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Everyone's talking about the flashy camper taking over Greek TikTok.


stop food waste

Giorgos Grintelas is traveling around Greece on a motorcycle, wild camping, sharing tips, and going viral on TikTok.


I saw a guy eating bananas he’d picked out of a supermarket dumpster. That was my first encounter with Giorgos Grintelas’s TikTok profile—on a night that definitely could’ve been spent more productively. But in the end, it wasn’t so bad. Some of this so-called “fasaios” camper’s videos can actually turn you into a bit of an expert—or at the very least, a pretty decent wild camper, exploring the mountains and seas of Greece in search of yourself.

stop food waste

That’s exactly what grintelas.com is supposed to be doing (that’s how you’ll find him on TikTok). As he explains on his page (more on that later):

"My dream to explore new places—not just to say I went on vacation—is what makes me live every adventure without fear, only with passion. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been on two wheels, covering long distances on a bicycle. That bicycle has now been replaced by a motorcycle."


So, with just a motorcycle, Giorgos Grintelas is traveling around Greece and wild camping. For him, wild camping means “staying out in nature completely independent of tourist or other built-up structures. If you’ve pitched a tent somewhere in the forest or by the beach but rely on the nearest tavern, canteen, or anything else for your other needs, then that’s called free lodging,” he writes on Grintelas Motorcycle Diaries—his page, which, as he says, was named (or rather inspired) by the famous book by Ernesto “Che” Guevara.


The free camper stays wherever the weather allows. He’s already been to Austria, Hungary, Italy, Croatia, Montenegro, and Albania—and he hopes to make it to Asia soon. For now, he’s traveling around Greece. At the moment, he’s somewhere near the sea, and that’s where he joined the TV show Weekend with Manesis—right while his lentil-rice was boiling. Naturally, the interview happened over Skype—campers have phones too, after all. As he himself says, he’s not against the digital age.

outdoor cooking

At the rather awkward beginning of the conversation, he received a "compliment" about his hair. You see, dreadlocks tend to attract attention, usually for the wrong reasons, as stereotypical perceptions—especially in Greece—are plenty, and if they had a scent, it would be that of mothballs. A quick scroll through the comments on his profile is enough to help you understand what we mean.

outdoor cooking

From the interview he gave on Alpha TV, we learned a lot. Just like on TikTok, during the show, they asked him the well-known and reasonable question, "How do you manage?" He answered that he spent five nights in the mountains, spending only two euros a day. The expenses included transportation as well. At that point, they asked him, "Have you stopped eating?" since it seems impossible to have both food and transportation covered with just two euros a day. He explained that, usually, he eats legumes and vegetables—things that don’t require refrigeration.

off the grid grintelas

He basically never stays at his own place. Yes, he has one. He rents an apartment in Patras but is thinking of leaving it. When money runs out, he works in one place and then moves on to another. "I don’t have a plan in my life. I move forward, I travel, and go wherever it takes me." Also, people help him out. Not so much financially, but most of the time they provide him with food and a place to stay. As for bathing, all he needs is some green soap and the water boiling in his pot.


In the backpack he carries, there’s everything. Winter, summer, and spring clothes, as well as his home—his tent. Among these, there’s also a notebook where he writes down his experiences, many of which appear on Grintelas Motorcycle Diaries. There, anyone can make a donation or buy a T-shirt to help him "cover a few more miles with my motorcycle or get food to cook for the next day."


You will find the article of Konstantinos Dedes to oneman.gr

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