Where It All Began

Every great adventure starts with a simple question.

For me, it came during a conversation with my best friend, Matt, after we had spent several months working on different projects together. One day he asked me what success would truly look like.

I didn’t hesitate.

“To have all of my family and friends together, throw a dart at a world map blindfolded, and travel wherever it lands.”

It wasn’t about luxury, money, or fame. It was about embracing uncertainty, discovering the unknown, and proving that the greatest adventures begin the moment you surrender control.

Matt looked at me and smiled.

“So… why are we waiting?”

Within an hour we were driving to Walmart to buy a world map, a set of darts, and two blindfolds. Our friend Julian overheard the conversation, laughed at what he thought was a ridiculous idea, pulled out a $20 bill and challenged us.

“I bet you won’t actually do it.”

To make sure we couldn’t back out, we recorded ourselves on an iPhone, agreeing that wherever the winning dart landed, we would go.

The rules were simple.

We would each throw one dart blindfolded.

Then we’d flip a coin.

Heads or tails would decide whose destination became reality.

My dart landed in the Atlantic Ocean near the Azores.

Matt’s landed somewhere far less tropical… the Arctic.

The coin landed on tails.

Our destination had been chosen.

The North Pole.

The problem?

Neither of us had the money to get there.

We had just six weeks to somehow turn an impossible dream into reality.

Instead of giving up, we went all in.

We built a brand around the expedition called Polar Faith, created a website, designed sponsorship packages, produced marketing material, built media lists, made hundreds of cold calls and sent proposal after proposal to companies across North America. Rather than asking people for cash, we broke the expedition into individual needs — flights, accommodation, camera equipment, clothing, transportation — and searched for partners who believed in the dream.

More than 800 companies heard from us.

Most said no.

A few said yes.

The very first major believer was Canada Goose, who shipped us nearly $5,000 worth of Arctic clothing — equipment we would desperately need to survive one of the harshest environments on Earth.

As our story spread, local newspapers, radio stations and television networks began featuring “the two crazy guys who were spending Christmas in the Arctic after throwing a dart at a map.”

People weren’t following because we were experienced explorers.

They followed because they wanted to see whether two ordinary guys could actually pull off something so absurd.

By the time our departure date arrived, we still hadn’t fully raised the money we needed.

An online fundraiser was still running while we were boarding the plane.

We said goodbye on live television, took a deep breath and hoped everything would somehow work out.

It did.

The Arctic tested us in every possible way.

We battled brutal cold, sickness, exhaustion and constant uncertainty. Between filming, we answered sponsor emails, updated our website, edited videos from hotel rooms, fulfilled merchandise orders and documented every step of the journey. We even found ourselves making radio interviews while recovering from bronchitis after taking a freezing dip in the Arctic Ocean — an experience we would not recommend.

Then came the phone call that changed everything.

Kjersti Norås, the head of Svalbard Tourism, had been following our adventure from Norway. She believed so strongly in what we were doing that she offered us a sponsorship worth $10,000.

The cheque arrived before we returned home.

The expedition had officially paid for itself.

More importantly, it proved something neither of us had fully understood before leaving:

People don’t support perfect plans.

They support authentic dreams.

When we returned to Canada, we transformed hundreds of hours of footage into our very first documentary.

It quickly became clear that what had started as a one-time adventure had the potential to become something much bigger.

The concept evolved.

The brand evolved.

And eventually, Travel by Dart was born. Wanna watch what happened in Svalbard?

Today, that single dart throw has grown into more than 70 documentary episodes, filmed across well over one hundred countries, airing on international television networks, Amazon Prime Video and airlines around the world.

Although Matt helped create the original concept and appeared in the first four episodes, our paths eventually took us in different directions. He pursued new opportunities in the United States, while I continued developing Travel by Dart into the global documentary series it has become today.

The mission, however, has never changed.

Every time I stand blindfolded in front of a world map, I’m reminded of that afternoon in Walmart, a $20 bet from a friend, and one simple decision:

To stop waiting for life to happen…

…and let a dart decide where the next chapter begins.