Who is behind Jumping Traveler?
I know you’re curious. That’s ok, I am too. So some info about me. My name is Sylvestre, often shortened Sly. I am French, born in Provence, (Southern of France) in the lovely town of Forcalquier and now living in the City of Light, Paris. In between these two cities, I’ve been living in Grenoble (in the French Alps) and Barcelona. Now in Paris, I have a corporate job by day (sometimes night too), working as a manager in a consulting company.
You seem to travel a lot. Why? Isn’t your sofa comfy enough?
My Sofa is awesome and one of the best place in Paris for watching a movie (true story)! But Paris gets small after some time. And, at the same time, Paris is a great base camp to go and explore the world as it is very well connected, would that be by road, rail or air.
Nowadays, traveling becomes easier than ever and distances become relative. It takes me around 5 hours door to door to get back to my hometown. And around the same time to get to, say, Bulgaria. And with some preparation and tips, a weekend in Sofia costs me even less than one in Paris or my Hometown!
So, you can easily understand that after I moved in Paris, back in 2005, I quickly became an avid traveler. And it actually helped that my job would often send me across Europe and even further. At that point you start and become skilled in loyalty programs (collecting miles from airlines and hotels), low cost airlines and how to find greatest travel plans at the best price. You even start and track your flights on map or make the list of countries you’ve visited.
Just a side note on what I consider traveling. Traveling isn’t going to some new place just to rush into the first Starbucks or eat at the first McDonald you find. Traveling is about getting out of your comfort zone, looking for the things that are done differently and growing as a person by understanding the (sometimes subtles) little changes that make us different (would that be cultural differences, behavioral differences, food, and of course new landscapes or weather conditions). In a way, traveling is about getting to know others as much as it is about getting to know yourself.
Okey, that’s all cute, but… that Jumping thing? Really?
I’m getting to that. So yes, I had become nomad and traveler. But something was missing. Something that would link all those wonderful travel memories together in an entertaining way.
That’s when, somewhere in 2008 I discovered the video of that guy, Matt (more on www.wherethehellismatt.com). Gosh, how I hated the guy ! He had got it all. His videos were wonderful, inspiring, breathtaking… and so unfair ! I should have been the one there! I couldn’t just stand still and pretend that nothing had happened. I just couldn’t let Matt be the only one having fun. I HAD to do something.
I’m not a dancing expert nor a video guy (Matt had already taken that niche anyway). But I did enjoy photography very much. I own a camera since I’m I’m 11 years old (my first camera was an old, all manual, SLR with which I used to shoot mostly anything, but preferably cats). And quickly, I didn’t really remember how, I decided that it would be fun to go jumping on pictures around the world.
So in December 2008, on a trip in Oslo with my couchsurfing friend Flo, I took the first Jumping Picture. It was fun so I continued. And after some time, it got a bit viral, people got into it . I started jumping with friends, then with family too, and even made my colleagues jump ! (you’ll note how tough it is to make group jumping pics).
Originally I had posted the jumping pictures on Blogabond. But in January 2013, I decided it was time for the jumping crazyness to go and conqueer the world and opened jumpingtraveler.com !
You didn’t answer all my questions…
Oh, sorry about that.
May I suggest you use the Contact form to send me your questions? I’ll be happy to try and answer them! 🙂