#she wants to go on an 11 day cruise for a grand | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

helloitstsyu · 7 months

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hello, I have a request for a tom cruise x reader fic based on the ariana grande song ‘fantasize’. that’s all, thank you xx

fantasize | Tom Cruise 18+

a/n : goshhhh this req is stuck in my mind for so long. finally I'm able to finish writing itt... i hope it fills your expectations! love the suggestion so much xx.

Pairing : Tom Cruise x f¡reader

Warning : unprotected sex, clothed sex, dirty talks, assume age gap, smut, minor dni!

Polo match.

You always hate when you're dragged to these kinda events. But your dad always insists on bringing you here. And since you just come back from college overseas, you owe it to him for a bit of quality time.

You would much rather stay at home or go out with your friends for a spa day or a pool party. Definitely not this. You feel awkward here and you don't know everyone here except your dad. Dad said it's not just about the game but it's about the networking. And so there he is, leaving you behind as he talks to his colleagues.

The game is about to start. Your dad calls for you. As you walk towards him, you see he's standing next to a man. His hair is perfectly styled. He's wearing a navy suit with a matching navy patterned tie. His eyes covered behind a sunglasses, but you kinda feel something about him is familiar, like you've seen him somewhere or something.

"Tom, i want you to meet my daughter." Dad places his hand behind your waist. Looks at you proudly, "She just came back from Harvard– took a double degree there while running her own business... couldn't get much prouder of my little cupcake." Your dad says.

Your dad has a habit of over-introducing you in front of people. "Dad, you're doing it again," you chuckle awkwardly as you shake your head.

Turning your head, you prolong your hand first for a shake. Shooting the man your most friendliest smile. "Hi, pleasure to meet you, i'm Y/N Y/L/N,"

He takes his glasses off and then shakes your hand.

That face. That eyes. Beat drops. You could feel your heart stop at the sight.

"Hi... I'm Tom,"

Cruise. He is Tom Cruise.

That's why you knew something about him is familiar, he's the freaking Hollywood god.

This shouldn't surprise you– to meet celebrities and all. Your dad works in the business as a producer. But something is different this time. Something is different about Tom Cruise. You almost feel like the air gets hotter. Perhaps it is him being so hot, or perhaps it's the way he stares at you with an intrigue in his eyes.

"So you're the famous Y/N Y/L/N... I've heard so much about you." He says, shooting a friendly smile.

"Yeah? Not the fun part, though," you mutter quietly.

Your dad and Tom both only stay silent and look at you, processing what you've just said.That came out of nowhere. The moment you realized you've said it, you regret it.

A few seconds pass with silence, but thankfully, your dad breaks into a laughter, lightening up the intense situation. "You're funny, sweetheart," your dad says. He must've not gotten the hidden intent behind what you said.

Tom however, just chuckles a little and a ghost smile appears on his face, his eyes light up as if he's enjoying some private humor. "Well.. I'd love to know more," Tom says. His gaze is unwavering and intense.

The event host then announces that the game is about to be started. You take your seat next to your dad. Tom is sitting a couple rows down from you, that doesn't stop you from keeping your eyes glued at him all the time.

For some reason, your heart is pounding mercilessly. You curse at yourself for being so stupid, muttering things out of your mouth before you think more about it. The way Tom gazed at you makes you feel some type of way, you're mentally and physically weak.

The way Tom moves a couple rows down there, the way he runs his fingers to his hair, the way his eyes dead-locked-focused watching the game as he chews a gum. That eyes, that jawline, that hair — Everything about this man just attracts every single bit of your cell. You're actually feeling all hot and horny right now.

Your mind starts to play on its own. Imagining what those lips would taste like. Imagining to run your fingers through that brunette strands. Imagining yourself getting fucked in this VIP little box — him pinning you down, he'd make you moaning hard, he'd pound mercilessly to you as he licks your moaning mouth. Oh, you'd give anything for him.

The loud cheer of the audience as the game ends awakes you back into reality. Somehow, you miss the whole game having your own preferred one in your head.

As you're about to leave your box, Tom comes to you and your dad again. Making some casual talks about the game and how great it was. You just stand there silence, still recovering from that heavy game you played in your mind.

"Cupcake," your dad turns around and calls for you, "If it's okay... i invite Tom to our lunch, i still have some business to discuss with him. I hope you're okay with it."

Before you can answer, your dad's phone rings. "Shit... hang on, sweetheart,"

"It's all fine, dad. I'll just go wait in the car." You say. You know whenever your dad's phone rings, that'll take some time. So rather than spending here talking with Tom and risking yourself to be flustered and caught in the open. You'd rather go back to your car and chill alone.

You get in your car and quickly turn on the air conditioning to the fullest setting. You sigh heavily.

You try to shake the picture of him in your head, trying to stop this feeling. You take a long breath in and just look at yourself from the rearview mirror. For some reason, you still feel horny. As if this feeling is not gonna go away until you're fed.

Looking around there's no one here around the parking lot. So you do what you gotta do to help yourself. You move to the back seat and lay down comfortably. You shut your eyes close and hoping that Tom is here. Hoping that Tom knows what he did to you, the feeling he inflicted on you.

All of a sudden, your door just pulled open, startling you to open your eyes and sit up. To your much surprise, it's Tom. He is ducking his head in.

"Tom? Wh-what are you doing?" You cluelessly ask.

"What needs to be done," he retorts in hushed voice.

He gets in and slams back the door close. In one quick motion, he lunges at you, grabs you by your face and kisses you. His lips on yours feel so soft and so burning at the same time— addicting, that's what he tastes like. You moan into his mouth, giving him just enough the opening. His tongue expertly exploring your mouth.

You have never been kissed like this. Your tongue tentatively plays back and joins his in an erotic movement. He gently pushes you back till you're laying down flat on the back seat with him on top of you. You're helpless, you're all pinned down, and he's restraining you with his whole body. You wrap your legs around his hips, allowing him to completely have his body pressed to yours. His hand explores your body, trailing the length of your thigh to your hips. Feeling something hardering, nudging you, you couldnt help to grind your center to his cock.

He hiss against your mouth. But Tom doesn't stop you or anything, rather he moves to kiss all over your chin, moving to your neck. The moment he sucks and nibs your sensitive skin, he got your eyes rolling back. You grip onto his jacket and swallows your edging moan.

"Tom..." you mutter.

Tom asks. Kiss more of your neck.

"Yes, darling?" Tom whispers in your ear before he gently bites your earlobe. Earning your jaw falls agape. He moves again to your collar bone, kissing you in the softest-teasing way.

He breathes against your flushed chest. His breath is hot, just like the way he makes you feel right now. He lays a soft, gentle kiss all across your flushed chest. Lowering himself even more as he gradually pulls your dress down along his way till your breast finally uncovered. He softly gasps at the sight of you. He glances to your eyes, lust covers in his gaze, before he places a kiss around your nipple.

You hiss, fingers grip onto his jacket.The moment he flick his tongue then sucks your nipple, you couldn't hold in your moan even more. "Ohh!" You moan.

Tom pushes himself off your neck and looks back into your eyes. "Come on, Y/N, show me how fun you can be," he challenges.

And just like that, the switch is being made. You turn off all of the good girl sides about you and this lust overdriving you into some dangerous character that'll put you in trouble. You pull him back to your lips and kiss him passionately. Your hands quickly run his body, feeling the toned muscles underneath. 60 or something, it is a joke that he's looking this damn hot at this age. You rub him from outside his pants.

You could feel Tom smirking against your lips. "Good girl," he chuckles.

You hurriedly take off his belt. Him helping you too. You push his trousers down just enough till you can grab his hard shaft and pulls it out from the torment of its lack of space. Tom groans as you wrap your hand around him. Fuck, he's big. And so hard. You pump his cock and spread his precum all over his shaft.

"Is that what you want?" Tom asks.

Glancing back to his eyes, you nod. "I want you to fuck me,"

A content smile appears on his face. He pushes your panties to the side and just pushes himself through your folds without warning.

"Ahh!" You squal uncomfortably to the unfamiliar size of him, gripping onto his shoulder.

Tom quickly bottoms out, pushing all the way of him inside of you. He doesn't wait for you to adjust to his size. He starts to pound his hips mercilessly into you, fucking you in a relentless pace.

"Ohhh! Fuck! ToOoMMm!" You shut your eyes and titled your head back.

"Yes! Yes! That's it moan my name!" He grins loving the way your face contorts to pleasure drunk. "You wanted my cock the moment you laid your eyes on me, huh? Looking at me with all of that slutty eyes, you know what you're doing, darling," he says to your ears as his cock pounds mercilessly to your tight channel.

You couldn't reply to him even if you wanted to. You only look back to him and nod.

"Oh, T-tom!" You cry. Tears dripping down your cheek.

"Fuck, Y/N" he groans. Tom holds your face. He presses his lips to yours again, silencing you from screaming loud.

He got you a moaning mess that you don't care if someone could hear you or see this little scene in your car. You never fucked like this before. So good that you'd do anything to have him fuck you like this again and again. You'd give your pussy for him, five to nine, nine to five. Tom fucks you like the way you fantasize your filthiest fantasies.

You feel your walls clenching hard. And the white hot pleasure becomes too unbearable to hold back. A few more thrust, and you're spilling all over. You squal all over the car. Knees clamping together as all of your muscles tighten.

You never have orgasm like that. It is by far your most intense that after the pinnacle, you feel bliss. For a few seconds, the room is so quiet — so peaceful...

You open your eyes and stare at the roof of your car. All of a sudden, like a slap to your face, waking you back into reality, your door is pulled open from the outside. Quickly, you sit up and try to fix yourself, push down your dress and all but it is all helpless. You're so caught right-handed. Looking up, the person who caught you right-handed guilty is the one you hope for dear life it wont be— Tom Cruise. He's peering down, slightly bending to meet your eyes.

You feel so embarrassed that you couldn't even feel a thing or think anything.

"Your dad wanted me to tell you lunch is off... meetings." He tells.

You just sit there feeling like you're slowly crippling to die. The optimistic side of you still whispers that perhaps he didn't see nothing. You have a tinted window afterall.... do you?

Tom gaze down at you with that light up, amused emerald eyes. Then slightly the corner of his lips pulled up to a smirk, like he's been there for a while and just watched you pleasuring yourself.

"Have a great day, Y/N," he mischievously smiles and closes back your door.

#tom cruise #tom cruise x reader #tom cruise fanfiction #tom cruise smut #pete maverick mitchell #tom cruise fic #tom cruise x female reader #top gun maverick #pete mitchell x reader #maverick x reader #daddy smut #tom cruise fanfic #tom cruise fluff #ethan hunt fic #ethan hunt

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twiststreet · 1 year

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I put on Limitless, which is the new documentary show about Chris Hemsworth’s Adventures in Himbo Excellence. I like that Hemsworth boy from being Fat Thor in the movies-- I thought he was pretty good as Fat Thor; other Thor, ehh. Also, I liked when he was a computer man in Michael Mann’s Blackhat because that is what computer men look like, we all know this, he really captured it...

I am very much the audience for this-- this is the funniest show I’ve seen in a while, at least the first episode. Chris Hemsworth is realizing he lives a human existence, and like all rich guys, he finds that fact horrifying, I guess. (And you know, sure: same). So he gets a black doctor lady to be his sidekick to conquer all stress and fear. And then the next scene, the black doctor lady is trying to drown beloved Marvel Thor avatar Chris Hemsworth in a swimming pool...? Or wait, wait, no first, she shows him how she’s going to kill him using a Playstation-1 era virtual reality helmet-- he’s got to walk around in some Super Mario Level or something, and Chris Hemsworth is saying like “this is the realest thing I’ve ever experienced-- I forgot I was in virtual reality. When the Kupas took Princess Peach away.” Those graphics were not forget-what-reality-is level graphics, Hemsworth!!!

Oh and also there are two entirely random Australian men with him, who’s just his boys who are there I guess to help, but then who just sit and watch their good friend Chris Hemsworth almost drown to death in a swimming pool. The swimming pool scene was a lot for me, I guess is what I’m saying, because if I were Hollywood actor Chris Hemsworth, I would choose not to drown. I’m different that way, I guess. And also there’s this weird thing I’ve ever noticed before where Chris Hemsworth looks like he’s pretending like he knows how to read, but not when he’s reading-- just when people are talking to him...? He looks like he’s thinking something that he’s not saying out loud, or that he’s just pretending to understand what words are, or I don’t know what-- something’s going on behind his eyes, that’s a little darker than I think most of the movies he’s been in have captured...my theory, I think what his eyes were saying, was “I don’t want to drown to death but Disney-Plus is demanding it and I have no choice but to obey.”

I mean, we all have mid-life crises, because that is part of the deal, but mine thankfully did not involve oxygen deprivation. Or not a weird amount of it anyways. Well, not weird for the Western United States, let me be specific.

I like that it’s a show about self improvement because I just greatly enjoy that topic, despite my own multi-decade failure to improve anything about myself whatsoever. And i like that it’s about a very specific kind of middle-age male self improvement, where it starts out entirely reasonable like “I need less stress” and ending up getting just nutty because men are like “Oh a vitamin a day? Hmm. What if we took this up to an 11 and I only ate vitamins and also did vitamin suppositories and got into a cannon with a bunch of vitamin jars and we shot me out of the cannon across the grand canyon.” I love the take it too far wing of self improvement (except their politics, all that billionaire / Silicon Valley worship in that crowd is lame as fuck). And I like that it’s a show just very much about Chris Hemsworth not being young anymore but being like “I don’t want to feel things.”

At one point he was saying he got stressed out by having kids and it’s like... His solution to that is doing a stunt where he walks across a crane that’s high up above a skyscraper...? What??? That is a wild response to the human journey. Just a good time-- just having a nice time with it-- it’s nice to have a new show to watch.

Oh, in conclusion, the absolute best part: knowing that everything Chris Hemsworth is trying to achieve with his black lady doctor sidekick and cranes and VR helmets and whatever the shit, Tom Cruise did all of it effortlessly just by reading Battlefield Earth 30 years ago. I love just imaging Tom Cruise rolling his eyes at the Hemsworth boy freaking out about being drowned by his team in a swimming pool-- Tom Cruise learned to hold his breath for 5 consecutive hours in a swimming pool to film Jerry Maguire, a movie where his character doesn’t even swim, he’s a sports agent. God of Thunder my ass!!

#All I Ever Write About on this blog is Television...

