Published Adventure Writer

So apparently I can add Published Writer to my list of accomplishments! I just received a few copies of a book called LegacyofStoke, I wrote an epic story from one of my many surf adventure stories and he decided to published it in Volume 2. If you would like to purchase the book and read the story of how Jeremy Jennings and I ended up on an island in Indonesia with perfect waves but couldn't surf them!
Here it the link to buy the book on Amazon:
http://amzn.to/2pMjg4V

Here it the link to buy the book on Amazon!
http://amzn.to/2pMjg4V

100 Days of Indo // Part 6

In the start of the episode I head off to the airport on my way home to surprise my family for Thanksgiving! But after that the boys get a few more fun waves all over Bali, and the ending footage makes you want to boo your ticket to the disneyland island of surfing right now!

If you haven't yet, get caught up by watching Episode 1 / Episode 2 / Episode 3 / Episode 4 / Episode 5 !



We get back to Bali for the final leg of the trip, hit Kuta for a party night, and enjoy the last couple weeks of the trip.

A SOVRN Republic Web Series
SovrnRepublic.com (Use promo code "travelsurflive for %15 off!)
In Association With Funkhouse Media
facebook.com/funkhousemedia

Music:
Hit The Road by Gyom
Way Out by Kaptain
Fried Eggs by Vitamin Pets
Wounded Butterfly by REW
World of Beauty by Ryan Taubert

100 Days of Indo // Part 5

Episode 5 takes us from Nias, Sumatra back down to Bali for a few days of planning before heading on our next adventure! After 22 hours of riding on scooters and ferries across a few islands we made it to West Sumbawa...

If you haven't yet, get caught up by watching Episode 1 / Episode 2 / Episode 3 / Episode 4 !

Getting back on the motorbikes, we gear up for a 200 mile roadtrip. Five SOVRN road warriors take on three islands as we hop from Bali over to West Sumbawa on an epic wave mission. The wild landscape of Sumbawa kept us mesmerized as we used down days as an opportunity to explore parts of the island that very few have ventured.

A SOVRN Republic Web Series
SovrnRepublic.com (Use promo code "travelsurflive for %15 off!)
In Association With Funkhouse Media
facebook.com/funkhousemedia

Music:
Hit The Road by Gyom
We Are Free by Zep Hurme
The Hornet by DoKashiteru
Enthusiast by Tours
No Other Name by Ryan Taubert
Isma Roktar by Thiaz Itch
Only Human by Parade of Lights

100 Days of Indo // Part 4

Nias.... One of Indonesia's and the world's most iconic waves. The adventure there from Mentawi's was crazy in it's self. I actually nipped back to Bali from Sumatra while the boys went straight to Nias. I met up after spending a week with my lady and we all camped out for another 2 epic weeks!

If you haven't yet, get caught up by watching Episode 1 / Episode 2 / Episode 3 !

After a couple boat rides, 12 hour overnight ferry, 30 hour airport sleepover, and 2 hour car ride, we arrive in Nias. This renown point has the potential to be a behemoth of a wave, but even when its small, there's virtually always something to ride. We let the good times roll as we post up for 3-4 weeks on this remote island.

A SOVRN Republic Web Series
SovrnRepublic.com (Use promo code "travelsurflive for %15 off!)
In Association With Funkhouse Media
facebook.com/funkhousemedia

Music:
Hit The Road by Gyom
Siesta by Jahzzar
Spinning Round by The Originalites

100 Days of Indo // Part 3

It just keeps getting better and better, in this episode we score in the Mentawi Islands while living in a losemen with a local family. Jam packed full of stunning footage and perfect barrels watch episode 3 now!

If you haven't yet get caught up by watching Episode 1 & Episode 2!




The crew splits up into two groups as we head from Bali up and over to West Sumatra, otherwise known as the Mentawai islands, in hopes to find vacancy at a homestay. As we well know, the remoteness of this destination does not make it easy to get there, but if our hopes that Lance's is doing what it is capable of, that should be motivation enough.

A SOVRN Republic Web Series
SovrnRepublic.com (Use promo code "travelsurflive for %15 off!)
In Association With Funkhouse Media
facebook.com/funkhousemedia

Music:
Hit The Road by Gyom
Gamelan Instrumental by Mof Child
Another One by Grapes
Happy Island by The Mantles

100 Days of Indo // Part 2

Here is episode 2 of 6 from our trip last year to Indonesia for 3 months! Another awesome story at an iconic wave with my mates for a whole week! Directed/Edited Funkhouse Media and special thanks to Sovrn Republic!
Go back and watch episode 1 HERE ►



Watch Episode 2 Next!

