In April, 2014 I borrowed some money from a friend and flew to Whitehorse, Yukon. Hitched a ride all the way north to Tuktoyaktuk and started off with 2 weeks worth of food and $20. Along, I also brough a lot of stubbornness and an idea - to film the bicycle trip as I make my way south.

This is the first episode of the series "SEE THE WORLD" and covers the ride through Canada's Ice roads, the Dempster highway, ALCAN and Steward Cassiar through British Columbia. Also included is a short section on tree-planting (where I stopped to work for 3 months) and a short backroad trip across British Columbia to Bella Coola.

Video below (split in 2 parts):

MORE INFO ABOUT THE FILM:

Since I've never done anything like this before, I started working on ideas for the video during tree planting. Sometimes I would sit on a stump in a cloud of mosquitoes and jog down some notes on the backside of my tree tally paper.

Editing on the laptop in the hot dinner tent where there is a power outlet and running back to my tent where its quieter to record narration. (you can hear a lot of background noise during the narration parts of the video, the plan was to re-record everything at the end but that would have added a couple more days of editing.)

So the film got made mostly in the forest but I got a chance to finish it while visiting some friends in Vancouver and applying for USA visa (for Alaska). Last moment upload in Squamish, BC and then I went off hitchhiking to Dawson City.

MUSIC:

Chris and Avery, while hiking to some Petroglyphs in Bella Coola.

instrumental music at the start, while hitchhiking to Tuk and on the ride back to Whitehorse by Isaac, a friend of mine from school.

Tom Ross sang few original songs on the last day of tree planting. I used them during the ice road (day 2) and then again after summit camp on the Dempster).

Anoice - Ripple. This was a royalty free song I've had since a long time ago. I dont know where one can find it anymore.

Kevin Downey - a man whom I met in 2013, cycled around the world. He is also a singer/songwriter. I used All the same, Slovenian fields, Coconut. You can find his music at http://kevinconordowney.bandcamp.com/

Kayla Luky - friend of a friend kept playing one of her songs and it became my favorite. Its at 25min, during part 2

Chris is the native I met at Bella Coola, he sang some native songs (at the end of part 2).

SPONSORS:

I was pretty broke before starting, as broke as a student may be.

Arkel and Old Man Mountain offered me small discounts on their panniers/racks which helped equip the bike.

Chris Murray, from Colorado USA built my wheels free of charge and was incredible help in dealing with bike-related issues all along the trip.

I was also out of budget for new camping gear but the folks at Eureka Canada responded to my request with:
Ï can help, let me know what you need."

It was incredible being able to get a good tent, sleeping bad and sleeping mat. Eventhough they were not designed for full-on winter camping the Midiori and Casper sleeping bag did amazingly well (note; i still have all my fingers and toes!)

The folks at sinewave provided me with a USB charger to run with my dynamo, free of charge.

THANK YOU:

and big, big thanks to all the people I've met on the way. They are truly what made this a real adventure. From truckers stopping to talk to me on the road to others offering me a place to stay and food. Jerry - telling me there is a cabin I can stay at during that ice storm, McLeod family from Aklavik for having me over and feeding me for 2 days while I waited for the road to be plowed...

thank you!

(you may see the piece of paper, taken from Maptia reading:)

I want to see the world, follow a map to it's edges and keep going.

forgo the plans, trust my instincts, let curiosity be my guide.

I want to change hemispheres, sleep with unfamiliar stars and let the journey unfold before me.