Somewhere, Beyond the Sea

DAY 2, continued: (Danny) After take-off, I scored a whole row of seats to myself and was able to sleep for about six hours. It's hard to figure out the time-zone situation but I think it's 6:00 AM on November 2nd as we land in Fiji at 1:00 PM November 1st in New York City. When we crossed the International Date Line we lost a day? Time really is an illusion. ; )

I made my first friend on the trip: Ureta. She's from a small island near Fiji called Kiribati and was coming back from Rome via Los Angeles because she works for one of the big cruise lines. It’s amazing to ask someone who lives on the complete opposite side of the world if they use Facebook and they say, "of course!" Landing in Fiji, we have a three-hour drive to get to our hotel.

There are four pro surfers on board who are going to enjoy the 11-15-ft waves on Fiji. I hope I get a chance to rent a board and hit the water, although those waves are a bit big for this Eastcoaster’s britches. I have a “Surfs Up” app that tells conditions and wave heights at beaches all over the world and saw that there are 17-19-ft waves in the Philippines at the moment. I'll be doing a lot of watching there!

Everyone is up, eating breakfast and happily chatting away. It's so good to be with my brothers again. These guys are my best friends and I’m going to revel in their presence. We're all so exited about this tour of cultural exchange and are planning what to play on the local radio station, Gold FM, later today. We won't bring much gear so I'll probably be playing brushes on a phone book. We could do Smoke that Cigarette, Graceland, Jail House Rock or our new arrangement of Cheek-to-Cheek.We needed to fill out customs sheets before landing and I was trying to get Brian “Mud Man” to do mine for me so I could keep writing, but he wouldn’t agree.

Wow! Landing in Fiji as the sun rises with some lightning flashes to the west. I can't believe we’re here. There are jagged hills and small volcanic mountains flowing down to the sea. Time to deplane, go through customs and start this tour! : )