Featured Traveller: Daniël Bertina – BJJ Globetrotters
Daniël Bertina BJJ – Photo by Kevin Kwee
Age: 4 decades of excellence. I’m aging like fine wine (or vinager…)
Belt: Black belt 1st degree. COVID-19 undermined my promotion to 2nd degree. I blame the Chinese biolab. Let’s hope I don’t get demoted once this madness ends.
Profession: Writer, journalist, and critic working in art, culture, and media. Creative translator and language specialist for several voiceover studios that deliver content for streaming platforms (I try to turn funny US cartoons into funny Dutch cartoons). I am also working on a BA in primary education, because the youth need saving…
How many years in BJJ: 20 years and change.
Other martial arts: Judo and Japanese Jiu Jitsu. I started training around age 5 or 6. In the Netherlands, the judo federation (JBN) has a “fighting system” competition style of Jiu Jitsu, which kind of looks like a blend of karate and judo. I did that and got my black belt under the JBN at age 18 (if I recall correctly). Also trained Capoeira and Wing Chun a few years. And did a bit of Muay Thai – you kind of have to, if you’re from Holland.
By the way, if you are confused about the terms “Dutch”, “Holland”, and “the Netherlands”, this video will be insightful.
Where do you live: Culemborg, the Netherlands. A small 700-year-old town, south of Utrecht, roughly 1 hour from Amsterdam. Home of the guy (Jan van Riebeeck) who founded the Cape colony, which ensured the Dutch ruled the planet for a while. I’m sure there’s probably a statue of him being torn down somewhere as I write this. We live in a strange simulation.
Where are you originally from: Hamsterdam, formerly known as the city of sleaze, now the place of dwelling for hipster dorks, scumbag expats, Airbnb profiteers, people who like to pay a lot of money to live in a closet-sized “apartment”, and segway-riding tourists high on shrooms falling into the canals.
Other fun or curious information you would like to share: I am a better cook than your mom. I was a long-time meditator, but I fell of the horse. I am a #hardcorekidtrainingbjj. I can eat an apple in 30 seconds. I like to drink kvass. I like gardening and growing plants.
Daniël Bertina BJJ
Tell us what inspired you to travel and train?
For a while, work allowed me to travel to strange places to do interviews. I always brought a gi along. That’s how I met The Great Blonde Dane (Graugart). He said he wasn’t feeling well, and that he still had a cold. When we rolled at his gym in Copenhagen, he proceeded to play possum at first, then suddenly he attacked me like I’d just ran over his mom. He likes to do that, I noticed. I got violently guillotined a few times. Somehow, we became friends after that. He invited me to teach at the first (or second?) BJJ Globetrotters Camp, and I’ve been on board ever since. Work also took me to Hungary, Russia, the UK, Germany, and some other places, and I always found a spot to train. Trying not to let strangers strangle you in a foreign country is the best way to experience it.
Tell us about your most recent travel and your upcoming travel – where have you been and where are you going?
I have two kids and I’m super busy now, so I don’t travel a lot. Hopefully I’ll teach at the next Estonia Camp. I was there last year and the place is glorious. I also taught two seminars at my friend Jorgen Matsi’s gym, Vôimla, in Tartu, which was excellent. Hope to get back. I love the countries of the former Eastern Bloc. Good folks, good food and drink, good stock.
Photo by @vins_jitsu
What are the things you enjoy about traveling?
I hate it with a passion. It’s a stressful hassle, and I detest waiting in airports, surrounded by crowds of imbeciles sneezing into their hands. I just like hanging out with good folks, and I’ve met a bunch of them at the camps. I have to endure the travel nonsense so we can hang out properly.
Can you give us some examples of experiences you had that makes it worth traveling and training?
Once, I stood next to an obnoxious boomer at Heathrow Airport, waiting on our luggage. The same green suitcase did five laps past us. By lap six, he suddenly realized the suitcase was (in fact) his, then tried to grab it clumsily, but stumbled into another group of boomers and knocked them over like bowling pins. I was overwhelmed by emotions.
Also, my friend Alex picked me up from my Moscow hotel once and drove me far, far, far out into an extremely posh neighbourhood (“Putin has a house there…”), where we trained at a super high-end gym. After training he poured me a glass of kompot, and I ate the best borscht of all time.
Daniël Bertina BJJ
What has so far been the most surprising experience for you when traveling?
People that enjoy full contact martial arts are insane across the board.
Are you a budget traveller – and if so how do you plan for a cheap trip?
Yes. I don’t like to waste money on nonsense. Don’t eat or buy anything at airports. Bring your own food. Ask the local BJJ geeks where you eat, and where you should go to get a true sense of the place. Stay clear of tourist traps and boomers on electric bikes. Also, travel light (carry-on only).
If you were to pass on travel advice to your fellow Globetrotters, what would it be?
Realize gym enforcers exist for a reason. Don’t start none, won’t be none.
