The world-infamous team behind The Tragic Traveller
The Tragic Traveller is a three-pronged team, like Neptune’s trident or the Devil’s pitchfork:
Nick Johns-Wickberg
Nick is the warped mind behind The Tragic Traveller.
Despite growing up in the leafy Eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Nick’s privileged childhood wasn’t enough to stop him becoming a filthy hippie at the first opportunity, much to the chagrin of his hard-working mother.
After realising he could drink pretty much 24/7 while travelling, Nick set sail for Europe as a 24-year-old. He’s barely been seen since.
Years of backpacking have left Nick jaded, financially unstable, and incapable of returning to full-time work. Instead of doing something useful with his life, he now writes silly fake news stories for The Tragic Traveller.
When Nick isn’t on the road, you can find him watching stand-up comedy videos on YouTube, ruining parties with his conspiracy theories, or eyeing off other people’s leftovers at restaurants.
Iks (Ilinka Kijanović)
Hailing from from the mountain town of Užice in Western Serbia, Iks is The Tragic Traveller’s resident artiste.
After developing a totally-not-weird obsession with Primus’ insane licks as a teenager, she decided to start playing the bass guitar. She joined several bands, in which she soon became known as “the girl.”
Iks has been doodling for as long as she remembers. She toyed briefly with the idea of studying graphic design, but soon realised that earning money was more important than chasing her dreams. With that in mind, she moved to Belgrade to study Scandinavian Studies and the Norwegian language.
She says she studied Norwegian because “she wanted to bring Balkan and Scandinavian cultures together.” But the Norwegian government has already red-flagged her as a “massive visa risk.”
Iks mainly travels because of gigs. She recently flew to Berlin to see Kamasi Washington in an act of insanity that cost her all her savings. She’s met tons of other musicians abroad, too. And by “met,” we mean “stalked.”
Iks is also a massive craft beer head, which is just a nice way of saying “classy alcoholic.”
Paul Norman
Leaving the UK at 21, Paulie quickly decided there was no fucking way he was ever living in that place again. With only a backpack and an incredibly poor sense of judgement, he set off to find himself in the wastelands of Australia.
In order to support his life-consuming travel obsession, he has worked as a landscaper, a scaffolder, a bartender, a hostel receptionist, a kiwi picker, a chicken catcher, a stage hand for The Eagles, and a ski technician.
In his free time, he is bad at surfing and snowboarding. Only very occasionally does he cripple his body permanently.
Since May 2019, Paul has worked as a roving reporter for the The Tragic Traveller, fabricating high-quality stories from all corners of this big blue ball we call Earth.