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sohannabarberaesque · 4 years

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Underwater America with Peter Potamus: Florida’s Space Coast

art by MaudeDraws (https://www.deviantart.com/maudedraws)

This story continues a Friday Fanfic series which debuted late last year, in which Peter Potamus and friends go on a cross-country tour of the nation’s most interesting diving sites in the hope of selling their adventures to television. This story takes place early in the summer of 1970.

I drove the bus out of Ocala at around six o’clock in the morning while everyone else inside was still sleeping off our latest refreshing adventure.

Early into the next leg of our cross-country tour, I pondered taking the winding country roads instead of the highway. I eventually decided on the highway, for the roads were generally less bumpy—thereby making the crew less irritable—and faster, even though we had lots of time to get to our next stop: Florida’s famous State Road A1A, featuring the longest stretches of beaches one could ever hope for.

About 90 minutes later, once everyone was awake, alert and begging for breakfast, we stopped at a diner in Ocoee, not far from Orlando, Walt Disney’s latest conquest. In fact, as we sat in two separate booths looking at menus, the conversation turned to the resort.

“What do you think he’s got there?” Breezly pondered.

“Do you think we could get up close and take pictures?” asked a slightly hyperactive Squiddly, shivering with delight.

“Yeah!” Magilla giddily exclaimed. “Maybe we could have a piece of history!”

“Please,” Mildew said in his usual sassy style. “I doubt they’d let anyone near a construction site. Plus, this is Disney we’re talking about, so they’d probably shoot you!”

“Indeed,” I added, dead serious. “I’m not going to waste valuable time going there. We’ve got Cape Canaveral coming up in a few hours.” The thought of me or any of the others possibly getting arrested for trespassing immediately came to mind. “Let me remind you all that even though we’re all having fun here, I’m spending my life savings to make this dream happen. You all have nothing to lose, but not me.”

Squiddly and Magilla clammed up immediately. I figured they knew what I was talking about: nobody else had any means of support. Hokey and his partner Ding-a-Ling only had their street smarts to get them out of jams. Lippy and Hardy were just struggling. While Magilla could simply go back to Peebles’ Pet Shop, it simply wasn’t a life. This was a ticket to a new life for them and I was not about to risk that for something stupid.

Breakfast, otherwise, was nothing special. The coffee was a little too strong for some of them, and some of the meals just weren’t up to par. Lippy, sitting opposite from me, wasn’t thrilled with the slightly-soggy pancakes, either. We still paid for the meal, though, and went on our way. At least Squiddly loved the bagels and lox.

To compensate for the lack of Disney in our lives, we made an unplanned stop at the Tosohatchee Wildlife Management Area in Orange County. The area brings hunters, birdwatchers, campers, hikers, botanists, fishermen and wildlife enthusiasts together under one roof, and today all of the above were out enjoying themselves.

We took plenty of pictures of birds that morning, with bald eagles and kestrels hunting for their next meal, while herons and ibises, among others, hung out in the wetlands. We were also able to get on camera a group of wild turkeys congregating nearby, with Mildew and Hokey instantly regretting not bringing a shotgun—if only we had one.

“Monsters,” Loopy said with a smirk, although I am certain that, deep down, he would’ve wanted it.

The excursion turned out to be a good thing: the heavy showers came in a few miles after we got back onto Route 524. Better now than later.

“Oh, dear,” Hardy moaned. “That’s going to ruin our plans.”

“Aww, don’t sweat it, Hardy!” replied his optimistic friend, Lippy. “Better now than when we’re out on the boat, right?”

“If you say so,” the sour-flavored hyena moped. “I suppose it could have been worse. We could have been out in the water when—“

As if on cue, lightning struck a few hundred feet away from us, startling everyone but especially Hardy, who would’ve jumped into Lippy’s lap had the seat belt not prevented him from doing so—and yet, we all soldiered on past the rain and out of danger, and just in time.

The timing was perfect: the sun shone brightly on the Indian and Banana rivers, the first things one sees before entering State Road A1A from the north. Sandwiched between the two rivers is Merritt Island, home to the John F. Kennedy Space Center, known throughout the world for NASA’s Apollo space missions that eventually put man on the moon for the first time in history.

We stopped at the northernmost point of Florida’s Space Coast—the town of Cape Canaveral, where space tourism and beach tourism combine to provide an unforgettable experience. As we were on a mix of both pleasure and business, however, we immediately sought out a boat to rent for today’s underwater journey.

Once we secured one, we got to work loading our gear from the trailer into the boat. To avoid confusion and clutter, not only are the swim fins and masks hooked to the belt of the harness, our names are marked on the backs of the harnesses so we do not end up wearing someone else’s kit. We then started on our way, into the Atlantic Ocean.

As we continued on our way, we were able to get a glimpse of houses lined along the streets, not far from the Space Coast’s gorgeous beaches. These streets bear the names of past U.S. Presidents, the greats and not-so-greats among them: Washington Avenue. Adams. Jefferson. Eventually ending with Harding.

“Huh. Coulda sworn Van Buren would get his due,” Wally said before letting out his familiar, ear-pleasing laugh, noting the absence of his own street.

Further along the coast, the beaches were endless, although the places had different names. Cocoa Beach? Satellite Beach? Melbourne Beach, just a drive away from the city of Melbourne? It’s all good. You get to enjoy the feeling of sand between your toes.

I made certain to check my gear to ensure everything was operational. I took a breath from the regulator and found no problems. While everyone else was testing their tanks and regulators, I went into the cabin to plot out a course for ourselves using a nautical map.

Now, Cape Canaveral itself is not an ideal place for diving. Consulting the guidebook, I had two options: either explore a natural reef twenty miles out of Port Canaveral in an area called Pelican Flats, or explore the wrecked Dutch steamship Laertes, the Allied cargo vessel sunk by a German U-109 in May 1942. We couldn’t tackle both at once, as those two were a mile apart. As I looked further through the book to see if there were other reefs, it turned out there are plenty of other wrecks along the waters off A1A, some of them much, much older.

My mind was made up: we would be exploring a reef that day. …Or at least, I thought! Maybe some of the gang wanted a change of scene early. If there were other natural reefs along the coast, they were hard to come by. So, I told them we’d go to the reef.

After agreeing amongst ourselves on 90 feet for 40 minutes with a seven-minute decompression stop, we geared up for our journey into the depths in our familiar way: tanks secured to harnesses; harnesses worn and buckled securely; fins snugly worn; mask lenses spat-at-and-rinsed before donning; regulators being given a final check.

art by Kandlin

After a final safety briefing and the dropping of the anchor line, we were about to back-roll into the ocean when an Atlantic flyingfish flew up from the water and landed right on Breezly’s lap. We all had a terrific laugh over it, even after Breezly non-chalantly threw the fish back in the ocean, toward where the little fella had hoped to go.

“We could’ve had some lunch!” Lippy laughed. “Why’d you throw it back?”

“I didn’t want to punish him for one simple mistake!” Breezly replied with a warm smile to match his warm heart.

After that slight delay, we back-rolled into the water and slowly followed the anchor line down to the ocean floor, right next to where the reef was located.

Immediately the ten of us split up into several groups, giving us several times the opportunities for fun things to happen, though the feeling of water against one’s skin or fur is always a source of delight, regardless of the results of these dives.

One thing we noticed was that the reef was not a coral reef as some of us had hoped. Instead, we found plenty of short seagrass, an important source of nutrition for some of the aquatic life. The lack of coral gave me the first impression that the reef resembled a formation of mossy rocks and boulders one would perhaps find in the woods.

On the ocean floor nearby, Hardy swam close to what appeared to be a small, wide formation. It looked like it was a little smooth to the touch, unlike coral, so he brushed a few fingers along the length. The “formation” moved slightly, causing Hardy to jump back a little. The thing Hardy touched was a Florida sea cucumber, one of many such invertebrates found along Florida’s waters. To reassure Hardy, Lippy gently picked it up and showed its underside, with its many rows of tube feet, and the oral tentacles on the front side. Hardy nodded, having fully understood.

Meanwhile, Hokey and Wally, apparently not yet over their hunger pangs, scoped out a sizable group of lobsters congregating beneath a portion of the reef. With no net with which to catch them, and no way to bring them back, lest they carry it with them throughout the dive and even the decompression stop, they were at a loss. Even so, they were not about to be defeated.

Hokey beckoned for Loopy to swim over. Once Loopy joined the pair, Hokey pointed to the lobsters that were taking cover, then rubbed his belly to communicate everyone’s favorite language—food.

Loopy looked at Hokey quizzically, pointing up to the surface: did Hokey really intend to take his dinner up to the boat? When Hokey and Wally nodded in the affirmative, Loopy shook his head, not wanting anything to do with it.

Wally, however, had a plan, and he started to take off Loopy’s scarf, despite the wolf’s objections. Once Hokey got into the mess, Loopy had no chance. He then laid down one end of the scarf by the lobsters, waiting on one of them to take the bait. It didn’t take long, as one of them gripped the scarf.

Excitedly, Hokey pulled the scarf out, but the lobster, sensing what was happening, let go and rejoined the others.

Wally laid out the bait again, but before a lobster could hook onto it, Loopy, disgruntled, snatched the scarf away and swam far from them in order to put it back on. So much for lunch.

Meanwhile, our camera-octopus, Squiddly, located a gorgeous queen angelfish swimming alongside me. The somewhat fluorescent-looking colors on its body make it stand out from most of the other fish. Getting to experience seeing one up close is exciting enough, but when about a dozen more show up in the vicinity, you get worried about whether or not you actually loaded the film into the camera!

Some of the others were able to witness a loggerhead sea turtle swim by them. Mildew started off by following it, with Loopy instinctively joining his lupine companion. Soon, Lippy and Hardy were on the chase as well, though I do believe they just wanted to pet it. For the life of me, I couldn’t understand why they couldn’t just get it over with and form a conga line.

I followed Magilla and Breezly when they decided to stray a little from the reef. We had reached a sandy area where the two of them went fish-watching, without any of the others getting in the way.

We were able to witness a group of African pompanos on their way to the reef. While the juveniles prefer to go where the ocean currents lead them, adults prefer the coastline, in depths of up to 100 meters.

Outside of that, we were unable to find many fish of interest, outside of a solitary cocoa damselfish that swam right between the polar bear’s and gorilla’s bodies. The two of them turned around in unison just as the fish passed them; perhaps those two should have signed up for synchronized swimming instead.

We were about to rejoin the group when we saw what appeared to be a large school of fish—at least from a distance. As they drew ever closer, however, we realized they weren’t fish, but a group of about three dozen manta rays swimming towards us and above us. We quickly turned around, kicking our legs as quickly as we could, swim fins waving up and down, so that we could alert the others. We were going to get a chance to swim along with the rays.

art by Enookie

Squiddly got in front of us so he could capture this epic scene. I positioned the other camera at a different angle, and we were on our way.

As we followed the group of rays, we were awestruck by the graceful movement of their pectoral fins. Taken individually, it’s a gorgeous sight, but to witness over thirty of them doing it was like viewing real-life natural art.

Mildew had the right idea when he swam the backstroke. The rays’ movements, combined with the limited light of the sun, made for the best viewing experience.

The mantas have a pair of horn-like cephalic fins on either side of their mouth. When the manta forages for food, these fins flatten in order to channel food into their mouths. At the surface they will feed on zooplankton such as shrimp and krill. At deeper depths such as these, they will feed on small or medium-sized fish.

As were were approaching a variety of fish, we had no choice but to let them be. Squiddly kept filming, yet kept a safe distance. As the rays fed on the sundry fish, I discovered, while editing this film for broadcast, that one of the rays may very have well feasted on that same cocoa damselfish Magilla and Breezly saw earlier. That’s the way life goes for an animal: one day you’re minding your own business, and the next day you’re gone. I would talk about life’s fleeting mortality, but that’s for some other show. It was time for us to ascend, anyway.

In deep dives, nitrogen starts to accumulate in the diver’s body. If a diver ascends like one usually would in a relatively shallow swimming pool, these nitrogen gases could turn into bubbles, thereby causing decompression sickness, which can be potentially fatal.

To help relieve the pressure, the diver’s ascent must be approximately thirty feet per minute. Depending on the details of the dive, a decompression stop may also be necessary fifteen feet from the surface. In this case, because of a 90-foot dive for 40 minutes, our wait was seven minutes. Even in dives at shorter depths, precautionary safety stops of three minutes may be required.

Because of the potential for danger, it is advised that dives are planned carefully. Use the most conservative figures when consulting dive tables. Know how much air you have, and do not plan lengthy dives if you don’t have the air to do a safety or decompression stop.

Squiddly Diddly, bless him, doesn’t have those disadvantages we mammals have. While we waited to ascend again, the good old octopus took the time to take one last tour of Pelican Flats, showcasing all its flora and fauna in its glory, however fleeting it may be. Who knows—maybe the fish Squiddly caught on camera could be the next to be swallowed up by a manta ray!

After the decompression stop, we made our final ascent to the boat, where we climbed out of the ocean, one at a time. Some of us laid back, gear still on, a little worn out from overstimulation.

“All those wasted years of trying to catch lambs,” Mildew chuckled. “Now this is living!”

“Who woulda thought? Swimming with manta rays!” Magilla said giddily, removing the gear one piece at a time and drying himself off.

“I think all of us needed that spark in our lives where we truly got to experience something special,” said I, stacking my fins and mask together as Squiddly climbed back onto the boat, the last to do so. “We’ve all forgotten how much of a thrill life could be. All we’ve been doing before is trying to survive.”

Lippy and Hardy, having known the feeling for years, nodded in agreement.

I slowly arose from the ledge and walked to the cabin. “All right. Let’s get this boat back, we get the gear back in, get our tanks refilled, and then finally we relax. I hear there are some good seafood places here.”

“How about a lobster?” Hokey said, smiling, eager for something exquisite.

“Me, too!” Wally added.

“Eh, we’ll see,” I said with a laugh, and the others were pretty much amused.

Once back on shore, we got the tanks refilled and all the gear loaded back onto the trailer. We bade farewell to Cape Canaveral and continued further south along A1A. Although Cape Canaveral isn’t a haven for divers, what we did see was good enough to warrant a visit, and the beaches are still very exquisite. If you would like to get to know NASA’s space program up-close and get wet and sandy—preferably not at the same time—set aside some time to visit the Space Coast.

Although we never got a chance to explore the Laertes shipwreck, a greater opportunity arose pre-dive when I learned of an early 18th-century Spanish ship, part of the doomed 1715 Treasure Fleet that transported goods and treasure from Spain’s territories back to the mainland. In our next episode, in which we travel to Florida’s Treasure Coast, we will explore one of those ships lost to a hurricane, the Urca de Lima, and perhaps come away with some treasure of our own.

#underwater america #scuba diving #peter potamus #fanfic #sohannabarberaesque #magilla gorilla #squiddly diddly #breezly bruin #hokey wolf #wally gator #lippy the lion #hardy har har #mildew wolf #loopy de loop #submission

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sierrabinondo · 5 years

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woodland creatures - day 4 (orlando pt. 2)

was i excited to be on tour? yes. was i also super nervous about going on tour before leaving? also yes.

was i excited to go to disney springs? Y E S. was it the one thing i knew i could look forward to even if i sucked at every fucking show???

