And the time has come.....

...to leave home again and live what I dream about, this time with my best friend of 21 years Bryce! We have been planning an adventure like this since we were kids and the thought of being on a plane in a couple hours headed to a foreign land with no plans send shivers down my body. I could think for hours about what I ,want to do and where I want to go when we get there. but on this adventure were going with what ever happens at that moment and that's when you really feel alive. Once again thank you to all friends and family that has support Bryce and myself on this adventure, we love you all!

Don't Just Be Alive, Be Living........

My personal travel information community!

So since i have been home form my last trip I started putting out all the information I have on all these great places I have been. Its been awesome getting all the info down and categorizing it so hopefully others can use this when they go travel to a destination I have listed. All the information is from first hand experiences and all the little things people and tourist sites won't include. All of my experiences are authentic and all of them include surfboards, HINT read the section on Getting There Sumbawa if you ever plan on going. Check them out on the links at the top right of my blog, thanks and stay posted! Instagram: @travelsurflive

Pantai Lakey week 2

     So the last week has been a bit of the same from the first, unlike most of the other blog posts I'm going to some a few days up at a time. Tuesday we paddled out to a right reef point down the beach, I was still feeling tired and sore from my long day before, got a few waves. But ended up heading in after 45 minutes, I had no energy and Jeremy felt like he was having a stomach ache coming up. I just chilled the rest of the day and watched a movie trying to get rested for some energy. Wednesday I had a slow morning and skyped with my parents for 2 hours, hadn't seen them in a few weeks and they were really excited and had lots to tell me! After I went with some new aussie friends and headed down to the right point that was looking really fun down the beach aways. Only surfed for a bit since my ear had been starting to feel an infection coming, on our way back were walking down the trail and outta of the corner of my eye I saw a very large animal. I had seen them before coming down this trail but not up this close, the it I'm referring to is a 5 ft tall easily over 1000lb Bull with horns 6 feet wide across. We all stood there for at least 10 seconds just in awe with this animal about 20 feet away just staring at us, he didn't look mad just stood there chewing on some grass. Here on Sumbawa there are goats, chickens, ducks, cows, and of course bulls just cruising around everywhere, it's very weird but I have got used to it since Bali is similar but much more tamed.
     Thursday I wasn't feeling to good since my ear ache had got worse, I shoved some surf wax in my ear and got out to the left at pipe. But I just couldn't take it to long, the wax wasn't working to well, and my ear/head was killing me, got out after 40 minutes or so. I just cruised the rest of the day and layed down after putting some ear drops in that I had brought from home. That night I could barely sleep from my ear aching so bad, woke up the next morning on Friday and could barely concentrate. All day I just cruised around got some food and rested watching a few movies and switching off putting ear drops in and letting it dry out for few hours. Ear infections are the most annoying thing to me, they feel like something so dumb yet it just ruins your day and of course part of this trip since I can't surf. Saturday was basically the same, not much going on, watching everyone surf, trying to take it easy and put ear drops in to get the ear better.
     On Sunday I finally found some ear drops at a store while I was cruising the scooter around and exploring getting some Go Pro footage. I got some fun footage of going down to one of our surf spots down the beach, after I hopped in the low tide pools that made my last three days feel so much better just getting out of the room and dipping in the water! On my way back I stopped by a hotel down the way and got a salad and cola to cool down and also just get something decent in my stomach. I got back and put some of the new ear drops in my ear and watched a movie wishing that they will make this infection better! Jeremy and I cruised down to a hotel down the beach for dinner since we are trying to eat different foods, we have both been having stomach aches and getting sick from eating at our place. I finished the night by popping some more ear drops in and watching the movie Django, which if anybody reading hasn't seen is an awesome movie, few nasty parts, long movie, but a great watch with a good story line and interesting ending!
