200 miles in the flip-flops.

Amsterdam

Poland

Venice

Barcelona

Rome

Mediterranean Sea
The last portion of my trip of Europe was a bit colder and the flip-flops didn’t get much action. On my way home I managed to hit New York and Washington D.C. By this point it was about 90° average in both cities, so the flip-flops came back out and I managed to walk a long ways for both those cities and even managed to make it home all while wearing my “AK-47” flip flops.

Brooklyn Bridge

Washington DC

I wouldn’t say these are the best flip-flops in the world, but they never let me down and to this day they haven’t let me down. I can probably do the same trip again without any problem with these flip-flops. They are well-designed and the quality is top notch. As for the Claymore day bag that I brought with me was with me for almost every day. Especially in places that I couldn’t leave my valuables in the places that didn’t have safes or lockers and it never was uncomfortable, no matter how much weight was put in. Most of the time I just carried my iPad, the GoPro and a water bottle in the bag. It definitely came in handy when I was going from airport to airport. There’s not even an ounce of damage or wear on this bag, even though it made it through 19 different country’s.

While planning my next trip around the world, I am sticking with the Combat Flip Flops Company for the same product as I used for my Europe trip. I already purchased a couple new flip-flops one of which I’m going to bring with me and I have plans of bringing the same bag.

I expect nothing less but the best out of these products going all around the world once again I am grateful that I know Griff and his wonderful brand. I hope all the best for him. But I have a feeling the future is going to be nothing, but up. Especially after being featured in the Shark Tank, where they had huge success and got three sharks to invest in the product! I wish nothing but the best to CFF family and happy to be a small part of it!

Randomness

The Stranger I once knew

January 24, 2016 Jon Leave a comment

We met in kindergarten

You were instantly popular

I was barely remembered

You are always the best in everything in school

I struggled in it

You were the star in football

I was stuck riding with my dad every weekend

You bullied me because I was different

I tried to fit in, but couldn’t

You turned my only friends against me

I spent most of my time alone

We grew up and went to separate high schools

You got introduced to parties, alcohol and drugs

I kept my promise to stayed away from it

You spent most of your time with a bad crowd

I developed a brotherhood of friends

The parties and drugs consumed you even after school

Work and racing consumes my life

You live like there’s no tomorrow

I planned for tomorrow

You refuse to help and destroyed your friendships

I made my mistakes and learn from them

you’re in and out of rehab

I have traveled the world

You took advantage of the system and found the easy way out

I took my expenses and tried to inspire other people to do the same

You wander the streets on a drug bench

I wander the streets seeing the world

You saw me at the store and automatically judged and insulted who I’ve become

I saw you and felt sorrow of what you’ve become

It’s funny how the privileged can end up taking the easy path to destruction

It can be so easy to take the easy path through life and take advantage of what can kill you, but not many can look at the path going up the mountain and strive to make it on top

What really separates us is that I hope you find a way out and hope for some success in your life

Ireland

The Luck Of Ireland

September 6, 2015 Jon Leave a comment

Getting on the bus from Belfast heading towards Dublin and was a little different this time the girl from Orlando decided to join up with me to go to Dublin, being that it was the last leg of her trip as well. Once there, it took us a couple hours to finally find or hostel, but managed to find with very little worry.

She was really tired from the bus ride over and decided to go to bed for the rest the day to see if she could feel better. Our plan was to hang out and wonder Dublin’s before she left. As for me I got a hold of my good friends that I met in Prague, Czech Republic that lived right there in town. which to find out was only a stones throw away from my hostile. We wondered The streets of Dublin for a few hours single night life before I walked back and went to bed as well.

The next morning I had the typical hostel breakfast then managed to get a hold of the girl from Orlando and we started to walk around most of the city saying the Castle of Dublin, having a traditional Irish lunch and walked through 1000-year-old church. We also managed to go grocery shopping for some food for the dinner that we were going to have. It was a fantastic time but it was coming to an end with her, so we said our goodbyes and I planned what was left of my trip.

Knowing I was my last weekend and year I decided to take a very spontaneous trip to Limerick, Ireland. Which was literally just a finger on a map. I managed to find a bed-and-breakfast that was in town that was affordable and found a bus tour to the Cliffs of Moher.