B I G Y E S.

my poor bandmates. i said the night before, “hey, i just realized, we never actually really discussed going to disney springs.” and they were like, “yeah.”

but! we went anyway!!! bless their hearts!!!

the morning after staying up and partying was rough. i had the NASTIEST hangover. my headache was so severe that i couldn’t even fall back asleep following 5 hours of rest. i popped some advil and tried to get a couple more hours in but it was impossible, so i just got up and showered. the guys brought back panera for lunch, and then once everyone was ready we were off to disney springs. i could tell everyone was worried it was gonna be lame, i felt it in the air lmao. i was also worried i was leading them to a miserable afternoon in the hot florida weather. but i figured if they hated it we could always leave.

we pull up to disney springs and there is some semblance of what i remembered from the last time i was there but also a lot that i DID NOT recognize. the parking garages were definitely new. they had sensors over each parking spot that could indicate whether or not a car was in the spot, and it would update an LED screen outside the entrance with how many spots were available on each floor. i thought that was really cool. there were gardens on the sides of the garages too. we then go up some stairs and down an escalator to get in, and hooooly shit i was blown away. there was a brand new area that had a fountain and all of the shops looked reminiscent of spanish architecture. it was so beautiful.

we got group pictures in front of the fountain, and then i decided to get a happy birthday pin from guest relations lmfao. i wanted to see if i could get any free shit by just waltzing around with a birthday pin on. i was unsuccessful but i had never been in or near disney on my birthday anyways so i just rolled with it. we started to the right and went to world of disney, marketplace co-op, the lego store and the pin trading shop.

i was completely overwhelmed by how big all of the stores were. there was so much cool shit. i really thought i would have an easy time abstaining from spending money, since my sister was literally just there and got me the one thing i wanted, but i did NOT. at world of disney i bought ANOTHER pair of minnie ears, the rose gold sparkly ones lmfao. not usually my style, but there weren’t any others i was crazy about. joe got a shirt and ryan bought some stuff for his girlfriend christina. i wanted clothes but i decided to wait to see if there might be better merchandise elsewhere.

we moved on to marketplace co-op and i immediately found a disney world long sleeve shirt i loved so i grabbed that. i alsoooo balled out and got a print of the most beautiful mulan painting i have ever seen. it was a depiction of one of my favorite parts in the movie, when she is singing reflection and chops off her fuckin hair, but in the garden instead of the shrine. that movie means very very much to me as an asian american!!! besides that i got emperor’s new groove patches later on in the afternoon and that was all i spent my money on. $138 later. yeesh.

my friends eton and jeri who came to the show the night before wanted to meet up for food and drinks, so i walked over to frontera cucina. i thought maybe my bandmates might join us but they weren’t hungry and it was more of a sit down place, so we parted ways for an hour. i hadn’t seen eton and jeri since they moved down to orlando in january, holy shit. it was so good to hang out with them. we caught up and enjoyed some really good lunch. i ordered a gin and tonic that had a whole ass cucumber peel wrapped around the glass and pork belly tacos. i bugged out bad because eton wouldn’t let me pay nor could i get his venmo from jeremiah to cover my portion. it was so sweet of them to treat me. i met them through jeremiah, i always tell him how much i love his friends and how they’ve become my friends the more we all hang out together. it sucks our time was so damn brief but i’m just glad i got to see them.

after late lunch i met back up with everyone and we walked around a little longer, but i mistakenly let us stay a little later and lost track of time. it was just about time to start heading over to hail the sun. i felt really bad because people mentioned wanting to go swimming or take a nap and i effectively robbed everyone of any allotted leisure activity time by wanting to gallavant around more. i was definitely just as wiped as everyone, but i hadn’t been back to disney in forever. we hurried back to the van and drove back to kissimmee.

pulses. had been grilling and chillin at the airbnb all day, so they were ready for the gig when we got back. we got back just in time to leave when they did, like 15 minutes before. we both hopped in our respective vehicles and we were off. they always dropped snails in the tour chat and called us with snails ahead because we were slow with the van lmfao but it’s not MY FAULT the shit is SO HUGE damnit. i drove the van to the gig with josef, jaime and kris while ryan and santino stayed home.

it’s interesting to go to a show in another state, it does feel pretty weird to go somewhere unfamiliar, but it really does feel the same as attending a show at home. people really are pretty much the same everywhere else, just different geographical locations and climates. the gig was really good but the venue was SO SMALL. too small. i like the soundbar but i might like it better if you didn’t have to wade your way through a crowd of swamp ass to get to the bathrooms alllll the way on the other side of the venue opposite of the entrance. plus, it got so packed that it was really difficult to be near the stage, let alone inside the building. for most of the show the 10 of us camped out in a really great spot near the bathrooms that wasn’t getting too much traffic and had its own bar so we stayed there.

we were at the show where sergio broke his headstock. i don’t think i’ve ever seen a show where sergio stands still the entire time, in the dozens of times i’ve seen him play. he was so close to that monitor/the ceiling but i didn’t suspect his guitar was going to break. i completely missed it because i was looking down at my phone (womp) but i heard everyone audibly gasp. that sucks dude. i think that was the only bummer the whole show though besides the heat and some sloppy drunks. pulses. are friends with zach garren so he was hanging out near us here and there throughout the night. daisy came to the gig so she came and found us, we hung out for a good portion of the show, too! it was a really good chance to talk more too after the gig the night before. she told us a lot about what the florida scene is like. we told her it’s infinitely better than the tri-state area LMAO. at least like, people show up to shows and STAY on a monday night which is insane. and then joseph arrington is a friend of ours so he said hi a couple times during the gig, afterwards him and i talked more when it was quieter.

it is one of the greatest honors in my entire life that joseph arrington sees me as a homie. writing this under the presumption he’s never gonna see this lmao, but i have to pinch myself sometimes. we’ve been friends since we played the last ALLB tour september 2017. i introduced myself and mentioned that we had opened for sianvar’s 2016 tour at webster hall and he actually remembered us. ryan also introduced himself as one of his patreon donors and they talked for like 45 minutes. that show he asked for a CD (and it was years in waiting our older album too yikes lol there’s bangers on there but it doesn’t sound like us anymore) and he messaged me later that night like, “we’re listening in the van right now, you’re a great singer”. we’ve hung out at gigs a couple more times, whether we played together or either ryan or i went to go see him play. the fact he considers us peers is one of the most validating things i have. i’ve learned a lot of helpful insight from him. i have tremendous respect for him and couldn’t be more grateful that he actually likes us as musicians and as people.

all of the bands of course were awesome, i couldn’t stand the heat enough to be inside for every single hail the sun song but i caught most of their set. it’s pretty insane to see them blow up like they have. they deserve it. and i think donovan is one of the best vocalists i’ve ever heard. that whole camp of blue swan musicians are just so talented.

josef, jaime and kris graciously waited outside for me to finish talking to joe arrington, and during that time josef actually caught will swan outside. he said he had the chance to tell will swan deathstar is the reason he plays music and it made him very happy to do so. it had happened like a little bit before i came back outside. we then got lost trying to find the van and hilariously passed the actual entrance to the parking garage like 3 times. it was literally across the street and i led them around the block twice.

we went back to the airbnb for one more swim and we almost had another super late night legit just talking to pulses. kris sat outside editing photos while some of the guys swam, some of us just sat with our feet in the pool. when we got back ryan and santino had been sleeping and i think i maybe saw santino get up once to go to the bathroom. i did really want to go to sleep but ughhhhh i also thought to myself, i can sleep when i get home from tour. i get really bad FOMO every day of my life. so we stayed up and we talked about all things dance gavin dance, blue swan, our local scene, and bein in a band. it’s insane how alike we all are in our way of thinking. i also find it hard to open up to other bands though because it seems like no one else sees playing music and trying to grow a band the way we do. i just wanted to eat up any time i could bonding with pulses., taylor and tyler. thankfully we weren’t up until 4 am again but legit any time up spending time with all of my friends was worth it.

#woodland creatures tour

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sophiet-x · 5 years

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a courthouse wedding || jophie

LOCATION: Miami Dade County Courthouse, Miami, Florida TIME: Tuesday, August 6th. FEATURING: Joe Jonas, Kevin Jonas, Nick Jonas, Priyanka Chopra-Jonas, Danielle Jonas, Will Turner & James Turner. @jjoenas

Sophie: Wearing a white dress didn’t feel right. This wasn’t a big white church wedding, at least it wasn’t yet, so when looking at outfits last night, a white dress just didn’t feel right. So the redhead opted for a jumpsuit. Light and airy, pants all the way down to her ankles and small heels to match it. It wasn’t designer, it wasn’t full of sparkle. It fit the situation very well. Changing this morning in her Miami hotel room felt weird, butterflies went crazy in her stomach every time she caught herself in the mirror. Minimal, very light make up and her hair down on her shoulders, Sophie waited for her fiancee to finish grooming up. Everyone was ready in the lobby to ride with them to the courthouse, and Sophie? She couldn’t wait either.

Joe: Joe was fresh out of the shower, drying his curly dark curls with a towel before studying his choice of clothing that was hanging up in the bathroom suite. He went for a white dress shirt and a grey blazer and pants to match, saving the black tuxedo for their big day. It wasn't like this day didn't matter just as much to Joe, though: it was the day where Sophie would officially become Mrs. Jonas. They didn't need a piece of paper to solidify their love, but it sure was something he had wanted, to feel the weight of a wedding ring on his finger wherever he went. It might have not been the day full of celebration and walking down an aisle, that would come in time when their schedules allowed. When they could fully enjoy themselves as husband and wife with a honeymoon to follow without work calling their name. But, today was still their day. Miami was the place they found themselves in, with tour kicking off in just twenty-four hours for Joe and his brothers. He emerged from his place in front of the mirror and caught a gaze at Sophie before meeting them downstairs, his eyes never once leaving her. "I don't know if I can still see my bride on the wedding day, maybe I just broke that one rule." Joe laughed, "but I'm okay with that."

Sophie: As soon as Joe appeared in her eye line, Sophie smiled. This was happening. He was here, and they were doing it. “We can ignore that tradition this time, can we?” She said with a small chuckle, wrapping her arms around his neck and reaching up to kiss him softly “You’re looking particularly handsome today... I can’t wait to marry you, baby” She whispered against his lips. Her phone beeped, and she hated to unhook her arms away from him, but with one of them, the Brit picked her phone up from the bed “It’s Will and James... they’re here. You ready?”

Joe: With word that Sophie's brothers had touched down in Miami and Joe knew his own brothers were patiently waiting in the lobby area, that was his cue to go. As much as he would have loved to stay with his arms wrapped around Sophie, the idea of heading to the courthouse was even more tempting. He nodded his head and took her by the hand, ready as he would ever be for what was to come. He knew that with all the planning the couple had done before they called their initial engagement off, an elopement was a far cry from the ideas they had built up. Now more than ever, however, as he was ready to jet off around the world on tour, he knew that it was the right time to tie the knot. The couple had gone through hell and back together, it seemed, and after that adventure he didn't want to wait a day longer. They would have their fantasy wedding become a reality months down the line, but for now, all he needed was her love and an I do. The couple made their way down to the first floor of the hotel, greeted by family and hugs as they all headed towards the cars. "Want to sit next to me?" He joked, opening the door for her before climbing into the back seat.

Sophie: With every second that passed, Sophie felt her heart pounding in her chest louder and harder. She was so ready, it’s like she had been wanting this ever since they begun talking about it again, and ever since she realized that she was ready to marry him, once and for all. So seeing him all decked out in grey, and looking at their reflection on a random mirror on their way to the lobby... It felt like a dream. And if this felt like a dream, she couldn’t imagine being in a white dress somewhere else, in a castle in England or a magical setting in the south of France. Laughing when he spoke again, Sophie rolled her eyes and took his hand before sliding into the car. “Any last words on your last few hours of being an unmarried man, darling?” Sophie asked Joe, eyes fluttering at him. The rest of the guests had taken their own rides, sharing brothers and sisters alike. They were all about to be family, right?

Joe: Joe waved goodbye to their short list of guests who boarded their own cars, as if he wasn't going to see them in just a few moments after a short drive away. He buckled his seat belt and looked over at Sophie as they pulled onto the road, beginning their journey to the courthouse. "Nothing I haven't already told you," he said honestly, pressing a kiss to the side of her head. "I love you. And I can't wait to get on that stage tomorrow and dedicate a song to my wife." He joyfully said the word, feeling a fluttering in his chest. "And how about you, miss Turner?"

Sophie: “Every time you say that word, I swear, I’m gonna start crying now” Sophie couldn’t help it but say in a small chuckle, feeling her chest tense up and a smile form on her face as she reached to find his lips for a kiss “I can’t wait to watch you on that stage every damn night and be so proud of you, my husband... My husband” She repeated quietly before kissing him shortly again and finding her usual spot right on his shoulder to lean her head against. “We’re doing this... We’re finally doing this” She repeated softly, her hand finding his to lock their fingers together.

Joe: Joe gave her hand a squeeze as soon as he felt it in his. He smiled against her lips as they shared a kiss, his heart pounding against his chest with every passing minute. "Only if they're happy tears," Joe approved, knowing damn well he would do his far share of crying both today and tomorrow until he was out of tears to shed. "Finally doing this. No bailing 'cause we're afraid of what might happen. Think we've experienced enough bad times to know we're in it for everything that could happen." He said, running his thumb over hers for comfort. As he noticed the car approaching their destination, he looked down at her once more. "Finally doing this, my wife."

Sophie: "Oh, be sure, there's gonna be a lot of crying, I won't keep anything back" She said with a laugh, giving his hand another squeeze and nodding her head as he spoke. There was no turning back, no changing their minds, and she was as ready as they'd ever be. "Soon to be wife, soon to be husband... I can't fuckin' wait" She said. As they got out of the car, their families were waiting outside, smiles plastered all around the place. Announcing themselves in the front desk area, they were soon ushered into a court room and the doors closed behind them. A judge stood at the end of the room behind a bench with a big smile "Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner?" He asked. He was an older man, so he probably hadn't really ever seen their faces. "Yeah, that's us" Sophie replied, tugging at Joe's hand to walk forward and take a seat before the judge, the Jonas' sitting on Joe's side of the court and Sophie's brothers on her own.

Joe: Joe took a deep breath as they entered the courtroom. He wasn't nervous, by any means-- he was just a little too caught up in his emotions and was worried he wouldn't be able to utter a word whenever the judge turned to him for an answer. He managed to look put together as he sat on his side, stealing glances at Sophie and making eye contact with Kevin or Nick every once in a while and watching on as they smiled back at him with love and approval in their eyes. It warmed his heart that his family loved Sophie just as much as he did, and he knew she was already part of the clan long before they decided on passing on his last name. After obtaining the marriage license, this was the last step to make things official and he knew his witnesses were just as happy for him as he was. Joe had written his own vows, and he had been going back and forth on whether or not he wanted to share them today or when they had their "traditional" wedding down the line. He wanted to get the words out now, most if not everything she already knew, but it was important for him to share them before his travels. As the magistrate spoke, he retrieved them from his pocket and looked down at the page with tears in his eyes.

Sophie: Hand in hand with Joe, Sophie tried to keep her eyes forward, listening to the man in front of them speak about forever love and long term commitment, looking to the side to find her two brothers pulling faces and being dickheads as always, but she couldn't believe they'd flown all the way to Miami from England to see her do this to the guy who'd left her in a puddle of her own tears in their apartment floors, someone who they'd come to hate and now embraced into the family with open arms. Nodding her head at the random questions the judge asked, he looked at the witnesses and asked for the rings. Will pulled a gold band from his pocket and reached it out to Sophie, who in turn gave it to Joe. "Have you written your own vows?" He asked in a ceremoniously voice, looking at Joe to go first.

Joe: As Joe took the wedding band and was asked to share his vows, he turned himself to Sophie, taking her hand in his and using the other to try to keep the paper as steady as possible. He almost memorized these words already, having written some of them before they split. He briefly remembered the dark nights where he would come back to it, alone in his apartment with their late Waldo and end up in tears. Today, he held it up in front of him with tears that came from happiness. He cleared his throat as he began, catching her blue eyes staring back at him. "Sophie. My bride, my best friend, my soul mate, the best companion one could ever have. You're one of the main reasons I smile, you helped me find this happiness I thought I lost. You came into my life and you changed me. You've helped me form into the person I've wanted to be, but was too stubborn and doubtful to become. I will love you and accept every single part of you until my dying day and beyond, wherever that might take me, I'll forever have you in my heart." He spoke through tears, sniffles, and a smile. "I wish I could promise you the world, that everything will be alright with me by your side, but we both know life doesn't always work that way. What I can promise you is that you will always have me, devoted to you only and the life we are building together. As we start our journey as husband and wife, I want you to know that I'll live some moments in regret that we didn't do this sooner.. that we didn't give up. But things have a funny way of working out, and it lead me right back to you. I won't turn away, I'll love you through the hard times and the best of times. I'll cherish each and every moment between us. Not once will I let you forget that I love you. My love, my bubs, my Soph. I will never hesitate."

Sophie: As soon as she saw Joe hold up the paper and his hands started to shake, Sophie could feel her chest tensing up. It only took a couple of words from his mouth to send tears running down her face, and she had to bite on her own lips to keep a sob from coming out. She smiled back at him the whole way, her hand giving his a gentle squeeze. Only when he was done did she allow herself to breathe properly, sniffling back her tears and nodding her head "I love you" She whispered. "Alright, Sophie, have you written your vows?" The judge asked, turning to her. "I... Well, sort of" She said with a small chuckle "I've been dreaming of what I was gonna say the day I married you for years now. I never write things out, I'm not a writer, but for you I didn't have to. Joe... My Joe. I love you" She said, small chuckle pushing through her chest and mouth "Since the day I met you, I knew this wasn't gonna be something else, you're my best friend, from day one I knew you were my soulmate, you were the one in this world that was made to complete me. You've seen me in my worst of times and picked up the pieces that were left in a dark apartment in England, and held me so close you put me back together. You taught me how to love myself because you loved me so much, I could finally see what was in me to love" Sophie reflected, biting on her lower lip softly. "And now here I stand, ready to love you with everything I have, to pick you up as many times as you've picked me up. In sickness and in health, for better or worse, when the days get hard and things look hard as hell, I won't hesitate. Not again" She said, taking in a deep breath "Being your wife is where happiness begins" She said, giving him a quick wink and earning a tearful chuckle from Nick and Kevin in the back.