     Monday I woke up with my ear feeling 50% better, it wasn't a sore and throbbing as it had been the past two days, after eating some breakfast and seeing so many small but fun rippable waves coming through out front, we all decided to get out there. I got some poster sticky paste, like what you use to stick a post to a wall looks and feels like silly puddy, he said he uses it all the time and works great. I took his word for it rolled some into a ball shoved it in my ear and hoped for the best, it ended up working pretty decent and I had the best session ever. The waves were so fun, and it wasn't to crowded, every wave I had was fun, and I was landing some turns I had been trying all trip. I was so stoked and relaxed from being out of the water, our aussie friends and even our indo friend Jamaica got out there to join us for a bit, we all sat out the back and shared waves for a few hours. The rest of the day we just cruised and watched a movie inside to get out of the heat for a bit, the weather has been getting much hotter in the last week. We have been eating at a hotel down the way since we have had just about all the food here, and got over it fast, we headed down there for dinner before calling it a night.
     Tuesday was a fun day since we went and explored some spots the opposite way that we hadn't really gone towards. Jamaica our guide friend showed us 3 different awesome surf spots, we ended up at one that wasn't a good wave but fun surfing a different setup. Super clear water with live reef underneath our feet, only downer was we had to walk over about 100 yards of reef to get out there haha, never a fun thing. After getting back to tour place, got some food and relaxed for a bit, Jamaica rallied a few other guests and we had a whole group of us depart on the scooters. We were heading to a waterfall I had heard about and asked Jamaica to go see it, as we arrived and parked the scooters, headed out on what ended up being a 2 mile ish hike! After finally arriving at the waterfall is was awesome, check out the picture below but it was like a steep staircase with water pouring down. It was amazing fresh cool water, everyone sat under the falls, let it pour down onus to relax ad feel refreshed! After finishing the 30 minute hike down we were bombarded by a group of little kids so stoked giving us high fives and laughing and intrigued by my Go Pro and a few other cameras. As you could see from the picture below I was trying to get a picture and they all started jumping on me, we were all cracking up. After getting back to our place, finished the day relaxing at the restaurant, getting some dinner, and of course playing few games of pool accompanied with a beer.
     Wednesday woke up to yet another beautiful day here in Sumbawa and also our last unfortunately, after enjoying some breakfast watching the waves I decided to head out. I had about 30 waves in 2 hours, not to crowded out there, just sat a little inside everyone and got what ever wave I wanted, the wave is such a perfect peak 90% of the time it's unbelievable! I am now sitting typing this post after enjoying lunch and looking over all of my Go Pro footage from yesterday, we are leaving tomorrow morning for the airport to fly back to Bali. We will be hanging in Bali next week, where I will fly out Tuesday morning early, and Jeremy fly's out technically Wednesday morning but 3am haha.
     But it has been awesome typing up these blog posts and sharing my experiences with every who reads and follows! I will definitely keep blogging keeping you updated on the rest of our Bali stay and also my few weeks I'll be spending in Hawaii on the way home! I plan on doing many more trips in the next few years of my life and will share all the experiences, photos, videos, and information right here as much as I can.

Refreshing, relaxing, cooling, greatness.

Waterfall stairs to the top!

This lil kids are always stoked when a camera is around.

Surf check Sumbawa

Village kids following me to the beach!

Bull on the beach, haha

No boards for 5 days in Sumbawa...