The Cliff of Moher was only a 2 hour bus ride from Limerick though the back country of Ireland. The only bad thing about the day trip was that the way the bus schedule was, it only 45 minutes to see the cliffs before jumping on the only return bus back to limerick, so it didn’t give me much to enjoy the true beauty, but I took what I could get being that it was my last couple of days in Europe.

Once I got back to the bed-and-breakfast I decided to enjoy my room to myself. It was a good feeling to finally have some privacy although I did miss the interactions with the people around me. You get so used to having having a friend or two to talk with but in this case it was just me and the occasional conversation with the owner of the place the next morning I was back on the train one last time in Europe going back to Dublin where I met up with my good friends.

The last day there was very enjoyable. I got to hang out with the guys and enjoy one last club. The next morning I packed up all my stuff and got them ready to be thrown onto a plane back to the states it was very bittersweet. I did mess home a bit but I did absolutely love what I was doing and tried to cherish every last moment of it. My journey wasn’t over yet I still had to go through America….

Ireland

The Troubles in Belfast

September 6, 2015 Jon Leave a comment

After my journey through Edinburgh I had to catch a bus that drove me all through Scotland to a small harbor where I jumped onto a ferry to the harbor of Belfast. Once off the ferry I meant two very lovely Australian girls that was doing basically the same trip as me. We partnered up in search of our hostels, which were near each other by a few blocks. Once they found their’s, I walked down the street to mine. I can only book a day at the hospital and had to figure out the next day as I went. I joined up with a few people that were traveling for their summer break through Ireland and managed to see a traditional Irish bar that night. They left early that morning which left me alone again. I started talking with some of the staff members and they all told me that maybe the best thing to do the next day that night was to sleep on their couch as long as I got permission from the manager. I asked the manager and he said I could if I worked for the hostel that next day and that’s where it all started with me working in Belfast for about three or four days, not paying for one night.

  It was a great experience, but unfortunately it wasn’t a big experience. I did manage to meet a lovely girl from Orlando. I joined her to go to the titanic museum. Other than that it was just me sitting around.

   One big thing that I did do in Belfast was to take a black cab tour around “the troubles” in Belfast which is an ongoing battle between the Protestants and the Catholics, which has ultimately been settled right now but still have remnants of a war in the small town. After seeing all that I realize that Belfast wasn’t the best place to come and visit but I definitely had an eye-opening experience.

   I finally managed to get a bus ticket to Dublin and I set forth my last week in Europe.

Scotland

Castles On The Mountain Top

September 6, 2015 Jon Leave a comment

Jumping on a bus at 11 o’clock at night is not the most ideal especially when you have a 10 hour bus ride ahead of you and you can’t sleep. Luckily I had good company on that bus ride, which stayed with me for most of the journey through Scotland. There’s not really much to be said about Scotland other than it is quite beautiful and the scenery is a lot different than the other places I’ve been to on this journey. I met a few friends while I was there and we managed to walk to one of the castles in town. Some stories are best left to the pictures you take so here’s Scotland in the eye of the camera:

England

God Save The Queen

September 6, 2015 Jon Leave a comment

Getting to the main train station 2 hours early, I knew it was going to be a different experience this time around. I was taking the Eurostar train that travels under the English Channel to London and with that, it has the same security as the airport. I went through 2 security checkpoints and waited about an hour in line to get to the train. Once I was on the train, it was surprisingly the same as most other trains on my trip so far.

I managed to rest my eyes for some of the trip. When I woke up, I looked at the time and realized that we would be arriving soon, but we didn’t and I started to wonder if we are going really late. A hour past by and we finally made it to London’s main train station. Wondering why we came in late I just decided to walk to the hostel that I booked a few nights before. It was a part of a big chain of hostels that are all over Europe named, “The Generator”. I stayed in The Generator in Paris for a night and really enjoyed it, so it was a no-brainer to book it in London as well. It was there, when I realize that I was not an hour late, but the time changed when we crossed borders. Looking stupid when asking why I couldn’t check in at 3:00 when it was really 2:00, I got up to my room and immediately passed out.

The first night in London was a bit odd. I had no energy from the train ride that afternoon, but I really wanted to go see some of London. So without a map or GPS, I just decided to start walking. Going through some places I couldn’t name now and getting very lost, I somehow managed to get back to the hostel at a reasonable time.

