When I was growing up I used to collect bubble gum cards, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Cards, Dinosaur cards, garbage patch kids, the lot. During the filming for Around the World in 80 Raves we suggested we might use cards as a means of marketing the show, I always wanted to be on my own bubble gum card!
Around the World in 80 Raves - Bubble Gum Card Front
Around the World in 80 Raves - Bubble Gum Card Back
San Diego Around the World in 80 Raves - Bubble Gum Card Front
Glenn Ward Around the World in 80 Raves - Bubble Gum Card Reverse
Atlanta Around the World in 80 Raves - Bubble Gum Card Front
Joel Etoe Around the World in 80 Raves - Bubble Gum Card Back
The Burning Man Festival - Around the World in 80 Raves - Bubble Gum Card
Chantel French Around the World in 80 Raves - Bubble Gum Card Front
Los Angeles Around the World in 80 Raves - Bubble Gum Card Front
Rebekah Around the World in 80 Raves - Bubble Gum Card Back
Sheryl Around the World in 80 Raves - Bubble Gum Card Front
Sheryl Around the World in 80 Raves - Bubble Gum Card Back
I just had an email through facebook from a lady telling me she watched Around the world in 80 Raves on YouTube. I had a look and Mike Christie, one of the producers of the show has but on Episode 3, Burning Man Festival – Nevada, Tijuana night out – San Diego
Show features Glenn Ward, Joel, Boppa, Bex Chantel and Sheryl from Leicester
We got to Rose Lawn, Wisconsin around 12, which was actually 11 because we had crossed a time zone we all went to bed now knowing that in two days we would be on the Jerry Springer show, and possibly even meet him. The next morning there was a bit of confusion at the entrance to the naturist camp. It was hot so we all sat and waited for the crew to argue with the security guards who were total cocks on a power trip. Eventually they let us in but wouldn’t let us film with the main camera. So it was down to us to get the dirty footage for the day, a challenge we all rose to, Zoom Zoom Zoom. It wasn’t so much a porn festival but a crowd watching some of the sexiest professional pole dancers and strippers compete in various competition categories to be the best in their field. We didn’t talk much that day or get to know people. When every girl in the place competing and spectating got their tits out, and the rest, when you held up a camera, there wasn’t time to chat. Towards the end of the day there was an amateur competition in a place called the pit in the forest. We were told that it fills up early so the lads got in there a good hour before the start to guarantee front row seats. It was worth it as well random girls from the crowd got up to enter, egged on by the spectators until a wet T-shirt competition became a take of all your clothes and writhe in the water sprayed by the purvey security guard. From then on each competition became the same and the day began to come to an end. The girls spoke to some weird dudes on the way out then we headed back to the bus. This time, destination Chicago and the Springer show.