     We arrived to the airport at 1:00 am Wednesday morning, our flight didn't leave until 9:20am, the reason for us getting to the airport so early was to get our boards on the plane for sure. We couldn't get into the terminal until around 4am so we just hung out, I got some sleep and Jeremy listened to music and wrote a bit in the journal. Got into the terminal and had to wait again at the ticket window to grab our boarding passes and check in the board bag, we put all our boards in my big coffin bag to make it easier. We got into the line right as it opened and hassled a bit to check our bag, but payed for it and checked it in, in line made a few friend's with some aussies. As we watched them check in there bags one of them would crouch behind the counter and lift up slightly on the board bag so it would show it weighing less. It was so perfectly executed we were laughing so hard in line and none of the workers new what was going on! Got into the boarding area and waited yet again, finally boarded the flight and snapped some pics in the air before getting a small nap on the hour long flight. As we arrived in the airport and found our driver we waited for the board bags coming in, and of course ours wasn't F***ing there, after all we did to make sure, we were pissed. The transport driver said he would pick them up if they came in tomorrow, we split taxis with the aussies and had two cars packed since we were headed to the same place. We arrived to our place were staying at after a 2 hour car ride, all the aussies were frothing so we rented some scooters and headed down the coast to find this good right hander we had heard of. The road there was awesome, about 2 miles on a dirt road of mud, rocks, holes, and it was pouring rain haha, had a great time flying through mud getting wet and racing around. They got out to surf as we watched them for a few minutes then headed back since didn't have our boards, both of us were starving when we got back so munched down some great pasta here at the restaurant. Both of us passed out shortly after dinner since we had been up for over 48 hours.
     Thursday was boring mostly sitting around and eating at the restaurant, we took a lil adventure before the taxi drivers were supposed to arrive from the airport. We adventured down the road to another wave we had heard of, the beach was littered with cobblestones very similar to trestles. The wave as a cool setup breaking into a bay, with a mushy right but looked like a decent left, the swell was a lil big for the spot so might be better when it gets smaller in a few days. As we got back the boards did not arrive, I cruised around to all the other hotels and still no luck, everyone had told us that if they didn't make it on the flight they would come the next day. Disappointed once again being in such an awesome place staring at great waves all day and nothing to do about it, of course we had some friend's say we could borrow boards but there's always the possibility of breaking them. We sat down for an early dinner and started chatting with an older aussie guy named Larry that seemed pretty interesting, he started telling us about his life and traveling in Indo since the 70's. He had literally been everywhere in the world to surf for the passed 40 years in his life, of course I asked him about every place I could think of I wanted to go and search for waves. Larry knew everything about the country and spots, time of the year to go, and what he thought of the area, living in Bali now he chases swells around the area all year. Larry's new adventure is buying a sailing catamaran next year and sailing from Mentawis down Indo, over Aus through New Guinea and through Soloman, Marshall, and Tahitian islands, turn around and keep doing it until he gets bored, legend.