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the-firebird69 · 1 year

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Bayliner 4788 Pilot House Motoryacht

US$289,000 *

47 ft / 1999

Anacortes, Washington, United States

E Street Yachts

Request Info

This is actually a 47 and we're keeping the designations in the legs and if you measure it it's 48 but that's why they say 88 and it looks like a 65 ft yacht or sunset and it really does or 70 and it's deceptive it's because it's not very beanie and that's what people like they want to look bigger but ours will have a beam to them and they'll still have this look are 50 ft which is what we just generically call it nominal size is going to have this particular look a little bit more modern but not much and it'll have a wider beam the beam on this is about 9 ft and I was going to be about 10 or 11:00 and we're testing and experimenting with it there's no reason not to make it a little larger but 11 is pretty good the Carver was only about 9:00 but that was 30 most 50 footballs are about 12 and so he says make it 12 and we're going to do that and this phone is like 250 Grand or something used and it's a 1999 and ours will be still fiberglass but it's going to be reinforced and sturdy and it'll have the proper material and this has decent material but it's not it's not like what we're going to put in and we don't want to tell you you won't believe us but it's withstand the weather in it

And it will go for approximately $80,000 and it's the price of a nice RV pusher and that's what it should be on the interior it's very nice and decent it looks great it has top level appliances and they're made for boats and it has top level cabinets and we build an assemble these one takes about one day and all the way up to 165 ft they take a day

Thor Freya

We're actually going to start making these and are we have to because we need to get ready for the show and we're telling Tommy Allen and he's going to the factory that sounds joking around and says we have to blindfold you but it's a place you know so he's like mad already but just in case it was just in case what nothing so good that's my little brother or nephew so they're going they're going to do this and it's going to be cool. At some points out to the movie stars that you can go incognito and yeah the 165 it's going to be like 20 ft something maybe 21 beam they don't want that Tom Cruise says that I'm going to get one it's like 1.5 million dollars and people we'll see the name you can get away with it it's very comfortable living and now he understands what we're saying and that was Tom Cruise and we're reserving one of them for these people I'm going to have a show and we're going to invite people and Mack last one and wants to go Tommy Allen is saying that he wants to go and speak and be the MC and we want that we want him out there and want him to put the thumb print on the door to open the yacht now but we can have that stuff too and he's asking Jimmy Kimmel over there I think work when your hammered he doesn't know on the thumb thing and a bunch of women say the thumb thing still works you have to push someone there so we have that kind of stuff for security and also laughing this is hell so they want to do that kind of thing. She said to the basketball Star he was the actual basketball player it's it's pretty high ceilings so he wants one they're like 10 ft and so he's laughing but that's nice. We're using particular motors for smaller boats and we do have Cummins diesel for the larger vessels and gasoline we use it's a version of Ford motor company and that's Hera so they like it

Thor Freya

And yeah this is about the price and it's fully decked out their price is about $68,000

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tabloidtoc · 3 years

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Us, February 1

You can now buy a copy of this issue for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover: Brad Pitt’s Baby Drama -- is ex Nicole Poturalski pregnant?

Page 2: Red Carpet -- Kaitlyn Dever

Page 4: Who Wore It Best? Lili Reinhart vs. Lily Collins

Page 6: Loose Talk -- Stephen Colletti on his viral reunion with ex-girlfriend and former Laguna Beach costar Kristin Cavallari last year, Kyra Sedgwick on husband Kevin Bacon giving her a bikini wax, Priyanka Chopra Jonas’ response when asked how many children she wants with husband Nick Jonas, Jessica Simpson on kids Maxwell and Ace and Birdie whom she shares with Eric Johnson, Rob Lowe on finally spotting his very reclusive new neighbor Prince Harry

Page 8: Contents

Page 10: Hot Pics -- Michael B. Jordan and Lori Harvey enjoyed a romantic getaway together in St. Barts

Page 11: Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt splashed around the ocean with their son Gunner in Carpinteria in California, Miley Cyrus and stylist pal Bradley Kenneth McPeek spent their evening at the beach watching the sunset in Malibu, Selma Blair went on a coffee run in L.A.

Page 12: Josephine Skriver shot a commercial for Maybelline with a pretty bouquet in NYC, Vanessa Lachey wrapped up a Hot Tools Volumizer before gifting to a pal

Page 13: Katie Holmes wore an all-denim ensemble while out and about with beau Emilio Vitolo Jr. in NYC

Page 16: Padma Lakshmi stunned in a white dress at the Gotham Awards in NYC, G-Eazy shared a laugh with a female costar while filming a music video in Pasadena, Brian Austin Green and Sharma Burgess kiss in Hawaii

Page 18: New Year, New Hair -- celebs are already changing up their ‘dos in 2021 -- Demi Lovato ditched her signature dark hair for a pink pixie cut, Tom Hanks called his bald look for the upcoming Elvis Presley biopic horrible, Kate Hudson with rose gold tresses, Taraji P. Henson with short magenta locks, Bella Hadid’s new dyed front strands give off Ginger Spice vibes, Keke Palmer rocking a mullet

Page 20: It’s all relative -- good genes run in these stars’ families -- Gwyneth Paltrow and her mom Blythe Danner and her daughter Apple, Heidi Klum and Erna and daughter Leni, Jada Pinkett Smith and daughter Willow and mom Adrienne Banfield-Norris

Page 21: Chrissy Teigen and mom Vilailuck and daughter Luna, Jessica Alba and Cathy and daughter Honor, Kris Jenner and Kim Kardashian West and her kids Saint and Chicago and Psalm and Mary Jo Houghton

Page 22: Stars They’re Just Like Us -- Kelly Bensimon got where she needed to go via Citi Bike in NYC, Helena Christensen stepped out with her beloved dog Kuma in NYC, Meg Ryan filled her gas tank in L.A.

Page 23: During a commercial break Good Morning America coanchor Robin Roberts sipped in a cool beverage in NYC, Rachel Brosnahan partnered with Amazon to support one of her favorite charities Covenant House in NYC

Page 24: Love Lives -- Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez are feeling refreshed after a recent trip to Turks and Caicos

Page 25: Jessie James Decker and husband Eric Decker are enjoying a lot more alone time now that they’ve finally put a lock on their bedroom door, Jackson Guthy is Olivia Jade Giannulli’s No. 1 fan

Page 26: Hot Hollywood -- After 10 years of marriage Elizabeth Chambers thought she knew the real Armie Hammer but when graphic messages surfaced of his alleged disturbing sexual fetishes of rape and cannibalism she was horrified and it’s like she’s living in a nightmare and she’s focused on protecting their kids Harper and Ford and she wants to shield them from seeing their dad so unhinged

Page 27: Kim Kardashian West is set to finally file for divorce from husband Kanye West by February 14 -- Kim wanted to hold the marriage together for the sake of their four kids she’s now ready to turn the chapter and move on with her life

* Meghan Markle’s half-sister Samantha Markle isn’t the only one telling all -- her estranged dad Thomas Markle now has a documentary in the works about his life and raising his famous daughter -- Meghan is absolutely repulsed by her father and she was praying that he’d stay out of her business and move on with his life but he won’t leave her alone and as a result Meghan will never let him meet her son Archie

* Keeping Up With Us -- Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas have called it quits, Vanessa Bryant opened up about coping with loss just days before the one year anniversary of husband Kobe Bryant and daughter Gianna’s tragic deaths, Jason Sudeikis has returned to work on season 2 of Ted Lasso amid his ex Olivia Wilde’s new romance with Harry Styles, Tom Cruise has splurged on robots to enforce Covid-19 safety protocols on the set of Mission: Impossible 7, Chrishell Stause and Justin Hartley have finalized their divorce, Dustin Diamond has been diagnosed with cancer

Page 28: A Day in My Life -- Hunter Hayes

Page 29: Chandler Powell and Bindi Irwin are counting down the days until they meet their baby girl -- Bindi who is in her third trimester cannot wait to be a mother and she’ll be wonderful at it

Page 30: Cover Story -- What Does Brad Pitt Know? Questions arise after Brad’s ex Nicole Poturalski is spotted with what could be a baby bump

Page 33: Inside Angelina Jolie’s new life

Page 34: Erin and Ben Napier -- doing things our way -- the breakout HGTV stars sit down to talk about making it big and putting family first

Page 36: Justin Timberlake turns 40 -- Justin’s highs and lows ahead of his milestone January 31 birthday

Page 40: Beauty -- surprisingly sexy scents -- Ariana Grande’s latest R.E.M.

Page 42: Entertainment -- Genevieve Padalecki on starring in Walker with real-life husband Jared Padalecki

Page 43: James Lafferty and Alexandra Park on Everyone Is Doing Great

Page 46: Fashion Police -- when bad clothes happen to good people -- Cardi B edition

Page 48: 25 Things You Don’t Know About Me -- President Joe Biden

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purplesurveys · 3 years

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1158

survey by vandalisedsheep

When did you last run and why? Last night; I was chasing Cooper around the house since he likes that.

Does your house/flat/whatever the hell you live in need cleaning? Mmm, not really. My mom regularly cleans the house; she’d otherwise go nuts if she’s not able to.

When did you last have a real good sort out/tidy up? I took down some paintings from my wall a couple of weeks ago. Technically not a big change, but it was a big step forward in my personal life so I’m counting it.

What turns you on most (if anything) about the opposite sex? I don’t think there is anything. I like when I see TikToks of boyfriends being sweet and soft, but that’s about it.

What turns you on most (if anything) about the same sex? Thighs.

Would you rather live with a man or a woman? I’ve never experienced having a roommate but if I had to answer this on the spot, I’d pick living with a girl. I’d feel safer that way.

Do your ears ever itch like crazy for no apparent reason? :| Eh, sometimes but it’s never been a recurring issue.

Do you enjoy cooking? I probably would if I knew how to.

How often do you eat out/order in/consume convenience food? Almost never. I’d rather order from restaurants so I can be assured of its quality. I remember having to survive on 7-11 lunch meals when my mom and dad went on a month-long cruise and that to me solidified the fact that convenience store food isn’t particularly the best.

What are you having for dinner tonight? (If you've decided yet that is.) Dinner to me is always a surprise, so I’ll have to wait to find out. Given that it’s Holy Week, though, we’ll probably have something light and nothing too grand.

When did you last have people around for dinner? I think it may have been New Year’s Eve.

Do you like entertaining? Yeah, it’s nice when we have guests because most of the time we’re the ones coming over to a relative’s or family friend’s place.

Is there anything you're pedantic about? What is it? Anything to do with work. My eyes get super attentive as soon as I’m working on a Powerpoint, press release, etc. I wanna make sure everything is aligned, there are no copy errors, etc.

How often do you read? Never. I grew out of my reading hobby years ago, and even as I try getting into it these days I usually get distracted after a few minutes/pages.

Reccomend a good book (in your opinion) please: I can’t, but I know there are a number of people on here who’d be more than happy to suggest some. :)

Do you have any payments that need to be made soon? Hahaha yeah. So one of the e-wallets I use has a new credit line feature and I decided to try it out for funsies and got some Japanese food hahaha. I’m supposed to pay for it sometime this month.

Do you have any phone calls you need to make? Not really.

When did you last buy soap? My parents went to the grocery last Wednesday so I’m guessing they also restocked on soap and other toiletries then.

Are you a nail biter? A nail biter and picker, yeah.

Do you play with your hair a lot? Only when I’m attending mass and get bored. It’s an effective time-killer.

Last time you ate out, what did you order? I went to La Creperie and got their truffled sausage and mushroom pasta and their San Gines hot chocolate.

Do you have any dependents? I guess so? When I was filling out some HR stuff after I got employed, one of the forms asked for my dependents so I just listed my immediate family.

Are you currently saving up for something? Yeah, my birthday blowout for my family hahaha. I wanna order a shit ton of all my favorite food for my birthday. Once that’s done, I’d love a pair of white Nike Air Max 97s.

Do you like it when you get pins and needles? No, I find it uncomfortable and weirdly ticklish.

How about when you bang your "funny bone?" I hate that.

What's your body temperature, right now? I don’t feel like checking right now lmao, our thermometer is all the way in my parents’ room.

Was your last relationship with a man or a woman? Woman.

Are you currently in a relationship? Nope.

Do you ever play the "what if" game? No, and not too familiar with that, actually. Is it just a game where I have to answer hypothetical situations?

When did you last eat cereal? Maybe a couple of years ago when we last stayed in a hotel; I don’t really remember as I don’t eat cereal.

What do you think your next achievement will be? Turning 23? Hahahaha idk I don’t want to jinx anything.

Are you thirsty? Not particularly.

Do you love getting all hot and sweaty from certain activities? No. It’s a big reason why I stopped working out lol. I hate getting and feeling sweaty.

Do you like having your hair pulled? (If you have any) TMI answer, but only during sex. Otherwise I would hate it.

Do any of your clocks/watches need new batteries? No, I don’t use any that need batteries.

When was the last time you did some real physical activity? Two Thursdays ago at our media event. It included a 20-minute workout session so we had to join in.

What is the smallest object close to you? Probably the USB-C connector I need to connect my earphones to my iPhone 8. That thing is so tiny and easy to lose.

When will you next have a bath? Either later in the evening or tomorrow morning; I already did this morning.

When will you next go swimming? No idea. We might have to set up our inflatable swimming pool soon once April weather comes around, and I might take a dip by then.

When was the last time you were really horny and could do nothing about it? I can always do something when I get horny loooool

What does your hair smell like currently? (If you have any!) My conditioner.

Do you know how to navigate your way through a PC using only the keyboard? Enough to get by and not damage the computer by accident.

My nose is itching now as well as my ears, does your nose currently itch? No.

#survey #surveys

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james-stark-the-writer-wips · 4 years

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A Year At The Opera - Excerpt

Chapter 10, Part 2: An Investigation in the woods.

WC: 4500 words.

Chapter 11 is going to take some time so I’ll be working on OWAD until then. Expect OWAD content instead for a while. Hope you enjoy this!

Joe

Detective Joe Vega slammed the case file on the table. “Captain, what is this?” He stood with his hands on his hips, lightly pushing his coat aside, waiting for an answer.

Captain Marco Santorelli didn’t react. He slowly took a sip of his coffee and wiped a thin trace of foam from his moustache. Letting out a quick breath, he grabbed the file and opened it up, quickly scanning through it. “It’s your last conviction.” He put the file down again.

“Yeah, but he was let go.” Joe walked forward and pointed at the last page in the file. “Apparently, the charges against him were dropped.”

“So? What do you want me to do about it? Talk to the victim.” Santorelli leaned back.

“That’s the thing, Captain. No one can find him. He’s gone missing. I called his office, his house, his friends. No one’s heard from him in a few days.”

“Look, Vega.” Marco let out a quick sigh. “The case is closed. Cool off. I’m sure the vic will turn up somewhere. Meanwhile, here.” Marco opened a drawer and grabbed a file from inside, handing it to Joe. “This should keep you busy.”

“What’s this?” Joe asked, opening the file.

“Murder, from the looks of it. Some kids found the body in the Shadow woods. Go check it out.”

“Were they interviewed?” Joe flipped through the pages to find their statements but didn’t find any.

Marco shook his head. “No, too traumatized to say anything. But you can go and ask them about it. Their addresses are in the file.”

Joe opened the file and looked at the addresses. “They’re over in the next town?”

“Yep.” Sanotrelli said, taking a quick sip of his coffee. “And they all have Rebecca and David Shaw as their lawyer, apparently.”

“Oh Jesus.” Joe said.

Santorelli placed the cup down and then, with just a hint of sarcasm, said, “Good luck.”

Joe turned and started to walk away.

“Oh, don’t forget to go check out the crime scene.” Santorelli called out.

Joe stopped in his tracks and turned around. “Yeah.” He mumbled.

This time more sincerely, Santorelli said, “Good luck.”

“Thanks, Cap.” Joe opened the door and walked out.

Cruising over Rikers Bridge, Joe Vega arrived in Athea a little past noon. The asphalt was blazing hot and despite it being the middle of September, it felt like the height of summer, a wave of warmth surrounding the town, enveloping it in a warm cornucopia of sin and evil.

