At Least We Have Good Weather: A Life of Love and Loss

Chapter 7

Her name was so nice they named her twice.

You will read about a lot of girls in this book. Some were great loves, others were crushes, and some may have even been as close to soul mates as I thought I would get...but there will always only be one true love for me... traveling.

The first time I was introduced to the world of traveling, I was hooked.

In July of 1998 I got the call that would forever change my life.

I was driving home from work one fine day, and said call came through from a marketing lady at the country's top TV station. She was calling me to tell me I had been drawn as winner of a competition I had entered just a week ago. The prize was an all expenses paid trip for two to see the Smashing Pumpkins live in, wait for it, New York City!

In shock, I almost veered my car off the side of the road, before pulling over to get all the details.

They needed me to appear on TV for a brief interview later that week, and just wanted to make sure I had a valid passport. I didn't, but said I did.

In an evening filled with panic and excitement, I tried to think who on Earth would be worthy of being my partner in this incredible adventure. I thought of girls to impress, "best friends" worthy of the trip, or a family member. Eventually the choice seemed dead easy. I asked my oldest cousin Andre if he would like to come with me. For so many reasons it just seemed right, he had given me the chance with YT Tech, and now I had a way of thanking him (and maybe in some small way, make up for the fraud incident). He excitedly accepted.

The problem was we needed to leave in less than a month. Being unprepared for travel would seemingly follow me for the rest of my life.

And so began the ultimate hustle of pulling favours to try and sort out passports and visas. The stuff we did back then would never be possible in today's climate, so I always have to laugh when I think about how we managed to get the passports and visas sorted in a week. To her credit, Andre's long time girlfriend at the time was instrumental in making sure we got them sorted, no matter how questionable the procedure.

The TV interview went great, and I met a lot of people who unbeknownst to me at the time, but I would have dealings with later in life.

I recall, awkwardly being told by the sponsors that I had to thank them on air...and then being scolded by the producers of the show for doing it. Aah, the politics of TV.

For live TV, I handled myself pretty well, even getting in a joke or two. I always had a love for Film and TV, but this reaffirmed that.

Then the countdown to NYC really began.

The night of the flight finally arrived, and we gathered at my uncle's house to leave. It was a solemn time, as another family member had passed. I forget who it was, but they were on the older generation side of our family, so we were not exactly close to them. But out of respect we kept our excitement to a minimum, but inside my cousin and I were ready to explode.

It wasn't just my first time going overseas, it was my first time flying, and for someone terrified of heights, I didn't know how I would react.

Amazingly, I was fine in the plane. Which served me well with the amount of traveling I've done over the years since that first time.

One of the traditions that started with this trip was that I always connected with at least one music album or a movie (sometimes both) that became the soundtrack for my adventure. For this particular trip, it was All Saints' debut album. Even to this day, I still make sure it's always on my iPod because it makes me think of that flight to New York.