     Friday we got up and had some breakfast around 8, I was chatting with the owner of where were staying and he offered to let us borrow a few boards, after taking a look at them they were decent enough to surf. Jeremy laughed when he saw the boards and how my leash was basically duck taped on and his barely hanging from an eroded shoestring, literally... He paddled out to the left called Lakey pipe and i just headed to Lakey peak seeing a few fun ones roll through with no one going right. I had a fun session with how crappy the board was, nice to get in the water finally, Jeremy said he also got a few fun ones over at the pipe with 2 guys out haha. Of course after surfing for 2 hours and a pretty solid 15 minute paddle each way out to the wave we demolished our lunch and just relaxed for awhile. I got on the phone with my mom for awhile and also chatted with my dad, they were excited to hear from me and talked about what I had been doing last few days. I told them that they should move over to Bali and try out owning a hostel or small hotel for a year to try something totally different! They are both interested in the idea and have already started to minimize our possessions to try something different like that in a year or year and half. It's exciting to hear that and I hope it works out because I would love both of them to start enjoying life more and travel, since they have both worked hard for so long! I yet again went to all the hotels to see if our boards were here yet and they weren't, now 3 days without boards, we heard of a guy at another hotel getting a  full refund for his flight since his boards took three days also! We just cruised around where were staying listened to some music and played pool on the sketchy duck taped felt pool table, but hey it works and is just as competitive!
     Saturday we got up and scootered with some of the aussies and our local friend Jamaica down the road to check out a beach break. It was away's down the road through a few villages where you get the stares, like what the heck are you surfers doing down here there's no waves haha. And of course after the 30 minute scooter ride there wasn't, but cool seeing some more of the lifestyle around this area of the island! All if us headed back and surfed another spot we had been checking out, still had the old beat up boards the owner, Rachelle (Ra- shell, man's name in France) let us borrow. Both of us got a few waves, just frustrating because the boards aren't nearly close to what we ride on the daily basis. Arriving back to our place I got an email from some friend's that had left this morning and said they would check into our boards for us at the Bali airport. They said the check-in desk told them they have yet to and will not put the bag on the plane because the bag is to big, and that it is probably sitting in the lost and found office. We were both pissed of course but at least we knew where they were, I booked a flight right away back to Bali to figure the situation out, figured it would be easier and less money if just one of us goes! We tried to enjoy the rest of our day and I crashed early because had a long day ahead of me with the 2 hour taxi to the airport, wait for 2 hours, hour flight, then figure out the board bag situation.
     Sunday morning got up at 6:30am and had a bite to eat before hitting the road, the 2 hour drive from Lakey to the airport is filled with cows, monkeys, goats, dogs, and of course people all over the road! The driver gets you to the airport almost two hours before the flight, so just gotta sit and wait it out, luckily I chatted with an older guy that I met who was also staying at Lakey's but just now leaving. Like Larry that I had met a few days before he had to traveled Indonesia for a long time and has been quite a few places, he grew up in Morocco but is now living in France. As I have said before it's just really fun and interesting to me to meet new people from other parts of the world, and to also see what they have done with there life and if they are happy with there life! The hour flight wasn't bad, got into the airport in Bali and went straight to the Merpati airlines check in desk, I asked to talk to a manager and after some hassle saying "I don't want to explain everything twice". I basically explained to them what I had to go through to come back and get my boards and of course they speak english but act like they only understand a few things. If this were to happen in America it would have been a totally different situation, all that ended up happening was I got priority check in the next morning. I got the board bag from lost and found, and got our driver Putu to meet me at the aiport so I could get back to the hostel and separate the boards into 2 bags, so that they would for sure get on this time. I got back to Canggu and went straight to Bu Mi to get some food, it was pouring rain in Bali so I had to throw a poncho on and take it slow. When I arrived back at the hostel immediately dove into switching the board bags up, had to take everything out of Jeremy's which is the one we left there and move it into mine. Also grabbed one of Bryce's (hostel owner) extra board bag's n had to put 2 board's in each bag and take out as much weight as possible to make sure that they get on this time! It was pouring the rest of the day, so I just chilled out and watched a few movies, got to bed early since had to wake up and leave for the airport at 5:00am.
     Monday I was up early since our driver Putu came to pick me up at 5:00 am, I arrived at the check in desk at 5:45 and sat there waiting till they opened, which wasn't till 6:30. I was the first to get the two board bags checked in just taking all precautions, then when all was done with I still had 2 hours before my flight. Went over to a Starbucks and grabbed a smoothie and cinnamon roll, got onto there free wifi and started chatting with some family and friends on skype through my phone. It was nice chatting to a few buddies to see how they were doing and also give them a few funny stories from the trip, also got a hold of my grandma who was more than ecstatic to hear from me! After chilling out in the A/C and comfy chairs in Starbucks for hour n half, made my way back into the terminal to hop on the bus that takes you onto the runway where the semi small 60 person plane boards. Flight was quick and easy, landed and saw my board bags getting unloaded, thank god finally, yet again got on board for the 2 hour long, crazy, and uncomfortable car ride to the beach. Once I got back I was just done, it was such a mission and I had a headache and stomach ache since the night before I left 3 days ago, I got a bit of food then went straight to the bed to nap around 2:30pm. Jeremy was of course frothing and grabbed his board and was out there right away, super stoked. I woke up a few times but didn't get up until 5:00am the next day, felt so shitty, head ached and stomach ached so bad.

