As you've probably figured out by now if you've ever read a damn
thing I've written (that isn't about MMA), I'm obsessed with traveling.
About 9 months ago, I got back from a short trip to Salt Lake City
(weird) and Las Vegas (drunk) immediately looking to go away again.
Partly because of my addiction (the scientific term is wanderlust) and
partly because I pocketed a bunch of cash in the Orleans casino over two
days.
But where could I go? The options were
unlimited, but a few messages that an old friend sent me a few months
beforehand made the choice pretty simple. His name is Rob, and we had
been good friends since high school. In 2003 he decided to travel on his
own and went off on a tour of Europe. It was there that he met his
future wife, and he decided to move to her homeland the next year. I had
been talking about coming to see him for a long time, but it was about
the furthest place in the world from Vancouver and it didn't seem
feasible.
The simple ringing of a video poker machine changed all of that. And I was on my way to Australia two months later.
The
timing worked out very well and very badly at the same time. Rob had a
few days off in September so we could go check out a couple of places.
But it was right after my nephew Danny was getting married in Florida,
and I wanted to go to that as well. Unfortunately I was unable to
combine the two for logistical reasons, but a weird coincidence helped
to alleviate some of my guilt about missing the wedding.
Rob
lives in Tasmania, and I decided that the last few days of my trip
would be over there. The time he had off beforehand would be used up in
Melbourne, where the AFL (Aussie Rules Football) playoffs were taking
place. And in Gold Coast, the sun-loving beach resort area in
Queensland. Before that though, I had 36 hours in Honolulu and a few
days in Sydney.
The reason for the Hawaii stopover is
simple - I'm a wuss. It's a 15-hour flight from Vancouver to Sydney
direct, and I think I would go on a homicidal rampage if I was stuck in a
plane seat (literally) for that long. Instead I could fly 6 hours to
Honolulu, chill for a day, then do 10 more to Sydney. It seemed like a
reasonable solution, and it's fucking Honolulu! I've been there before
and I loved it, so another night of carousing in Waikiki bars certainly
didn't sound horrible. And it worked out to be an awesome decision.
The
nephew that I previously mentioned, Danny, married his girl Heather a
few days before I got to Honolulu. I didn't even think of asking where
they were going on their honeymoon until I saw a Facebook post after the
big day about them going to...you guessed it, Hawaii. It turned out
that they were staying a half mile away from me. I'm not a big fan of
crashing anyone's honeymoon, but Danny insisted that it was cool and I
met up with them for some drinks right after I landed. It was great to
catch up with both of them, and as much as I missed seeing my other
nephew Ryan (and his girl Katrina) and my sister Kim at the wedding, I
felt a little better about the whole situation by getting to meet up
with Danny and Heather. They're awesome.
I then went back to
my odd hotel and...well, drank more beer. Then I got a few hours of
sleep before heading off to the southern hemisphere for the second time
in my life. It turned out to be just as interesting as the first time,
maybe more.Stay tuned for part two in the next six months or some shit.
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