Joe wiped beads of sweat from his forehead as he cranked up the AC.

“Turn right.” The navigator said and Joe took a turn onto Grisly Drive, one of the more run down parts of Athea. The place reeked of smoke and what smelled like burnt food. As his car stopped at a light, Joe grabbed his phone out of its holder on the dash and checked his notifications. Nothing new to report.

“Come on, Maxine.” He mumbled, forcing the phone back into its place. He tapped the steering wheel impatiently as the light seemed to be stuck on yellow for an eternity. He grabbed his phone again. Still nothing.

A car horn behind him jolted his attention back to the light. It had finally turned green.

He slowly pulled into an alleyway and let the car behind pass him by. Joe wished he was in his cruiser. Then he’d show the guy. But that wasn’t what he wanted to focus on right now. If there was no news about Maxine by midnight, he’d have to go see her himself and he was desperately trying to avoid that.

He glanced at the time. Fuck, he thought. I’m going to be late. He backed out of the alley and started to make his way to Black Oak Boulevard.

Ingram and Joe

“Hello?” Ingram asked as he swung the door open.

“Ingram Shaw?” The man at the door asked.

“Yeah?” Ingram crossed his arms, shifted his weight to his other foot and leaned against the door.

“I’m Detective Joe Vega from the Ellesburg Homicide Department. I had a few questions about yesterday and I was hoping you could answer them?”

“Mom!” Ingram called.

“Yeah?” Rebbeca shouted back.

“There’s a detective here!” Ingram said.

“Call him in, I’ll be there in a second!” The reply came.

“Well come on in then, Detective Vega.” Ingram stepped aside to let Joe walk inside.

The inside of the house looked like a grand movie set.

“Take a seat, please.” Rebecca’s voice came from the top of the stairs. She vaguely gestured to the sofa. Ingram looked up at her. “Would you like anything to drink?” She asked. “Whiskey, tea, coffee?”

“No, I’m good, Mrs. Shaw.” Joe replied. “Water’s fine.”

“Perfect.” She said turning to Ingram. “Get him some water, won’t you? And some for me too.”

“Yeah.” Ingram scurried off to the kitchen.

“Please, sit.” She said, taking a seat on the lush leather couch. Joe hesitated but finally sat.

“So, you had some questions?” She asked as Ingram reappeared with two glasses of water. She took one and Ingram offered the other to Joe

He mumbled a quick thanks as he took it. “Yes, I did,” He said turning back to Rebecca. “I actually wanted to ask Ingram here some questions.”

“Oh, about that body behind the cabin?” She asked, almost rhetorically.

“Yeah.” Joe said.

“Of course, go right ahead.” She said. “Of course, I’ll be right here for the interrogation because he is a minor.”

“I know, Mrs. Shaw.” Joe said. He didn’t have the patience for this. He had to interview the other kids too and go check out the crime scene.

Ingram took a seat on the couch next to Rebecca. Joe cleared his throat, grabbing his notepad and recorder from his pocket. He placed the recorder on the table and flipped his notepad open.

“This is Detective Joe Vega of the EPD and I'm here with Ingram Shaw and his lawyer Rebecca Shaw.” Joe said. “Just go ahead and introduce yourself, if you could.”

They quickly rattled off their names.

“So, Mr. Shaw—” Joe began.

“Ingram is fine.” Ingram said.

“Right. Ingram, you and your friends arrived at the cabin, when exactly?”

“I believe it was the morning of the [date].”

“And what did you do all day?”

“I spent the day with Mason, my boyfriend.” Ingram said.

“And how about that night?”

“Well, the lights went out and the generator wasn’t working so we just played a game and then we all went to bed.”

“All?” Joe raised an eyebrow.

“Yep. All four of us. Me, Mason, Aaron and Eleanor. All four of us.”

“Right.” Joe scribbled a note of their names even though he already had them on file. “And what time would you say that was?”

“Around 9, maybe 9:30.”

“That early?” Joe gave him a suspicious glance

“Yep.” Ingram nodded. “It was a tiring day and we just needed to sleep it off.”

“Uh huh. And did anyone leave the cabin after that or in the morning?”

“Not to my knowledge, no. I was the first one up and everyone was sound asleep.”

Rebecca smiled. He could see she was proud of him. She’d trained him well.

“Right. And what did you do after you woke up?”

“Uh, brushed my teeth, got ready and waited for Mason to wake up.”

“Did anyone else wake up during that time?”

“Eleanor did.” Ingram replied calmly. “She got ready as well, I could hear her through the walls because her room is right above mine.”

“And when did the other two wake up?”

“Uh, Mason woke up a little bit after Eleanor was done getting ready and then she woke up Aaron.”

“So, none of you went to the woods in the last two days before the body was found?”

“Not to my knowledge, no.”

“And then how did you end up finding the body?”

“I didn’t.” He said. “Aaron did. He called me.”

“I see.” Joe mumbled to himself. “And what was Mr…” Joe opened his file to double check the name. “Adler doing in the forest?”

“He and Eleanor had gone for a walk that morning.”

“Just the two of them?”

“Yep. Mason was busy cooking me breakfast.”

“And so, when they called you and you arrived at the scene of the crime, you saw the body, correct?”

“Yes.”

“You called the cops immediately?”

Ingram shot an awkward what-do-I-do look at Rebecca. She put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “No,” She said. “He called me while Eleanor called the EPD.”

“Right.” Joe stood up. “I think that should be all for now then. We’ll follow up with more questions, if we have them.” He shut off the recorder and quickly shoved it back into his jacket pocket.

“Come, let me show you to the door, Mr. Vega.” Rebecca said.

“Do you mind if I come with you?” Ingram heard Rebecca ask.

“To where?” Joe asked innocently.

“Well, you are going to the rest of the kids’ houses, aren’t you? Might as well go together, right?”

“I suppose so.” Joe said awkwardly.

Rebecca grabbed her coat and vanished out the front door with the detective.

Aaron

Going back a day, Aaron had just dropped Eleanor off and driving back to his house. It was a fairly quiet drive where he mulled over what he'd say to Mary and how he'd deal with everything. He found no answer. And, unfortunately, there was another shitstorm to come.

He slowly pulled into the driveway to be greeted by Mary waiting by the door, furiously tapping her foot.

“Ar, where have you been?” She jogged up to him and hugged him as he got out of the car.

He struggled awkwardly to get out of the hug. “I was dropping El off.” He said.

“God, are you okay?” She worriedly ran her hands over Aaron, checking him for bruises.

“I’m okay.” He delicately lifted her hands off.

Her expression turned from worried to relieved to worried again in a matter of seconds, like she was foreshadowing something..“Come on inside.” She said, stepping aside.

“Yeah, lemme just grab my bag.” Aaron opened up the trunk and quickly grabbed his bag.

Aaron followed Mary into the house and found Ryan sitting on the couch, staring at the wall with a blank expression on his face.

“Ryan.” Mary said, making Ryan jump from his seat.

“You’re back!” Ryan rushed to Aaron and hugged him.

Aaron hugged him back but skeptically. “Is… everything okay?” He asked, pulling away from the hug. “You’re making me worried.”

“Just… sit down, Ar.” Ryan said, walking back to the couch and sitting down.

“What’s the problem?” Aaron asked, sitting down. Mary walked over next to Ryan.

“It— It’s about your Uncle Joe…” Ryan’s voice trailed off.

Mary put a hand on Ryan’s shoulder, slightly squeezing. “He’s… he’s dead, Ar.”

“Remember that leak at the plant you told me about?” Ryan said, leaning forward. “Well I decided to check up at the factory and turns out there was a leak last two days only I wasn’t the one who was… dead.”

“What?” Aaron couldn’t believe or even process what he was hearing.

“It’s true, Ar.” Mary said.

“Can we step back a second? Who’s Uncle Joe?”

“Baby, I know you were very close with him but you don’t have to pretend you didn’t know him.” Mary walked towards Aaron and hugged him. “I know this might be a bit of a shock for you but however you’re feeling, just know that it’ll be okay, okay?”

Normally Aaron would have objected to Mary calling him baby — it honestly seems so creepy — but there was no time for that right now. Aaron pulled away from the hug and stood up. “I’m going to need a minute.” He awkwardly ran out of the room and up to his bedroom. He quickly slammed the door shut and took his phone out.

“Nathan. Please tell me the spell didn’t invent a twin brother for my dad.” There was a calm rage in his voice.

“Can I talk?” I asked, remembering our no talking rule.

“Yes!” He said, frustrated. “You can talk! Now fucking talk!”

“Fine. It might have. I can’t check but if you’re saying he didn’t exist, I’ll believe you.”

“What do you mean you can’t check?”

“Well, once a person dies, we can no longer observe anything about them. All their data is wiped.”

“Do I even wanna ask about the system?” Aaron rubbed his forehead.

“Believe me, you don’t. Certainly not right now.”

“So what the fuck do I do right now? How do you expect me to go downstairs and tell them I don’t have an uncle?”

“I mean, not anymore, you don’t.” I said, cheekily.

“Nathan! Focus!”

“Sorry, bad time for a joke. Look, I know he wasn’t real for you but he’s real for them so, I don’t know, maybe pretend to be sad and channel the feelings you were feeling before the spell for your dad?”

“I’ll try my best but good god this is getting worse every minute.”

“Good luck. Going silent again.” I said.

Aaron opened the door and carefully peeked outside. No one was around. Good. He cautiously walked back down to the living room where Ryan and Mary were whispering something to one another.

“— Just give him time, he’ll come around.” Mary whispered to Ryan.

“So,” Aaron began. Mary turned to face him. “How did it happen? The leak at the plant?”

“I don’t know the exact details yet but from the sound of it, your uncle Joe got sloppy and messed something up. That was his thing, you know.” Ryan choked up a little. “Messing things up. I’m surprised he made so few with you.” He sniffled.

Aaron’s phone buzzed. He didn’t see it then but I acknowledged the joke of Sloppy Joe. It was funny. Or at least I think so.

“Yeah.” Aaron took a step forward, giving Ryan a weak smile. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“We didn’t want to ruin your vacation. Your dad found out a little while after you left for the trip.”

“Hmm.” Aaron said. Here it was, a perfect opportunity for him to say all the things he wished he could have said to Ryan before the accident but he couldn’t find the words. So he just walked over and hugged Ryan.

Ryan gently patted him on the back. “It’ll be okay, bud.”

“So, are we having like a wake for him or something?” He asked tepidly.

“Don’t be ridiculous, of course not. He would have hated that.” Mary said.

“Right.” Aaron muttered under his breath. “Of course he would have.”

Rebecca

Mason was not home so Joe and Rebecca had to go to Aaron's instead and then maybe come back to Mason's later that day. But, they did arrive at Aaron's house soon after they’d left her house.

Rebecca knocked on the door and waited for someone to open it. Eventually, Aaron did open the door.

“Mrs. Shaw?” He asked. “Were you looking for mom?”

“Oh no no.” She said, moving aside to reveal Joe standing behind her. “Detective Vega here had some questions for you.”

“Oh, right. Please, come in.” He said.

The pair followed them in and quickly sat down in the living room.

“Should we start?” Joe asked.

Aaron looked at Rebecca who nodded so he followed suit. “Just be as truthful and precise as possible. If you’re unsure about something, just give me a nod. You don’t have to answer anything you don’t want to.” Rebecca whispered to Aaron.

“Great.” Joe took out his recorder and placed it on the table. “So, if you don’t mind introducing yourself.”

Each of the three quickly introduced themselves as Joe grabbed his notepad.

“So, Mr. Adler.” Joe began, readjusting in his seat. “When did you go to the cabin?”

“We left early morning, two days ago on tuesday.”

“And who was with you?”

“It was me, Ingram, Mason and my friend Eleanor.”

“And did you make any stops before reaching the cabin, preferably a place with cameras so we can verify your whereabouts?”

“We stopped at a gas station so yeah, I think so.”

“Could you give me the address of that place?”

“I’ll have to look it up.” Aaron’s hand reached halfway to his pocket before stopping. “You don’t mind if I check my phone, right?”

“No, please, go ahead.” Joe said.

Aaron grabbed his phone and quickly pulled up the address of the station and gave it to Joe who quickly jotted it down.

“Perfect. And you’re sure this was the station?”

“Positive. Couldn’t forget it if I wanted to.”

“Why’s that?” Joe asked, slightly amused.

“This creep there who came up to Eleanor asking if he could lick her feet or something like that.”

“Yikes.” Joe said.

“You’re telling me. But we got rid of him.”

“Any descriptions you remember about the man?”

“I mean, he was around my height but beyond that you’ll have to ask El. And if there’s security cams, you can just check those, right?”

“Right.” Joe flipped a page in his notepad. “So, what did you do when you got to the cabin?”

“Uh, I just started to work on my book.”

“Oh, you’re a writer?” Joe inquired.

“Yep.” Aaron nodded.

“Cool. So, you were writing all day?”

“Well, up until the lights went out. Which was sometime in the evening. I wanted to save battery on the laptop so I shut it off and just played some games on my phone.” Aaron lied. He really spent the time listening to me..

“And then what did you do after the lights went out, during the night, I mean?”

“Well, I waited for El to come home because she’d gone out for something and after that we just played a game of truth and dare, got bored and went to sleep.”

“So, what time would you say that was?”

“Around 9-ish? You could check with the guy who delivered us some food, we stopped playing about twenty minutes after that.”

“What guy?” Joe asked.

“Oh, some guy came to deliver us some groceries so we’d have food in the morning.”

“Oh,” Rebecca chimed in. “It was just my assistant. I sent him to get the kids some food because I forgot to stock the fridge.”

“I see, we’ll need to talk to him. And then you said, Ms. Easton went out during the day?”

“Yeah, she was out the whole day.”

“Do you know why?”

Aaron shook his head. “You’ll have to ask her.”

“Alright, then what did you do next morning?”

“Uh, El woke me up asking what I wanted for breakfast and I decided to go for a walk with her because we needed to talk about… stuff.”

“What kind of stuff?”

“That’s kinda personal, detective…”

“It’s fine, you don’t have to answer that.” Rebecca said.

Joe sighed. “So, you went on a walk, correct?”

“Yes.” Aaron said.

“And that’s when you found the body?”

“No, we found it on the way back to the cabin.”

“And what time did you leave the cabin, approximately?”

“I think we left around 9am.”

“And what time did you start getting back?”

“I don’t know, it took us like maybe twenty-thirty minutes to get to the stream which is where we were gonna walk and we were there for like an hour so I’d say around 11am-ish is when we started heading back give or take ten minutes.”

“And on the way back is when you found the body?”

“Correct.”

“So, did you take a different path back or did you not notice the body the first time?”

“No, we took a different path because we thought the road El took was slow so I wanted to see if we could stray off the trail and cut straight through to the cabin.”

“I see.” Joe scribbled something down in his notepad.

“And how did you find the body?”

“Well, we were walking and El tripped on like, a root sticking out of the ground so I had to carry her back ‘cause I couldn’t just leave her there, you know? So I picked her up and we started talking and that’s when I noticed a hand sticking out of the ground.”

“And so you called the police?”

“No, I called Ingram because we were so close to the cabin and he was the fastest source of help.”

“And then you called the police?”

“No, I didn’t know if it was actually a body and I didn’t want to cause them any trouble to come out here and waste their time if it was fake.”