Left Niagara around midday after a few interviews and filming the general chitchat on the bus. We had the company of the crew for this journey so the bus was quite cramped so we didn’t really get up too much on the journey. We got there in the night, got of the bus to stretch our legs but we were parked on the side of a dual carriageway and the place was dead, we couldn’t walk far so we got some sleep now we had stopped. Up at 10:30 the next day and off to meet our new chaperon for the day, a record producer called Ade, we went to meet him at his studios where him and a couple of his buddies and his wife were hanging out. He told us how his business operates and what they do in the studios, how they lay down a track. The decks came out and they showed us his mate “Friday Nights” rapping skills. He then sent someone down the shop to get the molten ice 40oz bottles and we felt obliged to join them for a beer early on. We were then taken to be shown where we would find the best pizza in the states according to them. It was a big restaurant and we had a table booked for like twenty, we ordered some big pizzas, which were proper pizzas, not the modern quick and easy style you get now in a pizzeria. Everyone chucked in their share of the bill and we started to make our way on foot to an African American jubilee 2000 open-air festival. It made an excellent change, loads of little stalls, music, artwork, dancing and Ade had a nice two litre vodka and fruit juice mixer going on to keep us in the mood for the evening. We browsed around the festival and met two girls who had just set up a .com business in utilities or something and they fully thought they would be millionaires within a few months and after knowing them for a few minutes they were asking us to set up there operations in the UK for them, yep, that’ll work! Apparently she could trust me cos I am a Pisces and she could trust my eyes, I don’t think they meant business I think she was just trying to crack onto me. We all met up around the entrance. We had some time to kill before going to the club so Ade took us to an island where everyone hangs out, drinks, smokes and plays their music as loud as possible and the strange thing was a lot of the cars had Ade’s music coming from them. I bet that made him feel quite proud of his work. I bet that’s the main reason he goes to that part of Detroit. The police soon came and moved us all along and the crew almost got arrested as they were filming us leaving and weren’t in the car themselves. We then went straight to club to experience the girls “Shaken der ass” as Ade puts it. It wasn’t as fast as they do it in Barbados but it was still something to look at. Chantal got up and had a go, and didn’t do badly then Sheryl got up and had a go and resembled a sweaty lesbian hore if you can picture that. Bop had go but his floppy armed dancing style didn’t quite fit with what the others were doing. As the cameras moved on to the dance a competition between the locals began to take place. These girls tits and arse seemed to be drawn by some mysterious force to the camera, “everyone wants to be on tele” we weren’t complaining though all the footage needs watching over and checking before it goes back to England. We’re there. I defiantly wasn’t drunk enough to attempt some of the things they were doing so we pissed off up stairs and worked on that not being drunk problem. We found a tamer dance floor up there and had a bit of a groove up there instead. The night was pretty routine after that we all got drunk messed around with the locals in the car park who again seemed drawn to the cameras like a group of people waiting in line at an episode of Jerry Springer. We jumped into a car and went back to the bus where we said goodbye to the guys and thanked them for showing us around.
When we got back to the bus that evening it was straight up to Niagra Falls through the night. We arrived around 1:00 and ate in the hotel restaurant. It was the crews day of so once everyone was organised which took a long time we all went to go and see the falls still doing a little bit of filming, I don’t think they could help themselves. We met the river quite early on where it was quite violent and followed it around to where you can see it all go over, then walked out onto like a big half bridge so you look back and get a better view We decided as a group that it would be cool to go over to Canada so we carried on to the bridge that crosses over on the American side there is a passport control to get back into the states but just a swing gate to get onto the bridge, so as we all had our passports we went through and it took about five minutes to cross the bridge to get to the Canadian passport control, there we found that we would be alright getting into Canada but to get back into the states we needed a piece of paper that we were given at the airport, which obviously none of us had. So theoretically we were stuck between countries on a bridge. The women at the Canadian side made a phone call to the American side and told him we hadn’t yet entered the country and she was sending us back. By which time the cameras were back on us again as the crew thought it was hilarious that we were stuck on a bridge. After a short confrontation with the drill sergeant in passport control on the American side we were back in the country and those that could be bothered went to get the bit off paper we needed and went to spend the rest of the day in Canada. It was very different again it was all very touristic. Loads of gift shops little cafes and bars, it was a like a little holiday town with plenty of energy coming from the falls. We walked around doing the tourist thing, messing about and going in all the little gift shops to see if we could find some Canadian souvenirs. The best thing about visiting Canada was we had found somewhere that it was legal for us to drink again without being considered minors, or ID needed. We had a few drinks in a bar then wondered around the streets until we found a nice seafood restaurant and ate there. Time was getting on and it was getting dark so we made our way back round to the bridge, not before taking a long look at the falls from the Canadian side whilst they were all lit up. We had no trouble getting back across and I got a Canadian stamp in my passport so I was happy with the day.
