Catch the Wind

08/23/2017

Switch from “Catch the Wind” to Sandris Brawn

Loads of people dream of traveling when either they get stuck into a daily routine, or they get inspired by travel videos, pictures, etc. Most of those people bury their idea of traveling quite quickly by finding excuses why they can’t, shouldn’t, etc. travel. One of the reasons is that you might not have a clear vision of your travels (why and what exactly you wanna do while you’re going to travel). Partly this was also one of my obstacles before the trip I’m on right now. I knew already many years that I want to make a longer travel than I’ve head before. But what would be my drive in this particular trip - it wasn’t that clear.

Together with my best friend we came up with a common concept: best friends SINtija & SANdris like YIN & YANg on an exciting adventure “Catch the Wind” - indulging the tailwind, traveling and exploring the world, starting with North- & South- America. During the 1st month of the trip I clarified our AIMS and MISSION of the trip which Sintijas was fine with.

Later on the trip as I was mostly working on our common social media, together with Sintija we realized that it has been for the most part my project and her investment in this aspect of the trip has been relaitvely small. This stayed in my mind for a while.

On our 42nd and 44th day of the trip I had a chance to visit 2 different gyms in Vancouver, Canada with 2 different friends I hadn’t met for 8 and 6 years (those are other great stories for another time). These 2 trainings made me realize how much I miss trainings while traveling.

As I’ve realized more and more in this trip - everything happens for a reason. 1 month later after the first 2 trainings in Canada, I had a chance to do CrossFit for the 2nd time in my life and 1st time in a professional gym. This time the training took place in Monterrey, Mexico with some of my friends there. Talking before with my friend Chuy about the ideas of my trip and having this chance to train again put my vision about WHAT I REALLY WANT TO DO IN THIS TRIP more clear. I want to COMBINE TWO OF MY PASSIONS I’ve had for years - TRAVEL & FITNESS.

Till this trip I’ve managed to enjoy mainly only one passion at a time. When I was in Latvia, I was training for the most part. When I was traveling, I set aside trainings. Normally after being abroad and coming back home, it took me a while to get back to trainings and regain my shape. Till this point I haven’t managed to combine my biggest passions at once. Now I realize - this is a chance to go for it.

So from this point on I’ll set aside the concept of “Catch the Wind” and featuring it in the social media. One thing - because it should be common project with my best friend, but in reality it wasn’t the case in relation to social media. The other and most important thing - I want to give a shot of working on and enjoying two of my passions at once and sharing my experience about it in social media.

From now on I’m gonna invest my time and effort into my own brand: Sandris Brawn. More about it in the next post - already in FB, IG, YT: Sandris Brawn.

Stay tuned!

08/21/2017

Viva Las Vegas

08/21/2017

6 year reunion in Utah

It was a true pleasure to have a reunion with Jared and to get to know his family. Had together fun outdoors and indoors - starting from Tibble Fork Reservoir and Liya’s birthday till Utah's Premiere Dueling Piano Bar! Thank you, Jared and your whole family for making our stay in Utah a wonderful experience. Especially, thanks to Liya who reminded how easy and fun it is to be a kid - adults need to remember that and sometimes be like kids: enjoying those small things that life offers us or what we can get!

It was a true pleasure to have a reunion with Jared and to get to know his family. Had together fun outdoors and indoors - starting from Tibble Fork Reservoi...

08/15/2017

Golden friends in Golden & Denver

Thank you, Matthew and Lisa, for the wonderful morning and evening paintings, thank you for the diverse experiences you gave and shared with us! THANK YOU!
Truly hope to see you soon!

P.s. This ain’t my first rodeo now! :D

Thank you, Matthew and Lisa, for the wonderful morning and evening paintings, thank you for the diverse experiences you gave and shared with us! THANK YOU! T...

08/15/2017

Not I, Not Anyone else can travel that road for you, you must travel it yourself.
Walt Whitman

Best friends Sintija & Sandris travelin' the World! Let's Catch the Wind together! On July 30 we had a chance to hike in White Ranch Park in Golden, Denver. ...

08/11/2017

2 months - 10 000 km - 19 USA states - 2 CA provinces

Catch the Wind is already 2 months on the way. In these 2 months we’ve experienced quite a bit.
Covered more than 10 000 km - 90% of that with hitchhiking.
Visited 19 USA states and 2 Canadian provinces.
Made several reunions with friends after 6-8 years. Stayed at and enjoyed the company of locals through Couchsurfing. Gained new friends through all of those experiences.
Learned a lot about USA, as well as Canadian history and culture.