Joe: Joe listened to each and every word she said, his eyes never once leaving hers to catch the glances of their witnesses. He held both of her hands now, his own paper resting in his lap as he held onto her as if his life depended on it. He watched her tears fall with tears of his own running down his cheeks. A smile lit up his face as she finished, getting up and moving closer to her so they were face to face. The judge studied the two with a grin of his own, concluding the small, short and sweet ceremony as they passed each other their rings. “I now pronounce you man and wife, you may kiss the bride.” And with that, Joe leaned in and kissed her with as much passion as one could muster, his hands now on her waist as he pulled her in. “I love you.” He whispered to her, the brothers breaking all silence with claps and loud cheers as they wed.

Sophie: Joe could've been sliding that ring on her finger for hours, she'd would never forget that feeling, and the brand new weight of it, it was her new favorite feeling. Taking a step closer to him, she slid her hands around his neck and kissed him back. "I love you too, husband" She said with a small whisper, giving him a quick peck before laughing a little bit as she turned back to the witnesses, lifting up her hand in a fist pump while the other hand went to find Joe's, leaning a little bit on his side.

Joe: Joe couldn't help but chuckle at Sophie's reaction, walking to his brother's direction, his hand still in Sophie's before he embraced the two of them together much like he did when he shared the news that they were engaged again on that warm Fourth of July night. He moved on over to Sophie's side, earning hugs and a pat on the back from her brothers. The courtroom was full of love, tears, and smiles as they all celebrated the couple. As soon as they left the courthouse, it was nearly time for the last run through before show time, and Joe was more than pleased to have the celebration as husband and wife. As soon as the boys signed the certificate to make it a lawful wedlock, Joe's hands were in the air much like Sophie's had been earlier and he let out a yell, a little too inappropriate for the setting.. but he was Joe, at the end of the day. He thanked the judge and ran out with Sophie, cheeks aching from his wide smile. "WE DID IT!"

Sophie: Laughing as she went out to hug her brothers with Joe in hand, Will and James gave her a big hug, kissing their little sister on the top of the head, before they swapped out and she got the biggest hug from Kevin and Nick. Being so well received in the family had always been something that made Sophie so comfortable around them. It was just one quick signature left and the Brit couldn't help but laugh when Joe yelled out, doing a little dance herself as she picked up both of their hands and waved them around in the air. "Alright, time to get back to the venue and be a rockstar, husband" She said with a bright, chipper smile.

Joe: Joe watched on as his wife interacted with her brothers. It was a joy to see, her relationship with them and how solid it was. It was originally what had inspired Joe to put his best foot forward and talk to his brothers again, and not just the friendly smile he tried to give Nick during their Christmas get togethers. Sophie not only made him a better man and a better partner, but a better brother. "Gonna cheer me on?" He asked with a wiggle of his eyebrows, already knowing the answer.

Sophie: Sophie couldn't stop smiling at Joe, every time she caught her big brown eyes, it was like she couldn't ever look away. Rolling her eyes when he spoke, she scoffed "As if I could look at anybody else. I remember the last time I went to a Jonas Brothers concert, I was like ten or something... Now, I've got my own meet and greet booth and a key to the tambourine player's door" She winked at him before squeezing the hand she was holding as they begun to walk out the building out into the Miami day

Joe: Joe laughed at her comment, "You've got more than a key to my door, babe," he said, tapping the ring on her finger to emphasize his words. As they stepped out of the courthouse and into the Miami heat, he looked up at the sky and smiled. It was similar to the moment he watched the fireworks on the Fourth of July as he slid her engagement ring on after all of those months. Watching the colors of the rainbow across the sky, including a deep red that shaped itself into a heart as it ignited in the darkness. "Look," he pointed out to her, a cloud taking a similar shape above their heads. He kept the smile glued to his face as they walked to their car, back to the hotel to crack a bottle of champagne and then eventually make their way to the venue. "Key to my door, key to my heart."

Sophie: It's not that she hadn't trusted him to go off on tour without being married, oh no, she couldn't have cared less. But deep down, she knew that tomorrow when he took center stage and she saw him gripping the microphone, a bright new ring would sit on his finger and the sheer idea of that was starting to send pressure waves into her heart and tears that were welling up in her eyes. Looking up into the sky, she brought her husband close enough to rest her head on his shoulder, kissing the side of his arm gently "Forever and always, baby" She said softly before stepping into the car, this time with the whole family, and took off.

Joe: Joe knew the weight of the wedding band would feel close to invisible in time, but now he caught himself staring at it as they buckled up and got seated in the car. He twirled it around his finger, lips turning up again in a smile as he turned to Sophie and saw her looking at him. “Secret’s going to be out tomorrow when I show it off to thousands of people.” He said, the thought of performing in front of a crowd that large again, and having his wife witness it, already had his heart beating fast within his chest. As he leaned in to press his lips against hers again, he knew this was the perfect day to do this. Here’s to the start of the best week of his life. “Thank you for doing this with me.. loving me the way you do. Trusting me. Giving us another chance. Forever, my wife.” He said against her lips, holding her left hand in his.

Sophie: Sophie's eye came and went on Joe's finger, mostly going from his finger to her own, the new wedding band that would be with her for the rest of her life, right behind her engagement ring. It's like they'd meant to be together a long time ago. Letting her head rest on his shoulder for a moment, then she picked her neck back up and kissed him back softly "Thank you... What I said back in that court room, I meant. You've taught me to love myself even when I saw nothing to be loved... We were meant to be together, us getting back together was inevitable. I'm gonna love you every second until my heart gives out"

#para #p. a courthouse wedding #[i'll be the sun i'll be the waves i'll be the one you love the most ; joseph adam jonas]#joej #[turner into a jonas ; jophie]

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andersonpaceny · 6 years

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The Perfect Vacation || BLESSE

Airports were almost like a second home to Jesse, having been in them and through them more times than he could count. And JFK was the airport he frequented the most. From flying over to LA to do press to travelling for tours or events to just visiting his parents in Florida. When they pulled up outside the airport, in the drop off bay, he unclicked his seatbelt and turn to Blaine with a grin, "we're here." "Can I tell Georgia where you're going now?" The man sitting in the front seat asked, a tone of amusement to his voice, since Jesse had made him swear not to tell her. He shrugged, "you can tell her when we land. I don't trust her not to have an entire army of body guards waiting for me at Zurich if she finds out with enough time to organise it." He looked at his watch. They still had several hours to their flight since they had to check in early. "So at 6am tomorrow, you're safe to tell her. By then we'll have a car and since even you don't know where we're going from there, I think we'll be safe." The last thing Jesse had wanted on this trip, was an entourage. And Georgia was always so paranoid. He wanted it to be just him and Blaine, and the Swiss Alps outside their window. Nobody hanging around, no need to worry about being quiet or the awful feeling somebody was watching them. None of it. "Okay, let's go," he grabbed Blaine's hand and they got out of the car, taking their luggage out of the trunk and walking in, directing Blaine to the priority check-in line, instead of the long queue that most people were joining. The check-in process was easy, their bags were weighed and sent off (they hadn't taken much, but with their hiking gear, they'd both packed a checked bag), and then the woman was sliding their boarding passes. "There you go, sirs. You can go through customs to your left, and you can find directions to the first class lounge at the information desk if you need. Enjoy your flight."

Blaine chuckled as he too got out of he car, then held onto his suitcase and carry-on luggage. "You both shush. It's my job to call her and get nagged about it. I'm your P.A. so I'll call her... right after we're at the place where we're staying." He shook the driver's hand, then followed Jesse inside to the VIP check-in line, which made it all easy and rather fancy. Once they were inside Blaine couldn't stop gawking at everything he saw, especially when they made it to first class lounge, where they had to wait for the time to board the plane. Coffee and magazines in hand, they sat there together, him focusing on the magazine at hand while some people looked at them, or at Jesse and smiled, or waved at him, and then it wasn't long until they were finally boarding the plane, them being located in first class the first ones to come on board. "Holy cow...." he said as walked inside the first class sitting area, unable to hold back his awe any longer. "You can tell me to shut up any time you want, but this is the first time I fly first class, and this is awesome!"

@jessestmusic

Jesse chuckled and put their bags under the spacious area of their seats. "It's okay, it's adorable. You're like someone who's celebrating Christmas for the first time." Truthfully, he didn't always first class, he could never justify the need, especially when he was flying around America on such short flights. But he also had the money to spend and this was their first real trip away together. Yes, they'd been together on the tour, and they'd taken trips to Florida to visit Jesse's family, and Ohio to visit Blaine's, but there had never been anything like this. A romantic summer vacation in the Alps. This was - to Jesse at least - a big step in their relationship. So why wouldn't he want to spoil Blaine when he had the means to? So first class had been a no brainer. "Just wait until you see the wine menu." There were a couple of different seats in first class but the two that they were in were joining - of course, so they could lift up the table in the middle and virtually they ended up on a large sofa. It was soft and plush, with spacious room to move and large TV and window they could watch the take off and landing from with ease. Although they had boarded first, it didn't take long for the plane to fill up, and the pilot announced their take off and asked everyone to put on their seatbelts and prepare.

Blaine chuckled and nodded. "Yup! This is exactly how it feels like" he said chirpily, then planted a soft kiss to his cheek and made sure his bags were safely tucked under their seats, then he turned to look at him with wide, shocked eyes. "We're having wine?" To him, it was all a discovery so far, and they were just getting started. At the pilot's signal they took their seats and he tucked his seatbelt on tight before he held onto Jesse's hand. "Here we go!" he said, almost bouncing on his seat, then took a deep breath when they plane hit the runway and finally took off with ease, his stomach dropping down inside of him as they climbed up, but he was also far too excited to actually feel scared.

Jesse looked at Blaine, confused, and nodded, "of course we're having wine. Even the economy class gets wine, although they have to buy it. We get two complimentary glasses." The take off was smooth and they watched through the window at New York getting smaller and smaller underneath them. "New York is always so beautiful from the air," he commented, the contrast of Central Park and the urban sprawl obvious. Once the ascent was compete, the cabin crew started moving around. The flight went fairly quickly, they had a couple of drinks and their meals and since it was overnight, had a little nap in the incredibly comfy seats of first class. He took a photo of him and Blaine, posting it to Instagram using the plane's wifi, knowing it would drive Georgia crazy not knowing where they were going. But he couldn't resist. Still, before long, the pilot was announcing their descent and asking everyone to return to their seats and buckle their seatbelts to prepare.

Blaine wouldn't miss the chance to take as many pictures of he could from inside the plane, and even though he tried to persuade Jesse from posting that one selfie on instagram, he was really too happy to care about Georgia's reaction. He could deal with that later. After a couple of movies, a quick power nap and some nice breakfast (they flew through the night), it was soon time to land, and Blaine was once again on overdrive. He had to be reminfded by Jesse several times that he had to wait until the plane stopped completely to stand up from his seat, and when it finally did, he felt like everything and everyone else were moving too slow. Eventually they made it out of the plane and took the VIP access to their baggage claim, and he was bouncing a little when they finally got hold of them.

Jesse couldn't help but find Blaine absolutely adorable throughout the whole flight, but he couldn't blame him. He remembered the first time he'd flown first class, he'd been about 17 at the time and as much as he'd tried to not look as excited, he absolutely had been. But the flight was over soon enough and they departed first, and collected their bags, their two suitcases and the guitar case marked as fragile. "Is it okay?" He asked, checking the case over for damages. "Come on," he said, once he was satisfied, "let's get the car." They walked to where the car hire was and with a quick check over the license, they were being passed their keys. "I think Georgia will know where we are soon," he said, nodding over to where somebody was not so subtly taking his photo. He made a point of waving at the, amused when he noticed their face flush. "I don't know why people don't just ask, surely a selfie is better than being a stalker," he huffed, taking the keys and following the attendant out to where their care was. After loading up the luggage, they were on the road, making sure nobody was following them.

Blaine gave the guitar case a quick lookover and nodded. "Yup, seems whole." After grabbing their bags, and also picking up their hired car keys, he followed Jesse to the lot where it was parked, just beside the main gate of the airport, and he chuckled at Jesse's reaction at the people who had ajust spotted them there. "Just ignore them, babe. Come on..." He put his bags inside the trunk and got into the car, where he quickly proceeded to post some of the pictures they had taken in the airplane, tagged with #sorrygeorgia and pressed 'post'. After that nothing else mattered, but the fact they were already in Switzerland, starting their vacation.

Jesse snorted when he saw the hashtag Blaine had taken and shook his head, "oh my god, she's going to be so mad and I don't even care. But we have to be careful. If I hurt myself or we do something stupid, she'll have me under lock and key until my next album and tour are over." It wasn't a short drive, their accommodation being just over two hours from the airport but that was exactly what Jesse had wanted. He wanted to go somewhere off the grid, where the two of them could just enjoy the peace and quiet with the views around them. He thought about coming back in the peak winter seasons, taking Blaine skiing on the busy mountains and he knew that would be amazing. But right now, he just wanted a quiet time with Blaine, where nobody would gawk at him and where he could focus on his music. They chatted, and pointed things out about the scenery, especially the Swiss Alps as they came into view.

Blaine didn't waste any chance he had of taking as many pictures as he could as they rode the long drive to where their cabin was located, which Blaine loved since that meant they could be alone and enjoy their vacation. He couldn't stop gawking at everything around him, the scenery almost too beautiful to be true. When they finally arrived to their destination it was even more perfect than what he had imagined. Mountains surrounded them evrywhere they looked and the cabin settled on a cute, much smaller mountain top, looking almost like those in the postcards. "Oh.. my god... Babe, this is so- wow...." He chuckled, then jumped into his arms. "I love it, and I love you."

Jesse was busy looking at the view - the mountains looked different in summer, but somehow more cheerful and welcoming - that he nearly missed Blaine jumping in his arms. He had fast enough reflexes though, catching up as he wrapped his arms around him and he couldn't resist spinning him around. Other than a hike or two, they really had nothing planned for the ten days they were here and Jesse was looking forward to just relaxing, spending time with Blaine without the pressures of the outside world, and writing some music. "It looks beautiful, doesn't it. Quick, smile," he pulled out his phone and held it out in front of him, snapping a quick selfie with the mountains behind them. He didn't want to post too much on Instagram until they got back, just in case, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to take as many photos as possible. "Come on, let's check it out." He grabbed Blaine's hand and tugged in him inside, finding the key where the owner said it would be, and stepping inside and revealing the large cabin, styled perfectly for the mountains.

Blaine couldn't stop gawking at everything he could as he held onto Jesse's arms, then he leaned closer and smiled brightly for the camera before he jumped back to the ground and took his hand back. "If it's anything like things here on the outside- H-Holy sh...." He blinked as he looked around at the perfectly put together cabin, its wooden interior making it warm in the winter and cool enough during the summer days. "Jesse, it's... wow, just... wow. It's so beautiful, babe..." He walked up to the door that led outside to the balcony and gasped when he saw the ful mountain scenary in front of him.

Jesse completely agreed with Blaine's reaction, despite having seen the pictures before and knowing what to expect. The place was gorgeous. It had such a warm, moutain cabin feeling to it without feeling cramped or dark. And already he could just feel the inspiration coming. The more he'd thought about it lately, the more he wasn't sure if he wanted to sign on to Apollo records after his next album, which was the last in his contract, unless they allowed for a little more freedom in his music. He wasn't some teenage boy wanting to produce popular poppy songs anymore. He'd grown as an artist and he wanted his music to reflect that. And essentially, he wanted to have at least a few songs on there that directly related to coming out, or celebrating who he was. He wasn't hiding anymore, and he wanted to show the world that he would never hide again. At least, not his sexuality. He was fully prepared to hide from the world with Blaine for the next ten days. He stepped up behind Blaine on the balcony, wrapping his arms around him and resting his chin on his shoulder. "It really is, isn't it? And just think, itOops.Jesse completely agreed with Blaine's reaction, despite having seen the pictures before and knowing what to expect. The place was gorgeous. It had such a warm, moutain cabin feeling to it without feeling cramped or dark. And already he could just feel the inspiration coming. The more he'd thought about it lately, the more he wasn't sure if he wanted to sign on to Apollo records after his next album, which was the last in his contract, unless they allowed for a little more freedom in his music. He wasn't some teenage boy wanting to produce popular poppy songs anymore. He'd grown as an artist and he wanted his music to reflect that. And essentially, he wanted to have at least a few songs on there that directly related to coming out, or celebrating who he was. He wasn't hiding anymore, and he wanted to show the world that he would never hide again. At least, not his sexuality. He was fully prepared to hide from the world with Blaine for the next ten days. He stepped up behind Blaine on the balcony, wrapping his arms around him and resting his chin on his shoulder. "It really is, isn't it? And just think, it's our view for the next ten days. Well, that and each other," he smirked, tilting his head to kiss his cheek.

