Feel free to catch up on the previous posts -  1, 2, 3, 4 , 5 or 6

Krav Maga got me going with working out but it was an expensive class for my budget at the time. I stopped after a few months but found a cardio kickboxing class and also joined 24 hour fitness and started taking group exercise classes and fell in LOVE with them! I was also surrounded by amazing athletes who would walk around in short shorts and sport bras or bathing suits all the time backstage. Surrounded by six packs on women who just had babies and saw amazing things that the human body can do. I was constantly inspired.

For five years I was happy at Cirque but open to what was next. The hit Broadway Show Jersey Boys kind of fell into my lap as a friend of mine was just offered Production Stage Manager and could hire his first assistant. When he first mentioned it to me I declined “nah… I’m happy at Cirque… but ask me again if you are sure you can hire your own assistant.”  I had a lot of time to think about the pros and cons of this shift on my solo backpacking trip from rim to rim of the Grand Canyon. An awesome trip – done much better than my first time to the bottom about 8 years earlier.

Started at the X and worked my way across

Starting at the North rim, heading to the south rim

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is how I slept for the three nights below the rim

Me at the bottom of the Grand Canyon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was offered the position at Jersey Boys and took it. It meant a month of rehearsals in New York, 2 months of shows in San Francisco, followed by a 2 month unpaid hiatus as they got ready to open the show in Vegas. That 2 month hiatus was actually one of the key reasons I took the job! Ever since my first trip to Australia about 10 years earlier I had wanted to go back. We were going to be out of work for January and February, perfect time of year to visit the southern hemisphere. I got to take my self to New Zealand for my 30th birthday. It had been a LONG time since I had been out of the country (minus a 5 day cruise to Mexico – but does that REALLY count…)

I guess before I go on I should tell you about another person who changed the course of my life. My grandma passed away in October of 2006 and I flew to Alabama for the funeral. On the way home I was seated next to a guy about my age, he was wearing a hat, sunglasses, headphones and generally a “I don’t want to talk to anyone attitude.” So I stared a conversation with him about what music he was listening to. He and I ended up chatting for the 2 hour delay sitting on the runway and then the other 3 hours flying to Vegas. He was meeting his family for a mini reunion and were planning on seeing Mystere. I gave them a tour after the show and his brother asked me if I ever come out to LA because if I do he is a “couchsurfer” and I could come and stay. I had heard about couchsurfing once years ago but never looked into it. I guess the timing was right and I went home and created a profile and started hosting travelers almost immediately.

I could probably easily write a whole post JUST on couchsurfing and the experiences I have had with that, but I’ll save that for another time. I wish I had heard of CS during my initial road trip – I would have lasted a lot longer. Although the website wasn’t invented I was doing it somewhat but only through family and friends.

It’s funny a lot of people think “aren’t you afraid they will do something bad?” My response to that is “I have been hurt WAY more by people who were my friends or told me they loved me than by any stranger I have met on couchsurfing.”

Does the idea of hosting a stranger you met on a travel website freak you out? Would you ever stay at a strangers house you met on-line? Are you an “official or unofficial couchsurfer?”