Planet Straya'

Everything is ready to go. Bags are packed. Ferry leaves in 15 min from Bainbridge Island to downtown Seattle where I'll be taking the light rail to SeaTac airport. My Dad opens my car door and come to find out I left the keys in the ignition the night before. The battery is dead! We quickly tried to jumpstart it but nothing. Ferry leaves in 10 min. At this point I'm wringing on the neighbors doorbell. We try again to jump it, nothing. I start walking up from the street to find someone to take me and we notice some of the neighbors are getting into their car. We explain the situation and they say yeah no worries get in. On the drive over I'm making small talk and we are rolling along at a blazing 20mph. I'm thinking, "uhhhhhmm you do know the ferry LEAVES in 7 min right?!" We make it and I immediately start bookin it down the tunnel to the Ferry and literally as i walk over the bridge to get on they are closing the gate. As I pass through I throw my hands up like I just won a marathon. I find a seat and right when I sit down the Ferry starts moving. Uhhh wow. What an epic start. The ride over to Seattle is surreal. I put on some beats and I'm just in the zone. I get the feeling I won't be living in America again, other than short term visits. This is gonna be the wildest most epic adventure of my life. I only got a few hours of sleep the night before but I feel like I'm soarin' like the birds I'm looking at out the window. Washington has some truly stunning scenery but I've never liked living in this part of the world. It's just not for me. I put on some Australian beats as I walk off the Ferry and I'm just dancing and singing the lyrics walking to the light rail. People are giving me looks. What's new?

Before I know it I'm at SeaTac skateboarding to my gate. I'm so happy I brought my skate. 10 min after I got to my gate they start boarding. Had I not got on the 11:30am Ferry I would have been toast. My seat is literally the last row on the plane but luckily I got a window seat. A hip looking woman a little older than me sits on my row and I welcome her to the back of the bus. She says, "can we smoke weed back here." Ah ha. "Nice first liner," I said. I didn't want to spend my hard earned money on overpriced airport food, so I was starving at this point. When the flight attendants were wheeling their carts through the aisles without even saying anything my fellow neighbor stole some snacks for me, and well, how can I deny some free food?

Goodbye Seattle

At one point during our flight me and her we just chuckling and she was filming a bit because the turbulence was so bad it was like we were on one of those old rickety roller coasters made out of wood.

Touching down in San Fran

We were both headed to New Zealand from San Francisco so we hung out for a bit and tried to figure out where we were going. We met up with a couple who were on the same flight and I finally asked this woman what her name was. She said, "Lindsey." And the couple were like "Lindsey Vonn, no way, we thought we recognized you!" Come to find out she is literally the most successful female ski racer in the world, and all I could say was, "so all that time I was sitting next to a professional skier, ummmm well that's just badass." She had been shreddin' in Alaska and was on her way to the south island of New Zealand.

Right when the carpet turned to marble in the airport, I got on my skate and said see you guys at the gate. Skateboarding through the airport is much fun. No one said a word.

Boarding my 12 hour flight to Auckland I am blown away at the class of this plane. Low light voilet lights running up the sides, very aesthetically pleasing seats, even the smell is straight class. Air New Zealand is pure class. And the accents, yes, I love the accents. I sit down in my seat and start talking to this girl and it seems like she has an accent so I assume she is a Kiwi (New Zealand folk) but she is from Nor Cal. I'm thinking like, "my goodness she's gorgeous."

We haven't even taken off and I'm already goofing around messaging random people making Sophie laugh. It's unreal how much we are vibing. We both bought one way tickets to Australia. We both have a work & holiday visa. We are both certified scubadivers. We are both using workaway.info to find opportunities to work. And we both want to ski/snowboard in New Zealand at some point. Dayyyyyuuummm. We played some multiplayer tic tac toe and I schooled her. Also, I met the woman to my left and she is lovely. Her name is Sarah, and she teaches meditation (breath work) in Vancouver, but she grew up in New Zealand and has lived in Sydney for many years as well. We had a very engaging chat. I can't get enough of the accents. All the sudden there is only two hours left on the flight. That went by fast. They had us fill out a customs form but when we landed they didn't even ask for mine. As I was skateboarding through the Kiwi airport I saw Lindsey again and she was headed a different way. The last thing she said to me as she smiled was, "See ya purple man."

Later Auckland, I'll see you next year. 

