Get in, Loser.

We are going to postpone part 3 of Fat Pipi Pizza and Blue Thumb Blue, Water for now. Instead, I’m going to bring you along with me on my travel day today…or should you be me…hmmm maybe a mix of both. You're my passenger for now. But imagine..you are also by yourself. We can have fun with this…this is what a bunch of days spent alone will do to you…okay…. time to ride.

Close your eyes…Imagine…well I guess you need to open your eyes to read this…okay..squint them at least…a little more..there you go. Stay right there. Your squinting just enough.

Okay..now imagine.

You’re halfway across the world in New Zealand…riding in the passenger seat of a Toyota..Prius like machine…when they built this thing they messed up and put the steering wheel on the right side of the vehicle. So you are sitting on the left side. We are getting ready to traverse our way from Hokitika to Christchurch. West Coast to the East coast…Its 157 miles or about 252 kilometers. We are driving on the left side of the road. It’s freaky..but we are getting used to it. We just made a decision to completely change up our lives and move cities when we get back home. Our glorious time in the southern hemisphere is starting to come to an end. We don’t have work obligations at the moment…we don’t have to answer to anyone..we don’t have school…we are soul searching..big time. We have no clue what we are going to do when we get to our destination..or tomorrow..or the next day. We are cruising through mountains…through mountain passes…alongside rivers and streams..with ice blue water..cows, goats, sheep. We are listening to modest mouse..you don’t have access to the radio by the way.. just me. We are playing the adventure time playlist on my Spotify….Loud you say? oh yeah its as loud as it will go……ohhh..its Too loud you say…and modest mouse doesn’t fit the view we are looking at? What? The song is literally called “The view”..okay whatever I’ll play something a little easier on the ears….wait you're crying looking out the window..is it the Bon Iver? Yea it does that to me too…thats okay..it feels good to cry..go ahead and let it do its thing….they aren’t sad tears though..they aren’t necessarily happy either…Its a mix of all the things wrapped up into one big ball..while taking in breathtaking views...oh yes..your right…it is the song that plays during the credits of “The Place Beyond The Pines” starring Eva Mendes, Ryan Gosling, and Bradley Cooper! You movie buff you! You’re thinking of that embarrassing thing you did way back in the day..maybe a few embarrassing things you did…you don’t even know what brought that on…but hey we practiced for these moments…remember our mantra!? Memento Mori…we wrote it in our arm with permanent ink. It means “remember you must die”….whatever embarrassing thing we did or mistake we made…is behind us…we can’t change any of it..and also…nobody probably even remembers it anyways…it is insignificant..we learn from it and move on…plus...if they do remember it…so what…they are going to die one day too. Just like me! We have a life to live..we say Memento Mori out loud…honk the horn a few times..and roll down all of the windows…we look in the rear view mirror and see mountains..just like those anxious memories…they are behind us…and we are charging forward and not looking back….we change the music to something more upbeat…also…we can now pretend that we are the characters from “The Place Beyond the Pines”…You can be Eva Mendes…Congratulations! I’ll be Ryan Gosling…also congratulations to me!..if you are a dude reading this……you can be Bradley Cooper….actually anyone can be either Eva or Bradley..just not Ryan Gosling..thats me…we don’t like you that much though Bradley so you can sit in the back..still a good view though. I now have face and neck tats…I was born with a cigarette in my mouth..and I’m a bad bad boy….you are welll Eva Mendes…no description needed cause she is bad mama….and Bradley..you’re a cop…so there’s that.

I forgot to add…we all have Australian/New Zealand accents now..we have heard so many different dialects that they are blending together..and at times we just yell out random phrases in this accent…we say “cheers” no matter the situation…the next song is “While you see a chance” by Steve Winwood. The saxophone on the intro is blaring in the car…windows down..Eva..your hair looks really great right now…My blonde bleached Ryan Gosling hair is stiff..but sexy..and I don’t crack a smile..I’m stone faced...because I’m too cool for showing emotion…and Bradley…you look stupid back there..don’t look at me just look out the window. The scenery reminds all of us of a windows screensaver..but better…Eva…thats the prettiest mountain you’ve ever seen? Okay well give it a few more turns I’ll show you another one…even prettier….Yes Bradley grrr….A Goat?? You want to see the worlds weirdest goat…fine it’s right over here….worlds weirdest cop is right here in the car with us. Eva you look great.

We are hungry…no Bradley idc if the only thing you eat is chicken fingers…we are stopping over here to get a sandwich..Eva are you cool with Salmon sandwiches…I have never had one in my life but today I think I’m going to have one..I don’t want one with any condiments..I want white bread..and fishy salmon..but make it a little dry ya know. Okay cool…so we don’t have time to sit and eat the salmon sandwich..so we eat in the car….still pretty scenery…but the aroma in the vehicle is now..really weird. I thought Bradley farted but it was actually a mix of the salmon sandwich..with a hint of smelly socks…we are backpacking after all…we hold tight…soaking up all the views…we stop along the way…Bradley stay in the car..cmon Eva look over here. ..Pause for a minute…and just look at where you are in the world…look at what you almost missed out on…to think you once gave up…never again we say. There is too much out there to do and see…why cut it short? It’s weird I know…processing the beauty in front of you…the previous life you lived…clashing with the unknown of the future…and accepting where you’re at…at this very moment. We tell ourselves…we are exactly where we are meant to be..at this exact moment.

We cruise closer to Christchurch…walk in the petrol station and say “cheers”…we forget that “cheers” means thanks….so this entire trip I’ve just been entering establishments and saying thanks…they are like…you are welcome? We thought it was like ciao…we also say that sometimes too..are you Italian sir? no..but..ciao! lol We can be whoever we want…we don’t lie about who we are when we meet people…we can reveal as little or as much as we want to strangers…because afterall..we are strangers….we like the freeing feeling of this solo travel and being able to start brand new…with whoever and whatever we want.

Approaching Christchurch…we show up to the wrong hostel…we have stayed in so many that all of the names are blending together…and we are a little tired…but our place is just down the road. we can walk there…cmon Bradley..your barn doors open idiot and grab your bag….yes we are here….no they don’t have goats here.

Eva you look great.

We throw our bags on the hostel bed..excited to explore a new city after being quite isolated for the past week in the beautiful rural west coast of New Zealand. What do we do when we get to a new city…we start walking..aimlessly…until our legs get tired..we find a place to chill on a bench…hope to strike up a conversation with a stranger…about whatever…they want to talk about. Ask for food recs…they say well there’s this place called Waffle House that people like…Bradley calm down…So we start thinking…there is no way…na…I mean..it is a big international city…there have been American chains scattered smothered and covered along the way ;). We don’t believe it..but we go seek it out…we show up…and its “Waffle Haus”…serving massive Belgian Waffles and coffee…Bradley you eat here…Eva lets go get tacos. It gets windy..we are tired…let’s figure out what we are going to do tomorrow. We stroll through New Regent St…we listen to “Seventeen Going Under”..we are 29 though…and all we are doing…is just trying to live. We hurt..we love..we hope..we DREAM..we fail..we succeed..we work..we sleep..we laugh..we try..we breathe..we explore..we forgive..we forget..we mess up..we do the right thing..we keep going..we fight..we pray..we…..we continue on..we live.

Thanks for riding along. I love you. Reach out to a friend..tell someone about 988.