Catch the Wind started in New York, now we’re in Las Vegas and plenty more adventures in front of us!

Stay tuned, and we’ll update our adventures TO INSPIRE YOU!

08/11/2017

SLC - Las Vegas - HOT in here :D

Thanks to our friend Jared who brought us around half an hour out of Salt Lake City on a very good spot. So our hitchhiking could start already at 6:30 am. With one resfreshment pause we got a ride after 4 hours and what a ride! Huge thanks to Carl who brought us all the way to Las Vegas through scenic views! It was a true pleasure to get to know you, Carl, and you know now to whom to turn to when you’ll come to Europe ;)

P.s. Las Vegas was and is above +40 degrees C - it’s not getting (like in the song), but it is HOT in here :D

SLC - Las Vegas - HOT in here :D Thanks to our friend Jared who brought us around half an hour out of Salt Lake City on a very good spot. So our hitchhiking ...

08/10/2017

Our plan for hitcchiking from Salt Lake City to Las Vegas in animation.

How did it turn out - in the next post.

More about our adventures in Colorado, Utah, Nevada and further on - coming soon... Stay tuned!

Material in video created and video editing made by Sandris Brawn. Used program for video editing: Windows Movie Maker.

08/08/2017

Dog who loves to lick a lot and randomly met Latvian lady - luck turned around for our hitchhiking

2 nights later after our weirdest hitchhiking experience our luck turned around. A great factor for that was our friend Matthew who brought us to a great spot in Laramie (225 km from Golden) - another HUGE THANKS to YOU, Matthew, for that!
From Laramie till Ogden (615 km) we were picked up by Bobby and his dog (Junior) who loved to lick us big time :D Thanks to Bobby and his great stories (especially about Chris Rock :D )!
From Ogden to Salt Lake City we got a ride by 2 SLC locals from which one of them was originally Latvian. She asked from which part of Europe are we (as we have “Euro Student” sign) and after our answer: “From Latvia”, it was positively shocking to hear from her: “Me too” :D What a coincidence to randomly meet another Latvian while hitchhiking! Thank you, Josh and Lidija, for the ride!

08/07/2017

Weirdest hitchhiking so far and hopefully ever!

For our hitchhike from Colorade to Utah we got up already 4 am to start our hitchhiking shortly before 6 am. Although we slept only 3 hours in the last night, we were full of hope to get a ride further. When the day went on even with changing different spots we slowly realized that this might not be our day. Already in the morning the security of Wheat Ridge Travel Center warned us that because of the TC policy we can’t hitchhike from their teritory. Later on the responsiveness was really poor in all the spots, but we kept on trying and didn’t give up.

Then shortly after 2 pm it started to get really weird. While resting in TC for a moment from the sun we were approached by a “semi truck driver” called Steve Eric who told that he could give us a ride to Utah (not till the place we needed, but 2/3 of the way for sure). He shared so many stories about him and his family (3 daughters, sister, etc.) and he seemed trustworthy. The hours went on and because of waiting for certain documents he told that we just need to wait a bit longer. This a bit longer kept on going. Around 7 pm he announced that he got finally his documents and we are gonna hit the road in a moment. But in reality that wasn’t the case. Not long time later we noticed that he left the Wheat Ridge Travel Center in a normal car (not semi truck) with 2 women. We thought - who knows, maybe he was brought to a place where he’ll take the cargo and then we’ll go. But again it wasn’t the case. Shortly before 9 pm he arrived back with the same car with the same women and didn’t seem to hurry anywhere! That’s when we realized that we were professionally fooled by this guy.

Unfortunately that kind of nonsense did happen to us, but fortunately we had our friends in Golden who helped us out again and took care of us! Another time when we appreciated having great friends with us! Thanks, Matthew and Lisa!

08/07/2017

Feeling blessed and lucky for the friends I have!

Feeling blessed and lucky when your friends not only open the door to their place and share their time, but also are so considerate before heading further to provide you with an extra medical kit, running and hiking socks, wilderness wipes and snack bars.
Thanks, Matthew and Lisa, for just being you! Utmost respect towards you!