“Right. How very considerate. And then how long did it take for Mr. Shaw to arrive?”

“Maybe ten-fifteen minutes after I called him?”

“And so when he arrived, you called the cops?”

“Well, El did but yeah, we called the cops.”

“And before the cops arrived, did you contaminate the scene in any way? Did you go near the body, did you touch anything, anything at all?”

“No, we all stood at a distance a few feet from the body, leaning against a tree waiting for the cops to arrive.”

“Right.” Joe closed his notepad. “Okay, I think that should be good enough for now.” He stood up. Rebecca stood up with him. “Don't go anywhere, we might have more questions.” He added, stuffing the recorder back in his pocket.

“Come on, I'll drop you off.” Joe said to Rebecca.

“Drop me off?” Rebecca asked. I got up and started walking to the door.

“Yes,” Joe said. “I’m going to go check out the crime scene.”

“Weren’t you gonna interview the other two?”

Joe checked the time on his watch. “It’s getting late I have to go look at it before dark.”

“Oh. Alright, then.” Rebecca said. Aaron opened the door for them and they walked out. Aaron stayed still watching Joe’s car pull out of the driveway and off towards the Shaws’ place.

Joe

Dropping Rebecca off at her house, Joe headed straight for Shadow Woods. It would be dark soon.

The car pulled up to the Shaw cabin. Joe would have to walk from there. The walk was short, the sun sinking towards the horizon every passing minute.

As the light dwindled, mostly because of the cover of trees, Joe had to be careful and watch his step to not slip into the mud or accidentally step on something — especially if it had a possibility of being evidence.

But he soon arrived at the crime scene with just enough light to peek around for a little bit. He figured he had maybe an hour before it got too dark to do anything without a flashlight.

“So they stood over here…” He muttered to himself as he found where the kids were standing. “And the body was over there…” He ducked under the yellow tape and trudged through the mud to come closer to the actual grave, as shallow at it was. It was barely a foot tall, looking like it had been dug in a hurry. The body had left an imprint in the grave, although mud had started to seep in. There were no footprints to be seen anywhere beyond the ones left by the teens. Even the photos from yesterday confirmed that. Joe carefully maneuvered around the grave to see if the killer had left any evidence that the CSI might have missed. He found nothing.

That only meant one of two things: either the killer was a ghost or the footprints had been erased by the mud before they could be found. Did the killer know that the mud would hide their footprints?

The Shadow Woods were a nice place to hide a body, that was for sure. With how muddy the area was, it was a perfect place to hide a body if you could keep it undiscovered for a while. Before long the body would be covered in mud and decompose soon with no one the wiser.

Unfortunately for this killer, the kids found the body.

The preliminary reports would be ready by tomorrow. And Joe would have more questions.

As the sunlight dimmed, Joe turned on his flashlight. As he swung it around the area, he noticed a light glinting off something shiny to his right. “Huh.” Joe slowly walked over to it and crouched down. His shoes sunk further into the mud and he had to lean on a tree to not sink in too deep.

He reached into his pocket and grabbed his handkerchief, picking up what was shining to look at it.

A coin.

“Hmm.” Joe turned the coin around to look at it. He wrapped the coin in the handkerchief and stuffed it back in his pocket. Maybe the guys at the ME’s office could find something off of it.

Before long, the sunlight vanished and it became too hard to see anything. Joe hurried back to his car.

#writeblr #writblr #writing #original writing #creative writing #wip #ayato #A Year At The Opera

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artificialqueens · 5 years

Text

Cruising for a bruising, Part 1 (Branjie) - Q-Tip & TheDane

Author note: Hello everyone, and welcome to our first collab! This is the first part of a multi chapter story, that we hope all of you will enjoy! You can follow us at @ArtificialQtip and @TheArtificialDane as well as find both of us on AO3, hanging out in the Branjie tag! A million thanks to @VeronicaSanders for betaing, and whipping our shit into shape!

“Drag ain’t paying you enough?“

“.. What?”

“Cause we’re on the same contract right? And I’m getting coin for being here.”

—–

Brooke was rinsing his shirt out, wringing the thin fabric in his hands, making sure it was completely clean before he hung it up.

It was their fourth day on the Atlantis cruise, he and Vanjie booked alongside a whole parade of Drag Race girls to spend 3 weeks in the Caribbean entertaining, dancing and getting drunk on board the world’s premiere gay cruise experience. Brooke had been hesitant to accept at first glance when the email had ticked in from his manager - as current reigning Drag Race winner he was asked for more things than he had ever been able to imagine, not even Miss Continental giving him any idea of the number of obligations he had landed himself in - but Vanjie had seen the contract line of ‘free drinks available for the duration of your stay’ in his own papers, and Brooke had known they were going, whether he wanted to spend 10 days on a boat or not.

So far they had spent time by the pool, thrown dollars at A’keria who had performed a stunning Nicki Minaj medley, hosted a cupcake class, seen Detox destroy the dancefloor, gone to a Raja Drawja, experienced Cracker’s comedy (though Brooke thought of it more like surviving) and gone to a cocktail hour in full drag. During the cocktail hour, Vanjie and Brooke had made out in a dark corner behind the bar like naughty school girls the moment they had a chance to get away. Vanjie body was so fucking sensual and hot as she insisted Brooke carried her, and she loved doing it. Brooke’s hand had been on her ass, their lipsticks smearing while they dry humped, neither able to truly come because of their tucks, but it had been the best kind of torture, Brooke still finding specs of glitter on his hands days afterwards.

“Watcha doing?”

Brooke looked over his shoulder, Vanjie standing in the door to the bathroom they shared, leaning against it like a fucking movie star. Vanjie’s red shirt was unbuttoned all the way down to the bottom of his sternum and showing his chest, his hair impeccably styled, the little bandana loosely tied around his neck the same color as his shirt.

“Just washing up. I’ll be there in a sec.” Brooke rinsed his socks, quickly throwing them on the towel rack. “You can just leave without me babe.”

“Drag ain’t paying you enough?”

“.. What?” Brooke turned around.

“Cause we’re on the same contract right? And I’m getting coin for being here.”

Vanjie smiled, and Brooke felt his heart flutter. Vanjie was so ridiculously attractive and Brooke couldn’t believe how he had gotten so lucky with his first actual boyfriend, the word still sounding weird in his mind, but Vanjie was worth it. He was the first person Brooke had met that he had even considered putting over his career, what he had called the true love of his life for as long as he had been an adult, but Vanjie was giving it a race for it’s money, and Brooke couldn’t pretend not to love it.

“Since you starting this laundry shit on the side.”

Vanjie gestured, and Brooke blushed, looking around the bathroom. He had hung up his t-shirts, all three of them drip drying from the shower rod, except the one he was wearing, his third pair of shorts and his bathing suit in the sink, his one hoodie still unused in his backpack.

“… No?”

“Just checking.” Vajie laughed, grabbing the band of his shorts and pulling him away. “Now come on, those cocktails ain’t gonna drink themselves, and I’m not waitin’ on you bitch!”

Brooke hadn’t spared the boy clothes he’d brought on board with him a single thought when he had thrown it all into a backpack, but if there was one fact he had learned from everything that had gone wrong in his adult life it was this very simple sentence. If he didn’t think of something as a problem - it usually was. That, and the growing uneasiness in his stomach, was the exact reason he was sure he was spiraling, and spiraling hard at that.

Brooke had never paid much attention to his boy wardrobe. He had never thought of his outfits for Brock as an artistic expression, had never related to any of the other reasons he had heard of why people cared so fiercely about what they wore. It was like he had known in the back of his mind that he would need all that energy and effort for Brooke one day. He could spend hours shopping online, looking at gowns and sketching things out either to make himself or to pay someone to construct without any trouble. Brooke was a work of art, each detail on her body placed there with care, precision and attention. Brock on the other hand?

Brock was happy as long as his boy self was covered and comfortable. That body was no more than a machine, carrying him where he needed to go, a container for his brain so he could make his sack of bones do the things he needed them to, whether that was doing a Grand Jete, dropping into a full split, walking en pointe, lip syncing on his head or spending an entire day in heels.

Brooke was watching Vanjie rehearse, Kameron next to him. They passed a two liter bottle of gatorade between them, taking swigs by the turn. He had struck up an unlikely friendship with Kameron, though it seemed like no one was surprised but himself. Kameron was a fellow Nashville queen, and while they had known of each other and even worked together, they had never gotten to know if each other this trip. Brooke found that it was easy to talk to the other queen, Kameron’s calm personality and their shared interest of bettering their workout routines giving them near endless supplies for conversations that could last hours if no one dragged them away. At times, much to their annoyance, they were forced apart by their respective significant others, Cracker often pulling Kameron aside when he was bored and left on his own. Vanjie was no better.

He spent so much time in drag, uncomfortable but gorgeous. So when he was just Brock, he prefered materials that allowed him to breathe, and allowed him to feel relaxed. He liked his shirts so worn in that they turned paper thin, shorts so used the material felt like butter, shoes practically walked to shreds. Sure, he was aware that he didn’t always look the most put together, but they were his clothes, and he knew they did the job.

Vanjie was doing a number, a remix with his infamous catchphrases scattered over the track. It was one of their fans who had made the track, and it had appeared in Brooke’s DM’s on Twitter one fateful day. Vanjie had been so excited he had practically bounced off the walls of their room the first time he heard it. He had FaceTimed his drag mother Alexis before he had even managed to listen all the way through, just so that she could hear it too, the two of them launching into the creation of choreography to go with it straight away. That had turned into a long night for Brooke, who had laid on their shared bed, the track playing on repeat for hours on end as Vanjie got all of his creative juices flowing. For days after he was haunted by the throbbing bass and “get those cookies,” bouncing of the walls within his head.

The beat of Vanjie’s song was loud and fast, fitting with his erratic movements. His moves were forceful, powerful, at once elegant and a testament to the unlimited energy that coursed within him. He looked amazing, the only piece of drag on him so far the heels. And the attitude, of course. There was always a particular attitude shift when he became her, and Brooke loved it nearly as much as he loved watching the reverse take place.

“She’s good.”

Kameron handed him the bottle of gatorade.

“She’s the best.”

Kameron smiled, and Brooke couldn’t help but notice what Kameron was wearing - a smart button up and black denim shorts. An actual outfit instead of the pregame comfort clothes Brooke prefered. Kameron looked nice.

In contrast, Brooke was wearing his grey shirt, a hole under the armpit that he had meant to get fixed suddenly embarrassingly obvious so he kept his arm close to his side, not wanting Kameron to see it. He loved the shirt he was wearing. He had had it on the first time he kissed Vanjie, and it was special to him, and a few holes couldn’t change that, though maybe it should have.

Brooke wasn’t used to feeling uncomfortable as a guy, even though he didn’t consider himself some great catch. He was true to himself, and that had turned out to be enough for the most part. As he sat watching Vanjie prance around stage, he let a long, frustrated sigh escape him. He sat squarely between people who made an effort, and even though he was a reigning queen, he had never felt more like a bum.

Slipping into Brooke Lynn’s skin after a day of anxiety itching under his skin felt like a blessing.

The majority of their season 11 sisters were backstage, getting ready for their gig that night. Ariel sitting next to Brooke as she put the final touches on her lashes. Brooke looked in the mirror when she was done, batting her eyes playfully and framing her face with her hands. Ariel rolling her eyes at her antics.

“When you feel your oats so hard you forget there are other oats there,” she said in a sing-song voice, and Brooke laughed vividly, red lips opening in a wide grin. She slapped the vanity table in front of them, the bottle of tequila that was placed there shaking slightly.

She was a few drinks in already, and they’d been passing that bottle around the dressing room since they had begun getting ready half an hour ago. The bottle was decorated with four or so different colours of lipstick, mixing into a unappetizing brown as they’d dried, and Brooke briefly wondered if making out with all of her sisters would produce the same nauseating color on her lips.

When Silky walked by, phone in hand, the camera pointed towards herself, Brooke grabbed her own. Brooke had never been hugely into social media, ballet taking up too much of her time, but after Drag Race, she had almost been forced online by VH1s staff of young hip interns. The key to an active fanbase was interaction with viewers, being accessible, and Brooke had never been one to turn down advice on success. She had taken to it like a fish to water, using both Instagram and Twitter like it was her second job, and in many ways, it was. Vanjie would sometimes help her out with getting the hang of everything, her boyfriend never more than two steps away from her phone.

Brooke picked up her phone as her laughter grew quiet, shooting Ariel a questioning look. A nod was all Brooke got and all she needed to know that Ariel was onboard. She opened instagram and launched a live, focusing the camera on her. She looked fucking good, stunning honey-blonde wig, red lips and her favourite red hoodie, bare chest underneath because of the heat, but mostly because she didn’t want the struggle of getting into full drag yet if she could avoid it.

“Hi guys!” Brooked grinned, waving her fingers and watching the viewer count rose steadily. She felt a surge of pride, her fans truly the best.

“Hiii!” Ariel smiled brightly beside her, leaning into the frame. “No one is going to be watching this. Not when the Silky show is on.”

“I know.” Brooke laughed, eyes fluttering to the queen on the other side the small space. “So I’m checking in for the day, we’re still on a boat, still floating around the-”

“We floating around Paradise!” Silky’s voice was loud as she abruptly entered Brooke’s frame, her own phone still firmly in hand. Silky’s eyes shifted between her phone and Brooke’s, before settling on her own as she continued to speak. “So I got three dicks and-”

“You got three dicks?” Brooke roared with laughter, Ariel close to tears next to her.

“I got three dicks in my inbox!” Silky continued undisturbed, kicking the leg of Brooke’s chair as she passed by. “They ready for a taste of this ganache!”

“Better with three dicks in the inbox than six on the dancefloor!” Ariel chimed in, sticking her tongue out as she tried to apply the last of her eyeshadow without being shoved over by Silky who was loudly telling her story of a Grindr hookup. “Just saying.”

“You would know.” Brooke elbowed Ariel, the other queen cursing her out loudly when the tiniest flicker of eyeshadow fell on her cheek at the action.

Brooke loved shooting these behind the scenes moments with her sisters, as she so rarely got the opportunity to really spend time with them. Her post Drag Race schedule was often so busy she barely even felt like she saw her cats. Sometimes she even felt like she barely saw Vanjie. Not that she got away with it; Vanjie was a lot louder than the cats when she was unhappy about something. The cruise, although she hadn’t been onboard - all puns intended - at the beginning, had turned out to be a true blessing in disguise.

“Who’s talking about dick?!”

Brooke would know that voice anywhere. The loud sound coming from the vanity that Silky has recently vacated on the other side of the room, Vanjie whipping around to look at the others. She was nearly done with her makeup, her lips a dark purple finishing off her look. Vanjie tapped her lips, a smile on her face, and Brooke felt it like a siren song to which she couldn’t help but reply.

“No one.”

Brooke rose from her seat, quickly heading towards her boyfriend. Brooke grabbed the bottle of tequila on the way, adding an extra sway to her hips as Vanjie watched her make her approach.

“You a lying slut.” Vanjie rolled her eyes at her. Brooke raising her brows and taking a swig from the bottle, nose scrunching at the horrible taste, but hey, she was on a cruise. She had to be at least a little drunk at all times. It was sea love.

