Before revamping the look and style of this blog, I think it only fair that I first do a quick recap.
I was fully prepared to let this blog die... but then I met Manuel's family.
During a trip to Puerto Rico, it became clear to me that this blog was much more important to people I had never met than it was to the people I knew (*excluding my own mother).
Many people, some who barely spoke English, approached me to let me know how much they loved being able to track what Manuel was up to as he moved halfway around the world.
Apparently Manuel has always been shit at keeping people posted or staying in touch so his family's only source of news was right here on Where In The World.
They were also candid enough to let me know that once I "fell in love", they stopped reading because all I wrote about was Lauren and that bored them to death.
Fair play.
I went back and read all the early entries in this blog and realized it is very important to me for several reasons. It is a catalogue of a great experiment. A journey into the unknown. The start of not only a new chapter in my life, but the start of a whole new book.
The trashy, under weight, hour to hour lifestyle that I cherished so much while living in New York was dying and a new, honest, semi-healthy/border line getting fat Qatar lifestyle was being born. And the entire thing is catalogued here.
The adventure, the heartbreak, the fears, the hilarity... all within the virtual pages of this blog.
It's quite a trip really. Figuratively and literally.
So to start the new era of WITW...
Here is a photo of Manuel.
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Now that that is out of the way...
Here is a brief recap of 2013.
Got in something serious traveling last year.
Saw some parts of the world again and some for the first time.
MARCH - England. London and Liverpool to be exact.
APRIL - Oman for a fishing trip. This was one of the last updates I actually posted.
Also hit up Lebanon for the first of several fairytale style weddings. This beautiful celebration was for one of my favorite couples on the planet: Wajdi and Luana. A super low key, DIY style party at an all organic farm in the mountains was the backdrop for a stunning day. Soon thereafter, these two lovebirds brought another little human to the Earth. Baby Jude. Cute as a damn button and strangely, a spitting image of his father. Mini Waj in full effect.
MAY - May saw us heading back to Crete for the 4th time (I think 4th... 5th maybe?). Not that you need an excuse to go to one of the most beautiful places on Earth but this was for the second of 3 weddings in 2013. This one was highly anticipated and saw me having a fairly large part. Dale and Hannah's.
These two are practically my family and this wedding was beyond spectacular. Not only was everything perfect about the wedding but also the trip. Somehow I was able to convince my mom (not that she needs any convincing) and dad to come out for the festivities.
This trip will forever be imprinted on my brain. Absolutely perfect.
AUGUST- August saw more European exploration.
Lauren and I decided we had to finally check out Amsterdam. After a bunch of research, we settled on going all out and getting a house boat. Seemed fitting and perfect for our first trip over. The houseboat we found was amazing. The owner was super excited that we selected their house for our trip. At first it seemed weird that they were so excited. But then we got an email saying how perfect it was for our dates as our house boat was the starting line for "Canal Pride". Yes. The biggest gay pride parade in the world. AND it's on the water.
Not exactly what we had expected from our vacation but turned out to be pretty awesome and filled with "WHAT THE..." moments like the one pictured above.
Thousands of people in the streets, climbing over one another to get the best view while we relaxed on our deck all alone and in complete peace. Well... as peaceful as penis shaped boats, glitter cannons and blasting techno music can be I suppose.
We were lucky enough to tack on another incredible trip directly after Amsterdam.
This time to Norway with Manuel and Alex to catch a day at OYA festival.
The light rain came down as we got drunk in the mud while listening to Local Natives, Grimes, Kendrick Lamar, Grimes, Rodriguez (aka Sugar Man), God Speed You Black Emperor and more. We also got to check out the Viking Museum and some other wicked spots on a short trip.
Norway is a definite spot to revisit.
SEPTEMBER - Our Amsterdam craving called yet again. This time it was for work. We checked out the IBC conference for a couple days. This was basically a total nerd fest where all the new filmmaking technologies are released and exhibited. Sounds lame but was actually quite fun. Not to mention it was set in Amsterdam.
As a sheer stroke of luck, IBC was scheduled just at the same time as Portugal. The Man was playing.
Perfect. We got our tickets, checked the show and hung with the PTM boys afterwards. Good times.
OCTOBER - Finally, we made it back to America. This time, for yet another wedding. Truth Love Brother himself... Joe Markle. All the gang back together for one day. Nearly all the people that helped shape my teenage years and early 20's were all in the house for a great time.
A party to end all parties. But also a party that found me jet lagged and asleep in our rental car before 10pm. haha
After October, the traveling ended until December (which is a whole other post in the making).
On top of all that jet setting... I was actually able to get quite a bit of work done. Believe it or not.
If you don't believe it... just check out our website.
And that is only the tip of the iceberg.
So there...
A scatterbrained, half memory travel log from 2013.