As we venture off Bali, the sights are set on Desert Point for our first major excursion. The swell forecast is looking promising, but there are other forces at play as the transport struggle gets real. No matter if we get waves or not, there's sure to be some new faces as we get to these new places. And puppies.

A SOVRN Republic Web Series
SovrnRepublic.com (Use promo code "travelsurflive for %15 off!)
In Association With Funkhouse Media
facebook.com/funkhousemedia

Music:
This is DoKashiteru (ft. DoKashiteru) by Carosone
Night Owl by Broke For Free
Alex’s Recital (ft. Alexander Stone) by DoKashiteru
Shiro (Kirkoid Mix) by Kirkoid

100 Days of Indo // Part 1

Last year I was able to do a trip with some good mates to Indonesia for 3 months. With the help of Sovrn Republic and Funkhouse Media were able to get together all the footage into an epic 6 part series, enjoy!



Watch Episode 2 Next ►

So it begins. As we land on Bali and get acclimated to Southeast Asia, we explore the southern part of the island, known as the Bukit, and explore the options for surf. As we cruise around the island for the first week, we make stops at Bingin, Balangan and Uluwatu. Testing our language skills, we get indigenous with some elderly locals near Nyang Nyang.

A SOVRN Republic Web Series
SovrnRepublic.com (Use promo code "travelsurflive for %15 off!)
In Association With Funkhouse Media
Facebook.com/Funkhousemedia

Music:
Hit The Road by Gyom
Kingston Shuffle by Good New Tunes
Parametaphoriquement by gmz
Brake Dub by belaf
Feet in the Sand by Morgantj

From L-R: Brian Daigneault, Travis Lindsey, David Elliot, Jeremy Jennings, Jay Neyer, Alex Arkeilpane

Family trip to Bali didn't start so well!

Taipei, Taiwan

TRAVEL UPDATE

"Not all traveling can go perfectly to plan nor can be the funnest, but its the times that aren't fun or when nothing is going right that you look back on and have a laugh or tell a story about..." -Brian Daigneault

     Usually the travel time between California and Bali is around 30-36 hours between getting to airport, checking in, flight, layover, another flight, visa line, and transport to the accommodation. And for this trip being with the family it would have been nice to have it all only take about 30 hours, but it didn't quite go that way....

     Everything went south when we got to my grandparents house for dinner before they were going to give us a lift to the airport where our flight was scheduled to depart at midnight Monday. As we were about to leave the airport, my dad said maybe we should just check to see if the flight was delayed, and sure enough it was, 9 hour delay for a typhoon warning in Taipei where our layover was. Back home it was to get some sleep, we arrived at LAX and asked the counter now that our flight was delayed we would miss our connector flight. They told us that they didn't know and the counter in Taiwan would let us know, great that never is a good answer.

     Landing in Taiwan after a 14 hr flight we then found out we had to spend the night and the next available flight wasn't until 9:15am now Thursday because of the time change. The airlines took the 20 or so of us that were trying to get to Bali to a pretty nice hotel outside Taipei where my family got there first culture shock of asian life. Duck and pork was on the dinner menu as well as other interesting vegetables that our taste buds have never tasted before. We all crashed pretty hard since none of us got much sleep on the flight and we have been up for over 20 hours.

     Finally arriving in Bali at 2:30pm local time we went through the visa line and waited for our luggage for long enough to start wondering and looking around. Ourselves and another few passengers that were now our friends since we had been together the last few days went to the counter and they told us our luggage was stuck in Taipei and would hopefully arrive tomorrow. Once we took the hour taxi ride up to our first spot were staying we walked down the cliff to grab dinner watching the beautiful sunset! Waking up to our first morning on Bali I can't wait to rent a couple scooters and show the family my favorite places...stay tuned.

That's not traveling...... only a vacation

     I want to dedicate this post to explaining how I grew a love for maps, geography, exploring and how that lead to my first adventures. In my last few years of seeing as much of this planet as possible I have yet to only go to a handful of countries for a reason. In my mind I want to put into words what a world traveler or what traveling really means to me. And most importantly the difference between what I consider traveling and a vacation.

     Since I can remember my favorite subject in school was Geography. It fascinated my mind to look at a map of so many places and try to imagine what it would be like to see it in person. As I got older my family and I were always into outdoor activities, one of my favorites being riding my dirt bike out in the desert. This also stimulated my mind in unimaginable ways, being able to go anywhere you wanted to and explore so much terrain! Whenever we would go on a group ride I would get separated from the group because I found a new trail nobody else was going on and took off, but always ended up at the same meeting point in the end, everyone wondering how the hell I got there. Through high school I was able to take some trips with friends out of the state camping, snowboarding, surfing, and everything in between.