The next day was very scattered much like the first day. It took me until late afternoon to finally get up enough energy to go see the city in the daytime. Which was actually quite nice, but after a couple hours I went back to the hostel and just vegged out. At this point in my trip I was wore out on looking at city stuff. My batteries were running empty and I just didn’t have the urge to see much of anything there.

That night I decided to plan my next day the way I wanted to see it and wrote a list of all the things in London that would be important to me and I would take a walking tour on my own for the whole last full day in London.

The next morning I got up fairly early walk down the street to have one of the best breakfasts I’ve ever had. After that, I walked to my first destination, Baker St. and the home of Sherlock Holmes. Once there I traveled to Abbey Road which was down the street. Then I walked across town and stumbled across the US Embassy on my way to find Jimi Hendrix apartment that he passed away in. Unfortunately Jimi Hendrix flat was turned into a flower shop and there’s really not much to see. For the grand finale I walked to the James Bond car museum. After a few hours of walking around I finally managed to get back to the hostel where I grab the iPad and went down to the Internet area of the hostel, where I stumbled across a girl named Tori.

Tori was from Los Angeles, but was there on a business trip. After talking for a little bit she mentioned she wanted to go to a pub crawl and was wondering if I wanted to come with. I told her I would under one circumstance, I really wanted to see the Towerbridge at night. She agreed to the terms and we managed to go find something to eat before the pub crawl started.

  Now I can’t really describe that night on this blog, all I have to say is that it was the most amazing night I’ve ever had! And she kept her promise!

The next day, I had to make the decision on where I was going to go next and I had to leave that day. I looked on the map and saw Edinburgh, Scotland was only 8 hours away, but the bus didn’t leave until 11:00 that night. So I spent the rest of the day with the couple people that I met the night before including Tori and we had a really good time and a bittersweet goodbye.

London was a spectacular place,but with the way things were going, I just didn’t have the energy to enjoy it as much as I wanted to. It was the first time I entered into a country and didn’t have to ask if they spoke English. If I could go back I probably wouldn’t because even though I didn’t have the best time during the day I could never match up to that night!!

France

Eiffel Tower land

September 6, 2015 Jon Leave a comment

After a very fast train ride, I arrived at the Paris main station. This time around I was prepared on where my hostel was and what which metros to take on the way there, But even after all that, there was some missed turns and had to ask a person or two where I was. Eventally I found the street where the hostel was When I realized it a street, it was stairs… 158 stairs to be exact and with a 40lb backpack, it was a bit of a challenge, but i made it.

Once checked in to the hostel, I met two guy in the room I was staying in. They were both from Australia, but both worked in a hostel in London and was spending the weekend exploring Paris. Nearing dinner time, we decided to go find something to eat and after about two hours of walking, we finally did so. Being in France I want to try out the traditional food, Escargot and so I did. It was surprisingly delicious. Afterward we walked to the Mourlen Rouge and some local bars before heading back to the hostel for the night.

The next day we walked through out the city and saw some famous landmarks like the Lock bridge, Notre Dame and much more.

That night I ventured out on my own to find food and to see the Effel Tower up close at night. Getting closer to the tower, I managed to come across a cigar shop where I purchased one and smoked it on the way there. Once I arrived at the iconic landmark, I realize just how big The Eiffel Tower was. It with glowing in the night sky I managed to get underneath at work and see it up close and personal even though I had no interest in seeing this landmark is still impressed after about a half hour of being there, midnight rolls around and the tower turns from a Goldenglow to a sparkling Beauty!! After a little while I found a taxi back to the hostel, which a bit harder than I thought, but I made it.

The next day was a bit scattered. My original plan was to go to Lemans, France and see the legendary race track there, but with a bit of poor planning it never came to be. Instead I had to tackle the situation of where I was staying next in Paris, being that my stay at this hostel was done and they had no more rooms available because of a holiday. Likely this is the 21st century and I could book another hostel on my favorite site of the trip hostileworld.com. Unfortunately the hostel that I did book that morning said it did have rooms available, but when I went there that was not the case and they sent me to another hostel across town. To be honest, it was a bit of a wasted day, but I took out of it a few friends that I met at this final destination and we managed to make a night out of it. I couldn’t be out too late though because the next day I was on the train going underthings channel to London.

