…the actual international part of my year where I venture off to the UK. 
NOTE: This one is kinda long and full of photos. Not all of them are safe for work. I put the photos in video montages, some with music some without. Some of the music choices will seem odd, but I promise they aren’t. The photos are all from DK and his family, their snapshots of my time there. I had a blast and am looking forward to a return trip at some point.
I had originally planned on attending Mr. Leather Toronto 2008 as my international component to my title. However, it is held over our Thanksgiving weekend. Airline tickets to visit our neighbors to the north over that particular weekend were a bit on the cost prohibitive side. Although conveniently located, Canada was off my map for the year. So what’s a boi to do?
Pondering my situation, an alternative to my original idea started to take shape. In all honesty, it was for fairly selfish reasons this idea popped up, but it would indeed fulfill my international component of my title year AND give me an opportunity to finally meet people I had known for years online. Selfish, but efficient so a balance was struck.
I contacted DK to see if there would be an opportunity for me to present a workshop/demo in their area during the spring. Two emails later dates were chosen and multiple opportunities for demos/workshops were set! I was very excited to say the least. I would be there from Thursday, Feb 12th to Tuesday, Feb 17th. So, February rolls around and I find myself at Charlotte Douglass airport passport in hand (ok, my jacket pocket) heading to another country for the first time in my life. I’ve traveled so much in the past two years that I have the airport bit down. Since I was traveling to some place new, I decided it might be best if I dressed a bit better than usual. A shirt and tie seemed wholly appropriate. I didn’t want UK Immigration to think I was some sort of thug or terrorist. As a matter of fact, here’s what I looked like the day I left
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I chose my flight over so that it would be departing here in the evening and arriving there in the morning. That way I could sleep like normal and wake up starting another day like any other, except in another country visiting people I’ve only known online. Ok, so maybe not quite like any other. Once on the plane that would actually take me across the ocean I was surprised that there were so few people on the flight. This made it much easier to stretch out and sleep. The flight attendants seemed to want to wake me up a good bit though. Anyway, fast forward…I’ve landed at Manchester airport and am beyond excited. Follow the signs and get in line to say hi to the nice customs/immigration lady. The guy in front of me was saying how much he hates this part because they almost always pick him to search. I was too happy to be concerned. He goes up and the nice lady asks him a question or two and he’s stamped and underway in no time at all. I knew he was worried for nothing.
So here’s the part that most of you don’t know. Right about now is when I begin my experience with the UK’s customs/immigration authority. My trip almost ended here. That’s right, I was detained and came pretty close to being denied entry to the British Commonwealth!! See, what had happened was….
Now that the nice man has gone through it’s my turn. I am wearing a ridiculous grin and have a newly issued, never before stamped passport in my hot little hands. Apparently, this must be the look of trouble, because it all goes down hill from here. The nice lady asks for my passport and asked why I was visiting her fair country? I told her I was there on holiday (I later learned that that was probably the wrong thing to say as I was going to be there just under a week. Apparently a “holiday” is longer than that. Duly noted.) She asked me about who I was visiting, what I would be doing while there, how much money I had on me AND in my accounts, where I would be staying, how long I would be in the country…the list goes on. After she’s interrogated me, she has me sit in a chair off to the side while she finishes with the rest of the people in line, but she keeps my passport.
For those of you who’ve ever had a run in with the law that involved you needing to make a phone call to a friend for assistance, remember that feeling of trying to remember someone’s phone number that would be willing to come get your punk ass? Ok, add to that to feeling not being able to remember a single number in your now unusable American networks only cellphone AND not knowing anyone in this country’s number off the top of your head. There is a certain panic that comes with that recognition of up the creek w/o a paddle that is just grim. I’ve watched Locked Up Abroad I know what could happen.
While I’m sitting there a gentleman comes out and asks if he can look through my backpack. I say of course. He goes through it and pulls out this and that and takes a number of things with him when he leaves me sitting there. I stop panicking for a second and realize that 1) I don’t have my passport and 2) I haven’t done anything wrong (for once). So the nice lady was done with checking people in and had disappeared without me really noticing. She magically appears and informs me that they need to search my luggage. I tell her fine, whatever we need to do to expedite this process. We start to walk to baggage claim to get my stuff and I ask her where is my passport? She curtly responds that it’s in the office. I ask her if she would give DK and Luisa a ring to let them know I’m being detained. Her response is that they’d think about it. What I didn’t know is that they had already been on the phone with them verifying what I had said.
I’ll skip the rest of the story, just ask me about it when you see me next time. So a full two hours after I arrived in the UK and after having my bags searched twice, I was officially allowed entry into the country. I now have an extra marker/sticker/stamp thingy that will tell the next UK immigration person to fuck with me. She said it’s to let them know I was detained and then allowed entry. Should they ask what the sticker is about she says, just tell them my bags were searched and it was no big deal. Why do I not believe it will be that simple?
I finally get to see DK and Luisa who waited ever so patiently for me to emerge from hell. I was so very relieved to see them both. I had no idea if they were still going to be there since I had NO way to communicate with them while being detained. After such a harrowing start to my trip the rest of it would go well, The Leather Family saw to that. Here are some candid photos mostly of my first couple of days in the UK.
