Flying over the Andes, landing in Santiago

So we finally left Buenos Aires for, well, Sao Paulo via Santiago on LAN Chile. Rich and I had a plan to trick LAN in to letting stay at least one night in Santiago so when we arrived at Ezeiza airport in Buenos Aires we started to sweet talk the agent, but found out quickly no sweet talk was actually needed. You see, every American needs a visa for Brazil and the airlines are the first line of enforcement. I have a visa and so does Rich, but not in the passport he is carrying! So, the agent checked us to Santiago only and told us we should figure it out there. Before we boarded the plane we ran to the Admiral's Club in Buenos Aires to ask for help. Basically, we needed a good two days to fix the visa/passport issue. The agent guaranteed that we would leave at 7am on Saturday and then the gate agent confirmed so we boarded happy.

This was the first time flying LAN Chile and was very excited to see what their business product was like. LAN has more space than American, but the seat is a bit more rigid and not as soft and plush as American. Nonetheless, the service was excellent, the seat laid completely flat, and the food was amazing. About 2 hours into the flight the plane started to approach the Andes which is an amazing sight! The Andes are so high the plane flies just over them and then a sharp turn down into the valley Santiago lies in right up against the majestic Andes. After landing, being shocked by having to pay the $131 per person "reciprocity" fee, and then being shocked by rental car process we went up to reconfirm with LAN what the Adminral's Club did in Buenos Aires. We found out LAN cancelled the flight, reverted us back to the original itinerary and blamed it on the fact we were flying on a ticket issued by American. Rich decided to yell at the LAN agents while I called up the American Airlines Executive Platinum desk on my cell phone. I told the agent that we really needed to fix the visa issue and she promptly rebooked us on the 2:15pm flight on Saturday (instead of the yucky 7am flight)! It appears LAN is not so helpful in the end, but American, especially lately has risen above and beyond expectations.

View of the Andes provided by LAN Chile

We finally checked into our hotel in Santiago and for the next few hours worked with our friends in Miami, especially Eddie Diaz (thanks big guy!), to find Rich's passport with the Brazilian visa and then figure out how to get it to Santiago by the time our flight leaves on Saturday. We then decided to have lunch, feed some homeless kittens, and go back for a well deserved rest. I must say that Santiago is very modern and very beautiful....more to come soon!

Poor Chilean Kitty!

My new haircut....finally

Ok, so I am finally ready to share my new look. About 3 weeks ago I decided to make some major changes to my look. For the past year I toyed with the idea of a mohawk, so I finally took the plunge and had my hair stylist create a mohawk. One week later I went to get my eyebrow and nipple pierced. Many like my new look and a very few don't. I live in South Beach so people think my look is cool, but I went to New York 2 weeks ago and even the most liberal gays stared at me very strangly. My first assumption is that my look was way to liberal to have a professional job in New York. My assumption was confirmed by a few New Yorkers letting me know that New York is all about where you work and how much you make and there is no way someone with my look could have a good job. (Just to let you know New Yorkers that I have a very fun job running my own business traveling the world meeting and filming hot men...so ha!) I'd rather look like a punk and work when I went, fly first class, and live two blocks from the beach than work for some nasty corporate boss that only thinks I do good work only if I stay until 8pm every night and dress in an Armani suite.

Last, but not least, please take note of the new look and feel of my blog. I finally decided to clean it up a bit and set my links to pop up and not redirect my blog to another website.

New York, Buenos Aires and Montevideo!

So after a quick trip to New York to visit retailers. Rich and I took off for Buenos Aires. Since I have been on a gym binge since I made the break up with my ex final I went to the gym right before heading to the airport. Personally I have felt for a while that I really to get my ass back into shape after traveling a ton over the past year, so we'll see what happens. After arriving at JFK and settling into the First Class Admirals lounge, Rich started chatting up this guy in the corner of the lounge. American kept delaying the flight and then told the guy that the flight would be on an older 767 making him think it would be a non-refurbished 767 without the flat bed, but rather a recliner seat. He even made me nervous, even though I know American finished their refurbishment of the 767s like a year ago and recently finished their 777 fleet, I was scared a bit. I asked the agent in the lounge and she told me it would be a "767 jet." Holy shit! I totally thought I was back in 1983! 767-jet, I mean really lady.

Pluna's website to see how much it would cost to fly to Montevideo instead of taking the expensive boat (buquebus at $160 round trip) and I found a web special for Friday to Saturday for $59 round trip including taxes! So the next day we hopped on a nice new Pluna CRJ and took a quick 30 minute flight to Montevideo.

With Steve and his partner Ben at The Faena

Anyway, not only was it a "jet" it was also a completely reconfigured business class with flat beds. Our new friend Steve (the guy Rich chatted up in the lounge) changed his seat based on the misinformation of the lounge agent ended up with the one broken seat that would not recline fully! Although the flight was perfect for sleep: 10 hours, leaving 1.5 hours after take off and 1.5 hours before landing to get full sleep, which I did get 7 hours of sleep, after arriving at the hotel Rich and I slept for another 6 hours! ahh! Later, we met up with Steve and his boyfriend Ben at the Hotel Faena for drinks then on to Kilometro Zero for some trashy fun.

