Featured Traveller: Markku Halinen – BJJ Globetrotters
Age: 46
Belt: Purple
Profession: Site Reliability Engineer
How many years in BJJ: 8
Other martial arts: I started with Wing Chun in 2012 and also trained Escrima some time. After a few years, I suffered a knee injury which made me turn to ground fighting martial arts, so here we are.
Where do you live: Helsinki, Finland
Where are you from: A small town called Lohja, roughly 60 km from Helsinki.
Other fun or curious information you would like to share: My girlfriend once accidentally choked me unconscious while I was taking a selfie.
Markku Halinen – BJJ Globetrotters camp in Estonia
What inspired you to travel and train?
I did a few camps and out of town seminar trips during my years in Wing Chun, and those were some of my favorite experiences. When I switched to Jiu Jitsu I was really missing those, so when BJJ Globetrotters started doing camps in Tallinn, I was eager to see if I could have a similar experience. However, what finally sealed the deal was watching the BJJ Globetrotters documentary, “The Gentle Art of Travel”, at my second Globetrotters camp in 2021. I’m roughly the same age as Christian, and I also have a background in software engineering, so it was really easy for me to identify with him. Walking out of the theater, I vividly remember thinking “that’s what I want to do”.
Tell us about your most recent trip and what’s next – where have you been and where are you going?
For a few years, I’ve spent my summers traveling and training, and my latest training trip was this summer when I spent five weeks on the road with my partner, starting with a camp in Copenhagen. From there we traveled to Germany with a week each in Hamburg, Willmandingen, and Friedrichshafen, and ended the trip with another camp in Heidelberg. No matter where I go, I always try to include a visit to a local gym or a few, so I’ve had a chance to train all over Europe.
I also frequently travel for competitions, and my last competition trip was to the World Masters in Las Vegas. IBJJF and Grappling Industries both have categories for small, middle-aged guys, while in Finland the competition scene for masters is much more limited. So nowadays I prefer to travel abroad to compete to have the opportunity to test myself against people with roughly similar skills and physical abilities. In Finnish competitions, stepping on the mats as a referee became an option when I was promoted to purple belt, so I have been doing that for about a year.
The next trips in my calendar are to Estum Jiu-jitsu in Tallinn in a few weeks, and for competition I’m signed up for the European championships in Lisbon in January.
Markku Halinen – BJJ Globetrotters
What do you enjoy most about travelling?
I enjoy new places and experiences – meeting new people and being exposed to new ways of thinking (and rolling). I also enjoy clutter-free hotel rooms. I am somewhat neurospicy, so I get bored very easily, and I’m horrible with household chores like tidying up. My home looks like an abandoned thrift store, so traveling is a great way to avoid cleaning up!
Any particularly memorable experiences that made it all worth it?
I had my 45th birthday at a camp, so I asked for ten black belts to shark tank me for ten non-stop rounds of 4.5 minutes each. You can see me after the birthday bash in one of the pictures. Coincidence or not, when I returned home and went to my first class after the camp, my coach promoted me to purple belt. And come to think of it, I was also promoted to blue immediately after a camp in 2021.
Of course I also have to mention meeting my partner at the second camp in Tallinn. I asked her out – for a week of training in another country. How’s that for a first date? Given she later moved from Germany to Finland to live with me, this was a good call. So a shout out for the people at BJJ Lab in Zürich!
What has surprised you the most while travelling?
People around the world really have more in common than differences. We all have similar dreams and aspirations. Culture wars, racism, and xenophobia are not common sense; they are influencing tools for group thinking and mass manipulation.
Also, as you travel to other countries you realize that at home, there are a lot of things you take for granted that aren’t there in other countries.
Markku Halinen – BJJ Globetrotters
Are you a budget traveller – and if so how do you plan for a cheap trip?
Not really. Being in my forties with a reasonable salary and no kids, I tend to favor convenience over low cost. If direct flights cost €200 more than the cheapest option with two layovers and a whole day of traveling, I’ll take the direct flights. For accommodation, location is more important than cost. I don’t splurge, but I rarely take the cheapest option. As far as making the decision where and when to go next, I pretty much act on a whim. New Globetrotters camp announced? Cool. I’ll sign up and then tell my partner we’re going. Planning wouldn’t be the word I’d use – I usually just act on instinct.
Any advice for your fellow Globetrotters?
In one of Prince’s songs there is a line, “But life is a party, and parties weren’t meant to last”. If there’s something you want to do or see, go do it as soon as possible. Book those flights. Start working on reaching that goal today, and not later “when you have time”. The party could be over before that.