It was again quite a boring trip, travelling during the day so you don’t want to sleep but it’s hard to occupy your mind. We usually end up singing along to the guitars or arguing about which music we want on. We got there at 5:00 but we had to stay just outside Manhatten in a days inn car park just the other side of the Lincoln Tunnel cos the bus was only allowed into the city between certain hours of the day it would be too much hassle. We got reasonably dressed up, as we would be spending the night on a paddle boat around New York with some of the high flyer’s. The boat was due to leave at 7:00 so there wasn’t much time; everyone was bundled into taxis and rushed to the dock. We made it in time and realised it wasn’t just some friendly trip around the island but it had three bars on board. Two floors of the finest techno and house music. And an upper deck to chill out on and look at the sites of New York. It was a free bar before 8;00 so naturally we set up camp and took full advantage before moving on to the top deck to see us set sail, do a bit of mingling and, call me a tourist but there’s some sites that you just have to see from the water. The Vodca was going down nicely and we were all up dancing, Sheryl taking it a little bit to far, I think she thought she was auditioning for a part in the movie “Striptease” or something. Fair play though, she was getting the boys attention; I just thought it was plain dirty though. It became obvious that perhaps we’d had too much to drink when we went upstairs and Boppa began talking to a Dj from the Bronx. Now, Boppa talks shit at the best of times but if there’s one thing he does know it’s his music. The conversation started of OK, Two music lovers discussing what they were into. The guy was heavily into his techno and when Boppa said he was into drum and base it didn’t go down to well, neither did Boppa rapping at him. Anyway, we avoided boppa getting thrown of the boat, mainly because I was holding him on the boat, but it all kicked off again when we tried to leave at the end of the night, and “I don’t want to talk to you, cos you smell like my poo” defiantly didn’t help. Nice one Bop. We avoided it all again and started to make our way to the after party, party at a local club only to have the guy run down the street and punch bop in the back of the head as we were walking away, then it defiantly kicked off Phil turned and swung at him with the camera tripod and took a direct hit. This time A girl we had met on the boat who new these people calmed it all down and Boppa and I got in a taxi with her to go to the next club. We thought it was finally over but as we got to a set of traffic lights, a car screeched up next to us and we were told we were going to die tonight and followed us to the club, the girl got out to go and talk to them again and we went over to a donut shop next to the club, fortunately in there was a policeman eating dohnuts. Nice one. The decision was made though, once we told the crew that they had threatened to kill us and although it was all funny at the time we were very drunk and probably didn’t realise how serious it could have been, especially as we were in New York. So not only did we get to see the major sights but have a good night out and experience some of the people of New York and almost got shot, quite an evening.
It had been a long night so we didn’t wake up until midday again. Then we headed straight onto the island, the girls went shopping for cheap clothes and I took the opportunity to find a tattoo parlour and get my tattoo done as we didn’t have time and we would be away from the sea for such a long time it would give it a chance to set in. There were plenty of places all in the same part of town so we had a look to see which looked the most professional the went in to negotiate a price. Joel who already had plenty of tattoos was making it out to be really painful but he’s been scared of needles most his life. I expected to be biting on a stool or something but the only time it really hurt was when the needle went over the bone of the spine, then I got quite a twinge. It took a couple of hours but I was well pleased with the finished result although wearing sticky tape and clingfilm on my back was quite annoying. We had to rush back to the bus to get changed. For the first time tonight the group would split up, Joel Bex and Boppa would go to a club called “ceeby jeebys” they would find one room to be a goth night and the other five Punk band auditions, and that’s about as much as I can tell you about there night. Us on the other hand. We would meet up with some of the people and models from Elite model New York. I was I bit nervous. We