On my flight to Sydney I sat next to a really sweet Venezuelan girl named Yanel. She had come to Australia a few years ago and because she didn't know English at the time the only job she could find was at a mushroom factory two hours south of Sydney. She still works there. It always amazes me how different everyone's experience is. That's one of the many reasons I see so much value in people and relationships because you can learn so much from every single person. She said if I come down that way she'll introduce me to all her friends and show me around. 

Touching down in Sydney! 

Right after this part we drove over a freeway and I noticed all the driver seats on the right hand side. Yes. I'm truly in a different world.

Planet Straya'

Going through security was a cake walk. They didn't even ask for my work visa or proof I had plenty of funds. Hell, they didn't even care that I couldn't tell them the exact address of where I'd be staying first. Awesome sauce. I picked up my Opal card which allows me to travel anywhere via bus or train and was on my way. One step outside and it smells tropical. And it's beautiful and sunny. I suppose it's in the eighties. I'm in heaven. On my skate over to the bus station I'm enjoying all the new flora & fauna. 

Pieter, the man who I'd be staying with, emailed me almost a full page of directions how to get to his place. It was super detailed, and kinda fun and challenging. A few times I had to ask some people where a street was, or if I was headed the right direction on the train.

There is such a feeling of wild ancientness here. 

After quite a long walk with all my gear I finally came to Southern Street and I knew his house was on this road. Getting excited! I look to my left and see a huge body of water through a gap in between two houses. Wow.

Then I make it to his driveway, and he even put in the directions "you will see a boat to your right with a gray cover over it, and a car on the left which is my landlords."

"Then walk down about ten steps in the middle and take a right."

 "Go past the first door and you have arrived! Take your shoes off and make yourself at home."

Wow

 Wow

 And triple wow

My body is not used to the humidity so I was soaked. Took a nice cool shower, ate some muesli with Australian whole milk, and passed out for a few hours. Woke up, skateboarded into town. Picked up a fifteen dollar phone and headed back to the crib. When I arrived Pieter was home and said, "Welcome to Straya' mate!" Also, a dude named Christian from Germany who was workaway-ing as well. Christian can't speak much English but no worries cuz Pieter is fluent in German. Talk about one chill man. I connect instantly with Pieter and I feel right at home.

Pieter invited his Kiwi friend (Dave) over for dinner and we are just enjoying each others company. Dave and Pieter are so down to earth, so genuine, and just fuckin hilarious. Pieter is from South Africa originally so he made us a classic dish. It was kinda like a quiche with potatoes, onions, curry powder, and bananas. Super tasty. A bird came swerving in and landed on a tree next to us. He, or she, had a yellow mohawk. I'm just blown away at everything. There are a swarm of birds out in the distance and no lie, it sounds like a group of cartoon kids whining to each other with a nasal tone. "Waaaaaaahhhhhhhh, Waaaaaaahhhhhhhh, Ooooooooooooooo, Ahhhhhhhhhhh, Waaaaaaahhhhhhh." I can't stop laughing. Another bird sounds like a child screaming.

There was a squad of about eight rowing boats at one point. Nice place to practice. 

After dinner Pieter and Dave whipped out their guitars. Pieter was in several different bands for over ten years and Dave worked with some famous artists back in the eighties. They are killin it. Both jammin and singing. Like really really really killin it, and I'm just bee boppin back and forth doing dishes.

I think I'm in love.

In love with Planet Straya'

My Experience with Religion

For those who don't know I grew up as a member of the LDS Church.  I first want to say my intention is not to offend anyone, but rather to share my genuine feelings and experience.

Hmmm where to start? When I look back on my years being an active member of the Church the parts I enjoyed most were making friendships and just having a blast at boy scout activities and hanging out with the friends I made. As far as the religion aspect of Church such as studying and lessons and such I never really got too much out of it in my early years. It was more like I was just their because that's what everyone else was doing. Looking back there are a lot of positive things that I take from those days, but all in all the Church has had a very negative impact on my life. Let me explain. 