“Hi Papi.” Brooke laughed, leaning over Vanjie’s shoulder so she was included in the shot, and gave her a peck on the lips.

“Mmh.” Vanjie deepened the kiss, Brooke giving a playful lick to Vanjie’s upper lip, which made Vanjie slap her on the shoulder.

“No!” Vanjie looked in the mirror, her lipsticked ruined. “You bitch!”

Brooke spared a glance to her phone, the messages coming faster and faster. The fans loved whenever she included Vanjie on her stream.

“Sorry babe.” Brooke leaned her head against Vanjie.

“Girl, I just did this.” Vanjie was complaining, adorable grumps coming from her, but she was smiling so Brooke knew she hadn’t actually fucked up. Vanjie gestured to her own face, a patch of purple smeared above her cupids bow. “I can’t believe you doing me dirty with this fucked up light and ruining my look.”

Vanjie took her lipstick off, Brooke giving her another color she accepted right away.

“I think you look perfect.” Brooke ran a hand through Vanjie’s boy hair, a move she would never have dared if she hadn’t known that Vanjie would be covering it with a wig cap in a matter of minutes. Brooke had messed with Vanjie’s hair once, and the dressing down he had gotten from one very angry tiny Puerto Rican made sure he had never even considered attempting it again. “Doesn’t she look absolutely perfect?”

“Who you talking to?” Vanjie looked up, smacking her lips. “This Instagram live?”

“Yes.”

“Follow me! Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, real life, at the grocery store who gives a shit, it’s all at VanessaVanjie!”

Brooke cracked up, Vanjie of course taking the chance to promote herself. She was the best PR manager Brooke had ever met, Vanjie launching herself into stardom, her boyfriend breaking 1 million followers before Brooke had, even though she was the one who had won Drag Race.

“You heard the lady!” Brooke gave Vanjie another kiss at her temple, leaving Vanjie behind as she answered a few comments, saying hi to fans and giving shoutouts to whatever country they came from, telling everyone that both she and Vanjie would love to go if they could get a local booker to fly them out.

“You all like my lipstick? Thanks! It’s Nyx Soft Matte Lip Cream in the shade Amsterdam - you could blow a man with this and still have perfect lips!” Brooke smiled. “And believe me…” she winked. “…I’ve done that bit of research myself.” The chat went insane, eggplant emojis and peaches getting thrown at her at an alarming rate, so Brooke launched onto the only comment that didn’t seem dangerously sexual.

“Yes it does match my hoodie!” Brooke smiled, pulling at the collar of her hoodie as she playfully poked out her tongue. “Thank you for noticing.”

Brooke was truly one of the luckier queens, her live streams usually free of drama and spectacle. Vanjie liked to tell her they were too pure and sweet, that she needs to ‘dirty’ it up. Lord knows Vanjie had tried her best to make it happen, making semi-clothed sneak appearances whenever she felt frisky, Brooke having to close her stream in a panic once or twice just to make sure her boyfriend’s dick didn’t end up online.

Brooke’s eye caught on a comment, her eyes narrowing as she read it. Thank god for her full-coverage foundation, as it almost hid her frown lines.

“Did I wear this hoodie on my last live?” She wondered out loud. Her eyes traveled the front of her body in a flash. She was wearing her favourite hoodie, the inside so soft and comfortable with how much she had worn it.

“And the one before that,” Silky breezed past her, lifting one hand to flick the zipper of Brooke’s hoodie. She turned to face the camera briefly, winking. Brooke huffed.

Brooke rolled her eyes at the camera, hoping her attitude transferred efficiently through the lens. She read the comments, her fans discussing loudly. It was amazing, really, how a single comment about her clothes evolved into an entire audience asking about her closet. And she had just been in such a good mood, too. “Of course I own other clothes!”

“Then why don’t you wear them?” Ariel muttered, and it was pure luck that Brooke even heard it. Now if she was really lucky, none of her audience caught that particular dig, but it went without saying that her life was not destined to be that easy, and soon she was flooded with comments along the lines of “shadeee” and one user even begging for a wardrobe tour. Brooke’s mind flickered to the t-shirts still drying on the shower rod, what a wonderful youtube video that would be. Brooke stuck her tongue out at Ariel, the camera catching her from the side as she extended her neck.

“I change my clothes every single day, thank you very much.”

“Does it count if you only have three shirts to switch between?” Ariel was smiling, her entire face lit up in obvious delight.

“Oh you wanna start bitch?” Vanjie cut in, and Brooke felt a second of dread, before Vanjie continued speaking, “Don’t you dare come for my man. I’m the only one who’s allowed to talk about his terrible wardrobe, besides, he still looking like a snack so who the fuck cares if he wears the same thing.”

“Obviously you don’t!”

The room erupted in laughter, and Brooke joined it, but it wasn’t quite the rambunctious laughter that she wanted it to be, the claws of anxiety sinking into her.

Brooke knew she was a late bloomer, that she took extra time to pick up on things, that he was often the last to get on a trend. It usually didn’t bother her. She knew who she was, but as everyone laughed at her, Vanjie even joining in she couldn’t help but feel like maybe, just maybe, she actually had a problem. That she was somehow not worthy.

Brooke was staring into his closet. Looking at everything he owned.

He had lain awake all night, listening to the sounds of the ocean. Vanjie’s soft snores kept him from spiraling completely, the only reason he hadn’t flipped out on the man in his arms, Vanjie even more of a handful when drunk. Brooke had helped him out of his makeup and outfit before they collapsed into bed together, Vanjie loudly declaring himself queen of the world after she had premiered her new remix for the first time, everyone chanting “VAN-JIE VAN-JIE! VAAAN-JIE!” as she left the stage.

“Brock! Come on. Breakfast is waiting!”

“Just give me a second!”

Brooke sighed. His choice not getting any easier with a loud and demanding boyfriend growing bored on the bed, Vanjie getting dressed so fast Brooke wasn’t even sure he had ever been naked.

‘How did you get here Brock Hayhoe? You’re 33, and you have no idea how to dress yourself.”

Brooke had no idea what to put on, but he ended up slipping on his white shirt, at least somewhat confident in what he saw in the mirror when he turned back to Vanjie who had obviously been filming him, his boyfriend laying in bed.

“Put the black one on.”

“Why?”

“I want some photos of us on this boat, and if my fans see you in one more white shirt they’re gonna think I murdered you or some shit and you’re just copy pasted into my feed.”

Brooke laughed, the sound short and harsh to his own ears. A laugh of defense.

“Sure babe. No problem.”

Brooke made a beeline for Nina at breakfast, leaving Vanjie behind at the pancake station the moment they stepped into the cafeteria. He didn’t turn around, knowing that Vanjie would be looking confused, and he could not try to explain what was going on right now. He was hungry, but more desperate than anything else, and Nina was the beacon that he was going to steer his boat to.

“Nina, I need your help.” Brooke dumped down, startling Nina while A’keria barely even looked up from her bowl of breakfast.

“What happened to Good Morning honey?”

“I don’t have time.” Brooke almost grabbing the croissant out of Nina’s mouth to get his attention, A’keria snorting. Nina had been his friend for more than 10 years, and he trusted him more than most, if not all the people in his life.

“Unless it has something to do with sex, I don’t want to hear it.” Nina said resolutely, picking the dropped croissant back up and taking a large bite.

“I need new clothes.”

Nina choked, coughing around his mouthful of pastry.

“Excuse me?” he said as soon as he had cleared out his airway.

“Don’t give me that look.” Brooke crossed his arms, watching his friend.

“You kinda asking for the look, besides, where’s your man at? I haven’t had anyone yell at me yet and you’ve been here for an entire five minutes. Has Vanjie died?” A’keria took a sip of his coffee, watching the entire thing with amusement in his eyes.

“A’keria, you’re not helping.” Brooke turned to Nina. “Listen, I really need your help.”

“You, Brock Hayhoe, want new clothes?”

“Is it that out of character for me?” Brooke wrinkled his nose.

“Kinda is, babes.” Brooke looked over to A’keria, who was stirring around the sad remains of cereal in her bowl.

Brooke couldn’t believe it had taken him this long to realize just how desperate of a situation his boy self was in fashion-wise. Everyone else apparently already knew, and Brooke felt like an awkward teenager, once again forgotten when common sense had been handed out. He hadn’t even considered it be

“Oh, come on sweetheart.” A’keria fixed him with a knowing stare. “You’re not that stupid.” She put her bowl aside, leaning in, as if she was telling Brooke a secret. “Now I ain’t opposed to a man strutting his stuff if he got it, and honey, you do, but what you’re going for is anything but planned. You’re very pirate chic, very cruise appropriate.” Brooke nodded, listening along with his full attention. “But fashionable baby? Hell nah.”

Brooke knew A’keria was right, and he wanted to change it. Wanted to change it for Vanjie who obviously cared so much about it.

“I’ll help you Brooky Poo. Don’t you worry. Auntie Nina will be at your service as soon as she finishes her croissant.”

#rpdr fanfiction #branjie #brooke lynn hytes #vanessa vanjie mateo #q tip #thedane #cruising for a bruising #s11 #canon compliant

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coyotebombsquad · 6 years

Text

Bikepacking down the California Coast

Words and photos by C.J. Foster

Prologue:

Last April, I was transitioning between jobs and scored nearly two weeks off; enough time to throw together an adventure -- something that would offer a moment to reflect, reset, and prepare for the road ahead.

I set out for the California coast. I rented a car and drove to Crescent City (20 miles shy of Oregon). This is where I would begin my real journey -- pedaling home to San Francisco -- a grand total of 420 miles and 32K of elevation, after all was said and done.

Leaving behind the city, I began to feel a quiet peace settle upon me. It was the sense that a chapter had ended and a new one was beginning. There were big changes to ruminate on, something that journeying through forests helps coax along, but still I was eager, anxious, and nervous about taking on a solo trip of this magnitude.

Day 0 (SF to Crescent City -- 355mi + 100 bonus miles due to rerouting )

Heavy rain was in the forecast; just what California needed to replenish our depleted water table and reservoirs. More roads were washed out with each downpour, serving a deterrent for this bike packing trip. Despite poor conditions, I retrieved my rental car, picked up some last minute provisions, and impulsively purchased a quality point and shoot while on a lunch pitstop at In N Out -- this wouldn’t be a road trip without it.

I crossed my fingers that the rain wouldn’t be too bad or last too long.

While on the road, worst case scenarios played out in my mind and doubts churned in my head. Questions about my fitness levels, on-the-fly bike maintenance, and my safety all nagged at me. I have taken numerous solo trips before, but I was still greeted by familiar doubts. I warded off these old friends and pushed the accelerator, willing this trip into fruition.

A landslide had occurred the night before just North of Leggett, which closed highway 1 (just North of where 101 merged with 1). I thought I could outsmart the landslide and the CHP by taking a route that I found on my phone, but the locals and tow trucks dissuaded me. There were potholes that my rental car wouldn’t negotiate successfully. A CHP officer suggested that I drive back to highway 20 and cutover to highway 5 and back on highway 36 -- an extra 7-8 hours of driving to get around one landslide. I was highly motivated to find an alternate route and was successful! There are some windy gravel mountain roads that cut through Covolo to Zenia off highway 162. They were sketchy, pocked with potholes, and many blind corners had cattle hanging around them. Nearly 4 hours and 135 miles later, I was dropped back onto 101. Just in time for a wild downpour to obscure my visibility nearly entirely for the last two hours of my drive. As the wipers whipped away, there were a few moments that I questioned if I should abort the trip and go find a B&B somewhere to lounge around and take it easy. Where’s the adventure in that though?

I made it to Crescent City after numerous bursts of sketchy downpours and 11 hours of driving. At a cheap hotel, I took the last hot shower that I’d have in several days and drank an IPA to settle all my nerves from the drive.

Day 1 (Crescent City to Clam Beach) -- 75mi/4.2k ft

https://www.strava.com/activities/948298792

When you roll out of bed and see your bike next to you, you know it’s going to be a good day. The storm had ended (for now). I returned the car at the world’s tiniest commercial airport after running a few last minute errands (patch kit and lighter are crucial). A polite and professional looking middle aged woman in a knee high skirt helped check the car back in. As I went to check the mileage a man with a mangled undercarriage came driving back up with a dumbfounded expression -- the cowling of the car was dragging on the ground, making an infernal noise. The rental car woman casually walked back in to grab a pair of tin snips. When she returned, she squatted down and removed the offending piece, then informed the man that he was all set. What service!

From there, I was free, off on my two wheels, fully supported. The day was sunny, dry, and a bit windy, but still gorgeous. The road felt solid under my self-propelled vehicle; my legs marginally ready for the physical challenges ahead. The cliffs along the ocean fell away like they had been cleaved by the great Paul Bunyan himself. The ocean would be my comfort, my well of motivation for the next several hundred miles.

The miles of coastline stretched endlessly in front of me. I rolled along undulating roads that led to tiny coastal towns; nearly forgotten, yet timeless. The forest stood sentry over the towns, over the coast, and over me.

Several hours of headwinds and roughly 40 miles in, I stopped in Klamath Falls to admire the 40 ft tall Paul Bunyan and Babe the Big Blue Ox. It dwarfed me and my bike. My hunger had built, so I indulged in a plate full of chili fries and a sandwich at a nearby cafe in False Klamath; got to love being a cyclist, you can eat anything and it’s all considered fuel for the next ride. I had been cruising at 13 MPH, slow and steady, and this would be pretty much the fixed speed that I’d be moving at most of the trip.

After lunch, there were a few decent climbs: one up to Prairie Creek Redwoods and another out towards the stunning Patricks Point. A few lagoons loomed in the distance, they distracted me well enough for about 10 miles as I rounded my way to the campground.

I landed in Clam Beach State Campground after deciding to press on passed Patricks Point (my original stopping point for the day). The tent was a small project, as it was my first time pitching this new 1p tent, which proved to be a trivial task. The hunger was driving me to skip the backpacking meal and opt for some pizza at a local joint in McKinleyville. The kids working did not care if I brown-bagged it while eating a few slices in their store -- likely not their first dirtbag cyclist. Four slices and a 22oz of IPA prepped me pretty well for passing out. There was a slow ambling pedal along the airport road that led me back to camp. A few small planes landed during the sunset and I soaked in how light everything felt, nothing was tugging at me or compelling me to do or be anywhere, I was exactly where I needed to be.

Day 2 - Clam Beach Campground to A.W. Way County Park (Mattole Road) -- 75mi/5k ft

https://www.strava.com/activities/949287569 https://www.strava.com/activities/950851373

The first light of the morning woke me and I felt rested. I wanted to get an early start on the morning since rain was in the forecast, but not until afternoon. I planned on covering a fair amount of ground before the rain came (hah). As I packed up, my camp neighbors warmly offered me a cup of coffee, they lived locally and told me they were getting ready for work -- made me reminisce about camping up at Hawk Camp back home during a work night. The kindness of strangers would be a recurring theme during my trip.

Breakfast was eaten on the bike; the convenience of a breakfast burrito and a chocolate milk on the road. It conjures up an image of a train engineer shoveling coal into his engine to keep it chugging along. The morning was beautiful, I mostly pedaled by coastal farmlands and a smattering of small towns. The headwinds were ever-present, but I felt strong nonetheless. I caught up to another cyclist in Eureka who looked like he was out bikepacking with his loaded panniers, I excitedly asked him where he was off to. He was commuting to work and wasn’t on much of a journey. I wouldn’t encounter another cyclist until my last days of riding.