would be going to high-class bars and although the guys were a similar age group, what would I have to talk to models about? We arrived at the Tribeca Grand, a very swish place run by the same people who run the Soho Grand in London, apparently. They even had some one in the rest room helping you wash your hands, something I’d never seen before. We met Roman and Sheri who were organising the night and all their friends and sat down and ordered some drinks. With out a doubt this was the best group of people we had met on the trip so far. They were all interested in our trip and how it came about and interested in what we did. There lives weren’t exactly dull either so we had plenty to talk about. It seemed that their number one priority was to make sure that we had a good night. We left in taxis on the way to “Joe’s Pub” one of the hardest places to get into in New York, but with these guys we just skipped the long que and walked straight in, the atmosphere in the place was fucking amazing. Once inside it was quite packed but that was soon sorted when the promoter cleared a table right in front of the stage and we all sat down on the sofas. At this point the champagne arrived and the drinks just kept on coming. The acts on stage were amazing and everyone we were with was up for a right old laugh. A couple of the guys had said to me that one of the girls, Tarin was interested in me, but she was so perfect and I didn’t fancy making a fool out of myself with someone who is way out of my league. The night was easily the best so far, we were getting on with everyone really well and we decided to move onto the final club of the night. I left the pub with Tarin and we were getting on but I wasn’t going to make a move and spoil it all. We got in the taxi for the Luhan Club, owned by Steven Boldwin. We stopped of at a shop next to the club and got some chocolate then went down into the club, which was underneath a restaurant. It was quite small inside but quite cosy. The crew relaxed with the filming and joined in with the drinking. Everywhere in the club had sofas again, so it was a great place to finish the night. I had lost out with Tarin, as she was talking to some other guy for the rest of the night which was annoying cos apparently she told Chantal that she was interested. I found a comfy spot with everyone on the sofa and we stayed until about 5;00 in the morning and I was under the impression that we were meeting up with them again tomorrow.
When everyone else got up I really couldn’t be bothered so they went into New York to shop and I slept some more then stayed on the bus while we drove around Manhatten shooting General Views, then bill dropped us of and me and Richard went to meet the others in time square from there me boppa and Joel jumped in a taxi and went to go up in a helicopter and see Manhattan from the air, Joel had already done this before so after we met the crew just me and bop went up, we could only take the little cameras so while boppa filmed us I filmed the shots out the window. It was boppas and mine first time in a helicopter and it was the best location to do it in trust me. As soon as the ten minutes were up we left to go see Ronnie Sys in central park. The strange thing was as we got out the taxi at the park literally five metres away stood Petes friends that we had met in Myrtle Beach. You don’t get many coincidences much freakier than that. The guys from last night said they may be coming to watch the show so I kept my eye out for them and we went in. It was a real good atmosphere, we were right down the front in the VIP area just to the right of the stage. It seemed there was no plan to meet up with the guys from last night as Richard told us we had to be at a club called spa on the other side of town. I didn’t like the club much, I thought it was very trying to be cool but not quite achieving it, with music plucked from my 1997 CD collection. It wasn’t as bad as I am making out I suppose it was a cool looking place and the people in there seemed pretty cool. I was just pissed of caus they cleared a booth for us gave us a fake bottle of champagne then after half an hour cleared us out the booth and I didn’t think that was very classy at all. Everyone else felt the same and we got bored pretty quick. So after a walk around the club we left quite early and bumped into some of the guys from the night before in the queue on the way out.
Joel and Boppa get thrown off the Jerry Springer stage on Around the world in 80 Raves
I had to upload this clip as I think it’s absolute TV gold! Joel and Boppa get thrown off the Jerry Springer stage on Channel 4′s Around the world in 80 Raves back in 2000.