The overall of Paris is that originally I didn’t want to come here. It’s just the fact that a lot of Americans think that most of the people here are rude and there’s a high possibility of getting robbed. But to be quite honest with you, Paris is no different than the other countries that I’ve been, although Paris is probably the most famous city in the world (being that you can see the Eiffel Tower on every travel magazine in the entire library). The people are about the same as everywhere else here in Europe. They’re not overly rude. They’re just living life just like everybody else. The one thing that I’ve noticed that is so different from all the other countries is that the scenery, much like Eiffel Tower is over publicized. Everybody wants to come and see the sights of Paris and although there’s nothing wrong with that, The only thing is that the place is packed full of tourists. Some of the lines to certain places are 4 to 6 hours long on a Tuesday afternoon in the rain and with that I didn’t go and see most of the sites that people usually see. I can care less about the Louvre or the Mona Lisa. Experiencing the city was something that I had to do, but nothing impressed me here. I didn’t even put good photos of the city on Facebook being that everybody that goes there takes the same damn photos;-)

Germany

Intermission (The Sick Days)

September 6, 2015 Jon Leave a comment

Leaving Paradise to celebrate my birthday with my German family. Unfortunately I sat next to the sickest person in Spain and like clockwork, I got ill within 6 hours off the plane. The best part of this situation was that I wasn’t paying for the room I was staying in and I had my beautiful german mother to take care of me. The fact that I was sick means I have really nothing to write about, but I did manage to see the Mercedes Benz museum and I figure I’ll share some of those pictures:

Spain

It Was Simply Paradise

September 6, 2015 Jon Leave a comment

Feet dipped in the sea at the shore of Italy, I lost myself in the sight of the beautiful blue water. I was waiting patiently for my boat to arrive to take me to Barcelona. Unfortunately I got to Civitavecchia Port a few hours early, which in some ways was nice because I wasn’t in a rush. Once the boat ported, I was the first one on, I put the stuff in the room and off I went. I was eager to see this ferry that I was planning on for the past year. It had 2 restaurants, 3 bars and even a pool. After the expedition, I went back to the cabin to rest when I met my bunk mates, two awesome guys for Canada.

They had the same idea I had of sleeping for majority of the the boat ride. We managed to sleep for about 15 hours on that, which was much needed being that I got very little sleep in the hostels I was staying at. After our rest we decided to go get lunch on the boat while waiting to dock in Barcelona. It took about an hour for the boat finally get into the harbor where we were dropped off and had to find our way to our hostels. Being that I was deprived of Wi-Fi on the entire trip on the boat I had no idea where my hostel was located but they had a rough idea where there’s was and I decided just follow them to get Wi-Fi. Once at their hostel, I was greeted as if I was staying there as well and was even fed dinner. After a couple hours I decide to venture out on my own to find my own hostel. Unfortunately the hostel I was staying at was a chain hostel (meaning there was more than one Saint Jordi hostel in town). Not knowing that, I walked to the wrong one where they inform me that the one I was supposed to go to was another 30 minute walk after about an hour and a half I finally got to my hostel at midnight. Worn out from a long walk I jumped in the bed.

The next day I tried getting a hold of the Canadians that I met on the boat to see if they wanted to wonder the city. One of them was still sleeping, but the other insisted that I would meet them at their hostel. We started to wonder seeing the La Sagrada Familia cathedral, which has another 13 years before finally being done. We also explored downtown and walked all the way to the beaches of Barcelona which was my first time barefoot in the sand. After our journey we went back to their house to grab the other Canadian that was surprisingly still sleeping at 4 o’clock in the afternoon. We went and grabbed a bite to eat then walk back to the hostel to join the rest of the crew there to go on a pub crawl. After a couple pubs I decided to head back to my hostel to get some rest.

The next day was special to me because it was my birthday, but I’m not one to celebrate my birthday so I didn’t really tell anybody. It was also my last day at that hostel and I decided to switch over to the hostel I was hanging out at in the first place throughout the day. That night I was getting things ready in my room, when I noticed it was about time for dinner. Walking into the dinning area, all the light turned off and a makeshift birthday cake with 2 lit candles sat on the table. Then everyone in the hostel sang happy birthday to me. It was the best surprise I’ve ever had. That night we all went out to karaoke and stayed out until the early morning.

The next day, me and few others from the hostel went to the beach for most of the day. Just like the night before we went out to the clubs, but I left early because that next morning I was getting on a plane to Germany to celebrate my birthday with my German family for a few days.

