05/22/2026
Akasa Journeys in the news. We were in Vice Magazine in 2018 and again now in 2026! I was more a counterpoint in this article since I don't sit for the "mega rich."
Vice magazine: "Tripsitting the Mega Rich"
“In [Johnson’s] case, it feels like it’s something for him to do,” says Paul Antico. “Like, he could do a lot of things in life, but it’s just something he’s into doing right now.” Antico either has beautiful natural curls, or a perm. “I love your name,” he says. “I love your hair,” I reply. Weeks have passed since I spoke to Antico over Zoom, but he remains a consistent liker of my Instagram stories. By virtue of the fact that Antico thinks I’m funny rather than depraved, I reckon he’d be a great person to do a load of mushrooms with.
To be fair, that’s Antico’s approach: no frills. “The more salesy people are like, ‘OK, we’ve got this package, we’re gonna carry your trauma,’” he tells me. “You can’t guarantee that to people.” Antico started Akasa Journeys in 2018. Back then, he was one of the only tripsitters around. Nearly ten years later, things have “gotten a little crazy,” and the important stuff has, he says, been lost in the noise. “It’s the process, not the medicine,” he explains. “People get all hung up on, ‘Well, I did albino pen*s-envy mushrooms versus golden teachers.’ What strain did they use in all the studies? There was no strain because it was pure synthetic psilocybin.” And the people facilitating 5-MeO-DMT? “God complexes,” Antico concludes. “Not all of them, but they tend to more than others…”
Professional drug babysitters are getting paid to watch the world’s wealthiest people lose their minds. VICE asked them for secrets.
