Wow! What a wild month I had! Let’s get into it!
I was still in Key West, Florida for the first week on the month.
I had a few drunken nights on Duval Street there! Lots of good food and I had a delicious Sloppy Joe sandwich from “Sloppy Joe’s Bar”!
I was able to meet up with a few of MY RV friends that were down there! Shoutout to Stephanie, Bryan, Chris & Cory for showing me around!
On February 7th I started heading back up the Keys & I stayed @ an Elks Lodge for 3 nights.
I was in Miami the weekend of February 10th. I had a fairly decent Cuban sandwich from the famous Versailles restaurant there. The sandwich was descent but it honestly didn’t live up to the hype I heard about the restaurant. Later that night, I complained to a local about my experience there & that I also needed to do my laundry tomorrow. Who would have guessed that that the local came through with a laundromat recommendation that also serves really good Cuban sandwiches! Wow! Only in Miami! 🙂
For the Super Bowl, I ended up getting buzzed off Moscow Mules at a dive bar near downtown & then passed out in the parking lot that night.
In my January update, I dropped my van off at a shop for them to diagnose the problem of my alternator not charging my house battery while I drove. All of the parts needed for the repair arrived so I had to make a 5 hour round trip drive back up to the shop for them to do the fix. It bill ended up being $6k but it was all covered under the warranty (so it was worth the 5 hour drive).
I pulled in The Love Burn on February 15th. It is the largest Burning Man regional in the U.S.! This is the 5th regional I have been and it is my new favorite! The weather, the beach, the water, the vibe, everything about it was really great! However, I don’t think it made a big enough impression on me for me to make the drive or trek across the United States just to go to it. To be honest, my entire winter in Florida can be summed up with that same thought also: I have had an absolutely wonderful time down here this winter! So many new experiences and adventures however, I’m not for sure if anything left such an impression on me to make the big drive back over again. I could see myself flying back in for Art Basel or for a random week here or there but I will get a hotel instead of bringing my van along.
In the middle of the day on the last day of the festival (Sunday, 2/18) it started to rain & the forecast called for rain the rest of the day so I packed up & took off. I raced across the United States in 4 days and pulled back in to my RV spot in Pahrump, Nevada on 2/22. I originally left Pahrump for Florida on 11/5 so I had a really fun 3.5 months exploring new territory I hadn’t seen in my RV yet!
I only had 2 days to get my life rearranged because I leaving the van behind for 5 months to explore another new world! I have never flown oversees before and it was finally happening! Even though I had a minor delay with my shuttle to Vegas that ended up pushing my flights back a day, I didn’t let it ruin my excitement for the trip!
I flew to New York on Sunday night, 2/25 and then to Doha, Qatar first thing Monday morning! Before that flight, my longest flight ever had been 5 hours. This was 12 hours so it was a little bit of a marathon that I kind of had to prepare for mentally a little bit. I was able to manage just fine. The rush that came over my body when I got off the plane and looked out the window from the terminal was amazing! A different landscape I had never seen before! The new signs in multiple languages! Even though I was in a normal setting of an airport, everything seemed so brand new to me!
I took a taxi to my hotel and the entire first day was pretty much a wash. I just relaxed & slept a bunch. On Day 2, I tried my best to adjust my sleep schedule to the local time as much as I could. I hopped on the public transportation & explored a few different neighborhoods around Doha. The archecture there was amazing. It felt like something from the future or Star Wars or another world or something!
Wow….you really racked up the miles and experiences. Keep on posting and enjoying.
Thank you so much Joann! I’m excited to catch up with you next!
Oh my goodness! What a great adventure. Love the picks! So glad your van was covered by warranty. 6 k would be a lot. Love burn looked awesome and those buildings do look like something in our future. Be safe and enjoy.
Thank you so much Lori! I would like to plan a trip through IL soon to see you!
how safe did you feel in qatar? isn’t being homo illegal? how did you navigate that?
Hey Parker! Good questions! I stayed at a hotel near the airport and there wasn’t any kind of nightlife around me. I do think there are some clubs there downtown but I didn’t go looking for them. There definitely aren’t any gay bars. Being homo is kind of illegal there but really only if you are doing PDA out in the open. I didn’t plan on doing anything like that anyway so I felt just fine. I felt safe there however, I did always have a little bit of a “big brother is watching” type feeling there. I was a little bit nervous to show my face on gay dating apps but from the blogs I read online, the police aren’t going to lengths like that to catch somebody being gay.
Unbelievable life experiences!
I love all of this, and I’m glad you’re snapping and sharing some photos! 🤍
Awww! Thank you Joey! I miss ya bunches!