|
|
One of the post-WWW trip activities that I look forward
to is composing my trip report. I like to wait a bit after returning before I
post my report. Spending some time reflecting upon the activities that took
place and the people I met always makes me feel good. As some may have
noticed, my recent trip reports have dealt more with feelings and emotions
rather than with the details of what happened. Others are doing a great job
with the details and I really appreciate all those other trip reports. Ill
continue with my trend and try to put pen to paper actually putting
fingers to keyboard and compose a few paragraphs about what the WWW2000
Winter trip meant to me.
After 8 trips to Hedonism II, I finally experienced an
epiphany of sorts. I think that most of us, me included in that, get really
into the preparations, planning, and anticipation for the WWW trips. There is
absolutely nothing wrong with that. Its part of the experience. However,
somewhere in the air between Phoenix and MoBay it came to me that I really
didnt get as worked up about all that this trip and I began to wonder why.
(Its amazing where the brain wanders on a 5-hour red-eye flight where most
people are sleeping and youre not.) I thought about it a bit and then when
on to thinking about something else. But soon, my brain wandered back to
thinking about it. Then somewhere between Houston and the Cayman Islands over
a vast expanse of nothing, the answer started to appear. It wasnt like a
slap in the face it was more like the lights being slowly faded in, like
at the end of a movie. Although in this case, it wasnt the end of
something, it was the beginning.
So what was it? What was the BIG revelation? What dark
secret of the universe became unraveled? What mystery was solved? Well Im
sorry to say its not some earth shattering or mystical answer. Are you
ready for my big shock?
Hedonism II is not a place that really exists. You can't
explain it to anyone and get the true feeling across to anyone who hasn't been
there. Hedonism II is not real. It can't be copied or experienced elsewhere.
It can't be correctly portrayed in television shows or magazine articles. Even
the couple of hundred trip reports on this web site don't represent the real
heart of Hedonism II and the Wet, Wild, and Wicked trips.
I mean how can some middle-aged, balding guy in
Phoenix Arizona who plays around with a little web site be responsible for
bringing together over 350 people from all over the world in the course of a
few years who have bonded together in a group called the Wet, Wild, and Wicked
bunch? How can this bunch of people no how can this family of
people exist in such a cohesive manner and think, feel, and act as one unit
when we only see each other once, or maybe twice a year? How is that bond
formed, nurtured, and enhanced through the Hedonism experience? How can a
group of visitors to another country have such an impact on the little kids by
bringing them their only Christmas present that they will get? How can we all
have an experience that makes us feel so empty when we get back to our real
life?
The only viable and acceptable answer is it's magic
the magic of love.
I think that says it all. Think about it.