FINDING FITZ ROY

14,000+ miles. 
18 countries. 
One Lone Rucksack. 

Check Out the Adventure

 


Driven by Curiosity. Fueled by Adventure.

Lone Rucksack documents explorer Dani Bradford— a dirtbag solo adventurer and storyteller. In 2015, Dani completed a 4,500 mile+ cycling journey through 15 countries from Portugal to the Republic of Georgia. Her most recent project, #FindingFitzRoy, documents her motorcycle journey down the Americas— from Washington, DC to Patagonia. Learn more about Dani here. 

 

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Introducing Medellín

Nestled in a lush green valley that’s framed by the Andes Mountains, vibrant Medellin is Colombia’s second biggest city and the hip and happening capital of the Antioquia Department.

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Check Out the Best (BEST!) Hair Salon in Medellín

“I’d like to match my root to the color of the rest of my hair,” I asked the stylist, in Spanish. He chuckled at what presumably was some sort of grammatical error in my Spanish, then proceeded to mix up a color.

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Best coffee in Medellín (from an Aussie barista perspective)

Medellín, Colombia might be known for its amicable weather and chill vibes. But this northern city – placed within arm’s reach of the nation’s coffee-production epi-centre – is also home to some seriously world-class cafes to make even the fussiest of coffee aficionados grin into their mug.

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“Don't waste your energy trying to change opinions ... Do your thing, and don't care if they like it.”⁣ ― Tina Fey ⁣ ⁣ @misadventures_of_sarah and I prepared for an epic backpacking weekend in Copacaba at Lake Titicaca. Two flat bus tires later, and a bout of food poisoning, we arrived in the dark in a town square as it started to rain. Luckily, we had a plan B. And when the sun came out the next day we were lounging in hammocks surrounded by alpacas. #antidirtbagging “My mother always told me, “Hide your face, people are looking at you.” I would reply, “It does not matter; I am also looking at them.” —Malala ( @misadventures_of_sarah )
“There’s something about arriving in new cities, wandering empty streets with no destination. I will never lose the love for the arriving, but I'm born to leave.” ― Charlotte Eriksson “Every choice in life sets us on a different path and carries its own set of “what ifs” and consequences that we could worry about, but what’s the use? Rather than plaguing our thoughts with the unknown, we should focus on and accept only what we do know – and all we know is the path we’re currently on.”⁣ ― A.J. Darkholme⁣ ⁣ 4.5 years ago, I met @misadventures_of_sarah of @long_rode_home in Tarifa, Spain, when I was cycling across Europe and she had just gotten started cycling around the world. Years later, here we are spending the holidays together in La Paz. When life throws an opportunity to spend time with an incredible human, you take it. So here we are in the mountains riding cable cars and cooking spectacular meals and plotting for an epic 2020.
“It is easy to see the glow but hard to recognize the awakening of silence.”⁣ ― Dejan Stojanovic⁣ ⁣ When you desperately need a shower while chilling at a cafe basking in the afternoon sun at Lake Titicaca, and your friend @misadventures_of_sarah takes a photo because you ‘look cool’. #thankyoufriend “When you can’t find someone to follow, you have to find a way to lead by example.”⁣ ― Roxane Gay⁣ ⁣ Photographer: Fernando Moreno @luisferchat ⁣⁣ Production/Assistant Art Director: Gaby Silva @the.life.of.maga Motorcycle Jefe: @lonerucksack⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ Models (and athletes) @Ng_Urbano Crew: ⁣⁣ Jesfran Salcedo @jsfranlife ⁣ Victor Duno @dunopk_ Elias Gomez @eliaspkfr
“Dreams, after all, are insubstantial things, like mist itself.” ―Stephen King “It wasn't the big decisions that set the course of one's life; it was the slow accretion of all the little ones.”⁣ ― Lauren Willig⁣ ⁣ In the morning in the mountains, there is only a short amount of time between the light beginning the peer through, and the clouds dissipating— but— it happens every morning.
“I am messy. I’m not trying to be an example. I am not trying to be perfect. I am not trying to say I have all the answers. I am not trying to say I’m right. I am just trying—trying to support what I believe in, trying to do some good in this world, trying to make some noise with my writing while also being myself.”⁣ ― Roxane Gay⁣ ⁣ My office is usually a corner of whatever AirBNB I’m staying in. Here in La Paz, most afternoons I’m crouched in the corner of this sofa by the window, feathers strewn around on the floor from the sofa cushions, empty coffee mugs, camera equipment and cables, wrapped in a down blanket tapping on the keys of my laptop like a crazed, burrowing rodent. “Don't do what you want. Do what you don't want. Do what you're trained not to want. Do the things that scare you the most.” ⁣ ― Chuck Palahniuk⁣ ⁣ I often think fondly of the opposite of my current situation. When I’m on the road, I remember past apartments and clothes too impractical to bring along and what it feels like to have a shelf in a bathroom with all my things instead of a plastic bag I carry with me. Subsequently, the times that have shaped me the most, allowed me to discover and create who I am, have always been the times when I have less— less things, less comfort, less support. While it’s important to balance those times with community and structure, making space for those moments when we feel off-balance and unsure of ourselves is how we grow. @luisferchat shot for @the.life.of.maga bigger project on powerful women.
“If you have women who will only come if they know there is a good road, I don't want them. I want women who will come if there is no road at all.”⁣ ―David Livingstone⁣ ⁣ It’s incredible to me how places are settled over time, falling into the cracks of the earth, spreading out through the valleys like water filling the lowest points, then rising. Overlooking La Paz fills me with such hope, that it’s fundamentally human to change and build and shape, and just by being part of the city itself, standing there surrounded by its energy, I too, am rising. “All my life I have lived and behaved very much like the sandpiper just running down the edges of different countries and continents, looking for something.” ― Elizabeth Bishop
Ahoy there fellow adventurers- from the chilly mountains of La Paz with my incredible friend, Sarah Webb of @long_rode_home. If you’re looking for your next micro-adventure (or a killer gift) we’ve teamed up to launch the Medellin Adventure project— and to celebrate, I’m offering a few slots as buy one get one free! ⁣ ⁣ It’s the ultimate long weekend experience in Medellin, Colombia in February 2020 (and an alternate to the traditional Valentine’s Day). Come visit me for 4 nights, explore Medellin, train daily in Muay Thai with my black belt trainer Edgardo Hernandéz @edgardo.mma, eating amazing food, cycle to markets and miradors with adventure cyclist Sarah Webb, hike, and practice parkour and breakdancing with the best Venezuelan athletes in the city. And the best thing, if you can snag one of the BOGO spots, you can bring a friend for free. ⁣ ⁣ Limited space available, link in bio! “It's the loneliest people who love books the most...it was the opposite of loneliness, too, like there were too many people around me, forced connections, that I needed a little isolation to think on my own, to be my own person.” ― Etaf Rum
“We see in order to move; we move in order to see.”⁣ ―William Gibson⁣ ⁣ Anywhere in the city the teleférico lines can be seen in an endless, silent march. I could ride the teleferico all day— up cliffs and across ridges, through valleys over rivers until, finally, entering the dark mouths of the station buildings, only to be flung out into space once again. It’s an incredible perspective, the cars and people and laundry and dogs, so close sometimes you can see the red stripes in a t-shirt, so far away sometimes they almost disappear, small shadows on the landscape below, disappearing into the crevices of the mountainous city. “You can't write a script in your mind and then force yourself to follow it. You have to let yourself be.” ― Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

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