travelling overseas is like a shot in the arm... i had forgotten how good it was to get on a plane (even if it's one of the most uncomfortable plane rides known to man and not made for a 6 foot four inch giant) and just leave dodge... it had been 10 years since i had been out of this country... which is quite a long time in earth years...
arriving in tahiti and feeling the warmth of the tahitian night hit you was amazing... the sound in the airport of a ukulele and a nylon string guitar belting out some anthem of island tranquility was almost too much for me... i was overcome with how awesome this holiday might be... i mean i was a contest winner and i needed to get over the guilt and just enjoy it...
by the time i got to the hotel with all the other winners it was 1am... there was a BBQ feast layed out for us and they opened the bar... had i died in the plane on the way over and not know anything about it??? no i was alive, because i'm sure you don't sweat in heaven... black jeans and army boots were going to have to be cast aside for a few days if i was going to survive in my new conditions...
i awoke the next day in my own room (no sharing which was great) and i switched on the tv and watched the hottest newsreaders known to man read out stories that i couldn't understand... i went downstairs for breakfast which was more mini sausages than i could eat and hot chocolate croissants... then it was off to the beach for about 3 swims, a quick walk up the beach to find an amazingly old run down graveyard (forgot my camera that day) with some chaps sitting around jamming on their ukulele's... then it was back to the hotel pool... i pulled out my bob dylan book but only got through a couple of pages before people gathered around me and we hit the tahitian beers... the rest is blurry history...
the next day, hungover as all hell we went to the island of moorea where we swam with stingrays and sharks and enjoyed another heavenly BBQ on an island that only really had a BBQ on it... was this real? was this happening??? it was and i was enjoying it... i walked around the beach a little bit for a moment by myself to take it all in and came across a bloke with the most expensive camera i have ever seen wanted me to take 20 shots (including 5 test shots to make sure i didn't fuck it up) of him and his daughter... it was weird and funny and he was very appreciative that i actually turned out some good photos for him... i thought about my little girl and my little boy and my wife and i started to feel a long way away from them... i wished they were here to enjoy this paradise with me... they desrved it as much as i did...
the craziness in paradise continued... on the last day i went for a long walk out of the resort and met some locals... a very friendly bunch who lived in a shack on the beach... i thought it was beautiful but even with the language barrier i don't think they were as convinced of tahiti's beauty as i was... i guess living there is a different story... it is an expensive place to live and there is not very much work there and i guess the reality of living in paradise is a little different to four days in a resort all bought and paid for... i felt lucky to be going home to my house and my job, but sad to leave the sunsets...
i filmed a music video for 'get bitter' mid afternoon on the beach about 5 minutes walk from the hotel...
my job was done here... it was time to go home and hug my babies...
p.s. and yes i did blast porno for pyros on my ipod the night i got there...