CURRENT MISSIONS:

2018 Summer Crossing of Iceland from North to South- 450km
2018 Greenland Arctic Circle Trail Crossing- 140km

Eventually I want to walk to the South Pole!

Places I'll be in 2018:
Iceland
Greenland
The Faroe Islands
The UK

ABOUT ME

In 2014, on my 24th birthday, I quit my job, sold all of my possessions and hopped on a one way flight to Japan. I spent 6 months in Japan walking from Cape Sata, the southern most point of Japan, to Cape Soya, the northern most point in Hokkaido, more than 3,000 km.

After my first cross country walk, I headed for New Zealand where I walked the Te Araroa Trail, another 3,000km trek from the northern tip of the North Island to the southern tip of the South Island.

I have now been a backpacker/hiker for 4 years and don't plan on stopping!

I am also walking the globe for another important reason. Throughout my childhood and a lot of my adult life, I have struggled with being morbidly obese. At my highest weight I was 320lbs (150kg) and on the verge of health problems and possibly an early death if I kept at it. I decided to make a change. After 3 years of hard work and struggle, I was able to lose 140lbs (60kg) and get my life back. Beings that I know how hard it is to struggle with obesity, I am now making it my personal mission to inspire others to lose the weight and get their lives back as well. Not only do I want to inspire people along this walk but I also set up my own personal charity fundraiser with "The Walk from Obesity" to hopefully save $25,000 for the organization. This organization helps promote good fitness and eating habits to the overweight by hosting walks throughout the country that brings people together in showing them that it can be done and that they are not alone in the fight! That is why I want to take this another step further (literally) and show these people that not only can it be done, but it can be done to great extents as well. All while pursuing my own dreams, I will show others that they can pursue theirs as well! That's my mission!

News articles and interviews:

http://www.newsweek.com/after-shedding-140-pounds-yu-gi-oh-card-champion-gets-ready-walk-around-world-231354

http://www.omaha.com/article/20140217/LIVEWELL02/140219064/1696

http://www.omahamorningblend.com/videos/246329941.html

http://papilliontimes.com/article/20140306/SNI02/140309269/1121#papillion-grad-aims-to-catch-the-world-one-step-at-a-time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOgmTcnjjxg

http://www.omaha.com/sarpy/papillion/papillion-native-planning-trek-to-south-pole/article_1faba77a-928f-5359-ad63-6fde71f73f91.html

PHILOSOPHY

Live life knowing that someday you will be on your deathbed and you will have regrets for all of the things, ideas, places, and people you dreamed of seeing but did not act upon. If you understand that notion then the rest should be easy.

Warum ich bei Couchsurfing bin

Just like everyone else, I'm here to meet unique people, learn different perspectives, create great memories, and give back what I have to offer. What that may be, I have no idea!

Interessen

Traveling the world of course! Landscape Photography is my art while traveling and hiking is the journey to my art.

You can check out my work on my Instagram: www.instagram.com/thestrawhatbackpacker

I love the gym. If I'm not traveling, and not at work, odds are I'm training at the gym.

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Musik, Filme und Bücher

My Favorite Books:

The Stormlight Archive
The Kingkiller Chronicles
The Red Rising Series
Ready Player One
The Mistborn Series
Pretty much any self improvement book...

Eine tolle Erfahrung, die ich gemacht habe

Walked across Japan, New Zealand, part of Australia and summited Mt. Fuji.

I also climbed Mt. Doom and destroyed the ring of power. You're welcome!

Lehren, lernen, teilen

I would love to take epic pictures of you on mountain tops if you let me! In exchange for letting me stay with you I will try to give you badass Facebook pictures!

Was ich mit Gastgebern teilen kann

Motivation
Mindfullness
Epic stories of me sneaking into abandoned amusement parks in Japan
Beer and food ;)

An epic adventure perhaps as well?!

Länder, die ich besucht habe

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, United States

Länder, in denen ich gelebt habe

Japan, New Zealand, United States

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