Blaine was quite enraptured in the sight in front of him, so when Jesse came up from behind he was a bit startled, but he quickly calmed down and relaxed into the gentle embrace, his back leaning against Jesse's chest. "Babe, no matter how beautiful it all is, it would never distract me from looking at the thing I like to look at the most." He turned into the embrace and smiled as he kissed him, then hugged him tight before he pulled back. "Let's go check our rooms now! Oh, and the kitchen. I must see where we'll be cooking for the next days. You know me and my tummy!" He giggled, then took his hand and led him to where he believed the rooms were.

Jesse raised an eyebrow, "our rooms? Babe, I think you'll find we'll be sharing a room or I'll riot. Mmm, speaking of cooking, we'll walk into the town in a bit before it gets too late and pick up some supplies. I think it's only a small town, but I'm sure we'll be able to find something to get us by. I hope so," he chuckled. It was about 12:30pm now, so he was sure they'd want to walk in to get some food once they were done exploring and it was only a ten minute walk. Practically down the road. He followed Blaine throughout the house and they looked into the rooms. There were four bedrooms since the house was huge and laid out for a family, but the only one they cared about was the large master bedroom. It was large and beautiful, and just perfect. There was a large window and their own private balcony as well (not that technically the other balcony wasn't private for them too) and there were also tea and coffee making facilities so they didn't have to go downstairs to make coffee in the morning if they didn't want to.

Blaine chuckled and patted his butt playfully. " I meant the rooms in the house, babe. Of course we'll be sharing a bed. You think I'd let you out of my sight during our vacation together? Unlikely." When Jesse opened the door to their master bedroom he gasped and stepped inside, and if he had thought the living room was gorgeous, nothing could compare to that room. "Oh... my god. This is so awesome. Look at the view!" he said, pointing at the window like a little kid pointing at some toy at the store. "And we can see it from the bed, how cool is that??" He was bouncing on every step he made, even spinning around as if he was in a bad reprise of The Sound of Music. "This is gonna be so magical, but yeah... Food is a must. You wanna go now then, before it gets dark?"

Jesse leaned against the door frame and smiled as he watched Blaine run around. He remembered being a teenager, touring for the first time. Staying in nice and fancy hotels. His parents had never been poor, and they'd been on the occasional holiday, but they'd never been rich either. Just comfortably middle class. And now, here he was, worth millions - if not billions - of dollars. And sites like this still shocked in sometimes, but seeing Blaine excited was worth even more. And if they could travel the world together, he would show Blaine wherever he wanted to go. He'd never wanted to live a particularly lavish life, having saved most of the money he'd made after purchasing his apartment, so even if something went horribly wrong with his career, they'd be set up. "We can use the fireplace too," he said, pushing himself off the door frame, "it still gets cold at night, even in summer. Romantic, wouldn't you say." He grabbed Blaine and pulled him in, wrapping his arms around him and kissing him deep and soundly. They stayed like that, wrapped up in each other, as moments passed before he broken the kiss. He glanced outside the window, "we do have several more hours before it gets dark. But I agree, if we go now and get what we need, we can get back and enjoy the rest of the day to ourselves."

Blaine smiled as he was pulled into Jesse's embrace, his body fitting perfectly against his as he wrapped his arms around his shoulders and let go of himself when their lips touched, always so smooth and soft and warm; he hummed softly into the kiss, savouring every drop of warmth and taste that was shared, and he even pouted a little when they pulled back, his heart beating fast inside his chest and his toes tickling inside his shoes. "How about... a cute picnic-slash-dinner or lunch, or.. brunch, what time is it?-" He chuckled, then looked at him fondly. "-by the fireplace for our first night here?"

Jesse laughed and kissed him softly on the nose. "It's about half 12. So if we take our time walking to the village, maybe see if there's a cafe for a light lunch, and then go for a walk, we'd get back here and can have an early dinner by the fireplace. Sound good?"

Blaine smiled and kissed him again before he let go of him and took his hand instead. "I like that idea! That way we could get a glimpse at this place, and if anything like you can see from afar-" He chuckled as they both made their way back into the living room, their suitcases left there to be taken care of later that day, and he grabbed his bag, which contained his passport, wallet, phone and sunglasses, before he walked to the door. "Let's go then!"

Jesse smirked at him, knowing exactly what he was talking about. There were no houses around where they were (part of the charm of why he picked the place - that and the view) and the town was far enough away that he was sure nobody would really notice them. He swung their joined hands between them, as they locked the door behind them and headed off down the path towards the village. The views were virtually the same from their accommodation, but they still stopped multiple times to take photos and veer off path so their five minute walk turned into about twenty minutes. And the village... well. It was definitely small. The description of the property hadn't been lying. It was more of a pitstop for travelling vehicles than anything else, but there was a roadhouse/gas station and a small convenience store. Enough for them to find things to make dinner, though he was thinking they'd end up with pasta and rice. Easy and a good base for their meals. "Should we get some food? Roadhouses can serve good food sometimes. I'm starving. And then we can think about some easy stuff we can buy for dinner. We can always drive to a bigger town if we can't find stuff, but I think we'll be okay."

Blaine was in absolute of the place they were, his eyes wandering all over the place while he took a bunch of pictures out of everything he could. It was such a nice change of pace from being, from living in a city that literally never slept, and was always on the run; and although their last vacation together had been wonderful too, to be in a town like that was the perfect place to enjoy a calm, peaceful time, with the man he adored, with no disstractions around, but them two. "Yes! Food! PLease. I'm really hungry too. Maybe some hot soup and a steak? You think they have those there?" He only had to look up to see the place where they would most likely be going.

Jesse looked at the roadhouse and shrugged, "let's find out?" He winked at Blaine and they walked inside. They could go to the convenience store later to pick up food to cook with, and anything else they wanted, like coffee. For now though, they were both hungry and some hopefully okay food was what they needed. They were greeted warmly by the man behind the counter when they entered. There were a couple of tables in the small building so they would at least be able to sit down and eat as well. They didn't have steak, or anything quite like that, but they had sandwiches, sausage rolls, soup and other similar food. "I think I'll probably have a sausage roll and a coffee." The sausage rolls sat in a heated cabinet at the front, clearly homemade with flaky pastry, and that was enough to convince him. "What do you think, babe?"

Blaine smiled warmly at the man who greeted them at the door, then after following him to their table he placed his napkin on his lap and hummed in thought for about two seconds before he spoke. "A bowl of hot soup and a roastbeef sandwich then? And some chips on the side, please?" From the corner of his eye he spotted a deliciously looking chocolate cake, covered by a plastic lid to keep it fresh, and he made a mental note to have some of that for dessert.

"I'll get us a chips to share," Jesse replied, leaning in and giving Blaine a quick kiss on the lips. He ordered their food from the counter and the man behind it rung it up. Thankfully, Jesse's card was one he could use internationally without worry, so they hadn't needed to rush and get currency before they left. The man got their food ready, passing it to Jesse once it was heated up. It was set up as a pit stop, so he was sure a lot of people got their food in takeaway bags, but the few tables that sat here for those wanting to take a break from their journey - or in their case, just enjoy lunch - was nice. "Thank you," he said, carrying the tray with the food on it over to where Blaine was sitting. "Here we go. Soup and a sandwich for you, sausage roll for me and chips to share. God, I'm starving."

Blaine was lost in thought as he looked outside a nearby window, from which he could see the mountain, beautiful and untouched, so he almost didn't notice Jesse coming back until he was actually at the table. "Oh! Yum yum, give me food!" he said making grabby hands at him, and they were soon settle down with their food at the table. He held onto Jesse's hand and gave it a quick kiss. "Bon apetite" he said, then dove right in to eat his soup before it could get cold, and he hummed at its delicious taste. "Hmm! This is very good! Not as much as my infamous chicken soup, but close second." He smiled at him and continued eating, even sinking one of the crackers the soup came with in it.

Jesse grinned when Blaine kissed his hand, bowing his head in a ridiculous gesture. He broke off a piece of his sausage roll and chewed on it thoughtfully, his stomach giving an appreciative noise. "It's not bad," he agreed, taking a chip, "I'm so hungry so it could have been awful and I probably wouldn't have minded though." He chuckled and gazed out the window. It was a rarity sometimes, for him, to be able to be so completely relaxed, without a hoard of people asking for autographs or photographs. Here it was just peaceful, and he was looking forward to just Blaine's company for the next ten days.

They continued theeir meal in relative silence, broke only by the sounds they weremaking when chewing the food, and perhaps some lively comments about the food, or the place, which Blaine was convinced they would be visiting at least one more time before leaving. It was a rarety to have such a calm time when they were out, and he appreciated that. After they were done eating and paying for their bill, and carrying a to-go cup of coffee in hand, they continued their lazy walk through town, every now and then stopping to get items they felt they might needed during their stay, just before they made it into the actual grocery store, a small place, in comparison with the ones back at home, but still with anything and everything they would like. "I vote we get some bottles of wine for the cold nights" he chimed in with a playful grin on his face.

They had a fridge and freezer back at the lodge, so they picked up a bunch of things they would need. No doubt they could come back into town if they wanted - but Jesse also wanted them to have enough supplies to last them in case they wanted a few lazy days. They also grabbed things to take on their hikes, since they'd planned on doing a couple of those. He chuckled at Blaine's wine suggestion, leaning in to kiss him quickly, "you say it like you think I'd argue with that. Wine is a perfect suggestion." They selected a couple of bottles from the limited range on offer, and made their way to the checkout, bagging up their items and loading them up on their arms for the short trek back to the lodge.

Blaine chuckled and kissed his cheek quickly. "Good man. I knew you'd see my point. Nothing like a good wine, and a warm body for the cold nights." He wiggled his eyebrows at him, then laughed and walked away to where the register was. After everything was paid up and packed they grabbed the bags and made it back to the cabin. "I'm really loving this place, babe. The quiet alone is something I'll treasure while we're here" he said as they walked through the door and headed to the kitchen to put the bags down. "I have the feeling I'll be walking with plugs in my ears from now on when we get back home." He chuckled and winked at him.

Jesse looked around and nodded, "I know what you mean. Sometimes it all just gets too much. I kind of thrive on it though... but that doesn't mean I don't want a break every so often. Something Georgia doesn't seem to get. She thinks a break is a day off in my apartment." He sighed, placing the bags down on the counter and they got to work unpacking them and putting them away. Thankfully they had a fully stocked kitchen so could pretty much cook up anything they wanted, and they'd bought enough stuff to last them a few days at least. More if they dragged it out but it wasn't like the town was far away - and it was summer so there wasn't exactly a chance of a snowstorm to trap them in. "I do want to try to get something written while I'm here... you know, a change of pace might get the creative juices flowing. Not to mention, you're here to inspire me and all but one of the songs I've written for my new album have been inspired by you so far. Well, you and just being myself."

Blaine closed the pantry once everything in place, then turned to Jesse and smiled, his arms going around his waist as he pecked his lips gently. "I'm the luckiest muse in the world then. I'm happy to be part of your life now that you're so comfortable with it. With who you are and what you feel. I have the feeling the best is yet to come, Mr. St. James, and I'll be there, pom poms and all to cheer for you, always." They shared one more kiss, then he stepped back and rubbed his hands together. "How about we drink some wine, hmm? The one you bought looks like is from a good year."

Jesse smiled into the brief kiss and nodded. "Well, you made me realise it was okay to be okay with who I am. So thank you. I don't think I can ever repay you, but writing songs is what I do so it's a start." He grabbed one of the bottles of wine they picked at random, searching through the draws for a corkscrew, luckily finding one. He popped open the bottle, and poured the two glasses, taking Blaine's and leading him to the alcove window, with a couch and a gorgeous view of the mountains. It was still the afternoon, but he could imagine sitting here and watching dusk settle over them. But for now, they sat on the couch, curled up, drinking sips of wine and soaking in the view.

END.

#blesse rp #1x1 rp #discord para

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andzensome · 6 years

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How I Manifested My New Life In Five Days

Hi Friends! (Disclaimer... this story is TRUE.) It has been a crazy couple of months for me and I'm sure many people can relate. It is not my first time being in a low - so I know what to do and how to fix it. I do a lot of manifestation but wanted to see how quickly I could really accelerate it. I figured I want my life to change, so I might as well give it a shot.

First of all, let me start out by addressing the issue that needed fixing: EVERYTHING. Primarily the city I lived in and my job. I knew I wanted to move but I had to wait until January for my lease to be up and then of course I was concerned about where to go and whether or not I would like it there. Finances are always an issue too. How do I know I can get another stable job if I locate to a new city? My stress was at a high. So I said the magic two words - "F*** IT" and started to create my ideal life.

Step 1: Figuring out your next step.

I was attached to the idea that I wanted to move to South Florida...no Arizona... no New Mexico... you get the point. And the problem with having so many dreams at the same time is the Universe has no idea what you want. If you don't know what you want how can the Universe ever help you get there? So the hardest part is figuring out a linear plan. For me that is somewhat impossible so I at least chose the next step and picked a city to live in. Once I picked a city, I started noticing people around me helping me in small ways: offering boxes to move, offering to help me search for apartments, offering to show me around the city. I was amazed at how one decision already helped me feel like I was moving there. But there was one issue - I didn't tie up loose ends! So that brings me to...

Step 2: Wrapping up the last chapter.

Ok so I didn't have a lease signed... So I knew what I had to do. And on the night of the Sagittarius Full Moon, I said those two magic words again and wrote my landlord. My lease did not end til January - but I said I can't wait that long! Is it impulsive or irresponsible? Maybe, but they ended up negotiating and allowing me to close off on the lease early and even adjusted some terms on the lease. This brought more clarity, more direction forward, more action, and inspired the universe to help get me to where I'm going - not stay where I am.

Step 3: Power of thought, words, and prayer.

Rewind... Two days before the full moon (the day I made the decision on where I wanted to be) I had looked at apartments all day. I didn't see any I liked and that's because I still was struggling to figure out what I wanted. I named the city, but I didn't know how else my life should look like. So after having a meltdown and eating my feelings in sweet potato fries (hooray for vegan bar food), I said you know what - let me just put this out there. I said "I am coming back here in four days. The next place I look at is going to be the apartment I sign. I'm gonna have the gut feeling when I walk in there and I'm just gonna know. And then I will look at a few other places after, but I will revert back to the first place. Now the Universe knows it and so do I."

I kept this affirmative thought in my mind. I told everyone I spoke to that same thing. I got some "okay rae" eye rolls, but I knew it would work.

Step 4: The Power of Magic and imagination.

On the night of the full moon, I wrote that same idea down on paper. I told the moon exactly how I wanted to feel when I stepped inside. I told the moon exactly how I wanted the apartment to look like. I told the moon the price I was willing to spend... I kept my Citrine crystal close as it holds no negative energy to prevent me from reaching my dreams, and it is the ultimate manifestation crystal.

The law of attraction only works when you create a clear image of what you want. If you ever wake up in the morning and say "I hope it doesn't rain, it looks like it's going to rain, I don't want it to rain..." The universe hears "RAIN RAIN RAIN!" If you say, "it doesn't look like it will be, but i want a sunny day! I want clear blue skies and sunshine." The universe says "oh okay, sunshine! I know what that looks like too." (We can't control weather but we can try.)

SO this is why I told the moon and my crystal: affordable, clean, safe, washer and dryer, pet friendly, a pool, an OPEN LAYOUT - I was excessive maybe...

Step 5: Let the magic happen - and notice when it does.

