Greg Bond has had quite an interesting life. The Orillia man has been a radio host, owned a painting company, was a voice actor, owned and operated a bar in Nicaragua, and now he’s adding world traveler and vlogger to that list.
The 47-year-old single father of two aspiring musicians, Tie and Brad Bond, recently sold his house and most of his belongings and purchased a 45-foot Prevost tour bus to travel the world with his dog, Tucker.
“I’m going to be going state to state with the goal of interviewing social media stars, and people of all walks of life. I want to explore and check out what this world has to offer,” Bond said.
“I will be visiting ghost towns, haunted houses, unique different places, and I’ll be videoing it all for my YouTube channel as well as TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram.”
Bond will be starting his journey this month in Texas and will be making his way north over the course of the summer. Already he has raked up 1,170 subscribers on his YouTube channel Trippin with Bondzee.
"I will be doing live shows, weekly episodes, some podcasting, and even blogging,” he said.
Bond is also hoping to interview up-and-coming YouTube and TikTok stars on his journey to document their stories.
“I was reading about these up-and-coming YouTube stars and TikTok stars, and I thought, somebody needs to go interview and see these people,” he said.
“It’s interesting how they were normal people a year ago and now they are like social media famous. I wanted to delve into that word, so it was time for me to hit the road.”
The idea for Bond’s long road trip was born out of being bored while stuck inside during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’m pretty adventurous, so being stuck at home in this pandemic has been tough on me,” he said.
“I thought I don’t need to be here anymore; I need to get out there and explore the world.”
Bond says there is no end in sight for his journey. His goal is to hit every American state, and then cross over to Canada. Eventually, Bond hopes to travel to South America and then fly over to Europe to continue his journey.
“I just want to stay on the road and keep this going as long as I can,” Bond said.
“The ultimate goal is to be social media famous and build my YouTube channel where it starts paying me on the daily. I’m building a studio right inside the bus, and the goal is to get these social media stars on my bus to do an interview, and hopefully tap into their viewership as well," he explained.
While Bond is confident he can keep his road trip going for as long as he wants, he also admits that he is fearful.
“I’m a good scared," he quipped. "I’ve been doing a live show for about a year now on my YouTube channel, and it’s really taken off. I got a great following and people are loving what I’m doing."
He said humour helps.
“I’m pretty funny and quick-witted, I’m a huge people person, so I think by just going out on the road and introducing myself to people I think I can get some big attention going," he told OrilliaMatters.
While Bond is excited to take the risk and venture out, he says some of his family and friends were a little concerned about his plan.
“My parents were a little apprehensive at first and scared for me as any normal parent would be, but now they’ve sort of embraced it. They helped me pack and move. I think they are still nervous, but they know my talent and they believe in me,” he said.
He estimates "90 percent of my friends are on board and love what I’m doing. My kids are on board, and they’ve all seen how far I’ve come in the last year with my live show and podcast. They know who I am, and know that I’m adventurous. I think they are thrilled for me.”
You can follow Bond along his journey here: YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram.
