Arrival: JFK Airport // 10:15PM
I exit the airport and get blindsided by an unfamiliar type of heat; I can't help but smile because I know I’ve made it.
Before I can even ask a stranger for a cigarette I'm thrown into a car and hauled off, confused and unsure what the next ten days have in store.
The question, ‘are you traveling for business or pleasure?’ has never made complete sense to me. It's a simple question with a complicated answer. This specific trip was a bit of both but a lot of neither. I felt like I needed to just f*cking leave, so that's what I did. Maybe the feeling to disappear is because I'm looking for something, or perhaps I'm running from something, either way I now find myself double fisting slices of margarita pizza in the middle of Manhattan; alive in every sense of the word.
Days go by and art consumes every second of what we do. Art in the museums, art in the streets, even the way the same woman glides to get her morning coffee in oversized designer garments has become art to me. I find myself missing calls and forgetting to text friends back because I'm too busy people watching. The personalities are priceless, making mycell phone pointless. I'm distracted looking up at the architecture rather than staring down at my destructive device. Occasionally, I leave my friends and the scene in SoHo to wander aimlessly, blasting Outkast’s 1998 Aquemini album and appreciating old things in a new way. The days are getting long and the nights are even longer.
One week in and my eyes burn from the lights and lack of sleep. My skin is coated in pollution and my brain is begging to be turned off temporarily. I’m beat, but not broken. At this point I know the only remedy aside from a home cooked meal is the salt from the sea. So, as usual, we make a spontaneous decision to pack up and head to the Hamptons. Six hours later I find myself aboard the Shinnecock Star, shaking hands with old fishermen I had never met and preparing to head 70 miles overnight into the Atlantic. A storm hit hard that night and the feeling hit home. I realized then on that boat what it feels like to be small in a big world. Absolutely no egos, just strangers genuinely helping strangers while naturally becoming friends along the way. The type of shit a place like Orange County forgets to teach us. Cheers to that crew for the best nightmare I’ve ever had.
Responsibilities finally catch up with me as I juggle priorities, count my pennies and gather the last bits of inspiration. I know by now it’s time to get back to real life. Time to reply to emails. Time to pay rent. And time to check my bank account.
Departure: JFK Airport // 11:00AM