When I came back to visit, I called my list of rentals and I said "what time are you available - just give me a time." They all coordinated and I let the universe do its thing. I walked into the first apartment and it was EXACTLY. WHAT. I. WANTED. It was exactly what I described, it was exactly what I had manifested, I felt the way I wanted to feel when I walked in. Keeping an open mind, I did of course look at the others and they even had better reviews but they all ended up being horrid. I noticed signs like I'd fall over, or the tour guide was giving off an uncomfortable vibe. So I signed my lease, and made plans to move to the new city.

I guess what I can say is sometimes you feel hopeless - like no amount of anything will work. The law of attraction sucks sometimes when you are down. The law of attraction takes time, patience, and clarity (and I and many people I know do not have ANY of those things.) However you must FORCE yourself to believe that it will work... it worked for me in just five days. And now I am ready to create the life that I designed for myself and the universe helped me achieve. Thank you for reading - happy manifesting!

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b-bowe · 7 years

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Welcome to the Goldcoast | Australia part 1

After 3 flights and over two days of travel I’ve finally made it to the infamous town of Coolangata located on a section of the west coast of Australia, two hours south of Brisbane, formerly known at the Goldcoast.

My trip started 12pm on Wednesday May 24th in Naples Florida, where I drove 2hrs to Fort Lauderdale to wait another 2 hours to board the plane which was delayed an hour and half before boarding. Once on board, a series of thunderstorms passed through delaying 20 planes on the runway ahead of us, resulting in us sitting on the runway for nearly 3 hours before departure.

The original itinerary planned to get us to Houston at 8:30 and flying and overnight flight to Auckland, NZ at 10:20. We landed at 11:30 so it was safe to say I wasn’t making my flight. Once we got everything sorted I arrived at the hotel at 1:30 AM to fly out of Houston on the same flight just 24 hours later.

All this free time in the hotel left me with the perfect opportunity to work on some graphic design.

Here is some I did to show NP.

All was well and I made both of my flights to New Zealand/Au’s but when I arrived I noticed my kite sticking out of my bag, this wasn’t good. I guess it got snagged on something because there was a tear on the top and the stitching was wide open like a flower blooming on a spring morning. It’s as if the airlines have a vendetta against surf bags. No damage was done to my kites or boards so really it could have been way worse. I finally got to my hostel, The Sands hotel, in the Goldcoast at 11:30am on Friday morning on May 26th.

If you’ve ever watched any of the world surf league tour events then you’ve seen the beach break known as Snapper Rock, which is famous for its fast, shapely, usually hollow, long, consistent wave break which is located directly in Coolangata along side a few equally word class waves.

The swell was dying so we were able to sneak a couple of morning sessions before the wind switch on. I didn’t catch much waves and the crowds were thick so catching a good one was tricky.

However the water so clear here it made it all but with it. I knew it was blue water but the viability surpasses the Caribbean. Watching the sands churn under neither my feet was all the entertainment I needed. I wish I had brought my gopro on the first session but I didn’t knew what it was going to be like and I didn’t want to be that guy with the bright orange camera in his mouth just asking to be punch. Its all good though!

The hostel was better then I expected. The price was fair and the location you couldn’t beat being right on the main strip, walking distance to all the beach breaks. Everyone was really cool and I even made some friends I’ll keep in contact in the near and distant future. The upstairs wrap around balcony was unexpected and made for the perfect spot to do some sunrise breathing exercises and stretching. I knew my sleep schedule was going to be off so I took full advantage of easily waking up at 5am, which is a never for me at home.

This whole area is such a surf vibe that all the food shops were small, friendly, and full of creative health and not so healthy meals to fill you up after a long day on the water.

There are also tons of people up bright and early doing their morning runs before the work day. Perhaps that’s why all the cars stop almost to a fault when your trying to cross the street, even if your no where close to the corner.

After a couple of days filling my belly and getting adjusted to the 14 hour time difference it was time to head up the Gladstone to get aboard the Cabrinha Quest.

It was an all day bus leaving the Goldcoast at 8:30am landing me at the boat at midnight that night, so it was about 14 hours on a bus with basically no internet or power plugs to charge my computer. Yaaay! :/ …. Again, all is well.

It’s my first day on the boat and I’m settled in. The crew is really cool and I’m looking forward to setting sail Friday June 2nd. Internet is hard to come by so ill be going dark these up coming days

Stay tuned and I’ll keep you posted.

Cheers!

P.S. This post took me 3 weeks to post, I'm in the Sunshine Coast now!!

#Australia #surfing #travel #travelblog #waves #UnderwaterPhotography #sunshinecoast #goldcoast #cabrinha #CabrinhaQuest

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keirnytee · 7 years

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I could hear birds chirping in the distance. It was now morning which meant day 3 had arrived. The sun tried its best to pierce through the windowsill but to no avail. The windows were locked so tightly, the wolf from The Three Little Pigs wouldn’t be able to blow it open. Talk about strength. Like Day 1 and Day 2, I waltzed over to the garden. No other guest wanted to do a shared tour, so once again I would be paying 45 USD for transportation all day. This did not include entrance to my next destination. It was at that juncture I said ‘f— this budget.’

DAY 3 – MONKEY SEE, MONKEY DON’T TOUCH ME

Meet Budi

After riding the elephants on Day 2, and having only been to two locations, I NEEDED to visit the monkey forest. It didn’t matter what I did, the monkey forest just had to be part of the day’s activities. My driver for the day was Budi because Wayan felt poorly. Budi was so confident in himself and I was happy to have him along for the ride. He was definitely more knowledgeable about international music which was a huge plus. Since I had already researched all there is to do within budget, and by research I mean rewatched the Bali episodes from The Real Housewives of Orange County, the forest I wanted to visit, was in Ubud. Another quick search on the internet and the usual suggestions from Rudy’s staff, led me to a bigger monkey forest, Sangeh. I was bothered by this. “What geotag would show up on snapchat?” I thought. But when they said it was cheaper than Ubud, my eyes glistened and ears perked up.

The forest was beautiful. Another first for me. No monkeys were in sight which was a good thing. Let me tell you why. [About 4 years ago I visited my aunt and uncles in Ft Lauderdale, Florida. I love visiting my relatives. Anyways, My aunt and I went to the Swap Shop to purchase a very cheap duffle bag (I see where my frugality comes from). While there, we saw a man with a pet monkey parading around, doing tricks. I was intrigued cuz I’ve never seen a small primate before, only the big orangutans and other species at Zoo Miami (dang that place is hot). I wanted to take a picture with it but realized we had to pay. Like a good negotiator, my aunt got a discount from the 10 USD fee to 7 USD (a bargain is a bargain LOL). To make the story shorter, I panicked the whole time the monkey was on my shoulders. I wanted it off so badly. I decided then I was terrified of monkeys and wouldn’t put myself through that again. Let’s see how that worked out.

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I paid the entrance fee of 2.65 USD and Budi parked the car. One of the many guides walked over to us and the tour began. I was the only tourist on the compound at the time, so if I did anything embarrassing (like run and scream like a petrified little kid) no one would see me. Except for my camera which Budi had to capture and film every moment. I cautiously strolled through the towering entrance and there I saw the little creatures running around. Like clockwork, my heart began to palpitate. Fear washed over me like the moment the walls of parted Red Sea crashed into each other drowning the Egyptians. I looked over at Budi and he was just as scared as I was. Home boy literally took a few steps back saying he’ll zoom in to get my shots. Before I could get myself together, not one, not two, not three but FOUR, four freaking monkeys attached me at once. Paralyzed. I knew how Vicki Gunvalson from The Real Housewives of Orange County felt when the monkeys jumped on her. (She may or may not have been putting on a front for the cameras but fake or not, those monkeys weren’t playing around.) I should note that they weren’t scratching me not was I in any danger. The little buggers were after my Oreo cookies which was in the side of my bag. I won’t do that again.

After I calmed down, I took some beautiful shots of the forest and its residents. Group by group, more tourists trickled in. I think they caught a little bit of my mini meltdown. I didn’t mind as much because I could see the nerves on their faces and the shrieks from those further in the forest. I wasn’t being extra after all. Though I panicked for most of the tour, I ‘overcame’ my fear. Haha! I definitely recommend.

Enough monkeying around, let’s get going. (Always wanted to say this LOL.)

ONCE AROUND TAMAN AYUN

Bali, well Indonesia at large is very spiritual. Their main religion is Hinduism. So after Sangeh it was time to visit another temple. You’d think I would be bored of seeing temples by now, but every temple had its own unique quality. This was a rather old and undisturbed temple. Usually, Balinese people would be gathered to or have already given an offering on the temple grounds. But Taman Ayun had no sign of worship. The temple was surrounded by water both on the inside and outside of its grounds. The grass was so green and well manicured. Mother Nature tried it again but the higher power spoke and a light shun down on the temple so bright, I immediately felt blessed.

I realized soon after that light was from feeling fatigued due to hunger. It was time to have lunch. I’ve been pretty strict with my cheap meal plans, so Budi decided to stop at this restaurant after leaving the temple. When we got there the prices were so high but the food looked to good to pass up. I ended up staying, took in the view and ordered the cheapest of the most expensive meals for…10 USD. Haha! Yes I was in Bali, but I had to do the conversion to determine how much money I was spending.

FROM SUNRISE TO TENAH LOT

The last stop for the day was one of the most talked about spots in Bali, Tenah Lot Temple. Everyone kept saying it’s so beautiful because it stretches out into the sea and looks amazing at sunset. When we arrived and paid 6 USD entrance fee (gotta put that in their), it was about 2 hours till sunset. Could we wait that long? Budi looked at me and I looked at him. Almost simultaneously we both said nah! The day was getting hotter and I could tell Budi was tired. I suggested he take a rest and have something to eat. I didn’t want him over extending himself all for me, especially when I was fully capable of taking care of myself. Tenah Lot’s beauty was unlike anything I’ve see. The view was like a painting from Gustave Courbet. People from all over flocked this temple. Two Chinese women asked me to take photos with them as well some school girls who seemed to be on a field trip. Did I mention it was hot?

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Budi rejoined me and we walked over to the shore where we would have to take our shoes off, rolls our pants up and walked into the ocean to get to one of the temples. I was so psyched about the idea, then I realized we had to make another contribution before we could pass. I rolled my eyes all the way back. I wasn’t interested anymore. I did the next best thing and took my shirt off so my body could feel the cool air blowing from the sea, without the hindrance of a tank top. I didn’t even think if my actions would count as public nudity but hey, technically we were at the beach. The sun took forever to set and like we had initially agreed, we wouldn’t stay much longer to see it because it would take us about 2 hours to get back to the resort.

On our way back, I felt the need for fast food so we went to Jaya Fried Chicken (JFC for short). Like, why would I go to KFC in Bali when I knew how it tasted. I was served two pieces of chicken, a rice ball and a drink for 3 USD. I wasn’t blown away but at least the need was satisfied. I would turn Twenty 7 the next day so I was eager to get to bed. Stay tuned for the epic conclusion of my birthday trip in part 4. Till next time.

reallyGOBBY: Keirn

TWENTY 7 IN BALI: Part 3 I could hear birds chirping in the distance. It was now morning which meant day 3 had arrived.

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hell0kayla · 7 years

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I never fucking talk about this

*warning this is about rape and the DIY community, circa 2010* Also, this is just a sea of thoughts and I’m not even sure if I should reread this or just let it fucking go.

I grew up in a small coal mining town located in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The area was incredibly depressed and still remains very much the same as it was then now. Everyone works in either the local coal mines or factories, the pit of working class Amerikkka. However, despite how poor and incredibly depressed this area is during my growing up there was an incredible underground DIY music scene that I dove and devoted myself entirely to. I dated a boy in the most popular local band and did photography / video for everyone and everything. Often my father would cook food for the bands that would play our local roller rink. Those bands often too ended up sleeping on my parents couches or floors.

In 2009 I graduated from High School and wanted to continue my love for documenting and film so I followed the pursuit of a degree in Digital Filmmaking and Video Production. This required me to leave my home town and move to Philadelphia, PA. I couldn’t have been more excited and my dreams couldn’t have felt more achievable at that moment. At that time the person I had been dating since the age of 15 was playing with a new band from Toms River, NJ which meant that they would be close by. I felt confident, I felt like the world was at my finger tips and I was ready to show the world exactly who I was and what I was all about.

Naturally loving DIY house shows and venues back home I couldn’t wait to dive right into that very same scene in Philadelphia. Through touring with friends bands I had a little taste of the Philadelphia DIY scene by playing shows at Disgraceland. Eventually I had no trouble making friends in this DIY scene. I had found a little community of people who loved DIY just as much as I did. Every single night there was either a show, party or pot luck. I felt safe in this community of people. Through going to shows I created a new group of friends that I adored.

One night after a show at Ava House during the cold month of February a few friends and I decided to get snowed in at the Florida Kids House. We stopped at the Shady Spot ( the name I gave it because they have sold me booze since the very ripe age of 18) to pick up more alcohol (hurricane high gravity 40oz). I was friends with two of the people who lived at the house and through out that night I was introduced to the rest of the house mates. One of them came off as shy and more reserved and later I found out that he too was in a band with the other house mates. The person I had been dating just broke up with me earlier that week for the millionth time but this time they had already moved on and began seeing someone else and my whole earth was shattered. This night I was drinking to mend a broken heart.

I found myself talking with this person in the basement at one point looking at their record collection. They had rare American Nightmare Vinyl and I was then gushing up a storm with this person. I even thought that they were sweet at one point and could see myself finding interest in this person.

As the night grew on this person offered to let me cuddle on the couch with them. Which I was fine with at the time because it was simple and sweet and its February and cold. We cuddled up on the couch together, this person was on the inside and I was on the outside of the couch. We kissed and then made out, I was drunk and thought “this is what you do when you’re drunk and heart broken Kayla.” My roommate at the time did that all of the time with people, I could do this too. Especially since Justin was now seeing someone new. The kisses and making out grew super uncomfortable quickly. Mostly because this person wouldn’t stop trying to continue with going further and I wasn’t interested in anything more and at this point I just wanted to go the fuck to sleep.

I told this person “No” and that I wasn’t interested in progressing further. I didn’t care if this was no longer going to make me cool or potentially ruin my ability to get laid in the future for fear of being “prude”. This person immediately became agitated and removed all of the blankets and pillows from the couch and me and moved onto the floor. To which I didn’t care because I did not want to have sex with that person, I snuggled up to the arm of the couch and proceeded to pass out. I have no idea the amount of time that had passed to the moment I woke up. I am a heavy sleeper and anyone who has lived with me, toured with me or slept in the same bed as me knows this so any amount of time is possible.

I awoke to the person who was supposed to be sleeping on the floor on top of me. Penetrating me. I have had almost seven years to replay this moment over and over in my brain. I remember you finishing and just feeling so relieved that you were done. That you were no longer taking that which was not yours. I imagine my partner laying there as was I and couldn't even imagine being able to finish. You lacklustering fuck.

I relive this pain so fucking often walking the familiar streets of Philadelphia once again. I no longer go to shows for fear of encountering you and your entourage of fucking supporters because they fear losing their punk points for pointing out your fuck ups. I say fuck ups and that is not vicious enough for how sick I am of replaying this memory in my head... but you did this and you committed this awful sentence. I moved back to Philadelphia a couple of months ago to chase after my film dream once again that fizzles out quite often these days. JP your old house mate reached out to me. He wanted to verify what events had taken place that night because he never once had taken the time to ask me. However, everyone seemed to have no trouble listening to your words and jumping on the Rubens such a sweet guy band wagon. (IDK maybe aside from being a rapist you might be?) Everyone knew that you raped me, because Diane announced it in front of you (and everyone else at a show) because you felt entitled enough to not just take my body but feel comfortable with then walking into my home and then making that your own during a show too. I told you not to come in, I told you that you were not welcome. I wish I could replay your wine bottle being smashing against concrete more often than I can replay the memory of the night that you raped me.

I blamed myself for years, even after Diane had called you a rapist in front of everyone. (I never had the ability to say that out loud to anyone else for myself because you so quickly silenced me) I blamed myself for being drunk and I blamed myself for not stopping you after I had woken up. However, I stopped blaming myself when JP told me that you had committed this same act to another person. He apologized for protecting you and how sorry he is that I had to continue with this for so long. He said he couldn't imagine how it felt. Lonely. Lonely.

I cried in my car alone, I was driving home from a friends house when JP delivered the news. It made me sick to think that someone else now has to walk this earth feeling the same way as I. I think of how this Ruben took not only my body but my voice, my life, my shine but someone else's now too. I often dream of that girl I once was and how much life, will, and want she had for the world and how that doesn’t even feel familiar anymore. It makes me sick to see once again his words smeared all over Punk News and other DIY music coverage and not his victims. It makes me sick to see him once again taking that which is not his and making it okay and justifiable. It makes me sick to watch the DIY scene eat out of the palm of his hands once again.