I'd just like to clarify, when I say Church, I don't mean any of the individuals. I'm talking strictly about the institution. Being the curious dude that I am, it was just a matter of time before I'd experiment with different drugs and alcohol, and then there is the stuff that I know everyone loves talking about. Masturbation and pornography. Lets just get right to the point, in this day and age pornography is basically as widespread as food and water. Being a dude (sorry can't say how it is for the ladies) it is pretty much inevitable that you will view pornography at least at some point. Why can't we just be open about it? I mean my goodness. Now, here's one word that I rarely use. Hate. I hate how the Church demonizes these kind of behaviors, especially the sexual ones, because all it does is create this cloud of darkness that only gives it more power. The belief that these behaviors are an "abomination to the lord" is so much worse than the actual thing! The fact that the Church doesn't openly discuss something as natural (masturbation) as eating is messed up in my mind. Because what does that do when you inevitably (and if you don't at some point you are probably a space alien) masturbate? It makes you feel like it was somehow wrong, and it's a terrible sin, and it creates this feeling of guilt that goes along with it. At least that is what it did to me, and so for many years I wasn't open (meaning I didn't tell anyone) with what was happening and what that did to me brings tears to my heart just thinking about it. Slowly slipping away into a black hole of guilt, shame, and self hate. Because it's terrible you know? Experimenting with mind altering drugs, pornography, masturbation. It's all so very bad. Right? It took me about three years to finally tell my parents, with tears in my eyes, that yes, I have masturbated and looked at porn. Goodness. Not a year later, my parents moved up to Washington and I moved with them. This was the absolute worst time of my life. The seemingly never ending dark gloomy weather, along with the inner black hole that was still consuming me, made me feel distant from everything and everyone. Trapped. Isolated. Miserable.  I was a sliver of a human being, but I learned how to put a fake smile on my face and act like everything was ok. I was completely psychotic. I was absolutely convinced, and I mean absolutely convinced that I was going to hell. I mean I took a bunch of drugs and masturbated and looked at porn, so I must be a terrible sinner going straight to hell. Right?

I'll take a little pause there, and say that this isn't meant to be a confession, I'm just sharing how the Church has impacted my life, and I'm not one to sugar coat. This is my experience. Period. I'm not afraid to share my deepest feelings and experiences with the world, because I know, at least I hope this will help someone or maybe make you question your own beliefs to develop a deeper understanding of your own truth. At the end of the day, all I have to relate to the world is my own experience. Put in the most straightforward way, freak, man, the Church really fucked with my head. About a year after living in Washington I moved back to Utah and I was getting a little better, but still in a deep dark cloud. I was still trying to stay active in the Church, and all throughout this span of time, still being a part of the Church, I never felt good enough. And it wasn't true, I was living a really good life, but the belief that I was a sinner and a bad person if I masturbated or decided to drink or smoke one night was like a poison seeping through my mind. Towards the end of 2012 I attempted to serve a mission for the Church but because I ended up drinking one night after more than a few months abstinence they told me I had to wait another six months. After all the effort I put into trying to "do the right thing." I was done at that point. Done with the Church. After more months of guilt and shame I finally started to shed some layers of that heavy burden. I was now on the path of discovering my own truth. My own way. Discovering my own self worth. And I couldn't be happier with that choice. Leaving the Church was the best decision I have made in my entire life.

I'll take another pause right here and reiterate that this was simply my experience. Everyone is different. And that is part of the reason I don't believe in the institution (that's not to say I don't believe in some of the good principles of the LDS Church) of Religion because I don't believe one path is right for every single person on the planet. That doesn't make any sense to me, and frankly that is very narrow minded, to me at least. I know it is a great thing for a lot of people, but for me it ended up really damaging me.

The light started to seep in again when in 2013 I started to forge beliefs about myself that were very positive. This year I met my dear friend Molly, and without even realizing it, she slowly started to change my perception about myself. She saw the genuinely good hearted person that I am. She saw so much good in me, good that was always there, but back hidden in the shadows of programmed beliefs from childhood. Beliefs that stemmed from the Church. Such a great year for me, and it only got better and better.

Another little pause. I still to do this day believe in a lot of the core principles of the Church but one principle that feels so unbelievably wrong to me is that families need to be sealed in a temple to be together forever. That is so messed up, and I don't believe in a God that would do that. Because that is contrary to God's totally accepting, all encompassing, unconditionally loving nature. Please, imagine this for a moment. I've passed on, and I'm with my Creator. He takes a look at the life I've lived, and I see it at the same time, feeling everything, knowing everything I've ever done, thought, felt, everything. He says, man you lived an incredible life, you treated your fellow man with love and acceptance, you made quite a few unwise choices but you tried your best to learn and grow, you traveled the world and developed meaningful relationships everywhere you went, but oh shoot, oh no Andrew, you chose to leave the LDS Church, I guess you can't be with your family forever. Then pointing to some other angels, He says, take him away to one of the lower kingdoms, one where he can't be with the people he loves. Sorry to add some humor into that but that principle is just not true. I know in my heart I will eternally be with my family and friends.