The farm roads gracefully lead me to Ferndale (my halfway point for the day) where I loaded up on provisions. While visiting a grocery store, I absentmindedly left my sunglasses on a rack and left for a pastry and coffee (I retrieved them). A local who had been in the store had noticed me down the street and flatly observed “you didn’t make it very far” when he saw me in front of the bakery. I’ll call that small town humor.

The climb out of Ferndale was absolutely brutal. It felt like hitting a vertical wall and only the powers of levitation would be able to lift me up the ridgeline that I was attempting. I was desperate to move quickly, but humbled by the aggressive grade and the howling winds at the top of the climb. The threat of rain was no longer merely a threat, I donned my rain gear quickly and prayed that I’d stay dry and cool enough to finish out the next 30 miles. From Ferndale, I covered about 4.2k ft in 35 miles. Brutal with packs, brutal without them.

Needle like rain stung my face for over an hour, my amusement during this section quickly changed. A sketchy winding descent led into Capetown, where I lost one of my water bottles and I narrowly missed being crushed under a dump truck’s wheels. The trucker that was just a tad too comfortable with the roads and cyclists on them.

Following the descent into a cove, a local in a green Tacoma stopped ahead of me and dangled a construction high-visibility vest out of his truck window and stated “dude, you need this!” His name was Oliver, and again, strangers with endless kindness had been looking out for me with safety and hydration (Oliver gave me a water bottle to replace mine, it was even alkaline, for sensitive stomachs). My flickering flame was ablaze for the adventurous path again.

A few miles ahead there was the town of Petrolia with a little gem of a bar called White Rose. I saddled up at the bar to wait out the storm. A beer would revive my sense of humor and the locals were entertained by my very presence. Who bikepacks in the rain, they asked? A few randos contributed to a hot shower fund in their own amusement since AW Way Campground had a coin-op hot shower. The kindness of strangers also contributed another gift from Humboldt county too, a special little doobie hand rolled under the bar. Despite the fact that it had only been two days of pedaling, I felt the beginnings of loneliness assuaged by strangers. I was striving to stay open to any experience along this road.

The campsite was a few flat miles from The Rose (as the locals referred to it), I even turned down several ride offers, told them that this was my journey to power. The campground boasted 30 soggy sites, they were all empty, so I had my choice. The hot shower was restorative, a bit of magic for a renewal that I would need for tomorrow.

Day 3 (AW Way Campground to Wright Beach 76mi/10.3k ft via Usal Road)

https://www.strava.com/activities/950851391 https://www.strava.com/activities/951928834

There’s always an odd sense of waking up in a campground without anyone else around; it’s a bit eerie, but also deeply peaceful. Rested, I packed up and hit the road, noticing a new lovely creaking noise my bottom bracket had developed due to all of the rain.

The plan was to take Mattole Road and connect to Usal road despite most people informing me that Usal road was still closed, but I felt that I didn’t have much of a choice since the reroute due to all the highway road closures would climb up and over Garberville and add an extra 70-80 miles (I had no idea how much climbing it would add). The folks from the White Rose had informed me that the Bryceland Market would be a good place to stop for food and road intel.

Still groggy with sleep encrusted eyes, I rounded a bend, and from the shoulder of the road a blur of black streaked ahead and veered into the center of the road and turned around to face me. It was a bull, of sizable proportions! He pawed at the ground as if to feign a charge. This frightened me, but I took comfort in the fact he didn’t have horns, nor did he have testicles (minor thing noted when he ran ahead of me), but I was leery of this 1500lb bulldozer and hoping he wasn’t too aggressive. I stopped about 50 yards away from him, facing him down like it was a standoff (it felt like a David and Goliath faceoff). I first yelled at him, then rang my bell, tossed small rocks in his direction to get him to move out of the road. He wasn’t budging. Then I thought to channel my inner cowboy spirit, and boldly rode towards him, yelling at the top of my lungs “GO ON, GEEEIIT!!”. This magically compelled him to turnaround and he trotted in the direction that I was rolling in. My inner childhood cowboy was giddy and terrified all at the same time. Such power I yielded. The bull veered off the side of the road before we got to a cattle catcher and I was free from my escort/keeper. I pedaled off to safety, and continued binging on serial killer podcasts, such a odd choice for a sojourn on desolate mountain roads.

Honeydew was a good restocking point where I pounded yogurt like it was water. They had a map of the area and informed me that Usal road was still closed, but I should check in with the BLM office in King’s Range. Just outside of Honeydew, there is a massive climb that aggressively stretches up to King Peak. It humbled me. I stopped several times to give my knees a break and to lube my chain. At one mini pitstop, a local named Grant stopped to check in on me, and I informed him that I was ok, and instead of speeding off to his day, he casually chatted with me for a few minutes. I inquired about Usal road, but he didn’t know much about its current state. The next several hours were a virtual elevator of careening ridgelines, towering forests, washed out roads, and serial killer podcasts.

Dropping into Thorn Junction, I crossed paths with Grant again, he was hauling a load in his truck, and chatted with me briefly and offered up an apple juice. I was thankful for the offer, and took him up on it. Each drop was refreshing, the kindness of strangers continued.

The BLM office was down the road another mile. There was one woman with a colleague there, they both heavily advised me not to take Usal, not that it was a fool's errand, but pretty close, saying that I needed a mountain bike or something beefier than my cross bike (on semi slick 32s). They weren’t exactly too far off, but I decided Usal was my best option, considering my current location and what I could physically tolerate (at this point I was 40 miles in and nearly 5k ft climbing).

There was a awkwardly situated cafe in a lumberyard called Caffe Dolce. Their pastries and sandwiches were exceptional. Both the fuel and the rest were a much needed respite. I was surprised at how busy the cafe was. There was a constant stream of people coming out to pick up a sandwich, I surmised that they were all potentially pickers at some of the farms in Humboldt county. I overheard an Aussie gal talk about going back to the farm.

Back on the bike, there was a smell of dank herbal piney resins wafting at me, I was definitely in Humboldt county. To punctuate that point, I was nearly at Usal road, pedaling along fern laden roadways, when a women walking along the road was most certainly on a different plane than I was. She stated everything is beautiful and asked me for a hug, which I complied and listened to her delve into hyper connected beauty and how we’re all one. I was grasping for an understanding of what all she was conveying to me. I pointed her the way that she should continue walking, and hoped that somebody would return her to wherever she had come from. Bizarre.

Usal’s beginning was a formidable muddy clay-like road, deeply rutted and pocked. The mouth of the whale that would swallow me up and eventually spit me out some ~30 miles and 4k ft climbing later onto highway 1. I ignored the closed gate and passed by. There were rollers that climbed and descended into expansive groves, with each descent typically requiring me to dodge pond-like flooded sections of the road. At least 3 cars were abandoned, a Honda Civic had no chance, the two trucks, despite having 4 wheel drive, succumbed to the relentless muck.

I pushed on. I was grinding away at 6-7MPH for the next 6 hours. I had to dig deep and find humor in the pain and to not let all the beauty wane. My nerves were starting to wear and my body was feeling tired of endlessly riding the brakes and carefully choosing my line, which was even harder with a load. The risk was high since both ends of Usal road were closed and I didn’t have any phone reception. A single mechanical issue could ruin the trip, a fall was a different story… actually, I laid the bike down on one slick descent and took a tumble. I was incredibly thankful -- no mechanicals or injuries.

After a few more hours of rocking out (fittingly enough to If These Trees Could Talk) and noting the descending sun, worry began to set in. I wondered if I’d ever get through this seemingly endless road. My strength was waning, but mentally, I was committed to getting through this. After rounding one of the innumerable bends, Usal beach revealed all its glory, just in time for the sunset. This helped to steady my nerves, as I knew there should be a camp nearby. Indeed there was a camp at Usal Beach, but I was pumped and ready to bid this road farewell, so I cranked on into the night. I climbed another 2k feet and rode another 16 miles in the dark. Thankfully, I had my headlight that was charged, but unfortunately, my taillight died on me. There were just a few cars that passed me (it was 9pm on a Thur night with a highway closed just North of me, hence why I decided to commit to Usal route).

Haggard and nearly broken, I arrived at Westport-Union Campground. I had been on my bike for nearly 15 hours that day. The campsite was on a bluff, the chill winds were refreshing, and helped to cool my nerves. What a day.

Day 4 Westport-Union Landing to Russian Gulch (28mi/1.5k ft)

https://www.strava.com/activities/951928593 https://www.strava.com/activities/953575322

There’s a smile that creeps across your face knowing that you accomplished something that most people wouldn’t dare to attempt, it’s not like I rode a 24 hour endurance race, but it still something to take some level of pride in the accomplishment. As the sun crept up and the ocean sang it’s morning chorus, I couldn’t help but reflect on the tough day; my body was spent. Thankfully, there was a short road to a recovery day, as I was meeting the rest of the Coyote Bomb Squad in Russian Gulch for two chill nights of camping.

I pedaled through Westport, a quirky little coastal town (more like a hamlet), with a tiny cemetery situated on the bluffs and some funky whale mosaic fountain. I savored my breakfast sandwich from a small market run by sweet earthy ladies and then slowly rolled towards Fort Bragg. Coming into Fort Bragg, I stopped in the local coffee shop before hitting the local bike shop, Fort Bragg Cyclery, and chatted with the owner, Mark. Later, I picked up some Teknu since I had managed to hit some poison oak on Usal road. After scarfing on the best pizza in town, Piaci Pizza, and sharing a surprise beer with Mark (bike shop owner), I cruised off to the campsite to meet up with my friends.

Several days on the road riding solo can be a great time for self-reflection and really stoke the fires of your inner hobo, but there are those moments when you’re inundated with gratitude for good friends and their adventurous spirits. I was happy I didn’t have to ride any further and more importantly, elated to be around the warmth of friends and the warmth of my first campfire of the trip. The sunset on the bluffs was of epic proportions.

Day 5 Russian Gulch Exploring, Canoeing, and Hardcore Chilling

Nothing is sweeter than sleeping in and waking up to the smell of hot buttermilk blueberry pancakes cooked on cast iron. Resting, chowing, and some mellow canoeing was on the agenda for the day. We gawked at the ultra-marathoners running through our camp; a funky route, and oddly enough, the canoeing location was the finish line.

Catch a Canoe and Bicycle Too was a quirky shop filled with collectors bikes suspended in the rafters, a series of beautifully crafted “toy” rockets, which looked like they could deliver at least a marmot to outer space, all run and owned by an idiosyncratic shopkeeper. He seemed half-wizard, half rocket scientist, and likely was the most intriguing person that I had encountered while on the trip. His knowledge of photography and rockets was astounding, and he ran a bike shop and a canoe rental business too. And these weren’t just any canoes, these were real works of functional art, just like one would imagine with a beautifully crafted bike, these were easily the most beautiful water-worthy canoes I had ever seen, not to mention the fastest; replete with outriggers for stability. I can’t recommend this experience enough; anyone can manage to enjoy a languid paddle up a gentle river in one of these. On the river, there’s a calm that’s induced that coaxes one to slow down to drink in all the fresh air and sights. Even a handful of seals with pups laid around without a care in the world. A few hours worth of this and it’s like hitting reset on your body. Just mellow; nowhere to be, but right where you are.

The remainder of the day was just chilling with friends, scarfing yet another burrito, and roaming around the bluffs followed by an epic paella cooked by the birthday boy himself, Youngblade.

Day 6 Russian Gulch to Bodega Bay (102mi/6.5k ft)

https://www.strava.com/activities/955648904

These are the types of days that most riders dream about: a good deal of rest, a pancake breakfast, and an epic tailwind that would leave most vikings envious. Despite the fact that the option to hop in a car was there, I opted to pedal the remaining miles back home in 2 days. This might have been one of my favorite days of riding. The hills were fast rolling, each corner plunged down toward the ocean and climbed back up along a coastal bluff. The farmlands added to the serene and bucolic views that elicited a smile. Such a beautiful coastline, such a simple life that calls you to standstill, reflect on a slower pace of nature and the simplicity of it.

Each descent propelled me closer to home and I began to squirm a little thinking about joining the fray again. I pushed on.

Point Arena is a small town that boasts having one of the oldest lighthouses on the coast. It’s a cute and quaint little pitstop close enough for a number of motorcycle riders to reach it from the Bay. A weird sight: hippy/coastal/biker community. California is filled with contradictory juxtapositions, but that’s one of the reasons I love this state. After a solid lunch, I caught up to a crew of riders bikepacking, the only legit riders I had seen! The trio were Canadians heading down from, well, Canada and going down to LA. I was impressed with the amount of beer they were loaded with and sad to turn them down to join them. I had hoped to finally exchange some road stories with fellow riders. There was a brief stop at Salt Point with them, but I felt great from that luscious tailwind, even after 75 miles, and decided to push on to Bodega Bay, about 30 miles down the road.

I rolled into Bodega Bay around 6pm and treated myself to a quality glass of wine and a massive fillet of halibut. So perfect, so nourishing. The campsite at the dunes was a windy one, and made it challenging to sleep despite wearing earplugs. No wonder it’s a favorite spot of windsurfers. Some peculiar dreams crept in that night. Maybe the corporate lifestyle or the dread of the routine that was right around the corner.

Day 7 (Bodega Bay to Larkspur to SF 65mi/3k ft)

https://www.strava.com/activities/956749405

The morning dew hung tightly to everything in sight, it limited my vision, and would eventually morph into a full rain. Undeterred, I knew a hot bath and a cold beer was at the end of my road, but first, I needed a solid breakfast. Estero Cafe delivered. Seated just outside of Marshall, it’s a quaint little organic farm to table type of place, but felt more like a cafe that you might encounter in anytown USA with the local sheriff stopping in and a few regulars just picking up their morning joe. The mist had built up to a sprinkle after I finished my last bite, so it would be a drizzly ride home. Another 60 miles of meandering through dairy farmlands and verdant hills. A host of classic porsches from the 50s zipped along the same roads, they respected me and I certainly marveled at their classic contours.

Fairfax is always a favorite destination of mine, as many bikers can attest. There is a shared love for bikes in this upper-crust hippy town (seemingly contradictory). Gestalt was on my mind, after collecting rain in my shoes for the last 50 miles, I was ready for a beer and a sausage. Both were savored. I felt lonely and wanted to share my journey with someone like I had done the previous year after a longer tour, but nobody extended me the pleasantries. A tired and weariness settled in from the week of riding, yet there was a lingering satisfaction from knowing what I had accomplished.

I opted to take the ferry back to save a few miles and to soak up the bay and the bridge from a different perspective. The quiet Monday afternoon in the city made it feel like a distant stranger, as the streets were quiet. The city towered over the mouse in a familiar concrete cornfield. It felt good to be home; an appropriate way to close out one chapter and start a new one. The cycle continues, as does the adventure, it always will.

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fifth--business-blog · 5 years

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8 Budget Plan Friendly Trip Ideas for 2018

Updated: 11/8/2018 | November 8th, 2018

While many of us dream of traveling the world (or at least taking a few months off from work in pursuit of adventure), it’s not always feasible, even for those with the best of intentions. A lot of things can get in the way.