#personal #rape #diyscene

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i-4m-by-your-side-gabr13l · 7 years

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Devil Origins

James Santiago Reyes was born in Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Centre, Daytona Beach, Florida, during the pre-start of the Omnic Crisis in 2054. He had no knowledge of his mother, for she supposedly “abandoned” him when he was only a day old. But, he still has his father, Gabriel Reyes. As he grew up, he gotten attached to his father, always thought of him as the teddy bear that would protect him from all the monsters. That was… Until he was two years old. The Omnic Crisis began, and everyone was in panic. Once the entirety of the fight was over, James was left on the streets, hiding in an alley. He didn’t know where Gabe went, so he had no choice BUT to hide. When no one came looking for him, he realized that he was all alone. And he was right. Almost everyone in Daytona was dead. There were only a few survivors. As he wandered the bloodied-up streets, he found an Omnic laying on the ground, holding a little bird. The Omnic peered over at his direction and just stared at him. James didn’t know what to do at all, so he just lay on the ground, surrendering instantly. But the Omnic didn’t kill him. It, instead, reached his hand for the small child, giving a small gesture that he would like to help him. Although James was confused, he nodded his head, and - although he was two, he knew how to speak very small sentences - asked him nervously, “c-can you help me find Daddy?” The Omnic made a small beep, in response of saying yes. It then pointed to the name on its side,’E-55 Bastion Unit.’ “B-Bastion? Is that your name?” The small child asked again. Bastion nodded and made a very delightful beeping noise. James giggled adorably and said, “thank you Bastion!” For the survivors, they stared at amazement. They were not expecting a two-year-old child to become friends with an OMNIC. James climbed onto Bastion’s head and onward they went to find Gabriel. 20 years of surviving alone with Bastion later, James continued onward to find his father. There have been signs of a terrorist named, “Reaper,” which gives him an even more bigger reason to stay out of sight. As he continued scavenging for more money and food, he heard Bastion go into Alert! Mode and tried to calm him down. It took a while, but he realized why he went into Alert! Mode. He heard someone run around his position. His heart started pounding, worried about his impending doom. His hand reached for his blade, readying himself for a fight. It didn’t take long until he heard someone ready a shotgun, straight for his head. He turned around and roundhoused the hell out of the area he was in. Surprisingly, he landed a hit on the figure, but it wasn’t enough to take it down. The figure punched him straight in the heart, uppercuts him, and kicked into a tree. The blow itself was enough to shatter his bones. James screeched in agonizing pain once he landed. He didn't look that beaten up, but the spikes in the figure’s fist caused a very big gash to appear on his forehead. He looked up to see two glowing eyes appear in a barn owl mask. It was the figure. He was wearing a long black coat - we all know who it is, so I’m not wasting my breathe explaining. James looked up and exclaimed in pain, “a-are you Reaper?” No answer. He knew his doom was coming. James sighed and accepted his fate. But… Nothing happened. He just... Blacked out. What felt like a few hours, James woke up in an infirmary. All he could see was an angelic woman trying to fix his wounds. He heard her say something, but couldn't figure it out. All he heard was, /this is going to hurt./ And… by the internal screeching, it hurt like hell. He soon sat up and saw the x-ray. “Nice to see you’re awake James.” A voice stated happily. His head instantly turned 180° and saw the same woman. “Where am I?” He asked, looking like he just had a very bad nightmare. “You’re in your new home.” She replied, showing him the layout of the building. It was the new HQ of Overwatch. “Why am I here? Where’s Bastion?” He continued asking. “Our operatives got a message from your Bastion saying that you were desperately hurt. So, we sent them in to find you and… Well, we did. But you were almost dead. Lucky for you, I was there to revive you. And you are very fortunate to not change after resurrection.” “Were you the one who resurrected Reaper?” “H-How did you…” “I saw an angel float towards him, and his soul was almost gone. But the angel revived him… Into something unspeakable.” He explained. He looked at her for a moment, then at her nametag. It said, /Angela Ziegler (Mercy)./ Angela couldn't say anything. She was worried that if she told him the truth… No. She had to get that thought out of her head. She looked down at the ground for a moment, then back up. “Yes. It was me. But there’s something about Reaper… That no one wanted to tell you. We worried you would be devastated.” “Well, I don't want revenge. I’m a very passive person. Plus, he might have went after the wrong person.” “...Reaper is your…” Angela hesitantly stammered, almost in tears. She hugged him tightly, and screamed out, “he’s your father!” James was in complete shock. He could not believe what he had heard. It took him a while to gather everything. And once he did, he hugged Mercy back and started crying. “I didn't want to say anything… I didn't want Bastion to give it out, because we worried you’d do something.” She sobbed, letting our everything she contained within herself. “You mean… My dad almost killed me without even knowing who I was?” He sobbed back. At a loss of words, all Angela could do was nod. It took them seven minutes to calm down. Once they finally did, Mercy gave him a tour of the building, and took him to the living quarters. Everyone who was there looked over and smiled. “Who’s the new guy?” Pharah asked Mercy, as she wondered why Mercy would allow a random stranger into HQ. “This is James… Gabriel’s son.” Mercy sighed, as she looked at James. A few seconds later, Ana walked towards them and looked at James. “You found out the truth, I guess?” Ana asked. “It was painful.” James nodded. “Your father was a good man. But… He changed. I see that Bastion has grown fond of you.” “Yeah… He protected me for all these years, and he’s honest the best Omnic - aside from Zenyatta - that I’ve ever made friends with.” “That’s always nice. Especially since no one trusts Omnics anymore.” “Yeah.” “Well, now that you're here. We need you to do something.” “What is it?” James asked. Zenyatta floated over and gave him one of his orbs of harmony. He looked into his eyes and proceeded to give him the information, “we need you to infiltrate Talon Headquarters, get accepted, and there, you can find your father. They will accept you, because they know who you are. You are part of the Los Muertos gang, correct?” “Yeah.” “Excellent. Well, they will accept you for that. Just don’t show that you are part of this organization as well.” “Okay. And, what is your Orb for?” “In case you get into trouble, this will heal you and help us find out where you are.” Zen explained, as he placed the orb in James’s pocket. “Let us know when you get to the headquarters.” “I will.” James nodded. Once he did, he left the HQ and went to find Talon Headquarters. It didn’t take long surprisingly to find it. He walked towards the main entrance and - obviously - was stopped by the guards. They asked to show his identification. He proceeded to show his Los Muertos calavera with his insignia on it. Without second thought, they let him through. One of the Lieutenants walked towards him and asked, “are you El Diablo?” “Yes I am.” He replied. “Well, I’ll lead you to your room, and you can wander off if you want.” The Lieutenant responded as he led James to his private barracks. Once the Lieutenant left, James searched for the nearest computer for him to hack into. Surprisingly, there was. He went for it and hacked it in a millisecond. “Wow, their security is not that good.” He laughed a bit as he went ahead and searched up the locations of the staff, soldiers, everyone. He got Gabe’s Location in a matter of seconds, and went straight for it. It took a few days to reach him, but he finally reached his destination. It was back in Daytona. After they met once more and everything was told, they went back to the Overwatch HQ, and there… He was augmented into the system. Just like that, he became an Overwatch hero.

#FINALLY #THE ORIGINS IS DONE #LOL #sorry if this one isn't good

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multipleforks · 5 years

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Remember when going to Miami meant a four-day Charlie Sheen bender in South Beach where you barely knew your name by the time you got on the flight back home? Well, not anymore, (in regard to the South Beach part, the partying is still what Miami is all about)! Miami’s ‘boroughs’ have really taken center stage lately. There’s Brickell, the upscale, fancy, wealthy, business driven section of Miami, with five-star luxury hotels, high-rise office buildings and condos, and super trendy restaurants, which seems to combine ‘NYC’s Meatpacking and the Financial District’; Little Havana, which has tons of amazing hole in the wall Cuban spots, the best ‘Café Con Leche you will ever have’ and has an awesome Latin American sexy vibe to it, sort of like the ‘Flushing, Queens of Miami’; and the Design District, known for its sleek modern architecture, upscale design stores, art galleries, and celebrity restaurants, the ‘Soho of Miami’; and finally Wynwood (my favorite), known for street art, craft breweries and a young, hip crown, which is like a tiny slice of Williamsburg Brooklyn.

Similar to many parts of Brooklyn, Wynwood started as a neglected and decrepit manufacturing district filled with old, abandoned warehouses and dilapidated buildings. It was an area of the city not many people dared to venture out to. Now, old warehouse walls have turned into giant canvases for some of the most talented street and graffiti artists from around the world and streets are often jam packed with tourists. And who can blame them? There is a bar, restaurant, art gallery, boutique clothing store, brewery and trendy coffee shop on every corner. If that isn’t enough, check out Wynwood Yards where they have live music onstage, food trucks and a really cool indoor/outdoor bar. If you are however, looking for suggestions for things to do (and if you love food and culture), definitely check out Miami Culinary Tours. (They currently do tours in all areas of Miami including: Little Havana, South Beach, Wynwood, Design District, Miami City, and Coconut Grove). The Wynwood tour costs $69 (+ tax), takes about 2.5 hours, and includes a wonderful tour guide (Gina is absolutely incredible), lots of food and dessert, and a tour of the murals in Wynwood Yards.

Tours run on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday for Wynwood. The Saturday Wynwood lunch tour started at 12pm and met outside of Wynwood Walls. Sadly, it was a rainy Saturday, but that didn’t stop us! Our tour guide had us congregate inside the Wynwood museum where our tour guide, Gina, started by introducing herself, asking us about ourselves, then about began the discussion about Tony Goldman’s influence on Wynwood. Goldman was a real estate developer and art aficionado originally from New York City, who was known for revamping South Beach and Soho in NYC. He is the one attributed to revamping the abandoned warehouses in Wynwood with a vision of turning the area into one giant art canvas, which is pretty much what he did. Wynwood Walls, a giant outdoor canvas for street artists is one of the most incredible outdoor space in the country. Gina took a few minutes to speak in depth about Tony and the start of this beautiful, funky art district section of Miami, and then came the food portion of the tour…and whew, was there food!

Our first food stop on the tour was Wynwood Kitchen and Bar. As soon as you walk inside this restaurant, you will know why they call it ‘one of the coolest and most visually striking restaurants in the nation’. Floor to ceiling murals are painted in the bar area by Shepard Fairey, the artist who created the famous Obama Hope sticker. Additionally, other spectacular canvases in the dining room were created by the Berlin graffiti spray paint artist, German Artist Christian Awe. It’s almost like eating in a giant, high ceiling funky art gallery. Since the restaurant is considered a ‘tapas bar’ we were offered a selection of small bites from their menu which included, delicious fried chicken empanadas, a tequeno (fried breaded cheese stick made with bread dough and queso blanco) and fried sweet plantains with cheese on top. We also got to taste a sample of a blonde beer from a local brewery. Everything was excellent.

After this stop, we popped into the vegan casual eatery Dr Smood a few blocks away. As soon as we walked into this healthy eatery which can only be described as ‘hipster-esque’, ‘super millennial’, and ‘supermodels in brand new Lulelemon athletics eating only all natural, chemical free, vegan food’, Gina said, ‘we’re going to have a vegan, gluten free, avocado panini. Then she paused and said, ‘now, I know what you’re all thinking, how can a vegan, gluten free sandwich be any good? Don’t groan before you try it, I swear it’s actually really tasty’. She was not lying (and her comment was very on point). I personally believe there’s a little bit of Anthony Bourdain inside of all of us meat eaters. It’s that snobby, how could you live off lentils, vegetables, and tofu mentality? (He used to rip apart vegetarians every second he had the chance to, but I digress). Gina said that they use only organic food and create their own ‘performance bread’ using four ingredients: millet flakes, spelt flour, water and salt, which is supposed to give you energy and not spike your blood sugar. The sandwich was incredible, and they were right, I felt great afterwards. No sugar comedown that white bread tends to bring. Another interesting concept they use in this café is their color-coded system for each menu item. Red – power, pink – beauty, yellow – immunity, green – detox, blue – energy, purple – health. You can choose your food or beverage based on how you’re feeling or what you’re looking to obtain from your food. Although they only have locations in NYC and Miami now, their stores are guaranteed to take off in outdoorsy cities like Denver, Austin and Los Angeles (and beyond!)

From there we moved onto the Peruvian restaurant and tapas bar, GK Bistronomie where we had two courses and a glass of pairing wine. The first course consisted of black grouper ceviche with lime, white corn and corn nuts and two small pork rolls (or a bowl of quinoa for those who opted out of the pork rolls – Bourdain is rolling in his grave as we speak). The dish was spectacular, especially the ceviche where the salt and crunchiness from the corn paired so well with the sour from the lime and the juicy flavors of the marinated fish! The second course was beef anticuchos (or chicken as a substitute) made with potato fries in spicy cheese sauce (huancaina sauce) and a traditional chimichurri sauce with red peppers on top. This dish was complete flavor overload, cheesy, salty, charcoal, meets fried and slightly sweet. We were also offered a glass of red wine, white wine, or beer to pair with this dish.

Knowing that we were all in total food coma mode and needed a bit of a break before dessert, Gina walked us around Wynwood Yards and described many of the artists themselves, their murals, and their sources of inspiration. It was incredibly mesmerizing. It’s crazy to think that the murals are torn down at least once a year, they’re so beautiful! My only complaint about this part of the tour is that we didn’t get quite as much walking in as I would have liked, as gelato came soon after and I really thought I was going to explode! Maybe they should include an optional 10-minute sprint around the parameters of Wynwood portion of the tour!

Anyway, as mentioned above, the final stop of the tour was Flavian Gelateria which offers all-natural artisanal gelato made from local dairy and fresh produce. The inside does in fact resemble a small European boutique ice cream shop with wooden finishing’s and gorgeous white marble counter-tops. The shop was located inside a little vestibule which had indoor couches and benches for seating. Perfect for a rainy or sweltering hot day!

(The homeless guy pictured was clearly not part of this tour!)

Although there were fourteen people on our tour, Gina was excellent at getting everyone together and taking the time to give everyone some needed love and attention. I will definitely check out another one of their tours next time I am in South Florida!

On a final note, if you’re looking for something to do after your food tour, definitely check out some of the awesome breweries they have in the area. Here is TimeOut’s list of best breweries in Wynwood. Veza Sur, their #1 pick was fantastic. Aside from the place being super fun, Latin funky, and perfect for big groups (they have more boardgames than a 1st grade classroom), they also have excellent beers, including their Arroz Con Mango beer which was 10.8% ABV and was fantastic! They also do beer flights, and beer cocktails, and while you’re there, do make sure to have a coffee porter with some real whipped cream. Holy cow is it fantastic! As a cherry on top of the cake, the staff here is super friendly and one of the coolest things about this bar is the fact that they have multiple phone chargers that you can borrow. This is the first time I have ever seen this at a bar. They were actually excited to charge your phone for you. Usually I have to beg a bartender to use an outlet and they get all flustered that I’m wasting their time! I would give this place 5/5 stars just for their portable chargers!

Miami Culinary Tours – A Little Tour of Wynwood Remember when going to Miami meant a four-day Charlie Sheen bender in South Beach where you barely knew your name by the time you got on the flight back home?

#culture #foodtours #Miami #miamiculinarytours #miamifoodtours #wynwood #wynwoodyards

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rebeccahpedersen · 6 years

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Going On Vacation!

TorontoRealtyBlog

Folks, I haven’t had a vacation since last August.

And as a thrice-divorced client once told me, “Don’t worry about your family, they’ll be fine! Just keep working, and they’ll always be there when you get home.”

So with that in mind, we’re heading to Atlantis. Yes! Atlantis!

They say it’s a myth, but I just knew this wonderful underwater city existed…

I can’t tell you how disappointed I was to learn that the “Atlantis” we’re going to is a resort in the Bahamas, and not a secret, mysterious city that exists underwater, like in the above photo.

What the hell am I going to do with this Bare Velocity 5mm wetsuit? Not to mention all the tanks of oxygen…

Yes, we’re going to Atlantis.

It took a lot of back and forth, but eventually we settled on this resort on Paradise Island, Bahamas.

It was where we initially started looking, but then Ramon just absolutely rocked my world, and threw our plans into disarray.

You know those “Live Chat” pop-ups that exist on most sites, including real estate websites? Well the Atlantis website has a live-chat pop-up, and somebody named “Ramon” asked me if he could help, so I thought, “Okay, sure!”

