Blogging on Globetrotters!

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My first blog post for BJJ Globetrotters!
Hello everyone! Let’s start this first blog off with information about myself. I’m a 4th stripe blue belt from Canada and I love martial arts. I have been blogging on my own for a while now, talking about all things jiu-jitsu while I researched, planned, and then began my mission to travel and train around the world. I write a weekly article on my experiences and adventures as I travel and train, and sometimes even have interviews with the cool people I meet along the way. I have named this journey of mine, and the blog itself, Panda’s Odyssey. I’ve been writing about my adventures for some time now and am thrilled to be able to now post those stories here on BJJ Globetrotters, especially since the Globetrotter community has helped me so much and I’ve met so many other fellow Globetrotters along the way.
To fill you in, I started in November and have traveled across Canada, spending 4 months (during the winter!) training and meeting and making all sorts of new friends along the way.  During that time I trained at 42 different clubs across the country. Now I’m in the UK as a start to my goal of a year across Europe and Asia. I’m about 3 weeks into traveling through the UK and Ireland and it’s been a blast so far!
I look forward to posting my adventures here now as well as continuing on now own blog and I hope this gets more people following my adventures and messaging me to meet up. If you want to catch up on any of my past adventures just check my blog at http://pandasodyssey.blogspot.ca
there’s also a map that shows all the clubs I’ve been ever trained at, with contact information for each one. 

United Kingdom!

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I have been training BJJ and working in Singapore since 2014. While at work, i have always been thinking about travelling and also training(im sure this happens to many of us here). The idea of training and travelling  came up to me only around 2015 and that was before i found globetrotters. After few years of saving money, i finally embarked on my journey to travel and train BJJ! The first stop was london(the one way ticket was the cheapest from malaysia). While in  london, i managed to train at WaveBJJ under Lorenzo who unfortunately was away. 

Underground training at Wave

After a week in london, i traveled up north to Stafford where i had my first matsurfing experience under Chris Paines. He teaches at fighting fit grapplers. Obviously i learnt a ton from him and his students. I also stayed with several of his students where they took turns hosting me. I will be forever grateful for that. We also went for gymnastics which was a new awesome experience for me!  

Chris teaching kids class

As for the next destination, i headed for blackpool where i would be training at blackpool UTC under Scot. Here i got another new experience of staying overnight at the gym which was kinda cool! Luckily for me, the weather was good during my stay and i managed to have a nice stroll along the beach. Here i also crossed paths with fellow traveler Robert Barker from Canada who was doing a trip similar to mine. 

Camping at UTC blackpool

Finally, I took a train up north to Glasgow and stayed with Giles and Cristiana where we trained at Marcos Nardini BJJ. We trained almost everyday and they fed me with tons delicious food. They are both great cooks by the way!

After UK i will be moving to Amsterdam to train but i shall leave that for another post. So far i have been enjoying hospitality and warmth. I was a bit nervous before i embarked on this journey but once again it was just because off me getting out of my comfort zone. To Amsterdam for more weed! Erm i mean rolls….