About Me
Hey, I’m Jake.
I love traveling around Latin America, lifting weights, swimming in the ocean, and a little bit of rumba from time to time. I make a living working online.
How I Got Here
I’ve always had an addictive personality.
For most of my life, my addiction was basketball. My parents were competitive people, and that spirit was instilled in me at a young age. For as long as I can remember, I lived to play basketball.
I was the kid who went to the gym on a Saturday night and spent the whole time trying to crossover a trashcan. The epitome of cool. Still, all the shaking and baking worked. Even though I couldn’t touch the rim the day I graduated high school – I got a college basketball scholarship.
The basketball addiction continued in college, and I found some success. After two all-conference honors, I approached my senior year with plans to make the NCAA Division 2 Tournament and get a contract to play in Europe.
My body had other ideas. Ankle surgery derailed my whole senior season and consequently led to multiple knee operations, including an exhilarating bout with ‘microfracture’ knee surgery.
I found myself needing a new addiction. So I tried Corporate America – a company man.
Corporate America took my soul rather rapidly. The continual mental masturbating that meetings constituted of wasn’t my cup of tea. And the circle jerk of “networking” didn’t interest me, either.
It didn’t help I was selling giant fookin’ copiers. So less than a year in – I quit. My body was healthy enough, and I figured a shot at basketball in Europe could work. Old dreams die hard. I had some money and could pay for a ticket over.
But again, my body shot me the middle finger. Patella tendonitis came back within two weeks of quitting my job. Another setback. I was devastated. There were a few teary-eyed Epsom salt baths that summer. I had no direction.
So I did what any logical twenty-something does when the real world forgets to use lube and go slow…
I booked a one-way ticket to the foreign country where I didn’t speak the language and knew no one.
About Nomadic Hustle
I created Nomadic Hustle for one simple reason…
To help others live a life worth living.
“How many men stand on a balcony and wonder what happened? He wanted adventure, and he got two weeks’ vacation. He wanted a mission, and he got a lawn that needs mowing. He wanted purpose, and he got a cubicle. He wanted a mighty steed, and he got a minivan. He wanted a castle, and he got a mortgage. He wanted a battle to fight, and he got televised sports. He wanted wisdom, and he got talking heads on TV. He wanted treasure, and he got endless debt. He wanted every part of his life to be wonderful, and here he is… standing on a balcony, in bleak, ruminating hesitation.”
– Zan Perrion
Through a lot of trial and error, I’ve found ways to get the most out of my life – to live a life actually worth living. Over the last two years, I’ve treated my life like one big research experiment. Communications with family and friends often had a, “the fook’ is this dude doing” type of tone.
I’ve taken un-calculated risks, made numerous bad decisions, and done a few things I won’t be writing here. Certain precautions must be taken in case Grandma learns how to work her iPhone. Luckily, I’m still here and kicking. The benefit of living a life based on exploration, adventure and debauchery is you learn a lot – and fast! These days I’m living life on my terms. And it feels damn good.
I’ve figured out a few things about:
- Travel
- Health/Fitness
- Lifestyle
If any of those topics are of interest to you, then stick around. You’ll like what’s coming up on Nomadic Hustle.
The Why?
Most travel blogs don’t have the type of information I’m looking for. I mean…
They’re not back room of a Colombian whorehouse bad, but there not good, either.
Think about it – the vast majority of travel blogs rarely interact with locals. These bloggers spend thousands of dollars on flights, hours on buses and more to pass the time sitting in shitty hostels talking politics over $1 beers with other gringos.
And then they go to sleep in the same room as ten other people with the hope the quiet sounds from the fan will drown out the noises coming from the “hostel couple” next bed over humping each other’s brains out.
Fook’ that. If I’m traveling halfway around the world, I’m looking to experience new things. I want to interact with new people, not the same type of chodes I could have met in Corporate America.
I want to sleep in my own apartment. And I’m certainly not trying to listen to anyone have sex except myself.
Nomadic Hustle is about traveling differently. Traveling better. Slow travel. Real interactions with real locals. Learning languages. Developing real relationships.
I didn’t leave my cookie cutter life in the United States to have a cookie cutter travel experience.