Again we travelled through the night and arrived at around 6:00, had a quick look at the beach but as I didn’t get much sleep last night and we weren’t in an exciting location, in fact we were miles away from the touristy area although there were a lot of hotels. I decided to go back to bed for a while and get up at 9:00. Had a look at the beach again now there were people around and it seemed to be a bit of a family beach. It had been arranged that we would meet up with a record and skate shop owner. There we would find out a little bit about the local scene and what we were doing that evening. Unfortunately the night before the local police had broken up the three day rave Global 2000 that we had planned to go too, so we arranged to meet up with Pete the owner and he would make sure we saw what goes on, or if the rave had unofficially been moved then he’d take us to it. It was still early so we went to the tourist part of Myrtle beach, had a quick look around the gimmick shops where in one souvenir shop we found death stars and throwing knives, I don’t know what goes on in this town but I hope everyone didn’t carry those around with them. Sarah had arranged tickets to the local theme park so after a quick Mac Donalds we like big kids went to ride roller coasters and relive our youth, not that we’re old. On the way back we decided to make a beer stop and get some supplies for a barbeque, we set the barby up in the car park got the drinks out and the party started with Pete and his crew turning up soon after on his motorbike and a car load. There was Pete and the guy that worked in the store, his two gay friends from New York and Greg, a true red neck he had the accent and everything. We carried on drinking and got to know the guys who would be like, our guides for the night. W e got the possibilities from Pete for the night and decided to go to a place called club Millennium. Pete took Sheryl on the bike while the rest jumped on the bus and we were dropped at the club in style. In the club there were two rooms, one sort of hardcore house and the other more popular music, dance stuff that makes the charts and R & B. In the second room Greg managed to pick up two girls to join our merry band of clubbers, and I have to say one of them was hot. We next to moved onto a gay bar cause some of the guys wanted to pickup someone but we decided to stay on the bus for that one as me and Joel got harassed enough just directing Bill reversing the bus in the car park. So we went onto a place called Masters, the place Global 2000 (the rave) had been moved to since the raid last night. It was basically a Golf club that had been converted into a club for the evening, three rooms playing three styles and people everywhere, spilling out onto the golf course, break dancing, dancing to hard house and I don’t know whether it was security guards or cops walking around but who ever they were they had fun chucking Paul and Phil out when they realised they were filming and hadn’t been given permission. Everyone in the place was cool, we lost Sheryl very early on in the night, Joel had flaked early and Bex went to look after him so it was just me Chantal, Boppa, Greg and the two girls from the other club, which I got on really well with, although so did Boppa and Greg, but I got her number at the end of the night so I was happy. We partied till 5:00 in the morning. Bill drove us back to the car park after that, where the other guy’s cars were parked and they drove the girls back to their hotel, as they had to check out by 7:00am.
I didn’t get up till 2:00 the next day as expected and no one was in the mood to do anything big so we went to play crazy golf, which turned out to be quite a laugh. I don’t know who won but it obviously wasn’t me or I would have remembered. There was no plans to do any filming for the evening as we were in Myrtle beach for a while so we took the opportunity to go out with Paul and Rory, we weren’t near any decent bar so we wondered down the road until we found a reasonably swanky hotel and used there bar. Sheryl had a phone call from Pete and we managed to get rid of her pretty early again, “bonus”. After a few drinks it didn’t take much before we were feeling pissed again after last night. But we all had a good lengthy chat and it was a good bonding night to get to know the crew a little better. And we got to go to bed at a reasonable hour.
Today was a bit slow, spending most the day waiting for Sheryl to get back and no one was really getting of there arses and organising anything to do apart from the girls who had started on the art project and had gone of taking photos of people on the beach. So I got my windsurf kit out and although it wasn’t the best conditions took it to the beach, everyone else sat and chilled out and I went for a surf “mustn’t grumble”. Sheryl got back and met us on the beach, and it was time to do something as a group so we all went to an all you can eat Chinese Buffet restaurant called “China Buffet”. At the end of the meal we met up with Pete again and moved onto a bowling alley. For a drink and a game of ten pin. This time we managed to talk bill into coming with us which probably wasn’t a good idea cause he fully kicked my ass, he came first and I came second. We went back to Petes place for a quick smoke and to play playstation for a while, then after Chantal and Boppa had a little tiff with the director Phil about buying a little bag of weed we went back to the bus. Again quite late but I was getting used to not having any sleep.
