(pictures to follow soon)
There is very little time
to get to Florida. This is where our polyphasic sleeping will come in
handy, i.e. no need to stop for an entire night to sleep.
We do not even stop to
eat. Our car is a Suzuki Swift (although we learned last week after
trying to get in the wrong car who turned out to belong to an
American that in the States they sell them as Chevrolet Aveos) and
we've transformed it into a mini mobile home (and those who know how
small that car is know what I mean by mini)
We have a soft shell cooling unit for the car, that allows us to
bring yogourt, cold cuts, veggies and lettuce. We also have a
converter that makes it possible to plug our magic bullet to make
delicious smoothies. Between that and the cutting board on my knees
where I chop peppers, cucumbers and mushrooms, the adjacent car
drivers have trouble believing their eyes when they see my culinary
exploits in this tiny space. I feel like a mutant, this trip is off
to a good start!
The only hiccup so far is
staying awake at night. I thought we were black belts in polyphasic
sleep, but at home we usually stay pretty active at night so the
moving around may have made it impossible for us to know that being
still in a car while it's dark and uninteresting make us so drowsy
that we stop for naps twice as often. It makes the whole thing a lot
less pleasant.
So minus the black belt
in Polyphasic sleeping, we take a little longer getting to Florida
and make it to the Fetish Factory store five-ish rather than noon-ish
like we had wanted.
Another annoying thing is
that my feet seem annoyed by how little I use them over this car
trip. To remind me of their existence, they swell to proportions
previously unheard of for feet as tiny is mine, which is both
uncomfortable and weird. We won't be saying that my head won't fit in
the door, but I do not even want to speculate on what it means to
have that problem with your feet...
On the up side, the same
converter that kept us well nourished thanks to the magic bullet,
also lets me plug in my various beauty devices, thus I arrive with
two overimportant organs of locomotion but at least I am all groomed
and ready to roll.
The store is of course
swarming with people, amongst which more than a few familiar faces
and I cannot help but feel that things have changed so much within a
year. Last year we were newbies that traveled with a comforting flock
of Montrealers, but this time around only us and possibly one or two
other from our home town have made the trip, but it really doesn't
matter, as it seems that since the last year we have made so many
friends from all over that the world indeed is our oyster. It's a
great feeling :)
So I get to say hi and
chat a little with many different people, two of whom I am
particularly happy to see: Michael Diamond, the perfect gentleman
photographer and Erik Kling, the head of Marquis USA who has been
incredibly nice to us since we've met him. I am always looking
forward to seeing these two and unfortunately (as usual) I'll see too
little of both during the weekend.
We browse away and we see
all this abundance of stock, oh my! Rows of corsets, latex stockings,
gloves, dresses....Now, I'm very proud of our store, especially
considering it's been build with a whole lot of nothing, but I do
wish it will be like the FF store when it grows up ;)
After some proper
gushing, we get to our hotel to check in.
Initially, there was no
room in the host hotel, as we had made up our mind at the last
minute, but fortunately for us, Glenn contacted us late last night to
let us know a cancellation occurred at the main hotel and that we'd
have a room with the other pervs. Ahhhh, I love the sound of pieces
of the fetish puzzle falling into place :)
Getting there, we realize
how lucky we are to have been able to get a room because it's like
walking into the FetishSheraton. Except for the staff, pretty much
everyone has some vestimentary (apparently both my spell check and
the dictionary tell me this word doesn't exist, but it should, so I
am leaving as is, nah) indication that they are kinky. And lucky for
us, our amazing friends the Casanovas, Mike B. & Flouer from the
New York Tribe are right there in the lobby's bar so we get a very
warm welcome to sunny Florida.
The Casanovas are this
glamorous couple who ooze charm. Yaya is always so glitzy, with
occasional ironic remarks that let you know just how smart she is and
William has earned a privilege unheard of in Québec: he is the only
man allowed to slap anyone's butts without warning them first...he's
just that charming that you turn around and upon realizing who it is,
you become happy as a puppy!
So with such a great
entourage, how could the weekend go wrong?
MAY THE FESTIVITIES
BEGIN!