FollowustoFlorida.blogspot.com

     A big turning point for really finding out what I love to do with my life came when my mother and I decided to ride our BICYCLES across the USA when I was 19 years old. My mom had always talked about people doing it since she was a cyclist herself, and to a cyclist riding across the country is what finding an island with perfect waves is to a surfer. After an instance where I got into some trouble with the law, my parents had helped me through it so much more than I would have ever thought! It made me realize wow If I want to accomplish some of my own dreams maybe I should help my mom accomplish one of hers first. After touching our tires in the Pacific Ocean surrounded by friends and family we took off on June 3, 2010 on just two bikes that weighed about 60lbs each with all our gear. After the second day we were so done, we had made it from Huntington Beach to the Salton Sea (170 miles), our skin sun burnt, bodies dehydrated, and couldn't sleep from the spasms in our legs all night long. After taking a day off and reevaluating how to go about this goal, we pushed through 36 flat tires, dozens of hotels, running out of water, eating gas station food, in the sun 8-12 hrs a day. Finally after pedaling through 8 states in 36 days we touched our bicycle tires in the Atlantic Ocean and honestly just cried for awhile. That moment right there changed the way I looked at life and what most think is impossible to accomplish, this ultimately lead to the mindset on how I wanted to live my life, by experiences not able to be taught by any university, job, coach, nor teacher.

      No maybe I haven't been around the world yet, but through all those days away from home and the normal lifestyle you learn how to adapt and live in different conditions. Most of the nights were not in a comfy mattress nor in anything considered a home/house. I can tell you because I'm weird like this, that in the last 900+ days I have been out of the country 380 days, slept in 65 different beds, and been on 38 flights. In Hawaii I slept on my cousins couch in his 150sq ft backyard shed with no water and hardly electricity. In Indonesia I've slept on floors, hammocks, dirty ferries, on top of a surfboard bag, inside mosquito nets, all in the humid sticky weather of the tropics. In Australia I slept in my van most of the 80 days I was there. For 3 straight weeks living in the van I used beach showers or a random industrial buildings water spicket to shower while the excess soapy water splashed on my clothes for that days laundry.  In Sweden I slept on a single size bed with my girlfriend for two months, inside a 700 sq ft cabin with 5 people and a small bathroom. All in all was it all worth it, fuck yes it was! Living thousands of miles from home in another country doing anything you want, learning a new language, figuring how to convert everything into metric, learning a new currency, and much much more.

Van Life, NSW, February 2014

     To me traveling Isn't about all inclusive resorts, first class flying, private transportation, fancy night clubs, and everything going right. Why would you want to go to another country to get all the comforts you have at home? The best trips and stories happen when everything goes wrong, you get on the wrong bus, miss your flight, get a flat on your scooter in the middle of the jungle, or lose your atm card. Traveling is about getting lost and asking a local for directions which turns in them inviting you into there home or business for a meal or a cup of coffee. Interaction with the culture, people, and land are everything when it comes to exploring a new country. Take public transport, eat local foods, do tasks the way locals would, visit temples, go to the none touristy areas and you will be treated like a king. Some of my favorite moments when traveling were when I felt completely out of my element and not able to understand the language or communicate with others. That is why I try to spend a decent amount of time in every country I go to, feel the vibes, make a few local friends that start remembering you. When just passing through a country you don't get the whole experience if say you stayed there for a month and worked a bit or lived at a hostel.

Bali, Indo 2014

     I have met many people from around the world in the last few years, whether its a few minute conversation or a few weeks of camping together. Luckily now a days its much easier to keep in contact with friends from around the world. I love meeting new people from interesting places and asking what it's like in there homeland and where they have traveled to. You can get tips, info, great food places, its like traveling without physically traveling when you meet some new who has been somewhere you haven't. I have friends that I can contact at any moment and go visit in places like Scotland, Spain, France, South Africa, Chile, Australia, and many more. It makes the world seem smaller and more friendly, looking through Facebook and seeing a friend in Israel posting about news going on there, or maybe meeting up with a mate you haven't seen in years when your in Canada and they show you the local spots.

     All in all I've found that this is what I want to do for as long as possible. I feel like some of the smartest people I've met in the world were people who have traveled and been in unexplained situations normal people would never experience. These situations you might end up in make you smarter, think outside the box, more resourceful, and have another out look on the outcome. Seeing how other people go about there daily lives, how business is done, or how materials and goods are transported. There is so much to learn just by stepping away from your homeland and having an open mind to what the world is like outside your lil bubble....

New South Wales, Aus, Feb 2014