Would You Wake Up - Behind the Scenes

I'd like to start by saying that you do not need to go all the way to Europe or Central Asia to explore and have a great time. You can literally do that in the U.S. and still have the time of your life.

This summer, Emily and I decided to go up into the Northeast on a road trip. She'd never been and I can't ever say no to another adventure. Throughout this post I'll explain how I proceeded to plan this trip, what we did, and the idea behind the movie. Ok, go.

If you know me and have followed my little adventures, you are conscious that I do not plan whatsoever. I've had great opportunities due to the fact that I'm helped by an airline agent. But this time, I wanted to really make this trip special. It was special because no rowing was involved, but mainly because it was my way to show how much she means to me as we were coming up on two years of dating. Chocolate strawberries aside, I wanted to have no problems and just go with the flow as planned. I started by sitting down in a Starbucks and writing the entire plan down (cities, places to stay, dates, miles, time spent...). Caffeine hyped, I probably got 80% done in one sitting. I signed up for Airbnb, called people I knew, and made sure that everything was appropriately coordinated. I was really happy with myself because it's a lot more fun knowing what you are doing and where you are going than packing in the middle of the night to make a flight the next morning. Our biggest win of the trip was having a cooler with food and snacks; we definitely saved a lot of money and didn't eat at one single fast food...until one hour away from Jacksonville on our way home. Tip: stay with people you know, it's fun and doesn't cost anything but a hug. 

Our road trip started with a 7 hour drive to my friend Danielle's house in Wilmington, NC. Lucky enough, she was only leaving on a camping trip the next morning so we made it just in time. After a good night's sleep with her cat Sam, we woke up early and drove 9 hours up to Philadelphia. I can't thank my friend Nick enough for letting us stay in his apartment in Center City. We felt like royalty. From there we walked everywhere. I know Philly pretty well so it was easy getting around. We met up with some friends and explored the Magic Garden, spent 75% of our day in the Reading Terminal Market eating anything and everything, and just walking around at night taking pictures. After a few days, we took off and drove about 2 hours into New York City. I've been there a few times on short occasions, but this was the time to really take in the hectic lifestyle. Luckily, after our Airbnb failed on us, we were able to stay with some friends in Chinatown. Let me point out that Manhattan is rough with no AC during the summer. With three full days, we were able to sincerely take in a lot. From running in Central Park, to riding the Staten Island Ferry with an insane sunset or riding CityBank bikes for what it seemed like millions of miles to eating in some little restaurant at 11pm that blew my mind. At first I was a little annoyed at the chaos around me (especially the Chinatown stink), but I was able to go into tunnel vision and observe the beautiful things NYC has to offer. We then left extremely early which led us to Brooklyn for breakfast and a last view of the skyline. I felt relieved and accomplished, anything we did from then on was just bonus. We drove 4 hours back towards Washington D.C. where my stepbrother and his wife had just started moving into their new house. It had been a few years since I had seen them so I was purely in heaven just relaxing, eating good food, telling great stories, and sharing quality time together as a family. Something we hadn't planned was Emily's mom coming during the days we were staying there for a wedding so literally timing couldn't have been more perfect. After rejuvenating and keeping our hands out of our wallets, we drove 11 hours straight back to Jacksonville. There was not one moment where I thought, I'd rather be doing this with someone else. Tip: leave thank you letters wherever you stay, they'll like it. 

Onto the movie. I wasn't sure what sort of story I wanted to tell, but I knew I wanted to improve my shots and the way I perceived what the viewer could feel. With a lot of thinking, l decided to simply make it a dream. The entire trip is in chronological order with random black cuts that separate parts of the dream since you can never precisely determine the start or the end of one. The breathing is to let you inside my head, hearing my own rhythm as I experience the different cities. You can hear Emily's soft and whispering voice telling me to wake up as she is on the other side, reality, not knowing what I'm undergoing. And I finish with heavy breathing and fast cutting clips to let the viewer know that I'm finally waking up and my connection to the dream is cutting out. This leads me to ask you: would you wake up? Tip: keep all your footage, it will serve it's purpose when you least expect it.  

Much love.