One Month Away!!

Just the as title says, we're one month away from finally starting the Odyssey!!

I have a few things to share with you all in this article, it's been a busy past week or so, lots coming together. I just did an interview with a good friend and athlete, Matt Kaiser. I also did an article for a friend of mine's website, Open Guard. More on those further down in the post, but first let's recap with the Odyssey and share with you the current itinerary for the Canadian Odyssey. There's not a lot of picture's in this one, sorry, but tons of info and links!

The Canadian Odyssey

With a month away I'm now starting to book places and buy tickets for the journey, which is pretty much all planned out and ready to go. I'm still hoping to find a place to crash in a few cities but I've found cheap hostels close in the area so I'm not in dire need, but saving a few dollars is always good. To be honest I'm blown away with all the help I've received and how accepting everyone is, not just in Canada but around the world. I went in hoping for the best when I started researching this whole idea almost 3 years ago. I was very hopeful with what I found and started planning over a year ago. Let me tell you I have not been disappointed in the least and get blown away on the regular by how helpful the Jiu-Jitsu community has been!

I have a lot going on for Europe and Asia and a lot more still to do before I fly over there but for now here's the official Panda's Canadian Odyssey itinerary:

*EDIT* I have updated the Itinerary, complete with travel dates and added locations and clubs, you can View The New Itinerary Here.

Date Place Club 10 - 14 Nov Gibsons, BC Sadohana Dojo & Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu Gibsons 15 - 19 Nov Vancouver, BC  Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu Vancouver  Vancouver, BC  Sadohana Dojo Vancouver 20 - 27 Nov Calgary, AB BJJ Fightclub Calgary, AB Emergent Martial Arts Calgary, AB Lizard BJJ 28 Nov - 4 Dec Regina, SK Sweepscience Regina, SK Complete MMA 5 - 9 Dec Winnipeg, MB Gracie Humaita Winnipeg 10 - 14 Dec Thunder Bay, ON Leading Edge MMA (10th Planet) 15 - 19 Dec Sudbury, ON Troop MMA 20 Dec - 1 Jan  Petawawa, ON  Evolution BJJ Petawawa  2 - 8 Jan Toronto, ON Xtreme Couture Toronto (Nova Unaio)  Toronto, ON Nova Unaio Toronto (Budokan BJJ)  Toronto, ON Openmat 9 - 12 Jan Hamilton, ON  Ouroboros BJJ Hamilton, ON  Jeff Joslin's MMA 13 - 16 Jan St. Catharines, ON SBG BJJ Niagara  17 - 20 Jan Kingston, ON Tiger's Den Jiu-Jitsu Kingston, ON Grizzly MMA  21 - 26 Jan Ottawa, ON Evolution BJJ Gatineau Ottawa, ON Team Ronin BJJ Ottawa 27 - 30 Jan Montreal, QC Gracie Barra Montreal Montreal, QC Tristar Gym Montreal Montreal, QC 10th Planet BJJ Montreal 31 Jan - 5 Feb  Quebec City, QC Yoseikan Jujutsu Quebec Quebec City, QC Brazilian Top Team Quebec 6 - 9 Feb Fredericton, NB Synergy BJJ 10 - 13 Feb Moncton, NB  Victory BJJ 14 - 17 Feb Halifax, NS Titan's Fitness Academy 18 - 21 Feb Sydney, NS Zombie Proof BJJ 22 - 28 Feb St. John's, NL St. John's BJJ & Judo
Although these dates are pretty much set the gyms I visit while at those places are open. I plan on visiting all these gyms at least once, if anyone wants me to come train with them when I'm in town let me know and maybe we can work something out. I'm always up to dropping by a new gym and making new friends. I tried linking each gym to it's page, let me know if it doesn't work.
Open Guard
To fully explain Open Guard I have to go back to when I first started researching this whole dream, over 2 year ago. I made my very first post on BJJ Globetrotters and was asking for help about ideas and where to look for all kinds of information. One of the first people to respond to me was a fellow ex Navy guy from Australia, Luke Docherty, inviting me out to his place to come train once i ever made it over that way. We've kept in touch ever since, keeping each other focused on our goals and running ideas off each other. While I was researching and planning for the Odyssey, Luke started Free Rollers, a summer event that's been gaining a lot of steam getting all the clubs in Australia together for outdoor open mat sessions. Then he went on to create Open Guard, a cool Australian based Jiu-Jitsu website with all kinds of articles, interviews, cool Jiu-Jitsu gear being sold and, my favourite, a directory of all the clubs in Australia, and some in the USA as well, with open door policies for everyone to come roll with them. Very cool. A few weeks ago, when I mentioned that it's coming up to my last month of preparations for the Odyssey, Luke got a hold of me and told me to write up an article to promote my site and the whole journey on Open Guard. I was totally blown away to and after a week or two of writing and corrections and re-writing I finally put together an article I was happy with and sent it over to Luke and Open Guard. After not even a week later and my article was published! Check it out Here at Open Guard: Panda's Odyssey Article. Thanks Luke for the opportunity to get my word out to your crowd! You all should head over to Open Guard and show them some love!
Interview With Matt Kaiser Finally, after a bunch of schedule conflicts I was able to sit down with my good friend Matt Kaiser. If you don't know the name he is one of the EBI originals, participating in both the first EBI and EBI 2. On top of that and the many medals he's won in competition he's also the Canadian Lightweight Combat Wrestling National Champion of 2015 and 2016 as well as the World Lightweight Combat Wrestling Champion of 2015 and is looking to retain that title this month in Hungary. Combat Wrestling isn't very big in Canada or across the world in some parts but it's growing fast. Last year's championship was the first international event and I got to chat with him and see what makes him tick and get a little inside view of how it felt being involved in a new sport or a new platform for the sport in the case of EBI. Here's the video, hope you enjoy! Here's the links to where Kaiser's club is located, Forge Gym, Matt Kaiser's YouTube channel and the World Combat Wrestling site, I also added them in the info for the video on YouTube. Here's the link to my channel if the video doesn't work here or if you want to check out my other interviews I have posted: Panda's Odyssey YouTube Channel.
Well that's it for now, time to start packing and getting ready to get on the road and finally turn this dream into a reality! My next post will probably be my first stop on this journey so keep watching for that, and I swear I will make up for the lack of pics in the post too! Until next time, see you all on the mats! Oosss!!