So Hot Right Now: James Gardner

Posted on October 26, 2007.

What are your biggest concerns about the trip?

I'm pretty scared I'm going to run out of money and not be able to either do everything I want to do, or even worse not have enough money for a ticket home. I'm also absolutely crapping it about getting any of my gear robbed. If we lose any of our "production" equipment we're seriously screwed, which is why I have invested in some pretty heavy insurance!

What are your top 5 essential items that you'll be taking with you?

1) Macbook pro - My lifeline to the world beyond and also my main means of financing the trip whilst I'm on it!

2) My video camera for just pretty much the second reason above and also because it's fun stealing peoples souls...

3) Askateboard - they can pretty good fun to play on sometimes!

4) My toothbrush

5) I guess my passport is probably a pretty essential item for the trip also.

What are you expecting to miss the most about home whilst you're away?

I'm not sure i can really answer that one yet. I guess i expect to miss my family, my friends and my dogs. Who knows what?

Tight 5050 nollie out in the Big Smoke. Seq: Leo

How did Grots involvement in this project come about?

Ol' Grot jumped on board with me after what was simply a brief conversation back at the Mystic Cup in Prague this year about what I was up to now i have finished my degree. We spoke about the trip and he told me how he had been looking for a reason and someone to go with for years now and this just seemed like the perfect opportunity. Things just went from there.

So then, what's the deal with this proposed TV show?

Now, this is a bit of an exclusive actually as we have been pretty keen to keep the details of what we were actually up to whilst away quiet whilst all the nitty gritty details were being finalised but now we're all good so here it is...

What started out as an idea to produce a series of short podcasts for Vans has now snowballed into a pretty large scale production. Quite simply, Grot and I will be filming our trip for television and be producing three series of six, twenty four minute TV shows which will broadcast on digital television. I can't really say which station just yet as the contract is yet to be signed but I'm sure you'll have a pretty good guess at which one it's likely to be! Next to the TV shows "crossing borders" will also be documented online through the web site we have yet to set up and and also through a series of podcasts available through the Vans UK iTunes account. A certain extreme sports video hosting website are showing a keen interest in the project to so I'm really, really amped on the whole thing. At the risk of going into too much detail here the show is going to document the exploits and adventures of Grot and I and the people we meet on our journey. Keep your eyes peeled on the Sidewalk forum for further details of the project and exclusive info on the progress of the production.

Click the image below to be transported, as if by magic, to an exclusive edit...