I wrote, “Ramon, I see on the website that kids need to be at least 3-years-old to use a lot of the facilities in this extremely ‘child-friendly’ resort. My daughter is about 1 1/2 years old, can she not play with the Lego, watch the movies, or pet the turtles?”

Ramon responded, “Thank you for your interest in Atlantis. All the activities require that children must be at least 3-years-old.”

Somewhat defeated, and I guess, unsure of the reason for the requirement, I said, “But my 1 1/2 year old daughter plays Lego here in Toronto, and watches movies.”

Ramon repeated, “Unfortunately, all the activities require that children must be at least 3-years-old.”

So then I turned into a jerk and said, “Geez, Atlantis is marketed everywhere as this ‘family-friendly’ resort, I guess it’s not, eh?”

And amazingly, Ramon responded, “It is, just for families with children over 3-years-old.”

So I said, “Great, I’ll go to Florida.”

And Ramon said, “Thank you for choosing Atlantis!”

Hurt, and vindictive, I replied, “But I’m NOT choosing Atlantis, Ramon!”

He told me to have a great day, and closed the chat window, on me!

So with Atlantis out of the picture, we started to look for other places to go to – preferably ones that were more family-friendly.

My travel agent (yes, I have one…) suggested the “Sandals” for families, known as “Beaches.” I guess the marketing people weren’t feeling original on the day they picked the name, but I digress…

Quite happy with Sandals in the past, my wife and I were encouraged by the idea of an all-inclusive resort, by the same company as Sandals, but for families! The only problem was the locations.

Something called…………Zika Virus?

Turks & Caicos, Negril, Ocho Rio…

…zika, zika, zika.

And look, the odds are low, and depending on who you ask, it’s not an issue.

But with Baby Fleming V2.0 in the master plan, why risk it?

So with the islands out of the question, we started to look where most other people look: Florida.

I’m not a huge fan of Florida, I don’t know why. Perhaps it’s because everybody goes to Florida, and I’m not really an assimilation/conformity kind of guy. I’m also very binary, so I think if you’re going to do something, you should go all out. And if I’m going to take a week off work, I should make it count, and go to a tropical island, rather than some random B- resort a swamp-like state.

So we started looking around, randomly Googling “best places to vacation for families in Florida,” and I realized just how many SEO experts, sitting in how many coding-caves across the world, were waiting for a sucker just like me.

We found a couple of places online in the Florida Keys that looked good, but when I showed my wife the series of over-water bridges and highways that connect the Keys, she freaked out. I suppose all the facilities that are temporarily shut down because of Hurricane Irma didn’t help me plead my case…

Google took us everywhere from North Captiva Island, to Longboat Key and back.

But when my wife found some random resort that wasn’t even on the ocean, but rather on a small lake that looked like a swamp, I was so depressed by the idea that I said, “We need a new plan.”

I came home that evening, and my wife was beaming.

“I got it! I have it all figured out!” she said.

And like the advertising gimmick has taught us to say over the years, she shouted, “We’re going to Disney World”

I forced a fake smile; who wouldn’t? I love my wife, I’d go to Nunavut if she wanted to.

But the idea of going to Disney World didn’t set well with me.

You see, I’m a seasoned traveller, and I know that the one distinction you need to make at the very start of planning a get-away is to decide whether you’re going on a trip, or a vacation.

The two could not possibly be more different.

Who wants to do a vineyard tour in Italy? Sound fun?

Well, that’s a trip.

That’s a grind. A “schlep,” if you will.

It’s a long flight, it’s in a different time zone, and you’re constantly on the move, from town to town, riding buses, in and out of hotels, packing and unpacking. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a beautiful journey; a fantasy for many! One that I’d love to embark upon one day.

But it’s not a vacation. It’s a trip.

Now you might not want a vacation. You might look at your cousins, who visit their grandparents’ condo twice per year, plop by the pool, sit on their phones all day, and then head to a strip mall for dinner every night, and think, “I have no interest in that.” And I can’t say I blame you.

To each, their own, no doubt. And there is truly something for everyone.

But right now, in my life, and looking at what’s best for my wife and child, I think we need to avoid a trip, and take a resting vacation.

So……..Disney World. Right.

Buses to monorails, monorails to shuttles, shuttles to golf carts. That’s a non-stop schlep, and the thought of doing that every day for a week made me cringe.

This trip is for me, but more importantly, it’s for my daughter, and for our family. I don’t see my daughter as much as I’d like to, and at 17-months-old, it’s now that I can really “connect” with her, spending 24 hours per day together, for eight days.

As much as I liked the idea of Maya laughing at Goofy, or being wowed by Mickey, I know in my heart that she won’t remember any of this. She’s just too young.

And buses, monorails, shuttles, and golf carts are going to wear her down. Not to mention, wear my wife and I out.

My wife came to this conclusion on her own, thankfully! I feared the plan from the get-go, and ultimately nature took its course.

So now what? Where did we go from here?

I know this is the classic definition of “first word problems,” trust me. The irony of not being able to find a suitable place to vacation is not lost on me. This is just a story, so call it what it is.

But after two weeks of back-and-forth on locations, we finally came full circle.

And you know who made the decision in the end? Our daughter.

Like most children her age, Maya seems to be completely and utterly enthralled by just about anything. She could find a leaf on the ground outside, and play with it for an hour.

We were in Winners one day, and Maya was entertaining herself by picking up shoes, looking at herself in the mirror, and well, just about anything or anyone she came across. My wife looked at me and said, “I’m pretty sure we could take her anywhere, and she would have a good time.”

We watched her move around, from item to item, fascinated by everything in her path.

And we soon realized that we didn’t need “Lego World” at Atlantis, or their “Sea Adventure” program for children 3-and-up for Maya to have a good time. As my wife said, “We’ll probably walk from the room to the beach, and she’ll stop every ten feet to play with a stick.”

So in the end, we figured we may as well just go to Atlantis!

She can play with what’s allowed to, just as Ramon told me during our epic live-chat session.

She’ll make her own good time, as she always does, wherever she goes.

The weather is better than in Florida, it’s a direct flight, and believe it or not – it costs less than Disney World anyhow!

I am bringing my laptop with me. It’s unavoidable in this business, but I’m looking forward to some quality time with the two special ladies in my life!

I won’t be posting new material until next Monday, but I won’t leave the blog to get stale – I’m going to turn back the clocks on a couple of old videos for Wednesday and Friday!

See you back on Monday the 30th!

The post Going On Vacation! appeared first on Toronto Real Estate Property Sales & Investments | Toronto Realty Blog by David Fleming.

Originated from https://ift.tt/2Jlj9Y7

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unfltrdlfe · 6 years

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After a rejuvenating week at Kamalaya , Lacey and I joined each other’s company once more in Phuket, Thailand!

Accommodation: Marriott Resort and Spa, Merlin Beach

Thoughts: AMAZING! It’s located a bit outside of Patong, which is the main tourist location and a MAJOR party place! It was actually recommended to me by someone I’d met who was actually from Phuket originally, to only stay about a night in Patong then to go see the rest of the island, but we didn’t. The main reason we stayed there was because places were a little pricier than we had been paying and we were hoping to continue to save a bit of money. It worked out that my Dad had extra points on his Marriott rewards so we were able to use those and stay there for free. Points are a beautiful thing people, don’t ever underestimate the power of accumulating points.

The resort itself had a private beach, and I swear one of the biggest, most incredible pools I’ve ever seen in my life!! We were obsessed!! There’s also a swim-up bar in the pool that has an amazing happy hour (I don’t think we ever missed this) then you can continue the drink specials in the lounge once happy hour in the pool was done! There’s like 3 restaurants and a coffee shop in the hotel as well. Also, because it’s located slightly out of Patong, there’s shuttles running every hour or two to and from the city centre until like 8pm, and if you want to be out later, you can just taxi back.

Things to do:

Honestly, because we had such an amazing resort that we were staying it, we mostly lounged by the pool for half the day and went into town and walked around. However, we did do a couple of things before we left!

Phi Phi Island Tour

We did a day trip tour of some of the neighbouring islands, including the famous Phi Phi island. It was a great day! It was an early start day, I believe we were at the harbor around 8am. There was free coffee available once you arrived, but if you do this tour, bring water, towels, and breakfast.

We hung out for about an hour before getting on the boats, but everyone finally piled into the speed boat and got ready to go. The water was a little choppy but, I find that to be insanely fun! Between all the bumps, jumps and falls, I can never help but laugh along the way. After a significant ride on the boat, we arrived at our first island: Khai Nai. Here, we just laid on the beach and swam in the ocean for a while. Snorkeling was offered, I would recommend just buying your own snorkel gear before going on any snorkel trip in Asia, the ones provided really aren’t that great.

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Next, we headed to Yao Yai Island for lunch. Now, typically we would have been given beach and exploring time here, but, it started to rain, and hard! Everyone and everything was soaked by the time we arrived to the lunch spot. Lacey and I were laughing and all our valuables were in a water-proof bag (also recommended, you can find really cheap ones around). Rain is just apart of how it goes in tropical areas most of the time, and having lived in Florida, we were both used to it, knowing it would likely clear and be nice again in an hour or so. Lunch was a buffet, so you were able to eat your fill, however had to purchase drinks. That was all well and good, once everyone was full, and had used the toilet, we made our way back to the boat, the rain had stopped but was still threatening to start again.

Monkeys!

We got a little more rain as we made our way to our next destination, which was Phi Phi Don Island. Here, we were able to do a bit of sight seeing of Monkey Island. This was hilarious to watch actually! There were monkeys all over the cliffs of the island and would climb up and then just dive into the water and swim their way out…I don’t think I ever really knew monkeys could swim before seeing that! I mean it makes sense that they could, it’s just not something I had ever considered. The tour guides would throw fruit and such into the water and the monkeys would jump down into the water to get it, other times they would just jump on their own. It was pretty funny.

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After being thoroughly entertained by the monkeys, we made our way to Bamboo Island to do a bit more swimming. We just jumped off the boat into the water and would swim

around. It was a lot of fun.

Finally, we arrived at Phi Phi Leh Island, which was riddled with people on tours as it’s not just a beautiful beach, but the filming site for the movie “The Beach” starring Leonardo DiCaprio. We did a bit more swimming but were kind of over it quickly as there were so many people.

At last it was time to head back. Lacey, myself and a few others piled into the very front of the speed boat, which is not covered. We were racing our way back to Phuket, when it started to rain again. They stopped the boat and gave us the option to move in the back if we didn’t want to deal with the rain. 2 people moved, but the rest of us decided to tough it out…probably the most amusing decision we could have made. We were in bathing suits, so not really covered, and with how much rain was coming and how fast we were going, the raindrops felt like bullets on our skin. We were also flying over waves, crashing down hard as we went. Holding on for dear life, we all couldn’t help but laugh every time the boat slammed down and our bodies were red from being pelted with water bullets. Some of us were able to get our towels out from under our butts to cover our faces or arms to help a little, but mine failed miserably so I just ended up turning around so my face was at least not getting hit directly with the water. Lacey and I both looked at each other and the end and said “we finally had an arm day!” and laughed because up until that point every tour and excursion we had done was excessive walking and stairs, so it was always leg day, we finally got to balance it out.

All in all, it was a great tour, we had a lot of fun, despite the weather, so if you’re ever in Phuket and are thinking about it, I’d recommend it as a tour for sure!

We arrived back to the hotel around 7 or 8pm, so it was truly a full day!

Phuket FantaSea

I really can’t decide which was better: the island tour or the FantaSea show/experience. FantaSea is a Thai Cultural Theme Park. However, not the typical theme park we think of. There aren’t rides or anything, but there are loads of shops, and all the buildings are heavily decorated. It was fun to just walk around! So, the park is only open before the show, and so you’re able to enter a few hours before the show starts and see everything. In addition, you have a choice of paying for dinner, which we chose to do, it’s a buffet with plenty of options and the food was pretty decent!

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In addition to the dinner, and colorful shops, there was a zoo portion of the park so you were able to go see some animals native to the area. I have previously mentioned that when we were in Chiang Mai, we went to a zoo that was truly amazing and the animals were clearly treated well and had plenty of space to roam. I will disclaim that if you are going to FantaSea and you’re not typically a fan of zoos, I would NOT recommend going into this portion of the park. the enclosures are small, and like the tigers were indoors and kept behind glass. Not the most ideal conditions for the animals.

Also, before the big show, there was a small performance and it was like the most amazing thing ever! Oh, it was so good!!! It was a group of Thai performers singing and dancing to what made me think of 90s pop music and wearing bright colorful clothing that matched. Seriously, I couldn’t stop smiling it was truly fantastic!

After that cheese-tastic mini show, Lacey and I were really wondering what the big show was going to be like, but it couldn’t have been more different! The main show was 100% worth the trip over to the park to see it! There was dancing, singing, traditional costumes, acrobatics and again, disclaimer for those who may be upset by it, there were live animals in the show, who had clearly been trained. If the animal thing is really going to get to you, then I’d recommend not going, but if it won’t then go and I really think you’ll enjoy yourself! Afterwards the park remained open for a little bit for shopping an they have elephants outside that you can take pictures with, and you could also pay to ride them (which we did not do).

We headed out the next day for our flight to Melbourne! We were headed Down Under again to explore the Outback!

Phi Phi and FantaSea After a rejuvenating week at Kamalaya , Lacey and I joined each other's company once more in Phuket, Thailand!

#fantasea #phiphiisland #phuket #Thailand

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fingunna2media-blog · 7 years

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Streetwear Documentary Script

This is incomplete, but there is a lot here that will remain unchanged. Some things need to be added in places.

Locations:

· SNEAEKRSNSTUFF, Shoreditch, London

· Supreme, London

· Presented By, London

· The ExCel Exhibition Center for SneakerCon London

· Florida mall

· Orlando premium designer outlet

· Sneaker Syndicate Orlando

· Yacht and Beach Club

· A Louis Vuitton store

· Folkestone

Start with B roll montage of shoes and clothes, both in-store and on feet

Touring stores, in order SNS, Supreme…. Ending with presented by. Transition to talking about crep protect, owners of the store and saying how the store opening coincided with an event the day before, SneakerCon.

Events like SneakerCon show the scale streetwear has grown to. (Footage from the event will play in background). Venders take their shoes and clothes to sell at marked up prices. These prices are determined by how rare or desired an item is.

***SPEAK TO JAYSSE ABOUT HOW STREETWEAR HAS CHANGED HIS LIFE

***SPEAK TO TEDDY “BOOSTGOD” SAFARIAN ABOUT WHERE HIS SHOE ADDICTION CAME FROM AND HOW IT’S CHANGED HIS LIFE, AND WHETHER IT HAS BEEN FOR BETTER OR WORSE.

Music to be used: Lakey Inspired

· Better Days

· The Process

· Street Dreams

· Summertime Love

· City of Angels

· Golden Hour

· Alone

· Angels

· Monroe

Streetwear

/ˈstriːtwɛː/

Noun

Noun: streetwear; noun: street-wear

Casual clothing of a style worn especially by members of various urban youth subcultures.

"She was one of the first mainstream artists to champion streetwear, wearing oversized hoodies and graphic tees”

Street wear culture is a somewhat important part of modern society, and it has evolved extraordinarily from what it was to begin with in the late 1970’s. This documentary will show you how it began, how it evolved, where it is today, and the direction its heading in the future.

Origins of the culture:

Street-wear culture can be traced back to 1977 in Harlem, a predominantly black area of New York City. This coincided with the break out of hip-hop, which gives an idea of why the culture included the elements it did. Most of the clothes were baggy tracksuits, which had functionality. Hip hop involved a lot of break dancing and these baggy clothes allowed a lot of movement and it was totally unrestricted, meaning it was easier to do things like windmills. For shoes, the best at the time was the Adidas Superstar, because again it had functionality on the dance floor.

Meanwhile on the opposite side of the country in Los Angeles, California, surf culture made a break out, and we can see elements of this still in today’s culture. With a large Mexican populous in south LA, they played a large part in shaping the culture. Women would wear swim suits with slides or sandals, which would be typical beach wear, but the men had to do it a little differently. In their culture, men aren’t allowed to show their ankles, so they would wear high socks, and as they lived near the beach, slides were the footwear of choice. Personally I don’t think it looks good and defeats the object of slides, but the Mexicans had a reason for it. As surf culture it was appropriate that swim shorts and t-shirts were worn. A local surf board designer, Shawn Stussy, began taking his designs from boards and putting them on t-shirts. From then on the brand Stüssy was born and once it gained popularity it was distributed in various boutiques. The brand played a key role in shaping modern streetwear, but this will be explained in detail later.