Sleeping the airport night before flight to Sumbawa.

The old school shred sticks we borrowed for a day when our boards didn't come.

The restaurant at where were staying, looking out over the left side is the beach.

Low tide on the inside reef, boats get dry docked for the afternoon.

The left they call Lakey Pipe isn't bad either.

You can walk all the way out to the contest tower on low tide.

Canngu Round 2

     Wednesday we got a ride back to the the hostel we stayed at in Canggu, we arrived around noon and chilled for a bit before hitting our favorite food spot. Both chowed down on a mix of rice, veggies, meat, and noodles before going to check the waves. The waves looked alright but was going to get better in a few hours with the tide going low, so we went back to relax and pop in a movie. After the relaxing time we got a surf in at Echo beach out front, it was fun lil evening sesh, we finished the night off with some Pizza and watching a soccer game they had on a big projection screen at the restaurant.
     Thursday a group of us did the mob up north to the secret beach, the waves were actually really fun. We surfed this right that would line up for a few hundred feet all the way to the inside, it was about chest to head high and really consistent. Everyone surfed for almost 2 hours and got out, me and Jeremy got out and had a banana and some water but were to stoked so went back out as they hit the road to go back. We stayed out for another 45 minutes until we both caught one in and didn't have the energy to paddle back out haha. We hopped back on the scoot for the 45 minute ride back to the house and of course stopped by or Bu Mi warung to get the infamous $1.50 stacked plate of food. I worked on the website when we got back as Jeremy watched Californication with some of the roomies here. Ended getting another evening session in at Echo with a few barres to be had out there in between the crowds. To finish off the night we went back to another spot we had been two for dinner, dunno what its called, but we call it the 3 course meal place. Since you get 3 courses for around $5.50, and there all really good stuff! We both got back and just fell onto our beds  and passed out, I was so tired i woke up in the middle of the night door still open, lights, on cuddling the fan!
     Friday the roomies around here all slept in since the had a long night out for one of the guys bdays, Jeremy and I went back up north hoping we could score a decent uncrowded session again. We arrived at the spot and checked the river mouth first instead of heading down the beach like we usually do. Ended up going out at the river mouth with 4 other guys out, it looked fun and decently peaky, I got quite a few rights way down the beach. After being out for about an hour a big set came through with almost a dozen waves and washed everyone in except us two. They all got our and we had the spot to ourselves for the next half hour till we were tired and over it. After we road back, got lunch, Jeremy got sucked into watching apparently his new favorite show californication for about 4 hours, while I skyped the family. We didn't end up getting the second session in since we were just done from surfing so much in the sun the past few days, instead we hung out with everyone at the hostel accompanied with a few beers. Tried a new spot for dinner that had some awesome burgers and fries, after we headed to a saki bar that was streaming the Billabong Pro Rio contest. I wish I had got a pic of the restaurant but it was hard with my phone and not having much light. You basically walked up a small spiral staircase and upstairs is a large open loft with a nice setup of leather couches. But the sketchy part is there is no railing looking down onto the rest of the bar and restaurant area, really cool but pretty unsafe, especially if you were drunk! Only watched a heat and a half because the conditions of the contest were horrible and the waves weren't very exciting. When we got back Jeremy finished the season of Californication, I went to grab some ice cream, and when i got back watched Moneyball, with Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill, I thought it was an awesome movie, considering I'm not into baseball at all.
