I thought it would be good to start a thread where we share our experiences of visiting academies when travelling Maybe it can serve as a resource for folk when they travel to different places
I'm in Morocco at the moment and had a nice roll on the beach with these guys If you're ever in Marrakesh - then I recommend looking up Des at Gentle Art Academy
i was in san diego and i went to jj university for a day to train. i didn't get to meet saulo or xande. but trained for the day. everyone was very welcoming. facility was very clean. instruction was great. i was really glad to see that stand-up was addressed during the session. there was also quite a bit of beginning of class movement training and drilling. all in all, i would highly recommend anyone visiting san diego to get a training session or two there.
I trained at AKA when I went to visit in San Jose. I found everyone very welcoming, I initally just wanted to do Muay Thai as I brought my gloves but they then convinced me to stay and watch the Pro work outs and just hang. So I recommend them.
Alliance Jiu Jitsu Athens in Agios Dimitrios, a suburb of Athens Greece. David Dimopoulos Said is the proprietor and head instructor. Trained there twice. Great place. David is a great teacher. Students are very friendly humble and very, very tough. Loved the techniques David showed. Great clean technique but lots of pressure. The kind of thing that’s right up my alley. David was very perceptive of all students during sparring. He watched me then gave me tips between rolls. Highly recommended if you’re ever in the southeast suburbs of Athens or generally Athens.
I'd recommend everyone joins BJJ Globetrotters. if you're a member (which costs nothing) you get a week's free training at any of their many affiliated clubs around the world. Check if there is one near your holiday destination. They also run utterly awesome training camps so your holiday can actually be a BJJ holiday. I've done five camps. I've been to Leuven in Belgium three times. Each camp was four to six sessions a day, with maybe 15 to 20 instructors from all over the world and 270 participants. This was 225 Euros in 2017! Plenty of time to be a tourist and party too - but with a whole bunch of amazing BJJ people.
I've been down to Roger's Grace's in London - a lot of Brazilian black belts who have their own academies train their in the run up to competitions. I have also everyone is super friendly about drop ins and black belts will spend time after class answering your questions. Also HK jiu jitsu was great when I was there and better priced and wider skill sets than other academies, especially those on the island.