I frequently talk about long-term travel and round-the-world trips, but I know that realistically, not everyone can or wants to enjoy this style of travel. I don’t think traveling the world is hard, but I also know that what I do isn’t for everyone.

Some people just want to go on a cheap vacation for a few weeks. Not everyone has the time or luxury to take an extended trip.

So what do you do when you only have a short amount of time and a short amount of money?

What are some budget vacation ideas that aren’t about traveling the world?

Even if I won’t find you backpacking Cambodia for three months or walking the Camino de Santiago, there are many ways to get on the road and see the world without breaking the bank! Here are eight cheap travel ideas if you are cash-strapped and/or time-poor:

Cheap Vacation Idea 1: Be a Local Tourist

How often do you visit the tourist sites in your own city? Hardly ever, right? I know New Yorkers who have never seen the Statue of Liberty and Bostonians who have never walked the Freedom Trail. I once took a Dutch friend on a tour of Amsterdam because, despite growing up there, she had never seen the local attractions that lure millions of visitors to the city every year.

We’re all guilty of this. It took me five years to see the Jim Thompson House in Bangkok (even after living there), and I’ve still never been to Bunker Hill in Boston despite spending the first 24 years of my life there.

We always put it off until tomorrow, because when we live in a city, we think there is always a tomorrow.

We get so caught up in our daily lives we forget that we can have a cheap vacation in our own city. We don’t have to go anywhere!

If you’re short on time and money, there’s no better way to spend some free time than to wander your own city. No matter what its size, it has a number of wonders that you’ve never seen or even known about because you just don’t like! We’re busy leading our lives and following our routines. It’s normal but let’s look at your home with new eyes.

Be a traveler in your own town!

Important tips: When you become a local tourist, check out of your house and into a hotel, hostel, or guesthouse. It’s important to get out of your familiar environment because if you stay home, you’ll find something to do around the house and create excuses for why you can’t sightsee. Moving to a different location can help give you that feeling of adventure, excitement, and unfamiliarity.

Moreover, be sure to go to your local tourism office and get a city tourism pass. These cards allow you to see a wide range of local attractions for free or reduced prices and can be your way to see your local sites on a budget. They aren’t just for outsiders!

Cheap Vacation Idea 2: Travel Regionally

Travel brings to mind faraway and exotic destinations. It invokes images of all the places we’ve dreamed of and seen in movies. Because of that, few people look in their own backyard for adventure — as my Aussie friends always tell me before they jet off somewhere, “Mate, you’ve probably seen more of Oz than I have!” — but it offers just as many places to travel.

I could say the same thing as my Aussie friends. I grew up in Boston, and from there, I could visit New Hampshire, the woods of Maine, the bed-and-breakfasts of the Berkshires, or the farms of Vermont. New York was a four-hour car ride from home. How often did I do that? Not often enough!

Exploring your own region is an underrated and often overlooked aspect of travel. It gets the occasional lip service in magazines, but driving across the United States made me realize how much our own countries have to offer us and how often we overlook that for some foreign place.

There’s something special about being a stranger in your homeland and realizing you really don’t know much about it as you thought.

We think because we’re born in a place we understand it but every country has regional differences that make it unique and, unless we travel to see and experience them, we’ll never fully understand the place we call home.

Driving across my country (the U.S.) taught me a lot about it. It gave me a deep appreciation for it, the people, and the diversity within its borders. It broke down stereotypes and misconceptions I had about the different regions in the US. My time exploring my own backyard was just as important to my growth as any trip to a foreign country.

If you’re on a limited budget, can’t afford a flight or a trip to exotic lands, or just want to do something different, don’t forget that you can always travel your own country. It can be just as powerful as visiting another country.

Cheap Vacation Idea 3: Go to National Parks

The great outdoors present a great chance to go somewhere on the cheap. Camping, after all, costs very little money. Camping fees in national parks are as little as $15 USD per night in the United States, $15-40 CAD in Canada, $10-60 AUD in Australia, and $17-22 NZD in New Zealand. And in many places in Japan and Europe (especially Scandinavia), you can camp on public lands for free. Additionally, you go camping stocked with all your own supplies and accommodation (i.e., a tent), so you don’t have to worry about spending lots of extra money. Your food bill can be whatever you spend on groceries and nothing more.

You don’t need to love camping to spend time in the national parks, either. Personally, I hate camping. I’m not the camp-in-a-tent kind of guy; I need toilets, beds, and hot water. Luckily, many parks provide cabins. While hiking the Grand Canyon, I stayed at a national park lodge at the bottom. I had a room in a dormitory, but for a few nights, it was the cheap accommodation I needed.

There’s almost always a park nearby and spending a few days with nature is not only good for your wallet but also good for your soul.

Along these same lines, Camp in My Garden is a website that lets people camp in someone’s backyard (or garden). Got an RV that needs parking? Check out RV with Me, which finds cheap parking and overnight solutions for RV owners!

Cheap Vacation Idea 4: Book a Last-Minute Cruise (or Book Far in Advance)

Cruises are normally very expensive, affairs with a seven-day Caribbean cruise costing over $600–700 USD per person for a small interior room. And, if you’re traveling alone, you often have to pay the price of two people since not many cruise lines offer single traveler rooms!

But, if you’re the last passenger running onto that ship, you can find some sweet deals.

Cruise lines always offer incredible last-minute deals. No ship’s captain – or cruise company – wants to leave with half the cabins empty. If you wait until a few weeks before departure, you can find some really amazing deals as cruise lines scramble to find passengers. Plus, cruise operators always throw in some on-board amenities, free upgrades, and cash vouchers to sweeten the deal.

The website CruiseSheet often has cruises as low as $30 per day! (It’s the best cruise booking website in the world!)

Conversely, if you book over a year in advance, cruise lines also offer amazing low fares for early birds.

Cruises are the one form of travel for which I recommend visiting a travel agent if you’re part of a big group. They have wonderful working relationships with the operators and can score better packages than booking online.

After you book, keep an eye out on prices, because if they drop, you can often call your travel agent or the cruise company itself to get a partial refund or vouchers to use for dining and alcohol on the boat.

READ THIS —> Click here to read my guide to finding super discounted cruises (and how to save money once you are on board.)

Cheap Vacation Idea 5: Think Outside the Box

Forget Mexico and go to Guatemala. Skip Paris and head to Budapest. Forget Italy and see Greece (it’s really cheap!). Ditch Brazil and take on Bolivia instead. The list goes on and on. There are countless cheap alternatives and budget destinations around the world!

Travel counter to the prevailing trend.

Zig when everyone zags.

If people are going in the summer, you go in the spring or winter. Skip the popular destinations and head off the beaten path a bit.

Contrarian travel will save you a bundle of money. It’s like reverse commuting. While others heading into the city in the morning for work are stuck in traffic, you breeze the opposite way hassle free. The same is true for travel.

The more you are a contrarian in where – and when you go – the better off you’re wallet will be. Plus, you’ll enjoy destinations more because there will be fewer crowds. No one loves a crowd!

READ THIS –> Click here for 10 Destinations to Visit on a Budget to help give you ideas on where you to go!

Cheap Vacation Idea 6: Book a Last-Minute Tour

Just like cruises, tours are best booked last-minute. Tour companies need to fill the seats just like cruise companies, because once that trip departs, they still have the same costs. Last-minute tour bookings work the same way as cruise bookings.

Why are tours so cheap last-minute? Well, think about how people plan vacations. You get the time off work, you book your vacation, you buy your flight, and you go. Since people pre-book, prices are higher in advance because these companies understand booking patterns and then price accordingly. As departure time nears, companies know people aren’t likely to turn up and book on departure day, so they sweeten the price to increase bookings. So take the time off work, wait until the week before, see what’s cheap, and then go.

My favorite company, Intrepid Travel, often offers 15–30% discounts on last-minute tours.

Cheap Vacation Idea 7: Become a House Sitter

Accommodation can eat into the cost of a trip big-time. You might get a flight deal, but then accommodation — even if you can find it cheaply — might push the cost of your trip into unaffordable territory. A way around that is to stay somewhere for free. While I like Couchsurfing, it’s hard to do that for two weeks without annoying your host. A unique way to overcome this is to house-sit for someone while they are on vacation. You get free accommodation, a kitchen to cook in, and the chance to explore a destination in depth. It’s a pretty unique way to travel and one that I know a lot of world travelers take advantage of. You can even do this in your own region too, to cut down on transportation costs.

Cheap Vacation Idea 8: Grab a Cheap Flight

Nowadays, you don’t have to guess where the cheapest flight from your home would be. You can look up a whole list of flights (from cheapest to increasingly more expensive) using a site like Momondo or Google Flights. With those sites, you can type in “(the closest airport to you)” for your departure city and “everywhere” for your destination. Then a list of the cheapest flights appears in front of your very eyes, so you can choose where to go within your budget. This is how I decide where to go when I don’t have a specific place in mind. It’s a great tool!

Here are some other great airline booking sites where you can find deals:

Not everyone can jump overseas at the drop of a hat or spend six months backpacking around Europe or Asia. A fancy vacation to Mexico may be out of your reach. But while you might not have a lot of time or money, luckily there’s more than one way to see the world. These cheap vacation ideas may be exactly what you’re looking for!

Travel is simply the art of going somewhere new and different and exploring everything the place has to offer. It doesn’t matter if you have two days, two weeks, or two months. Use these cheap vacation ideas and go explore – on a budget!

Want more? Read these articles to get more specific destination ideas for where to have a budget vacation:

Book Your Trip: Logistical Tips and Tricks

Book Your Flight Find a cheap flight by using Skyscanner or Momondo. They are my two favorite search engines because they search websites and airlines around the globe so you always know no stone is left unturned.

Book Your Accommodation To find the best budget accommodation, use Booking.com as they consistently return the cheapest rates for guesthouses and cheap hotels. I use them all the time. You can book your hostel – if you want that instead – with Hostelworld as they have the most comprehensive inventory.

Don’t Forget Travel Insurance Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. It’s comprehensive protection in case anything goes wrong. I never go on a trip without it as I’ve had to use it many times in the past. I’ve been using World Nomads for ten years. My favorite companies that offer the best service and value are:

Looking for the best companies to save money with? Check out my resource page for the best companies to use when you travel! I list all the ones I use to save money when I travel – and I think will help you too!

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purplesurveys · 3 years

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1006

(found at xxbieberburnham)

“The rest of your life”

Are you independent or dependent? Dependent as all hell. I’ll put my foot down on very certain things, but most of the time I prefer hearing input or suggestions from people I trust. I definitely think it’s something I still have to work on because I know I’ll have to be mostly independent at some point.

If you could put your life into a category, where would it go? I feel like this would be easier to answer if you gave a list of categories. I don’t know what kind of insight you’re looking for.

How many animals do you have? I have two, but I call them pets.

Are you popular? Idk and I don’t care. All I know is I don’t actively seek to be so.

What time were you born? 9:11 in the evening.

Have you had any candy this week? Yeah, I had a gummy worm this morning. Mom bought a box of Halloween-themed sweets and there were cupcakes had gummy worms on them alongside marshmallows designed to look like a tombstone.

Are you more afraid of tornadoes or hurricanes? Hurricanes are terrifying, but I’m used to them. We don’t get tornadoes at all so I’ll not only be unprepared for those, but would definitely be more afraid of them too.

Do you like those nerd glasses? Sure, I still think they’re cute and look good on people but I never called them nerd glasses lol. Mine are kinda shaped like one.

Have you ever been in a fist fight? Nah, I’d be wiped out pretty fast.

What color is your house? A light shade of beige.

When was the last time you saw a rainbow? More than a year ago, I’m sure. It was during our ride back home from a journalism workshop, which if I remember correctly was all the way in Cavite. Goddamn we traveled a lot for those workshops.

Have you ever ate a crayon? I’ve never bitten off a piece but I’m not ruling out at least licking.

Ever rode in a helicopter? Nope. Would love to.

Do you like rabbits? Sure.

Do you like mushrooms? For the most part I don’t even think they taste like anything, so I never really had a problem with mushrooms.

“It’s like you step into the room and just press play”

What was the last movie you cried at? That Thing Called Tadhana. I had watched it five years ago after my first breakup; I got to go to Sagada shortly after that breakup, so that movie was actually very therapeutic for me at the time because it allowed me to release my feelings the way Mace did, also in Sagada. Now I’m stuck at home and can’t travel and that movie just hurt too much to finish.

What ice cream flavor best describes your personality? I don’t really...pair ice cream flavors with types of personalities.

Would you rather work for a small or large company? Large, because I feel like I’d be challenged more in those and thus learn more. Also it just looks nicer on resumés, if I’m being honest. Smaller companies are ok too but I prefer those that already have a rep for churning excellent results and having a good track record for workplace culture, like the company I’m currently working with.

Where's your favorite place to buy clothes? Ukays. I used to not like them, but my mom and sister did a great job reeling me in and making me see the appeal.

How many languages do you speak? Two.

What was the worst movie you've ever seen? Me Before You was such a waste of my time. Predictable, cheesy, and typical asshole-guy-softens-up-over-time-oh-and-just-as-you-start-to-root-for-him-we’re-gonna-kill-him-off. But idk, I was with friends who were into movies like those and I wanted to support them, so I went along to watch.

What video game have you played the most? Cumulatively, pretty sure it’s Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

What was your favorite TV show as a child? I was a Nickelodeon girl and Spongebob, Fairly OddParents, and My Life as a Teenage Robot were my top 3, with Jimmy Neutron closely trailing at #4. I loved Disney shows too but wasn’t really able to appreciate them as much until I got a little older and could understand their humor better.

What's your favorite sport? My answer won’t change - if it counts, pro wrestling. If it doesn’t, my next favorite is table tennis.

If you were given a brand new yacht, what would you name it? Nothing creative is coming to me at the moment.

Do you believe there’s life on other planets? Yes. Maybe not the ones in our solar system, but those out in the distant universe for sure.

What was the worst place you ever traveled to? Can’t say I’ve truly disliked a particular place we’ve been to. I will say that Chinese people have a...culture that I’m not used to, and I did not enjoy touring with a bunch of them during my cruise. They had buffet habits that I would consider unhygienic, they would sit at the same table my mom and I were eating at if there were available seats(??????? imagine if I just sat beside you at a diner while you’re having lunch?), and apparently it’s acceptable for them to actually look you in the eyes and point directly at you if they’re talking about you with other people. It was honestly a lot to put up with for six days, and the only reason I didn’t lose my temper was because my dad works in the ship and I didn’t want to cause him any trouble.

What is one thing you’re really bad at? Making art.

Do you believe in angels? No. I like referring to my grandpa as my guardian angel, but I don’t actually believe in angels.

Would you rather be a famous actor or musician? I know I’m awful at either, but I’d much rather act.

“where have you been all my life?”

If you could have invented one thing, what would it have been? It’d be cool to come up with something that ends up being widely popular and/or beneficial to society, but do it accidentally; like how popsicles came to be. Imagine building a legacy from your own oopsie lmao sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

What's your favorite exercise workout? I don’t do workouts.

What's your favorite thing to do? Wow, very straightforward. Hmm these days I’m slowly inching back to wrestling, so I’ve been watching compilations and documentaries and doing some catching-up here and there. Lately I’d say that’s my favorite thing to do, but that can always change.