Tuesday was the crew’s day off, but Paul and Rory had always wanted to go shooting so they invited us to join them at a proper firing range. Unfortunately they wouldn’t let us have more than a 2.2 as we had to show I.D. and we weren’t 21 but they were still powerful and we were only shooting the shit out of paper targets so we weren’t fussed. That night Chantal met a guy at the local store and he invited her to an 80’s night at a local club so the girls, last minute decided to go there. But we took the opportunity, as there was plenty of drink on the bus to have our first lad’s night in without the girls. Myrtle beach had been different, we hadn’t crammed as much into a short space of time, which at times allowed us to get bored, and do things like break into the local tennis courts and play foot tennis with a basketball I had won on a fairground stand. But it had been good not rushing from one place to another and let us relax a bit. We planned to leave for Atlanta first thing in the morning where the trip would begin to lose its grasp on normality.
Everyone was up real early, and already, although tired, everyone was on a high, even though it would be hours before we were on the plane and even longer before we were in Miami. It was all routine at the airport filming what was needed. Like showing our passports getting the tickets and all that stuff. When we got into the waiting lounge Richard gave us the two Sony DV cameras that would be our toys for the rest of the trip. It was just an average plane trip, long but we entertained ourselves as you do, watching every film, eating, sleeping, throwing the shit food at each other, tooth paste on the finger tickle the nose, all the usual stuff. But lets not over dramatise a plane trip. We got to Miami at roughly 3:30 but took hours to get though customs, where we got slightly split up and needed to find each other before we walked out into the arrivals where the cameras were waiting. After showing bits of paper at every door I went through I finally got through to the bag collection and met up with the others. For the first time we would experience what it was like being filmed in public and the reaction we would get from passers by. We were slightly briefed, then we walked out into arrivals where Bill our driver who was holding a bit of cardboard with our names on. We had to act normal, introduce ourselves to Bill, ignore the camera and try not to notice that the entire airport thought we were a pop band or something. It was so weird but sort of cool. When we left the airport we got a shock, it was so hot and it was like breathing thick air, I had not felt that since I lived in Barbados. After that trip we all needed a fag, it was sweaty and we had not got used to the air but we squeezed one in anyway, and after we had packed all our kit in the holds under the bus, Bill introduced us to the bus which would be our home for the next seven weeks. You may feel sorry for me living on a bus but don’t, it was a true rock star tour bus with two TV’s Videos and DVD players, air conditioning, a kitchen, 9 bunks, it was luxury, a bit cramped but luxury. We had to get on the road quickly because we were parked illegally. We had to get to the famous south beach where we would park right close to the action and intended to stay for a few days. Obviously the first priority on arrival was to run straight to the beach and check out the water. It was lovely but not for long, time was getting on and everyone was desperate to go out for the first time, a drink and a good meal was needed after the long trip. After a quick shower on the beach we got back to the bus to meet a lad the girls had met. He would later become known as weirdo No.1. He had stopped to talk to the girls as they were leaving and seemed ok, he decided to show us around as he had been there a few days and said he had found a cool bar at the other end of the strip. It was an Irish bar and we decided to enjoy a tasty burger and a few drinks without the cameras. We had no trouble getting served although we had been told that Miami was strict on drinking laws. Everyone got tired real quick and decided to go for our first night on the bus early.