The next few days we organized shoots, met with models, filmed a bit, lazed around a bit and then I went to

Pluna is the Fabulous Uruguayan Airline

Montevideo is actually a very small but interesting city with awesome architecture. Rich and I also cashed in some Starwood Points to stay at the Four Points Montevideo for free and ended up working most of the day, but did get to look around a bit during the day before heading out to a nice dinner at night and then to a pub or two after. The next day our special fare was for an 8:30am flight back to Buenos Aires so we went to bed early, but then took a nap after returning to our apartment and then I had to get some work done! Now its Sunday and we are taking the day off like most Argentinians and then off to Santiago de Chile on Thursday hoping to convince LAN Chile to allow us a 1 or 2 day stopover to see the city before continuing onto Sao Paulo.

Brush with Hurricane Ike

Well, it has been a wild week in Miami Beach. Just as I started to get some work done and take a few days at the beach the news started reporting about Ike. As Ike moved closer Florida declared a State of Emergency on Thursday and by Friday panic took over. We had a Category 4 Hurricane headed directly for us, so my business partner and I had to make evacuation plans, especially since we live 2 blocks from the beach and we work from home. Friday night I was coming home from, well I can't remember, but I stopped by Publix (our supermarket) and all the bottled water was gone, people were frantically pushing carts through the aisles, and about 50% of non-perishable items were ripped from the shelves. Ok, I'm usually not one to panic, but when I see other people panic I get nervous.

One of Ike's outter bands movin' in

However, the next morning we woke up to see that Ike started heading south. By mid-day we were almost out of the cone. Sunday morning rolled around and we were 95% sure we would miss the brunt of Ike. What better to do than to ask Eddie Diaz to head to the beach with me, but by the time we left home one of Ike's bands blew in and we headed to The Palace for shelter (and mojitos). We did get a quick dip in the turbulent ocean though!

One of the reasons I live on South Beach :)

Sunday evening I went to the closing party of Click at Dek 23. Omar, the promoter has been a friend for a long time so I agreed to bring my camera and film away! I had a great time playing with my camera and acting as interviewer (watch out Barbara Walters)! Later that night Rich and I popped by Twist to say "hi" to Pussila. Of course, she was acting as crazy as ever finding new ways to use colorful condoms! Monday night Rich and I went to Club Chat Noir at Dream. Chat Noir is the most fun on South Beach with a great mix of people. If you ever make it to South Beach Chat Noir is a must!


Now I am in NY writing this at a Starbucks and preparing for my next international adventure. More to come!

T.S. Fay, mom, dad, LA and back

I seem to have perfected how to shove 10 pounds of shit into a five pound bag. The only problem is that every so often I break down and crash for 2 days or so becoming a recluse. This adventure started with Tropical Storm Fay's dirty side hit Miami hard. FYI- the dirty side of a storm is the northwest quadrant and dirty meaning harsher winds and massive downpours. Fay started to hit Monday night so I was a bit worried about my Tuesday morning flight, but I lucked out and my flight took off between one of Fay's nasty bands. The take off of the large 777 was quite rough and then when we turned West and went directly over Fay the huge aircraft took a large dip....woo hoo!

Needless to say I made it safe to LA and then up to San Jose where my mom picked me up. I spent the next two days finishing the work in her yard I started last month then on Thursday I drove with my cousin Gina up to Sacramento. My cousin wanted to go see Air Supply at the Sacramento State Fair. This is the second time I went to see Air Supply with my cousin (the first in Las Vegas) so I guess I can be called an "Air Head." LOL! After a fun night at the fair we went out on the (gay) town in Sacramento and had a lot of fun...I even entered an underwear contest that I lost....you win some and you lose some, but in the end it is all fun and games.

The next day turned out to be a bit crazy. I was suppose to take a simple nonstop flight on United from Sacramento to LA, but United cancelled my flight and their Philippine call center put me on a US Airways flight via Vegas, but my cousin's GPS sent us to Sacramento Executive Airport so by the time we got to the right airport US Airways would not check me in. I called United again and the Philippine call center blamed me for everything refusing to change my ticket! Ah! After a huge fight and demanding a supervisor the agent finally rebooked me out of Oakland in 3 hours, but we didn't even make it to Oakland in time so United put me on a Delta flight departing 2 hours later. I arrived in LA just in time to get to my graphics company to pick up my promo DVDs...whew!

The next day I went to the Rentboy pool party and had a ton of fun with Chi Chi, Brandon Baker, Mark from the Grabby's and my buds from Specialty Publications. Between Tuesday and Thursday I flew up to Oregon to see my dad...not much happened except us argue over politics since the DNC was on tv. Once again I missed a flight on United because I am not a premium member of United's Mileage Plus Program so I had to be a normal traveler and deal with very slow and annoying TSA lines at one of United's major hubs: LAX. Over the next few days I hung out with friends, went to Sunset Junction and filmed a scene in San Diego before finally returning to Miami Beach.