Skate culture was on the rise as well at this point,

YEEZY:

With rappers and hip-hop artists being the original influencers of the culture, its no surprise that at one point or another, a rapper would single-handedly reinvent the streetwear industry and its culture. Kanye west was the perfect person to do this, he was a rap icon but he was also not a gangster. Other rappers like Jay-Z, who was once a full time drug dealer, wouldn’t have gotten as many sales as West did. Nike picked him up because they knew he would appeal much more to their target demographic; white middle class people. This came after Kanye’s first three albums which all had something in common: the school theme. The College Dropout, Late Registration and Graduation are a far cry from the titles of other top hip hop albums focusing on drugs, guns and women. This reflected in the album sales, with Kanye outselling Jay-Z and 50 Cent who both released albums around the same time as Kanye.

Kanye West has undoubtedly been a massive influence on modern streetwear culture, and it is commonly said that he is the founder of the hype beast aspect of this. After the release of the Nike Air YEEZY, Kanye’s signature sneaker, streetwear was revolutionised. He released five more shoes during his partnership with Nike, two more air YEEZYs, and then three colourways of the Air YEEZY 2. These shoes were extremely sought after and although West wanted all his fans to have a pair, Nike themselves made the decision to keep them limited. This sparked the beginning of the end for their relationship and in 2014 Kanye left the company for pastures new. From this, he saw an opportunity with Adidas for a partnership that allowed him to design the shoes, take a much higher percentage of the royalties and a sweet $10 million on top of that just for signing. It cannot be said that this was a mistake, as it is widely believed that he is one of the sole reasons for the insane growth and success of Adidas in the last few years. Some people have called this ‘The Kanye Effect’.

It seems a lot of Adidas’ success has come as a result of Kanye wearing a particular shoe. A prime example of this is the Adidas energy boost in the triple white colourway. When it was released no one expected it to be a sell-out sneaker, and expectations were met. But at a surprise half-time show at a basketball game, west performed some songs from his newest album at the time, wearing the energy boosts. This made the shoe sell out that night and the next day it was reselling on eBay for up to a thousand dollars. He didn’t popularise the silhouette much, but he did for the ultraBOOST. Initially released as an Adidas running shoe on February 11th 2015, this shoe was not a sellout, and was sitting on shelves across the world, even though it utilised the company’s most innovative technologies, BOOST and Primeknit. It wasn’t until Kanye wore the sneakers again in the triple white colourway, which at the time was unreleased, that the silhouette gained immense popularity. The shoe has seen many subsequent versions, the 2.0, 3.0 and uncaged just to name a few.

In 2014 Kanye spoke to the Adidas board in Germany and told them his intentions with the company. During this meeting, he made a promise to the company and the consumer that everyone who wanted one of his shoes would be able to get a pair… eventually. This was a big deal, especially since his Nike shoes were incredibly exclusive. At the conference he also unveiled his first planned shoe he would make in collaboration with the company, the YEEZY BOOST 750. The shoe combined a suede upper, constructed like a boot, and a boost midsole. BOOST technology was relatively new at this point, with its flagship model only releasing two weeks before, and the technology itself only being first introduced less than a year earlier. Come February 2015 this shoe released over the course of a week at various boutiques around the world and at that moment, everything changed. Adidas’ rise had just begun. West wore many different Adidas models over the following months, and in June, he released another silhouette, the YEEZY BOOST 350. This was a sleeker, more athletic design instead of a boot, and was the beginning of an extensive line of sneakers. These, along with the previous 750s, were met with mixed opinions, with people stating the 750s looked like Ugg’s and the 350s looking like slippers. That was nowhere near enough to slow Kanye down though. Just 2 months later he released the second YEEZY 350 in an all-black colourway. This was met with much more attention than its predecessor but remained just as limited. It was from this point that other Adidas silhouettes with boost became much more popular, as they were seen as the next best thing to a pair of the ever so coveted YEEZYs.

Over the next year various other YEEZYs were released, and it was said by many that a change of pace would be very welcome. This was when the YEEZY BOOST 350 V2 released, and I was a very welcome change. The production numbers were much higher than any previous model, the materials they use were more advanced and the structure and support the shoe offered was greatly improved upon. This all gave fans hope that Kanye was finally making moves towards living up to his promise, though it was still a way off. Following releases saw again a larger production run and more progress towards fulfilment of his promise. Over the course of 9 months, there were seven total releases with eight new pairs of the V2 silhouette. It was at this point where Kanye could say his work was done, Adidas finally became the second biggest sneaker brand in the world, overtaking Jordan brand, living up to Kanye’s line in his song, ‘Facts’, “… YEEZY just jumped over jump-man.”

Though the original versions, with a different design and different materials used, will resell for thousands. This is because they were produced in extremely limited numbers, and are no longer produced. Their prices started around £500 when they were released in June of 2015, but are now selling for £2,500 in deadstock condition. Even when they’re used they will still resell for 4 figures.

Resale market:

Many items, both sneakers and clothing, gain a lot of hype in the weeks leading up to their release. A favourite for most is the Adidas YEEZY BOOST 350, designed by rapper, Kanye West. These retail for between £150 and £170, but will resell the day after their release for over three times that. Resellers use either eBay, though risky and full of counterfeiters, or consignment stores to help sell them. Consignment stores are a big thing in America, with places like flight club and urban necessities are two of the most well known and most trusted brands.

A key to success in the resale market is knowing what will give the quickest or highest profit. Brands like Supreme and the Adidas YEEZY are resellers’ favourite items for many reasons. Possibly the most important is their exclusivity and sometimes ridiculously limited production numbers. Exclusivity seems to be what drives the market currently as there has been some change over the last year or so.

This time in 2016, shoes like the Adidas NMD would sell out in seconds and instantly resell for hundreds more than the retail price, but fast-forward a year and the company would be lucky if any general release sold out at all. This is partly because their production numbers have risen insanely to match demand, but is also because, in some people’s opinion, they have over-saturated the market. The model continues to be produced, and other models based off the original have been released with generally good reception.

Collaborations are insanely popular but also incredibly limited. Adidas consortium are among the highest reselling shoes on the market. They combine the best ideas, best materials and crafting methods which only makes them more sought after. Shoes like the NMD and Ultra BOOST are the best of the best and resell of the consortium models ranges from the lowest of around £300 to almost £1,500. These prices, as with all highly resellable shoes, will only rise as time passes. Because of their limited numbers, the more people that wear them means less of the shoes are left in deadstock condition, ergo raising the price gradually.

Stores:

Obviously to get hold of a lot of these items you must go to a shop or an online store to purchase them. However a lot of the most coveted items are only available at select locations. Supreme, for example, is only available at Supreme stores and their website. This is part of what makes them so rare and exclusive. But other brands like Bape and Off-White are available at various high-end fashion and streetwear boutiques such as End Clothing and Choice. This is due to the brands’ high price, and due to their demographics often being interested in the same things these boutiques offer. On the shoe side of this, shops like SneakersnStuff and Foot Patrol are at the forefront of it. They are the places that get all the most exclusive items, and luckily for me, both have locations in London. These boutiques, among others, are Adidas consortium accounts, meaning they exclusively get those sought after releases, and also get the chance to collaborate with Adidas and design them.

With them getting the most desired shoes does come problems though. People know these are in high demand and the people working at the stores can have shady intentions. And here comes to controversy of what’s known as ‘back-dooring’. Store employees will either take pairs for themselves or resell them to their friends, and the sneaker will never even see the shop floor. Though it is against most companies rules, it is often broken and goes unpunished. Its things like this that can really upset people who line up for hours to get a pair only to find out their size is ‘sold out’, whereas in actual fact it was sold to a guy who arrived round the back five minutes ago. This kind of thing doesn’t just happen in stores though, it can happen with online releases as well with people using bots. These programmes bypass online queues and can ruin releases for the average consumer. Their only option now, if they want the shoe enough, is to pay resale prices on the secondary market. This can be through eBay, Instagram or consignment stores.

As I mentioned earlier, consignment stores are a big thing in America, and only recently, the first one opened in the UK. Presented By, the consignment store is run by Crep Protect, one of the world’s leading sneaker cleaning products, opened its doors on May 28th of this year. The opening of the store coincided with one of the biggest sneaker events in the world, SneakerCon, which Crep Protect are a major part of as a sponsor for the event.

SneakerCon:

Now if you were to ask the average person whether they would spend such insane money on shoes or clothes, more often than not they’d answer “no, who would do that?”[1] And, it may seem like that’s true, but they’d be very wrong. Events like SneakerCon are examples of how the reselling industry, and streetwear culture itself have grown to such a large scale. Hundreds of thousands of people gather every year at several events across the United States, and as of this year, all across the world as well. Locations ranging from Fort Lauderdale to Phoenix, and plenty of others. This year alone there has been 10 events, with another seven scheduled before the end of 2017. London was the first international event, and it had over 5,000 people turn up between 12 and 7pm. Later in the summer, SneakerCon went to Hong Kong and then a week later to Melbourne, Australia, with over 7,000 people going to each. In autumn, the event went to Atlanta, Las Vegas, Berlin, Toronto, Memphis, New York and is returning to London. I attended both London events this year *********

SneakerCon is a great representation of how the streetwear industry has grown over the years and how important it is to some people. Along with buyers and resellers, the event invites people who have a high profile in the community, who have gained this awareness through YouTube. These events are ways they can connect with their thousands of fans, some of whom have lines that can reach two hours long just to meet and have a picture with them. These people have taken streetwear and sneakers and used it as a way to make a living, many of whom make YouTube videos full time. They travel because of it and live their lives around it. I spoke to a few of these people to ask what streetwear culture has done to change their lives.

Teddy Safarian, also known as OhItsTeddy or BOOSTGOD, became famous for starting a YouTube channel displaying his shoe collection, consisting exclusively of Adidas BOOST shoes, and it happens to be the world’s largest collection. He is also a tattoo artist, who designs his own merchandise bringing his work and his YouTube lives together.

Jaysse Lopez is another of the high profile influencers who have grown to internet stardom through streetwear. He opened a store in Las Vegas called Urban Necessities, which is a sneaker and streetwear consignment store. He recently started a YouTube channel, which hit 100,000 subscribers in just over six months.

Supreme:

Possibly streetwear’s biggest brand, and definitely its most resellable, the brand started out as a skate label, but over time it has progressively moved more towards general streetwear. James Jebbia opened Supreme’s first store as a traditional skate shop on Lafayette Street in New York City in 1994. He opened another skate store called union a few years before the first supreme location, and helped open the first Stüssy store in 1991. Arguably, the company’s biggest asset is their restraint, as they only produce their pieces in very limited quantities. This means there is a lot of hype around every supreme release because it is so exclusive. ***************

High fashion:

With the immense amount of money being poured into the streetwear industry, it is no surprise that high fashion houses like Louis Vuitton and Gucci have established their presence. In July of this year, possibly the most hyped up streetwear release ever happened over the months first weekend at multiple locations across the world when Louis Vuitton, high fashion’s top brand, and supreme, streetwear’s top brand, collaborated with an extensive collection of everything from a simple box logo t-shirt to a trunk covered in Louis Vuitton’s monogram. The cheapest item in the collection was a bandana, which retailed for £175, and the most expensive was the trunk that sold for more than £50,000. Of course with the hype that surrounds supreme the prices stayed nowhere near that on the resale market, with the trunk now selling for £120,000 as the highest priced item, but the T-shirt alone now sells easily for £1,500. Other items have varying prices that any normal person would never justify, but it seems even the biggest hype beasts also have trouble justifying it.

Though the prices are ludicrous, it hasn’t stopped Louis Vuitton at all, as rumour has it they are working on a collaboration with Virgil Abloh’s Off White, streetwear’s second hottest brand. This shows that the brand is looking to widen its client base to a younger age group, yet still maintaining their executive status. This works well in many ways for the brand, as younger consumers would know what the Louis V is, but wouldn’t usually buy it.

I spoke briefly to [insert Craig’s girlfriend’s name here], a high fashion designer to get her perspective on how luxury fashion brands have influenced street wear and what she thinks the future holds.

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the2travel · 7 years

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* World Travel Tips : How To Plan A Multi-Generational Family Vacation Without Losing Your Mind

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It began with a group text. My three sisters, our mom, and I, living in three of the four corners of the continental US, chatting about how fun it would be to get together for a big family vacation.

At first it was just talk, tossing around location ideas and what time of year would offer the nicest weather, but slowly the talk transformed to serious planning. Before we knew it, our five families (ten adults and ten children) were all together for a week-long vacation in Florida.

If you’ve considered going on a similar multi-generational vacation, you’re not alone. According to AARP, about 25% of trips that baby boomers anticipate taking are with extended family, and independent travel consultant Karen Rublee says there’s been a trend in interest in this type of vacation over the past few years.

There are numerous considerations to take into account when planning such a trip. Adhering to everyone’s budgets and preferences can be a daunting task, so it helps to have a game plan before you even begin the planning process.

First, ask each involved family unit to brainstorm. They need to think of locations, accommodations, budgets, activities, and dates. Anything goes at this point, but it’s a good idea to have each family prioritize their list so when you put them all together you can see where there are similarities or differences.

Once the brainstorming phase is complete, you can go in one of two directions: Take care of all the planning yourself or hire a professional. There are pros and cons to each of these methods, so take into account how much time you have available to coordinate the vacation and how much control you want to have over all the details.

“Logistically, [planning a multi-generational trip] gets challenging,” says Rublee, “[A travel agent] will save you a lot of hassle and a lot of time. Furthermore, travel agents know the good companies to work with and can often offer more amenities.”

If you choose to use a travel agent, do your research. Some focus on large family trips and work with tour companies that offer all-inclusive specialty trips, such as dude ranch vacations or river cruises. For more information on all-inclusive or guided vacations, visit Tauck Tours, Trafalgar Tours, or Globus Journeys.

If you choose to do the planning yourself, the one criteria that will determine all other choices is budget. This can vary widely from one family to the next, but depending on everyone’s circumstances, it doesn’t have to be the death knell for your vacation. In fact, sometimes budgeting concerns are exactly what make multi-generational vacations so appealing.

For mom of three, Maria Daniel, going on a family vacation wouldn’t be possible if it didn’t involve her extended family. “We always vacation with my family or my husband’s. It’s the only way we can afford [one].” Since Daniel’s parents have a bit more leeway in their budget, they pay for the home they all share, freeing up Daniel’s vacation funds to be spent on other expenses, such as food and transportation.

With transportation taking up nearly half of all travel-related expenses, narrowing down a location may become easier based on whether or not it’s within driving distance. Of course, if your family is spread out, driving may not be an option for everyone. In that case, choosing a location near a major airport hub may help lower costs. Hub cities vary by airline, but a list of the major airline hubs is available from Travelmiles101.

After nailing down a location and how you’ll get there, you need to decide where you’ll stay. When it comes to choosing accommodations for your multi-generational vacation, there are many options and many things to consider.

Oftentimes renting a large home can be an economical way to go, but if you have family members who value their privacy or tend to butt heads, the close living quarters may make for a stressful vacation. Other options include condos, hotels, resorts (many resorts offer all-inclusive packages that may cut down on expenses), or camping.

Consider too that if different families have different needs, it’s possible to do a combination of these options. During our trip, two families rented their own condos while the other two shared one, and our parents stayed in their RV at a nearby campground.

Finding lodging can be as easy as hopping on the internet. When searching for a home or condo to rent, try HomeAway or Airbnb. There are also location-specific sites, such as Newman Dailey, the one Daniel’s mother used to book their rental home in Destin, Florida. Get started on a hotel or resort search by comparing rates on websites like Expedia or Hotels.com. For campground information, try Go Camping America.

It may be tempting to stop planning once the large pieces of the puzzle have come together, but it’s the smaller pieces that make a vacation truly memorable. Activities and excursions will vary widely from one location to another, as well as from one family to another, but if your family is large, it is especially important to decide ahead of time which activities you plan to do as a group. Trying to make reservations for a large number of people can be difficult even weeks in advance, so the sooner you can nail down your itinerary, the better.

It is worth noting that just because you’re on a family trip doesn’t mean you have to do everything together. If some families want to do an activity that the others don’t, it’s okay to spend certain days going your separate ways. Be upfront with one another about everyone’s expectations and go from there.

With open communication, a little compromise, and a lot of planning, a multi-generational family vacation can be the highlight of your year. If you put in the work ahead of time, you’re sure to not only enjoy a wonderful trip filled with lifelong memories, but also return home ready to plan your next vacation.

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