Craft Beer Travel, Travel, United States

Travel Moments

The Duff Brothers at Marine Room in Laguna Beach, California

The Duff Brothers at Marine Room in Laguna Beach, California

Travel moments are those unexpected moments that just happen.  They aren’t planned, they aren’t foreseen, nor are they packaged.  They’re that encounter with a stranger over a local beverage, that meal that unexpectedly tantalized your taste buds, that song that brought you out of your seat and onto the dance floor, that spiritual connection with Mother Nature, that city that barely made your itinerary that now romanticizes your soul.

Travel moments occur out of nowhere and leave us with memories that will last a lifetime.  Very rarely do they happen at a mega-resort designed for keg stands, kiddie games, and Macarena dance lessons.  Nor do they occur on an organized tour where each minute is meticulously planned as you bounce from attraction to attraction with 150 other tourists eating at roadside cafeterias and lining up to use porto-potties.  Travel moments happen on the open road where your next move isn’t dictated by a lady with a red umbrella or a well-oiled man with a megaphone. 

What I like most about travel moments is the surprise nature of them.  Take, for example, our night in Chiang Mai.  We didn’t plan to waste the night away swaying to the sounds of a local band.  We were exhausted from a full day of cooking school and were looking for a quick dinner before calling it a night.  Or our night of debauchery at Starkbierfest in Munich.  We were getting ready to leave before meeting a troop  of German soldiers who showed us a night we can’t quite remember.  Then there was Cartagena.  Oh how my heart longs for Cartagena.  It was romantic, it was forbidden, it was unspoiled, it was…perfect.

My most recent travel moment happened just as the above were described – out of nowhere.  I was in Orange County, California stuck at a Double Tree across from corporate headquarters for a week of sales meetings.  Days were filled with the recycled air of a conference room.  Nights were dictated with corporate dinners and “fun” team building activities.  There wasn’t a lot of room to explore.  It was dry, it was boring, and it was everything you imagine a week of sales meetings to be minus the drunken rumors you heard about.  This is the generation of political correctness and those no longer exist.

That is until the last night…  Meetings ended at 5:00 on a Thursday evening.  Those on the West Coast and Middle American left for home.  Us East Coasters bribed the shuttle driver to transport us to Laguna Beach for a few hours for our only encounter with the ocean.  I know this sounds corny, but we junior highed it and split into boys and girls.  The girls sought quiche and shopping while the boys sought beer.  We stepped into the Tommy Bahamas and felt the same suffocation we experienced all week.  The host directed us to the Marine Room slightly off the beaten path where we would encounter more of a local scene and live music.

I know what you’re thinking – MTV, surfer dude, super rich.  Not the Marine Room.  It was as close to a honky tonk as you could find in Laguna Beach with wood covered walls, rickety old tables, and a few pool tables in the back.  We were greeted by the bartender with strict instructions:   they didn’t serve food, no draft beers, and the beers they offered were on display behind the bar.  The entertainment for the night was the Duff Brothers – a real live bluegrass band complete with a dude wearing an eye patch and a washboard player.  Was I in Charming?  Where was SAMCRO?.  Six rounds of beer and a few carry-in pizzas later (you can order in food) and we were telling stories and swaying to the music.  This was truly a much wanted travel moment.