CIPRIAN I. POPICA
photographer | filmmaker
I’m a filmmaker and photographer from Romania.
I created this blog from my passion for adventure: sailing, backpacking, camping, hiking, biking, CB and amateur radio, pretty much anything related to outdoors. Concentrating mostly on films, photography and articles… this website its my tool to tell you outdoors adventures stories.
I’m hoping to inspire other people, especially the young generation, to step out and dare to explore. The world we live in, is waiting to be discovered. Follow me on social media for real time updates, and subscribe to the newsletter for the latest articles on the blog.
THE STORY
Not the kind of story you hear everywhere. I haven’t sold all my stuff and bought a boat or a van to travel the world. I actually didn’t had anything to sell in the first place. Sailing and traveling the world was my dream since I was a kid, and it finally happened after nearly thirty years dreaming about it. I’m more like a grown kid, with the same dreams I had when I was little. To travel and sail around the world just like the people I was reading about during my childhood. I want to see amazing places and meet great people that I will always remember. Just as they say… “It’s not the destination that maters, it’s the trip itself”.
First of all… what’s this website all about ? Nothing but the things I love the most: sailing, backpacking, camping, hiking, biking, living on a boat or a van and travel the world. I also try to teach and inspire other people as well because I know it’s worth it. And not the last, as this is what I love doing the most… film-making and photography. But let’s get to the actual story so I can explain a little bit about how I started this amazing lifestyle.
I’m a really simple guy living a simple life, and that’s maybe the reason I just can’t stop smiling even in the bad days, at least most of the time. Just like for the most of us, it all started in my childhood. I was born and grow up in a little village from Transylvania, together with my parents and my grandparents. One amazing childhood I tell you that.
After my father died though, when I was at the age of six… I felt a little lost, most of my childhood. That’s because usually the dad is the example you follow in life, and now I had nothing to follow. That was the moment I started daydreaming about the things I would love doing in life. I started hiking with my friends and spending lots of time outdoors in nature, appreciating the beauty of it and the wildlife. That’s where the respect for all these came from as well, and why sometimes I talk a lot either in my videos, articles or photo descriptions about conserving and protecting nature and wildlife.
I started traveling when I started working on cruise ships. At that time for me that was the best solution to travel and work at the same time. The problem was that I never really had much time to visit as I had to work, plus that most of the times you’re going in touristic areas where there is really not much to see but lots of shops, restaurants and bars. Not the kind of traveling I was dreaming about.
The real adventure started at the point I moved to Miami, and I did that for personals reasons, nothing to do with traveling and adventures. The point when my life changed was the time I bought the first sailboat. That was supposed to be a boat to spend family time in weekends. But since the first one month trip bringing the boat to Miami from the Glades Boat Storage was so much fun and I enjoyed that so much, arrived in Miami I decided to move and live aboard. Naturally with this, came also the desire for adventure, so I started planning my first voyage from Miami to Puerto Rico and preparing the boat for the trip.
Getting to the point I realized I will want more after that voyage, I also figured that the boat I had was not appropriate for offshore sailing. That’s when I decided to sell Transeau and buy Anastasia… a Pearson Triton 28. Having a bigger boat, I decided to try to sail around the world. Since I still had my job aboard the cruise ships at that time… and that also didn’t helped me in my preparations for the trip, I decided to quit and concentrate on this.
Doing everything with very little money as most of them I had to save for food and the daily things I needed while I was in Miami, the preparations were really slow. The entire adventure took a totally different turn because of this, and things went wrong but believe me… I would not change a thing if I could ever do it all over again.
Getting to the “present time” chapter… It is true indeed that it’s not about the destination, it’s the trip that matters. I had the privilege of living all these amazing adventures, meeting really great people and made amazing friends that to me they will be family for a lifetime. That is the reason I would not change a thing, but I did made and learned from a lot of mistakes as well. That’s the part you will have something to learn from, as I learned the hard way so hopefully you won’t have to. Now the adventure may continue on land, after spending nearly half of my life on water. That of course, if i can actually stay on land.
Since “the show must go on“, just as life does every single day… I will talk more about the story and continuing from here through my articles and all my posts around the social media. At the end… it’s all about amazing travel adventures you get to learn from, and I’ll use what I know doing the best: photography and film, as a tool to present you everything.