Jo

Jo’s favorite color is cyan. He strongly dislikes cooking, but as long as he has rice, tuna, and soy sauce - he’s happy. If he could be any animal, he’d be a wolf but if he was a bird, he’d be a rooster. His top 3 desert island movies are The Big Lebowski, The Matrix, and Cyrano de Bergerac (a French film I had to ask the name of 7 times). 

Anyone that has traveled or gone on long hikes with me knows my love of “Would You Rather,” so after 30+ hours in a cross-country road trip and 3 months of traveling together - I learned a lot!

We first met in Alice Springs - I was there for 5 weeks and he stopped due to car trouble. We didn’t spend very much time getting to know each other there but reconnected once we both left. We knew we both wanted to explore the Northern Territory National Parks so I messaged him while I was in Darwin, hitched a ride to Katherine, and our adventure began. Well, it began after Jo drove 3 hours north to Jabiru and then 3 hours back south to Katherine because he misread our messages...

Despite that beginning, we quickly learned we travel well together. It’s crucial to have someone you can laugh and talk with easily but also be okay with the silence. Jo is a true hero and continued teaching me how to drive manual - despite my fear of the lower gears and pulling into gas stations. I introduced him to the world of work for accommodation and pursuing a digital nomad lifestyle.

Born in Michigan, he left the U.S. when he was only a year and a half, but his English is incredible. Here in Australia, his most frequently asked question is “Where is your French accent?” His sisters spoke English to him growing up and his love of movies helped develop the language. I only taught him a few pronunciations like “colonel” and “cyber” while my French lessons were not as successful.

He has a masters in business and spent a year living in San Francisco working customer service. He went back to school for software engineering after deciding he wanted to be as employable as possible (and because everything is better when you’re in school vs. working). This worked well for me as I’ve dove into the freelance and web design world, I could lean on his coding knowledge for support!

Truly at home in the water, Jo and his dad sailed from France to the Caribbean and back again in 7 months. He loves to kayak, kite surf, and found a passion for surfing here in Australia. He’s big into bouldering, so when he’s not scaling the side of random mountains, he likes to climb at local gyms.

It wouldn’t be a true Jo story if I didn’t mention his love of football (soccer for us Americans). His diehard teams are Lyon and Liverpool. He taught me the rules of rugby so we could watch on TV and even see a game in Brisbane together, but he prefers union league rules.

I don’t know when we’ll see each other again but I hope it’s soon! Australia and the world are small places when you want them to be. Be you, Jo!