On day two I woke up about 6.30 and went straight for a swim in the sea, then got the shopping in early so that the rest of the day was free to do what ever. It was decided that we would go jet skiing on Key Biscayne, which we did in style. Sheryl was asleep when we arrived so we decided to leave her and met up with a guy that was listed in the Miami guide book, negotiated a jet ski for an hour, so we could swap, get an even go and watch/film each other. They were pretty cool although as someone who does a lot of water sports there’s only so much you can do on them, it was a good laugh though and towards the end as we were getting bored the owner decided to let me take Joel and Boppa out on his most powerful three seat jet ski. We got it going after we got the weight forward, Joel and Bop stood to wave to the cameras, when they sat back down however, the ski rocked sideways and they were in the water at speed. I turned around, Joel was about crying and had taken a knock to his ribs and bop was a bit winded but laughing about it. The main crew had gone to film Virgin Atlantic for the arrival that day, so we had a couple of hours alone without the cameras so we headed back to south beach. Sheryl had found out that we hadn’t woken her to go jet skiing and boy did we know about it, all of her teddies came flying out of her pram in all our general direction. We all went to chill on the beach for the afternoon and Sheryl decided to stay on the bus, sulk and join us later. For the first time as the girls sunbathed, we swam in the warm sea, we realised the size of the blag we had finally pulled off… it was finally real. As we went back to the bus the cameras caught us at the shower on the beach. We made plans to go back and eat at the Irish bar from last night because we knew we could get served and were in favour with the staff (double shots). We had soon had our fill and after talking to some freak that was into dog fighting we were all in the mood to move on to the club, which was just down the strip. The only problem was there was a coppa on the door and although we had arranged to film in there, they were checking everyones ID’s and when Sheryl decided to get her fake ID out in front of a cop we thought it about time to do a runner. Our first real night of the trip and already the over 21’s thing had got in the way of our valuable drinking time. After checking out a few other places, we realised that everywhere was being strict. Everyone was feeling a little bit pissed off so they went back to the bus and the cameras called it a night, while boppa and I decided to go back to the first place with Sarah, the tour manager and Richard, the assistant director, where we had e few rounds of sex on the beach compliments of the waiter, “nice man” and had quite a good chat about stuff. Got back to the bus quite late where we found weirdo No. 1, by the way Weirdo No. 2 was the guy into the dog fighting, Joel had already hit the sack, and No. 1 was talking to the girls in the lounge, he was talking shit so me and Boppa went straight to bed. Richard got the little camera out to capture his spiritual and yoga talk on tape, but he was having none of it, apparently being filmed captures and steels a persons soul and he didn’t wish to be filmed. So Rich pointed out that we were making a documentary, made him feel stupid and verbally kicked him off the bus. Nice one, now we could all get some sleep, but wondering whether the freak would come back and get us in the night, psycho. We didn’t see him again.
I thought a lie in until 9am was allowed the next day followed by the best thing in the world. Throwing your sleepy self into the warm sea while there’s still the morning mist on the beach and the sun is still low in the sky. Today would prove to be comparatively boring although chilled and relaxed. We planned to hit the road around 2.30pm so we spent the day doing individual interviews on the beach. Which meant we were free to mess around swim and get some photos of Miami to put in the photo album. There was a feeling of excitement again today, although our trip had already begun, it was the first time we were actually travelling and until now we had avoided all being on the bus at the same time. The interviews were quite straight forward, getting our feeling about where we were, what we were doing and being with the other guys on the bus, we hadn’t been there long and we were all enjoying ourselves so there was no conflict and no juicy stories yet. The bus left around 4.30 a little later than planned. The plan was to meet up with and interview a rave promoter in Orlando although while on the way we found out he had a meeting, so it was cancelled. Everyone spread out on the bus, watching TV, listening to music, chatting and looking out the window at the landscape, which was slightly different to what we were used to back home. It was late evening and hunger set in so we pulled into a shopping area. Joel and I decided to make a break and go exploring, we found one of those, nic nac, sell everyone type shops,we bought a picnic basket that had plastic cutlery in so we would have stuff to eat with on the bus, then found a dunkin’ doughnuts and decided to fill up the healthy way with three dohnuts each and a large coffee. We found the crew and the others in a Chinese, which made me slightly jealous so instead of watching them eat we got the keys to the bus and went to mess around with the little sony cameras. I tell you what; using our picnic hamper as props we would make good QVC demonstrators.