What did you do for your 17th birthday? Gab and I went to Pinto and she brought me to Filio after. Then I got back home to see what Athenna had done to my room while I was out, which was to cover the floor with balloons and the walls with printed photos of Zayn Malik.

Does your local Wal Mart have benches in them to rest? First, we’ll need to have local Wal-Mart stores here.

Was your favorite stuffed animal really a teddy bear growing up? I never liked stuffed animals, so I didn’t even have a teddy bear.

If your house was haunted, what would you do? Not fuck with the ghosts/spirits.

Are you crazy in love currently? Not crazily, but in love.

Are you good at swimming? I can tread and do several strokes, but I also tend to panic so I think that eliminates the concept of me being a good swimmer.

What's worse: Slow internet or slow walkers? Slow internet. I can get around slow walkers; but unless I have mobile data, slow internet is out of my control for the most part.

What is the rudest thing a guy has ever done to you? I can’t pick between whistling at me, catcalling me, lunging at me, or flirtatiously harass me in front of his friends while I was minding my goddamn business carrying a goddamn box of cake at the mall. Yeah, not a very big fan of men.

Do you sleep with the sheets tucked in or out? Out.

What do you do to fall asleep faster? Put on a YouTube video and let autoplay take over.

Do you carry a bottle of water wherever you go? Yeah I used to, until I lost it.

Ae you afraid that one day you might get cancer? The fear of the possibility is there, but it’s not predominantly in our family history and so I’m more afraid of other issues I have a higher chance of getting, like high blood pressure.

“Letters to Juliet”

Are you a fast or slow walker? Fast if I’m running errands, slow-ish if I’m out for leisure.

Do you usually have to wear a belt with your pants? No.

Does it bother you when people's underwear hangs out? Kinda. Even more when their crack decides to show up too.

Are you usually the person to try new things with your hair? No, I am one of the last people in line when it comes to that.

When's your birthday? April 21st.

Do you own a bobble-head toy? Nopes.

What color was the towel you used to dry off with today after a shower? Turquoise.

Has anyone ever walked you home? I’ve had someone drive me home. Walking isn’t really applicable here.

Have you ever liked someone and they were taken? That’s never happened to me.

When was the last time you went fishing? In my past life, maybe.

True or false: You've read the book Lord of the Flies? False.

Have you heard of the band Yellowcard? Yes.

Have you ever seen the show Teen Wolf? I’ve seen an episode and oh my god it was so boring.

Do you have any quotes, lyrics etc on your walls? I used to until my mom took it down while I was in school. I made it myself, so it stung.

Are you a fan of Star Wars? No.

“Our parents never let us cross the street, but we did it anyway”

Has anyone ever told you that you have nice hair? Whenever it was actually nice, yeah. It was never my best feature though.

What brand of camera do you own? I have...an iPhone, if it counts, ha. My old DSLR was a Nikon.

Is there something you're not looking forward to? The next day. Having to go through rounds of anxiety is not enjoyable.

Have you ever read the book Thirteen Reasons Why? Have not read the book nor seen the show, but have read enough of the premise to know I am not a fan.

Do you wear white pants? Sure, I have a pair of white jeans that I absolutely love.

When was the last time you were really angry? Yesterday. My sister and I were ordering KFC from a food delivery app and no driver was taking it because drivers in that company are notoriously picky bitches about their destinations. They kept canceling our orders and at some point I had enough and proposed that we just get Pizza Hut, this time straight from the Pizza Hut website, which has always worked out for us before. So Pizza Hut confirms the order, calls me up and says the ETA, so far so good. Around 15 minutes later the doorbell rings and it’s...KFC? With our original orders? Apparently that stupid ass app took our order anyway after repeatedly canceling it, and I never got one fucking notification that our order was received. Tried to cancel Pizza Hut but they said they had already started making the pizzas, so in the end we had to pay for both meals. I had never been so angry.

Have you ever made a 3 pointer in a basketball game? Hah, of course not. I’ve barely made one of those free throws that are worth one point.

Do you think you look better with your hair up or down? I’ve gotten more compliments whenever it’s up, so that must look better on me even if I personally don’t necessarily agree.

Do you warm up before you hardcore exercise? I don’t exercise, but isn’t warming up recommended anyway?

Do you want a pair of Converse shoes? Not really; I suppose they’re alright. It’s not my favorite brand in the world, but I wouldn’t turn down a free pair either.

Are you more of a studs or hoops type of person when it comes to earrings? Hoooooooooops for days.

How many shirts do you have of your favorite band? Just one. I’m not a band shirt person.

Turn on the TV. What channel are you on? There’s no TV in this room.

Have you ever wore a tie before? Yeah, as a kid my mom sometimes made me wear neckties. They made me SO uncomfortable I was having internal breakdowns about being seen in public. I was 7 years old. Neckties to me were a boy thing and I felt 0% boy; and so it gave me such serious dysphoria. It’s like making a boy wear a pink tutu even if he’s already visibly distressed. Whenever I told my mom I felt uncomfortable, she would just tell me it “looks good.” Jesus Christ. Why did no one ever drag my mom to a parenting seminar? Did no one seriously see the signs???

What did you have for breakfast this morning? Garlic rice, bacon strips, and glazed ham.

“For the Krusty Krab”

Are you good at art? Of course not.

How many times have you read your favorite book? I don’t have one.

Name one thing that you really hate. Raisins, on their own and incorporated in a dish.

Have you ever tried walking on stilts? I haven’t.

Is there a war that you find interesting? Eh, not really. So many of historical accounts are bombarded with war narratives as it is, and I’ve just never really found disputes or tensions among countries to be the most interesting part about history. Plus women were mostly absent, and that makes it even more boring.

Would you rather live in the city or country? City.

Do you think $7 is too much for a movie ticket? Not always. $7 or ₱350 is actually pretty reasonable if you wanna see a movie at an upscale mall; people who watch movies in places like that shouldn’t be complaining about movie tickets that cost that much. But all movie theaters are the same anyway - pitch black, freezing, comfy chairs - so I just go to midscale malls where tickets would be like a hundred bucks cheaper since it’s gonna give me the same experience anyway.

Would you like to be a newscast person? For a long time I thought I wanted to be one because that’s what my entire family was rooting me to become. Eventually I realized reading from a teleprompter, interviewing guests, and asking questions to reporters is not a career I want.

Do you like word searches, coloring or crosswords better? Word searches, then coloring, then crosswords.

Close your eyes and press a random key on the keyboard. U.

How many William’s do you know? I don’t think I know anyone. It’s too foreign-sounding a name.

What time did you wake up this morning? I woke up at around 6 AM, but I fell back asleep immediately and woke up again around 30 minutes later.

Do you enjoy crutches? ...No? That seems a little insensitive for people who actually need them.

What's better: Snapple or Arizona tea? Arizona. It’s because I’ve never had the Snapple one, but tbh Arizona is already pretty delicious anyway.

Make a word out of the word: Dinosaur. Round.

“she said I love this song, I’ve heard it before”

When you were younger, did you play with legos? Yes. I was never a creative kid, but I liked playing with them anyway.

Do you like Trix cereal? It was only my absolute favorite cereal as a kid, no biggie.

Do you get nervous easily? Ugh, yes. My parents asked me to get water containers from our local water station last Saturday and I literally had to allot like two hours to brace myself and make a script in my head. I constantly rehearse shit nearly every time I have to go out of the house.

How long is your Facebook password? I’m not sharing that.

Do you like the movie Mean Girls? No, I didn’t find it funny the first time and that made me uninterested in giving it a second chance.

How do you want your wedding to be? Big, grand. Lots of friends, lots of food. Not Catholic/Christian.

Have you seen the movie or show Catfish? Nope.

Do you hate it when you arrive to something early? Not usually. Being early is my goal in most situations, unless I’m headed to like a party.

Have you ever been on Omegle? A few times as a teenager.

Are you still in love with one of your exes? Yes. It’s not going away for a while.

Do you think it's attractive when guys wear beanies? I don’t necessarily seek out men with beanies lol but I don’t think it looks bad on them either.

What's something that makes you feel shy in public? Unfamiliar situations.

Do you like the shows on MTV? No.

If you could go back and relive one day, what day? That last Friday I was in school before the lockdown happened. If I knew what the next eight months were going to look like, I would’ve stayed much longer in school, dragged my friends out to drink, blew my money on food, had more fun basically.

What's one word you hate to be called? Exhausting. Like being told I’m exhausting to be with. How does that not hurt?

#survey #surveys

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dclreturn · 2 years

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Day 8 - Saturday, October 23, 2021 - Castaway Cay (Day 2)

Welcome BACK to Castaway Cay!

It was roughly midnight when I went to sleep, so the 7:15am alarm was quite unwelcome. Like clockwork, docking began almost immediately thereafter and a repeat of our breakfast Room Service arrived promptly at 7:30am at which time I got us in Group 5 to debark the ship at 8:30-8:45am.

Between being tired, knowing what the day entailed, and expecting it to rain, I struggled to just go to the island in t-shirt & shorts, which Kara elected vs full swimwear, which I ended up changing into. We were off the ship around 8:45am, as I was still loading my bag.

It was a gloomy overcast morning. By the time we got to a slightly different location today (on the other side of Sand Bar), the sun was fighting to come out and there was quite a nice breeze. With my temperature sensitivity, finding the perfect combo on a beach day is rare. This morning was it! Except the water. From our experience 2 days ago and seeing No One in the water this morning, we knew it had to be… brisk.

We read in our loungers until 11:30am lunch and headed back to Cookies Too for a slightly different lunch than when we were here previously. Part of my selections was a cold sweet potato salad with onions and corn, which was perfect on this hot day that was now full-on sun. And yes I implemented our traditional stealth plan of Cookie acquisition, storage, and eventual transport back to the ship!

Knowing the high temp with direct sun was a bad combo for Kara, we discussed about when to go back to the ship, which was pretty quick. Honestly, I wanted to get back and get past the worst part of every cruise: packing. [Insert pouting and crying here.]

Yes, we want these “golf carts” for retirement, but with tops, of course!

Usually we are rushing to shower after the island, pack, dash to dinner & the show, to get back, change, and set our bags out to be taken to the hold by 10:15pm. We didn’t want this glorious vacation to end like that. So we were back on the ship by 1pm to shower and be done with the vast majority of our packing by 2:30pm.

Above you can see with the color change where and how much they had to dredge in order to allow the ships to direct dock. This had to be increased with the larger size of these Dream Class ships. If you want a grand story about the lane marker pole in the distance, see our trip report from the 2008 cruise. Which was technically our first 8 night cruise. Hmm this reminds me I need to move that trip report from another platform to here on Tumblr. Stay tuned....

I went to Guest Services for change, and seeing the empty Atrium, drug Kara downstairs to video me doing a (very bad out-of-practice) cartwheel in front of the Minnie statue! Then it was a bit of a break to catch up on this writing and for Kara to contend with a headache. I also finally consumed the (incredible) Peanut Butter chocolate Mickey bar from a few nights ago….

Also, I calculated during this 8 night cruise, we left the ship for just over 10 hrs! #noregrets (If you’ve ever been on a Disney Cruise, you understand!)

Kara took a brief nap to try to rid a bad headache, as I finished an e-book. We chatted on the verandah about our careers and making different choices now and looking toward formal retirement. Then it was quick prep to get to dinner.

Luckily we also remembered we hadn’t yet selected our Platinum Guest Gift. If you have Platinum Castaway Club status, you get to choose a bottle of wine, fruit basket, or a box of truffles (one per stateroom). It was Kara’s turn to choose and I was surprised she chose the truffles, as there’s only one she truly loves (raspberry).

We were back in Royal Court for what is usually called the Captain’s Gala menu, which means one thing: Lobster! Some Disney differences are on display this night. First, the servers are in black tie tuxes. Second, the head servers de-shell the lobster tails at your table.

Third, in being in Royal Court, there is a baby grand that we were seated beside. We had live piano and violin players that reminded me of “Disney Piano Music” on YouTube that I often use to fall asleep.

With this and per social distancing, the tunes introduced the Princesses of Ariel, Aurora, Cinderella, and Mulan as they processed through the restaurant as a Royal Promenade. This is a new result from COVID protocols and it was incredibly lovely. The princesses gracefully strolled through without the usual guest photographs or pre-COVID autograph work.

The final meal always ends in saying goodbye to our server team and presenting their gratuity envelopes. (We do this at dinner, as we never go to the final breakfast.) This was a special duo that we would very much enjoy having again and will likely look for Tony as a Head Server on the Wish (possibly)!

Inexplicably I got an alert Guest Services didn’t have my credit card on file, which I entered during Online Check-In, and apparently this happened to a number of guests. I will presume this is an error in the new Online Check-in & App. So it was upstairs to get the credit card and back down.

Kara here: I had gotten the same error the night before so we actually made this specific stop twice which was really about the only annoying thing that happened on the entire cruise.

We then continued on our planned final visit to Sweet on You, where I treated Kara as thanks for cruising with me. She got the PB Chocolate Mickey cookie I had earlier, the unicorn/Rapunzel cupcake, and more Mixed Berry gelato with roasted pecans. I got the same cupcake and a dish of Chocolate-covered Strawberry gelato, which was quite tasty.

I was so full I ended up consuming the cupcake the next morning at MCO.

We finished our gelato in our rooms and during the brief respite, we decided to skip the planned 2000s Music Trivia. Instead we changed into PJs in order to finalize and put our luggage outside our stateroom to be taken down to the terminal.

Then we settled in for one of our favorite aspects: completing the cruise survey! LOL! It was the perfect spooky-looking night to end a Halloween-themed cruise.

Disembarkation Day - Sunday, Oct. 24, 2021

Since there’s rarely anything truly noteworthy on the “last” day I’ll tack on our next-morning adventure here. As already shared, we prefer to go to Cabanas on disembarkation morning. Yet, we also kicked around the idea of trying to catch an earlier flight home.

As we were grabbing the last of our things to head to Cabanas for breakfast and await the call of our character luggage tag to indicate we could disembark, the all-ship speaker announces “All Guests may now disembark.” (I suppose that’s what you get only sailing at 25% capacity!)

We shrugged and said, “I guess we’re not going to breakfast!”

Going on a standby list is virtually impossible on the App (especially on American), so we got to MCO and as always the Magical Bubble of Disney was burst in chaos and long lines.

When we finally got to a airline rep we were told (along with everyone else) that every flight was full. We were put on a waitlist, but no joy. Otherwise the return flight home was without incident.

So if you’ve made it to this point, on behalf of Kara, thank you for joining us on this glorious return to cruising! We hope you enjoyed it and now better understand what an incredibly entertaining and relaxing vacation option and experience this is!

And just to keep your interest... what’s next for us? Well, per all the cancelations over the past couple of years, we booked a “back-up” trip. However, again after enduring the past couple of years, we just decided to keep it! So hopefully our next trip report will be from a January 2022 5 night Bahamian Marvel Day at Sea Disney Cruise! Because for you... “Whatever it takes!”

Disclaimer: Gayle is a travel agent with Authorized Disney Travel Planner agency - Off to Neverland Travel. Contact her today for a no-obligation quote!

#dclreturn

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