Going to Japan with the crew was my first film trip being in more of a leadership role where people were relying on me to get them from A to B, get shots and enjoy their experience. It was slightly stressful in the beginning, trying to find good spots with good snow. I did run at least 20 red lights total and almost drove away with the petrol thing in my car, but in the end it all worked out pretty smoothly. I was the tour guide for Katie, Darrah, [filmer] Derek Molinski and Nick Elliott, and [photographer] Taylor Boyd and Hana Beaman met up with us as well. Speaking of going overseas, how does it feel to be able to travel home again? I didn’t see my family for four years during COVID. Finally, once all the restrictions eased, [Scott and I] decided to move to New Zealand into a van and travel around for three months. We have done that for the past two years. One day we want to end up there, so traveling around like this is the best way to feel out a place to live one day. Living in New Zealand in a van is an experience I would highly recommend. They have freedom camping there, which, if you have the certified sticker on the back of your van meaning you have clean water and gray water and a toilet, then you can stay in these free camping spots. It’s pretty loose—we don’t have any of those things in our van and we still stay in the freedom camping spots, no questions asked. We follow the swell, wind and weather, looking at the fore-cast and deciding where to go based on Mother Nature. We get to see the country spontaneously, meet people and experience day-to-day unplanned. I’ve also been doing school, so we spend many hours in public libraries. Sometimes we end up staying in one place for a week, and others for just a morning. It’s a fun way to live. Well, Stefi, it seems like you have done a ton, learned a lot and have seen the world through your beautiful lens. Would you say you have achieved current homeostasis? Absolutely. I’m so grateful for the opportunities that I have had so far. Life is good. The way you follow your passions and make them work for you is so cool. Do you have any advice for how to achieve this? Log off and live. You’ve been snowboarding for a long time. What motivates you— not only in snowboarding, but in life? I’m 32 and I started at 14, so going on 17 years. I’m motivated by freedom, travel and the outdoors. Exercise, doing the things I love each day. Eating healthy, experiencing cultures, helping people achieve exercise goals, and using my brain to constantly learn. What did you get up to this year? I filmed more than ever. I went to Japan with Katie Kennedy and Darrah Reid-McLean and filmed with them for two-and-a-half weeks. Then I met up with Scott and the Sims guys and filmed with them. After, we went on this massive road trip, catching the ferry from Hokkaido to Honshu then drove through Japan. We went to a bunch of snowboard shops and got to meet a ton of people. I ended the trip surfing for a week—basically had the best time of my life. Apart from that I filmed in Salt Lake and ended up doing a bunch of events in the spring. I’m excited to have a little cut this year. Best part and worst part about being on a filming trip? The best part is experiencing powder, for sure. And the worst part is, hard to say, maybe sleeping on the floor for four weeks— every place we stayed was the tatami mats. Other than the sleeping arrangements, did you find it difficult to travel to a foreign country? I had never traveled to a country with a foreign language by myself before, so I went to Sapporo for three days and walked around the city. I figured out the public transport, how to com-municate with people without speaking the language. It set me up for a successful trip over there. 060 THE SNOWBOARDER’S JOURNAL
The Snowboarder's Journal The Snowboarder's Journal 22.1: Page 60