Barcelona was one the most spectacular places I’ve ever been to and the people I met there became life long friends. It’s one place I will be going to again soon!!

Italy

The Sinking Island

June 26, 2015 Jon Leave a comment

After Salzberg, the plans that I set were very up in the air. Being that Italy was a lot more expensive than the last couple of countries I was in, I was very worried that it was going to hurt my budget that i set for myself. So at the last minute I decided to try to book a hostel in Venice, not a very easy thing to do! I somehow found a campsite that had opening spots. So with that booked It, jumped on the train and headed towards Italy. Once on the first train I started to wonder if I needed reservations for these two trains going to Venice. The first train was fine it wasn’t that packed, but the second train was and I couldn’t find a spot. So I sat at the minibar car of the train and slowly ordered food for the next 2 1/2 hours the guy finally checked my ticket and said that I needed a reservation and I told him “why don’t I just sit here” with a big smile on my face. He nodded and told me to enjoy my meal.

Fresh off the train in Venice I noticed quickly at the train station is kind of dropped into the ghetto, but unlike the other times, it was during the afternoon. So I decided to start walking to my camp/hostel. For about a half mile everything was okay but I got lost, turned around and grab a taxi that was a little overpriced, but at least I was getting to where I was supposed to be, safely. Checking in to my hostile I noticed that I had a tent instead of a room. It was a 10 x 10 wall tent with one bunkbed and one regular bed. Being that I was the first one in the tent I chose the regular bed. Getting my things ready I decided to go out to Venice which is about an hour bus ride from where I was at. Getting to the island was fairly easy, but walking around it wasn’t so much. It’s very cramped and there is a lot of people there and most people tend to get lost, but luckily I had that in mind. So getting lost on purpose was actually pretty fun. After a while, I started to get bored when I started to find my way back to the bus. It took about an hour to find my way even grabbing one of the most delicious ice cream I’ve ever had, but I was back on the bus heading back to camp. Thinking about Venice on the ride back, I started to realize that it was kind of depressing being that I was by myself and everybody I saw was with somebody. Venice is a very romantic city and being that you’re by yourself, you start to feel a little lonely.

The next day, I woke up not exactly knowing what I was going to do being that I only booked one night. So I started going through my options when I stood up and noticed body laying in the bed next to me with beautiful blue eyes staring at me. She came in at about midnight when i was sleeping. We started talking for a bit and she ask if I wanted to join her to walk through Venice, so I booked the next night there and decided to explore the sinking island again with her.

Having company with you while walking through Venice is a big difference being that you’ve got someone to experience this beautiful place with, no matter if it’s someone that you’re romantic with or just a friend that you just met. We had no destination to go to, we pointed on the map that was farthest to us and started walking discovering sights along the way. We walked for mile along that island until it was dark. That night we were so tired, we just past out once we were back to camp.

The next day I planned to take a night train to Rome. The original plan was to go to Bologna, Italy to tour the Ferrari and Lamborghini factories, which was a dream of mine, but with the poor planning I had to bypass all that and head straight to Rome. The good thing about taking a train was that I could spend another day to explore. She had plans to go and explore the two islands outside of Venice. Murano and Burano were hidden gems that was a short boat ride away. Having a tough time saying no to my beautiful companion for the weekend I threw my things together and Took another journey to the island. Once back in Venice we jumped on a water taxi and set sail to first island, Murano. It’s a quite small island populated by 5000 residents, that’s known for their glasswork, which is littered throughout the island. After a self tour around Murano, we jumped onto another boat headed towards Burano. This island was well known for its lace fabric, but what I noticed the most was the most colorful houses I have ever seen.

Shortly after walking around the island I realized the time came for me to go back and catch my train to Rome. So we said our goodbyes and we went our separate ways. I jumped on the boat and took the long trek back to the train station in Venice to bought my train ticket, then jumped on the bus back to the camp, packed up the rest of my stuff and took a walk to the train station.

Venice was very beautiful and definitely a sight to see, especially that people are starting to say that we have less than 10 years before it finally sinks into the ocean. I’m happy I saw it when I could and hopefully things will change it stays for a little longer. The island are very crowded with tourists and things are quite expensive there. I’ve had to skip a meal or two just keep on budget, but it was a sacrifice worth taking!

Next stop Rome…