In 2014 I decided to spontaneously buy a one way ticket to London and travel around Europe indefinitely. From talking with different people in Europe, I could still see a lot of traces of damaging beliefs such as unworthiness still inside me, but I continued to work through them. Europe was so amazing for me because I didn't have any technology with me other than a camera and it gave me ample time to really accept myself and love myself and appreciate nature and people on a whole different level. The main realization I had in Europe as I pondered how the Church had impacted my life is this. So we all know how the story goes, because Eve partook of the forbidden fruit all men then became evil and carnal and bad. I don't believe that one bit. The belief that humankind is in someway bad and we're all sinners. What I came to understand is that I am not a sinner at all, I am a fucking human being. To me that was profound, because how does the belief that we are all sinners and bad do any good? I don't need those damaging beliefs to have faith in Christ and what He did for me. In all my experience in this life I have not met one evil or bad person. Not one. I have met a lot of people with extremely difficult challenges though, and guess what that is called? It's called being human. And it's all good. There is nothing bad about being human and having certain impulses and desires and challenges.

Fast forward to today and I am more content then I've ever been in my life, and as hard as it is to feel grateful for all the suffering I experienced, it has made me into the person I am today, and I love who I am, so I don't know maybe it was necessary for me to become the amazing man that I am.  I know I am a much deeper understanding person because of all the suffering I experienced.

That's it. This was my experience with Religion.

Just a little note to anyone that has a family member or friend who has left the Church, I think living in that sphere of Religion it can be all too easy to wrongly assume that person must be lost or feeling sad about it. Please don't make that assumption, because maybe it was someone like me, who's experience leaving the Church was incredibly positive. If there is one thing I know in this life it's that you can never assume or think you know what someone is going through, because you don't.

And no I haven't lost faith in my Creator. I will never lose that. 

The Lone Wolf Adventure #2

        I was lying in my bed watching Chef’s Table episode three. This particular episode was about a chef named Francis Mallmann who grew up in the isolated Patagonian islands. Put simply, the scenery & cinematography was unbelievably beautiful. Also, so much of what Francis said resonated with me, and I kept asking myself, “why am I not traveling more?” Not more than a day after that I made the plans as to how I would make some extra money, and I decided on Sydney, Australia to start my journey. March 8. I’m leaving on March 8, I said to myself.

        I’ve realized over time how powerful making a decision is. You know, like just deciding to do something. A total commitment. Not 50% committed, not 70%, not even 99%, 100% commitment. I had no idea how I would come up with the funds to fuel my travels, but I just decided I’m flying to Australia, and I’m leaving March 8. Period. With that commitment there came a shift in my reality, in the Universe. I love the way the author Paulo Coelho puts it. “And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”

        I remembered this place called LifeTree Clinical Research that my cousin told me about, and I called them up and they happened to be screening for a study right then. I scheduled an appointment and drove up to Salt Lake City, then two weeks later I found out the news that I made it in. I was ecstatic. In short, I stayed at this hospital type place for five days and one day they gave me the placebo (we didn’t know if it’d be the placebo or the drug) and two days later they gave me an instant release pain killer, and then did tests like how long it stays in the blood, measured side effects, etc, and then the rest of the days were washout days. The easiest $1550 ever.

        So here I am, all moved into my parents house on Bainbridge Island. I bought my ticket on Cyber Monday for $722 to Sydney, and I will be saving up as much money as I can working up here for the next three months until I leave. I love that I am the creator of my life. This isn’t what my parents want me to do, it’s not what my siblings want me to do, it’s not what any religion wants me to do, it’s not what my friends want me to do, it sure as hell is not what society wants me to do (that would be to go to school, get a degree, and another degree, own a bunch of shit I don’t need, and get a good paying comfortable job and live a boring unoriginal life), it’s what I want to do. To me that means I’m creating a truly genuine & authentic life. I’m so stoked.

The Lone Wolf is beastin it again. 

My Room

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Welcome to my room. When I first moved here 11 months ago it was completely empty. I slept on the floor in the corner for two weeks, then I picked up a free couch on craigslist, slept on that for another few weeks, then got a very nice queen bed for you guessed it, zero dollars. As this process went on of continually checking out the free section on craigslist and yard sales, I managed to fully furnish this room for $70. Not too shabby! What I learned as I continued designing was that, for one, I love creating my own space. When the day comes that I move into another place or buy a home I never want it to be furnished. Where is the fun in that? So boring and unoriginal. I want to create my own space, just as I want to create my own life. 