This is the start of the new WITW.
Some shit. Some interesting.
But most importantly, several photos of Manuel.
I was fully prepared to let this blog die... but then I met Manuel's family.
During a trip to Puerto Rico, it became clear to me that this blog was much more important to people I had never met than it was to the people I knew (*excluding my own mother).
Many people, some who barely spoke English, approached me to let me know how much they loved being able to track what Manuel was up to as he moved halfway around the world.
Apparently Manuel has always been shit at keeping people posted or staying in touch so his family's only source of news was right here on Where In The World.
They were also candid enough to let me know that once I "fell in love", they stopped reading because all I wrote about was Lauren and that bored them to death.
Fair play.
I went back and read all the early entries in this blog and realized it is very important to me for several reasons. It is a catalogue of a great experiment. A journey into the unknown. The start of not only a new chapter in my life, but the start of a whole new book.
The trashy, under weight, hour to hour lifestyle that I cherished so much while living in New York was dying and a new, honest, semi-healthy/border line getting fat Qatar lifestyle was being born. And the entire thing is catalogued here.
The adventure, the heartbreak, the fears, the hilarity... all within the virtual pages of this blog.
It's quite a trip really. Figuratively and literally.
So to start the new era of WITW...
Here is a photo of Manuel.
Here is a brief recap of 2013.
Got in something serious traveling last year.
Saw some parts of the world again and some for the first time.
MARCH - England. London and Liverpool to be exact.
APRIL - Oman for a fishing trip. This was one of the last updates I actually posted.
Also hit up Lebanon for the first of several fairytale style weddings. This beautiful celebration was for one of my favorite couples on the planet: Wajdi and Luana. A super low key, DIY style party at an all organic farm in the mountains was the backdrop for a stunning day. Soon thereafter, these two lovebirds brought another little human to the Earth. Baby Jude. Cute as a damn button and strangely, a spitting image of his father. Mini Waj in full effect.
These two are practically my family and this wedding was beyond spectacular. Not only was everything perfect about the wedding but also the trip. Somehow I was able to convince my mom (not that she needs any convincing) and dad to come out for the festivities.
This trip will forever be imprinted on my brain. Absolutely perfect.
AUGUST- August saw more European exploration.
Lauren and I decided we had to finally check out Amsterdam. After a bunch of research, we settled on going all out and getting a house boat. Seemed fitting and perfect for our first trip over. The houseboat we found was amazing. The owner was super excited that we selected their house for our trip. At first it seemed weird that they were so excited. But then we got an email saying how perfect it was for our dates as our house boat was the starting line for "Canal Pride". Yes. The biggest gay pride parade in the world. AND it's on the water.
Not exactly what we had expected from our vacation but turned out to be pretty awesome and filled with "WHAT THE..." moments like the one pictured above.
Thousands of people in the streets, climbing over one another to get the best view while we relaxed on our deck all alone and in complete peace. Well... as peaceful as penis shaped boats, glitter cannons and blasting techno music can be I suppose.
We were lucky enough to tack on another incredible trip directly after Amsterdam.
This time to Norway with Manuel and Alex to catch a day at OYA festival.
The light rain came down as we got drunk in the mud while listening to Local Natives, Grimes, Kendrick Lamar, Grimes, Rodriguez (aka Sugar Man), God Speed You Black Emperor and more. We also got to check out the Viking Museum and some other wicked spots on a short trip.
Norway is a definite spot to revisit.
SEPTEMBER - Our Amsterdam craving called yet again. This time it was for work. We checked out the IBC conference for a couple days. This was basically a total nerd fest where all the new filmmaking technologies are released and exhibited. Sounds lame but was actually quite fun. Not to mention it was set in Amsterdam.
As a sheer stroke of luck, IBC was scheduled just at the same time as Portugal. The Man was playing.
Perfect. We got our tickets, checked the show and hung with the PTM boys afterwards. Good times.
OCTOBER - Finally, we made it back to America. This time, for yet another wedding. Truth Love Brother himself... Joe Markle. All the gang back together for one day. Nearly all the people that helped shape my teenage years and early 20's were all in the house for a great time.
A party to end all parties. But also a party that found me jet lagged and asleep in our rental car before 10pm. haha
After October, the traveling ended until December (which is a whole other post in the making).
On top of all that jet setting... I was actually able to get quite a bit of work done. Believe it or not.
If you don't believe it... just check out our website.
And that is only the tip of the iceberg.
So there...
A scatterbrained, half memory travel log from 2013.
This is the start of the new WITW.
Some shit. Some interesting.
But most importantly, several photos of Manuel.
There could have been mention of an epic night at a secret bar in Oslo, but for some reason that never went down.
ReplyDeleteYou are most definitely right about that. I blame the women!
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