Long Distance: The Way to Be!

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” – St. Augustine

So where to begin with my travels and how to tie it all in to a relationship theme in the end?  It is a difficult conquest but here we go! I flew out of the wonderful west coast city of Vancouver on Thursday and into the heart of the flat lands, I had some vodka to calm my nerves about the flight and seeing Mr. Tattoo, I am not sure if I told you the detail that prior to this moment we had not seen each other in seven years.  So happily buzzed I disembarked the plane to see him standing there with a big sign welcoming me.  If it is actually humanly possible for your heart to skip a beat that is what mine did at seeing him.  So off we went driving to Boonstock Music Festival but we stayed over night in Edmonton, between dusk to dawn there was a rather unfriendly encounter with the police about insurance and bill of sales, a costly impound fee, a costly towing fee, but finally Friday afternoon we were on our way to Boonstock.  Boonstock was seriously an epic time mainly because we instantly bonded with our neighbours.  The Fort Mac Girls and we spent the next three days as a hot mess of festival adventures and each day I felt myself falling a little more and more into wanting to be with Mr. Tattoo.  There is just something about a man that can make you laugh isn’t there?  At the end of our adventures I flew back to Vancouver not sure of what to think about all things weekend related, but with new friends made and great memories I was not that worried about it.

“The use of traveling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.” – Samuel Johnson

Two days later I flew to sunny California! I am typing this with a huge smile on my face because California, you sexy beast, you stole my heart.

Day One: Ms. A and I arrived fairly late so we just checked into our gorgeous hotel room, after quiet the debacle trying to find each other at the airport!  Apparently LAX is huge and the two of us just thought we would find each other randomly, after driving around ordering the poor Peruvian driver to do another circle as I racked up my roaming minutes attempting to find Ms. A we were all found and on our way to paradise.

Day Two: we woke up every morning and did the same thing.  Breakfast at the rooftop restaurant the West and then a quick dip in the pool before heading out to conquer LA.  It appears as though the people of LA do not really walk anywhere and they were amazed when we wanted to walk to Santa Monica Pier.  We were instructed by several hotel staff it would be at least two miles, which we were fine with.  Until we had been walking for over an hour and a Santa Monica resident told us we still had about two miles to go.  This actually became a running joke the rest of our trip as we heard this from several other people in Malibu.  Apparently all things are relative to two miles in California.  Anyways, we hit up the gorgeous beaches of Santa Monica!! We sipped mojitos at the end of the pier we took in the sexy sites of Muscle Beach, there is one thing to be said about California, the people are stunning! They are all fit and delicious, I promise you will not be disappointed in the California eye candy! We were invited to party in a beach house on the Santa Monica Beach, and lastly we hit up Rodeo drive in the evening.  It was an amazing day.

Day Three: After breakfast and the pool we decided day two should be a mix of culture and hype! So we headed to the Getty.  I am going to tell you the Getty is free on Fridays and has it’s own tram system.  It is incredible, the monstrous stone building towers over you surrounded by rich beautiful statues to remind you that you can still be struck by the commitment to preserving the arts.  Inside I got to see a Van Gogh so my life is one step closer to completing my bucket list.  After the culture we took in and loved we headed to HOLLYWOOD! Down the walk of fame and the Hollywood sign and all that jazz, it was fun, but also the oddest thing happened these two men started chatting us up.  They were not the type of men we were welcoming to but the light was red, one of them offered me a wrapped burrito which he produced from his pocket and asked if I wanted to share a burrito.  Of course we said no and hurried away as soon as the light turned green.  LA is not a pedestrian friendly place after all. Hollywood was nice but we soon returned to the beautiful scenery of our home base.