One day I had the idea of printing up one hundred of my favorite pictures from my Europe journey and made some good wall art, and this was the result. I love it, and it's fun to look at them and remember the great times. My roommate Anthony and I went cruising around some trails in our backyard and picked up a bunch of rocks. Easily entertained, I put on some music and set up a nice rock tower. The dresser and lamp I picked up for free at a yard sale, and replaced the white lightbulb with an orange l.e.d. light. It emits the perfect amount of an orange glow, like the sun setting. 

For the last eight or so months I've been a host on the website couchsurfing.com. It's been so awesome to host people from all over the world. Essentially it's a website where you can either be a host or a couchsurfer anywhere in the world, and in this case, people message me that are passing through town or will be passing through, and then I agree to host them. In most cases, I give up my room so they can have their own private master bedroom and bathroom, and it's been an enriching experience every single time to get to know people, albeit for a short amount of time, from a different culture and area of the world. I started this tradition from the very first person I hosted, where they put a pin up where they are from. As of now I've hosted people from Alaska, California, Texas, Minnesota, Whales, Isle of Man, France, Germany, Austria, Poland, Australia, Japan, and Chile. 

On the left some handmade pieces from Turkey I got from a friend. A diffuser & humidifier that changes colors and I can put a few drops of essential oils in to get some nice clean scents going. My favorite is blood orange, cinnamon bark, and ginger. Mmmmm. And well, gotta have Buddha's hand and more rocks for a nice aesthetic touch. 

Easily my favorite setup with a bed I've ever had. Laugh if you want, but the couch against one side, and the wall on the other, with the bed low, creates the perfect amount of cozy-ness! I will never have my bed in the middle of my room ever again. On the ceiling is a scarf I got on the last farm I stayed at in Sicily. What's better to look at while daydreaming then little fish's swimming around and turtles hanging out on floating tubes ah ha. Had to throw up a nice yin/yang polar fleece blanket because to this day I'm still so passionate about Chinese tonic herbs and their ideas about the human energy system. Straight ahead is another scarf I got years ago at a meditation store in Salt Lake City, and of course it is purple with creatures on it. 

Ear plugs and a sleeping mask placed ever so conveniently 

I started sleeping with a mask on months ago and I really love it. The problem is in the morning when the light shines through the window and your brain picks up that it's morning time, it starts releasing certain hormones so your sleep is then disrupted even if you're not aware of it. Also, if you haven't noticed my light bulbs are orange and yellow, rather than the typical white, because at night any white or blue light (phones, computers, etc) disrupts your body's ability to produce melatonin which helps to regulate sleep patterns and circadian rhythms. Put simply, you spend 1/3 of your life sleeping, don't you think it'd be a good idea to optimize that area of your life?

One of my favorites in my room, the psychedelic elephant tree with some stars sprinkled on top for good measure. The light shining through the window creates an awesome effect!  

On the right are some frames I made of some pictures I took when I lived up near Seattle, and also one I took in San Francisco. 

Completely random ball of colored glass and a piece of a tree ha ha. Why not? 

On the top right is a two gallon glass jar with my homemade Kombucha (fermented tea) brewing to blissful perfection.  

Some of my favorite artwork ever. Every time I really look I can see something different, as it is with life. 

Variety of different plants I've picked up from different hikes and road trips I've been on this year, along with my handmade piece of pottery I made in 10th grade. 

Oh yes, the joker and some more joker. My old roommate found that little one randomly on someone's lawn and gave it to me, and the painting in the back my friend got for me in London. I think a part of me has always identified with the joker, maybe it's because he's so different and goes against the social norm. And some Japanese couchsurfers left that origami for me. 

 A dear friend drew this for me years back. It's perfect. 

Two necklaces I bought from an unforgettable man named Nanga in Sicily, when I was on the east coast at a farmers market. The black feather I picked up while walking with a Sicilian family I stayed with in an ancient city literally on a mountain. Good spot for my keys!  

Chunks of pure salt from central Utah that purify the air and add a nice energy to any room. 

Well, gotta have some lights. 

Great spot for my spring water that I collect myself from a local town. With an easy paint job the wood went from boring to forest green. 

Some sweet pumpkins I got from the farm I work for, as well as two jars that I have for fermenting vegetables. 

Red and green lights for some Christmas vibes all year round baby. 

Quality essential oils

More joker, the color purple, and nature of course. 

Last but not least, my shower curtain. 

Damn, I have one hell of a room.