Hello, my name is Mikala Jones. I’ve pretty much spent my whole life as a traveling surfer, so that’s all I’ve really ever known. Someone recently suggested that it might be interesting to document a year of my life to show people what it’s like to be constantly on the road. And for me this is a chance to introduce you to some of my friends who I get to travel with, show you a few of the waves we’ve come across and share the life of a traveling pro. So, anyways, here we go, I guess. This is just an intro…but we’ve got plenty of videos and photos on the way…

I'd like to start this all by saying that none of this would be possible on my own. You'd be reading these amateur journal entries with no photos and no videos…probably me just bodysurfing with no boards…if it wasn't for the help of all the people who support my travels. The photos you see are the aren't just me getting barreled — they're the art work of photographers who dedicate their whole lives to providing that images that keep you inspired. They stand in the hot sun on the beach all day while I get to go surfing, and then I take all the credit for being in the photo. The boards and gear I use around the world, it's not just cheap pop-outs for profit. This is someone else's artwork — the art of shaping surfboards or of creating high-quality travel gear that won't fail when you need it most. From the guys who help organize my trips to the locals who show me around their home country, it's these people who really make surf travel possible. If anything, I hope to give them the credit they deserve in this feature. And at the same time, I hope to introduce you to a few of my friends who charge just as hard but don't get enough credit for it.

My job? My job's easy. I get to go surfing. My job is to get barreled. To hit the lip. To land some airs. To push my surfing into new waves in new surf regions. Who wouldn't want to do that? Yeah, I'm lucky. But my job is hard, too. For the same reason it's easy — because, who wouldn't want to do this? So, I've gotta work twice as hard to stay competitive, to find new breaks, to surf new destinations, to stay healthy so my surfing doesn't suffer. That means waking up early. It means traveling to hard to get to places. It means surfing for hours on end, sometimes even when the waves aren't that good. I miss my wife and daughter when I'm away, but that's also what keeps me fired to up to do my job well when I'm out there. This is a job, it just happens to be one of the best jobs in the world.

Anyway…welcome to "On the Road with…uh, me." I hope I can keep this interesting for the both of us. I've got some great trips coming up with plenty of video segments and lots of photos, and I'll do my best to show you a small piece of what I do when I'm when I'm home, too. We've got some nice product giveaways, including a few of my boards and a bunch of the gear I use on my trips, just to thank you for keeping tabs on this on-going feature. So, in a way, you've got a pretty sweet job, too.

Thanks for reading.