Day Four:  Off we went to see the infamous Venice Beach.  I have to be honest with you beyond the tattoo parlors on every block, funky shops and amazing artists Venice Beach area was the dirtiest area we saw and often had sort of a urine scent.  But, the people are still very pretty and the eccentric atmosphere is a must if you are in the area.  We missed seeing historical Venice which apparently has canals running through with boats just like in Italy.  After Venice we experienced Malibu.  To be honest Malibu is really a gorgeous beach surrounded by multi million dollar estates.  We wandered down the beach and I wandered right onto a jelly fish.  Let me explain the agony of a jelly sting.  It is a searing pain that feels much stronger than stinging nettles.  It is the worst feeling, it is in my top five most painful sensations in life actually.  Contemplating having Ms. A or someone else urinate on me I decided to walk it off.  As I envisioned how classy we would look peeing on one another among the gorgeous beach mansions and their inhabitants.  Returning to Santa Monica with Ms. A sunburnt to a crisp, me burnt by a sea creature, both of us exhausted and slightly disheartened by our hour long crowded bus ride we did what most women in our condition would do.  We drank.  We went into a small pub in Santa Monica and mixed it up with some local frat boys, they were too young and too drunk to keep our attention for long so we lingered at a small British pub chatting with a British man that was more than easy on the eyes until we stumbled along to Cabo Cantina but became seriously disinterested in waiting in the enormous line.  Luckily, a gorgeous Brazilian distracted us his way and we met an amazing group of people to say good bye to California with.  One of the worst days completely turned around into one of the funnest nights of my life! California, and our new friends of Santa Monica I thank you!

“A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.” – John Steinbeck

While on my trip I had a lot of time to think about Mr. Tattoo and I, I actually got him a little present in Hollywood, drumsticks from the Hard Rock cafe (all rockstars should have Hollywood gear right?  He is a talented drummer after all.)  But, what I started to think is can things really work between two people in two different places and I realised the following rad reasons why long distance rocks my world:

1)     You are pretty much still single.  Okay so it is your own prerogative and your own agreement with you and your lover if you can sleep around and what not that is not what I mean.  Every person has their own regulations and ideas of what they want from their own agreement, it takes all kinds of people and relationships to make this world go round, each one of them the right one for the individuals in it. What I mean is you enjoy your single life status the majority of the time!  I wake up sprawled out in my comfy bed, duvet all around me, ten pillows in the mix loving life.  I can eat cake for breakfast, I can do whatever I want.  Of course you can still do whatever you want with your partner if you found the right one but sharing is always part of the equation.   When you become a one in the equation of two sharing is unavoidable.  But, in the long distance equation the sharing is minimal.  In fact, you can go out dancing all night, or whatever you like to do when you are single and no one is waiting for you at home because they are way over somewhere in their own home!  Life is grand! Because your still pretty much single and as I have said millions of times that is the life for me.

2)     You have someone too! That is right as much as long distance allows you the freedom of the single life it also allows you the comfort of relationship status.  Oooohhhh, now you can fit into both worlds, just look at you go!  So you get to throw around words like boyfriend, and love, and whatever you want.  You can now officially change your Facebook relationship status and in most scenarios enter the elite world of coupledom, welcome to how the other side lives.  Also, you miss someone special to you and that feels good.  You have found someone worth waiting the distance and time with and that is a very special bond that not everyone tries, congratulations!  You have someone who picks you up with compliments on your bad days and finds you just as endearing as you find them! This is also an awesome feeling!  Long distant relationships? Yes please!

3)     You don’t see each other very often so while you yearn for them some days you also get super pumped to see them! Remember when you were a child and you tossed and turn on Christmas Eve?  Well welcome back to butterflies!  You just can’t wait to see them at the airport and kiss them because it has been ages.  You just can not wait to show them all the new things you have discovered in their absence.  And, of course while they are away you brain storm sexy surprises for them and send them to them in anticipation that they love your little kinky spirit.  All these wonderful emotions and adventures make long distance relationships the best! You never get tired of seeing each other because it is usually only a week or so and then they are gone again so you treasure every second! This really helps in the fact that you most likely will not waste that precious time fighting! It is perfection. 

“For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

The problem is we get so swept up in our personal sea of thoughts that we forget to enjoy the moment.  We forget to just take in that first kiss, or when someone tells us we are beautiful because our mind wanders off into the land of right doing and wrong doing, in the sense of past transgressions and the fear of future issues.  But, if we could just take a moment and freeze our brains.  If we could just disconnect from the past and not fret about the future and truly experience a moment how incredible would that moment feel?  That is falling in love of course to a T.  You no longer worry about anything, you smile when you read their text, you believe their words even if they are fabrications because they fill your soul with light.  See I have been so caught up in the past and other people’s words about Mr. Tattoo that I had forgotten how he actually makes me feel until recently.  (This is unavoidable if you have a sorted past with someone unfortunately)  That is when I decided that he is one of my ones worth suffering for.  If he breaks my heart than so be it, but he also makes me smile everyday, he tells me I am beautiful, and at the end of the day I am happy and that is what really matters.  So let go of what you think you know and let your heart decide, you never know it might just take you exactly where you need to be.