     Saturday I left early to head up to the bukit and pick up a package, as I was getting back home stopped by a DVD store to check out a few movies. I saw the 6th season of Californication so i grab it for Jeremy, I grabbed a few other good movies, and headed back tot he house. As I got back everyone was laying around from there long night, one of the guys staying here, Nathan had a hug gash on his forehead! Apparently he was crowd surfing at this bar and somehow feel straight onto his his forehead, Bryce the hostel owner tried to super glue it back together and just made it even more disformed. So I guess they went to a clinic at 2am, another friend Emilie that's a med student ran into them on the way and joined to help, they got to the clinic and the doctor just stared at them and didn't know what to do. So Emilie just ran into the back and grabbed gloves and stitches and started doing it herself, haha, that's a drunk night in Bali for ya. We grabbed a quick lunch and Jeremy went straight for the new season of Californication, I ran a few errands then ended up joining him. A few of us ended up finishing the whole 6th season in like 4 hours, we ended the night by heading down to Echo beach for dinner. Down on the beach they have a few awesome BBQ setups,You can pick from all these meats and fish you want bbq'd and while you wait you get to grab a plate full of whatever you want from the salad bar!
     Sunday the waves were small but we went for a quick surf out front, wasn't even in the water for 30 minutes. Got back up and had a bite to eat at one of the cafe's, just chatted and watched the waves with some of the guys from the hostel. We got back and the goose was running around near the house again making loud noises and trying to get in, but we were okay with a bit of entertainment! I relaxed for a bit then got on the scooter to check out a few places we might move to since its our last night in the hostel. Headed back down to the beach to check the waves, they were pretty crappy I sat out while Jeremy tried for a surf. I had been feeling crappy since the night before with a bad headache and sore throat all night, then got really tired and sick feeling before the surf. After the surf we got back home and started looking into a place to travel to in the next few days, been seriously looking into Sumbawa home to Lakey Peak and a few other world-class waves within a short distance!
     Monday the waves were looking pretty small but headed to the beach to get in the water, not to many people out since it was still a bit early. Got a few fun waves to ourselves for a bit, but there waves a current and it was pretty inconsistent, so headed back home. Got a late breakfast at an awesome spot here in town called the Canteen, definitely recommend it to anyone coming here. Ran into a friend as we got there and sat down over breakfast and chatted about our last few days, she was leaving tomorrow so after breakfast said our goodbyes and headed back to the house. We started to look into booking flights, we found a flight leaving the next morning, but when tried to pay for it we couldn't since it was less than 48 hours before departure, and the next flight wasn't till Thursday! We were pretty mad since were trying to get over there as soon as possible to catch a few smaller days and get used to the spot before it gets really big! So we kinda went for a hail marry and packed up everything we wanted to bring into my one big bag, keeping the rest here in Jeremy's bag, and also a backpack each. We hopped on the scooter and hauled ass to the airport right as it was getting dark, we arrived and rushed to the ticket window to try and get the earliest flight. We went to a few different windows and finally found a reasonable priced flight leaving Wednesday morning, before leaving the airport we got something to eat. On the way in noticed a Cold Stone, which is basically one of the best ice creams known to man, and we have them all over SoCal, we couldn't resist! We got back to the hostel and just crashed out after a movie, looking forward to getting a few waves the next day before sleeping in the airport!
     Tuesday we relaxed for a bit before making the mission up north to get some waves by ourselves, it was pretty big and mostly walled. Got a few fun ones each, I got a fun lil barrel on the inside I was stoked on. We made the long fast bumpy road back to Canggu and got lunch before getting back and watching a movie. We sorted out some last minute things with the scooter and transportation to the airport before heading to dinner with a few friends for the last night! Went to Canggu Cafe, had a great meal, sat and chatted for hours, a great time for sure. Now we wait till midnight for the transport to come and take us to the airport, our flight leaves at 9:20am, but we need to get there early and get our bags to the terminal early. If we don't get them there early they might not make it on the flight since the place is so small only a few bags can get on! So were basically get to the airport past midnight and just hanging/sleeping until the airlines get there so we can check the bag in, going to be a long night...

My broken surfboard painted and now the Canggu Surf Hostel welcoming sign!

Goose cruised into the yard, had to take him out got a quick pic in the action.

BBQ down at Echo Beach, pick and meat that get's bbq'd right away and enjoy a good salad bar in the meantime.

Packing the board bag is always fun!