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There was one picture of my back bloodied and dripping in that montage. It was taken Friday evening after play at Velvet Eden. It was the first of the three demos/workshops/talks I was scheduled to give. It is an interesting experience to discuss title holding, the history of it and its relevance today to a group of leather people who have no concept of the subject. I was absolutely delighted to field questions and share what I know and my personal experiences. Looking out at the group there and seeing the smile on the host of this event, Blue Velvet’s face made me feel so very welcome and at ease. As is often the case, I had a number of people approach me after I was done to ask questions. It’s hard asking questions in front of a group.
I had a wonderful time being played by DK, Luisa and even Loops!! It was brutal, hot and super fun…even before the single tail. There was even a yellow from me before we got to the single tail as well. Before it was all said and done I was a blindfolded, snotty, crying, bloody mess and it felt awesome!! Then there was Purell and I was in blinding pain for about 10 more seconds. Velvet Eden is not just around the corner from their home, so the ride back proved a bit of a challenge. I had worn my Exiles t-shirt out that night. Thank goodness it was black, but also curses, it was black. Makes it hard to see how bloody it was. I took a pic of the tag anyway. I’ve never had my back opened up like that and I gotta say I am pretty proud of myself for taking that.
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Needless to say I slept VERY well.
Saturday’s demo had to be cancelled due to weather, namely snow. I will try to do a demo for Cmunch next time I’m there. So Sunday was my demo at the Birmingham Bizarre Bizaar in, you guessed it, Birmingham located about an hour and a half from Derbyshire where we were. The BBB, as it’s known there, is one of the best-known fetish events in the UK and one of the longest running as well. I believe it’s been around for 10 years, on a monthly basis no less!
This is a daytime event held in a club with vendors and socializing on the first and second floors, with the demo done on the third floor. I had decided with the time I had been allotted that I could do a bootblacking demo and talk about title holding as well. After returning to the lovely abode I was residing in for my stay after Velvet Eden, we began to discuss the demo. Eventually, I decided to do a different set-up than I’d ever done before, this would be my first erotic bootblacking. We talked about it and decided we didn’t want it to be too a scene, but wanted everyone to stay interested. We added some music to the idea, four songs that we ended up cutting down to three at the demo and an attire change for me. Here’s what it looked like and yes, Estelle’s American Boy was one of the songs from the scene. Come on! It was a no brainer.
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That was one of the best bootblacking scenes I’ve done. Hot, connected completely involved. I had forgotten there was an audience behind us…until we stopped the music and I stood up almost naked and had to get dressed. Very aware of their presence then. The crowd there was actually a kind of two camp split, part serious fetishists an the other part leather. Keith, the gentleman sitting with me onstage opted to “interview” me with questions we’d agreed would give broad but clear insight into leather in the US. I had a ball and was really pleased with the response from people attending this event.
Monday was a relaxed day for me. I felt incredibly spoiled to have a day out with DK, Luisa AND Rachel (and Jasfoup!!!). They decided to take the boi to a nearby castle for a tour. I don’t own up very often to having a little, but he was incredibly happy with this plan. ~smile~ We went to Bolsover Castle which was the Cavendish castle for pleasure and entertaining. It was o cool!! I will probably post my photos from the castle day, but here are some of DK’s
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It was a wonderful way to end my trip. The views were amazing, the company splendid and the quiet calm appreciated. I was leaving the next morning and was given a going away gift. DK and Luisa were incredibly kind and gifted me with a (mostly) medical scene that evening…wax, needles, a cutting and staples. Public play has its place in my world, but I am still all about some private play. The level of intimacy is just nicer to me. Here’s my night:
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The last two pictures were at the Manchester airport a few hours later. One is of Soft and I coloring the other is DK, Luisa and I. The smile on my face should give a little indication of how I felt about my trip. I’d do it again in a heartbeat, minus the two hour detention part. Aside from sore body parts, amazing new connections and wonderful memories, I brought home a few other things:
Rachel gifted me with some original writing:
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the first three Sookie Stackhouse books and an autographed copy of her book. Jasfoup was even kind enough to sign it. Though I need a mirror to actually read his, hmmm.
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Their boi Amiee (hope I spelled that correctly) gifted me with a drawing of one of the photos from the bootblacking demo at the BBB:
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If I remember correctly, it’s done with pencil and boot polish. Amiee is a bootblack in her own right and I was beyond honored to receive this from her.
There were a number of other things that happened on this trip, but they are the moments that would be most appreciated by those who were there. Who knew that watching a ghost, a werewolf and a vampire living together would be so entertaining and bonding? The Leather Family (UK) gives southern hospitality a run for its money.
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The cutting I received my final night there was my first cutting ever. It healed beautifully and I absolutely love it. I’m hoping it will be there for a while. This is what it looked like start to now:
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The way this healed and how quickly it healed made me even more confident in my decision to have my branding done. Hopefully I’ll get those photos and a bit of the back story up soon.