Before you read on, here is a Youtube promo produced by Mike Christie. Watch this to get a vague idea about what I am writing about.
Like most, I’d always said, “when I’m older I fancy being famous” but I never really believed it would even come close to ever happening. As I grow up, I realised that life has many traps. You gladly leave college with some qualifications behind you truly believe that the world is your oyster but slowly you get drawn into the system. I was determined not to have a conventional job and get stuck in the city I was born, so after saving for a few months after A-levels, I decided to train to become a watersports instructor, a profession I’d often thought about many times after going on school trips as a child. That would be my ticket to see the world and get an experience of life. I must say it was a good decision; I probably had the best time of my life, living away from home, doing what I’m into. And making some of the best mates I’ll ever have. It was like being at school again only no rubbish lessons and not as many girls, but women, which made things more interesting. oh and out on the piss every night. Plus, here’s the biggy! spending six weeks living in Barbados, windsurfing everyday and again, plenty of the other at night.
I was living, seeing the world and loving it. But as they say, all good things come to an end. After six months of living it fairly easy, I found myself back in Leicester and back to the job I had left at the beginning of that year. At this point I think I had a chance to stop and think… I had done what I’d set out to do, the qualifications I now had could get me a job pretty much anywhere in the world. But wait there, I now have a three and a half grand career development loan, two thousand pound credit card bills and I owed my Nanna one thousand eight hundred cos I was going to sell my motorbike to pay for my course fee’s but good old Nan knew how much I loved it and offered me the money as long as I paid her back when I did finally sell it. But I digress, the point is I now can’t go anywhere in the world cos I’ve got too many bills to pay. Realising that my cunning plan to avoid getting tied down had gone tits up, I went back to stacking shelves, the job that when I was doing it part time after college I didn’t mind cos it was paying for me to go out and that was pretty much all I cared about at the time. Only now I am doing it because I have to, because I need to, to pay back what I’d borrowed, a different concept all together. I couldn’t grumble though at this point, I still had my bike, some spendo and had just had the best six months of my life, or had I?
Before I lose everyone’s total interest, that’s the only moaning I’m going to do (the bills) and I’ve got it out of my system now. It’s only relevant cos it made me think about life. I wasn’t going to fall into that trap again. But now things must come for free. I know I have always been the fluky bastard that gets out of most situations, but that was at school or college, you know the type of thing, getting out of detentions, reading GCSE notes the night before the exam but still managing to pass, being threatened to be thrown out of the sixth form but painting a lovely mural on the common room wall so the head of sixth form praises me for a few weeks. This though was on a bigger scale though I was in the big wide world and people are a little harder to manipulate than your peers and teachers.
So this is what I came up with. In between having fun at the supermarket, I was obviously watching a lot of TV, as you do during the winter and outdoor activity doesn’t look inviting. I started to make a few mental notes of all the things I liked on TV. Stuff that other’s my age would be interested in to. Then I incorporated the fact that I want nothing more than to travel, and become worldly wise. It began to take shape on its own, I was coming up with a travel show / documentary with a bit of docu-soap, though this was before Big Brother. I was getting my inspiration from shipwrecked. It was all easier than I thought, inventing a revolutionary TV show that was basically what I wanted to do, using tele as a means of doing it. Who then would honestly listen to a nineteen-year-old watersports instructor that thinks he’s got a good idea. I went down to my life long friend’s house to offer my scam. Usually we come up with idea’s laugh about them then never pay them a second thought, but surprisingly this idea began putting further thoughts into Joel and his girlfriend Rebecca’s head. We spent the next two weeks putting together a proposal, knowing nothing about whether there was a proper way of doing it or if there were certain people we should contact. But our content and writing style kicked ass. But sod it, it was passing the time and giving us something to do. Still not sure whether it was worth our while sending it to anyone, Rebecca went on the net found five addresses and sent it. Last we would hear of it we thought.
