My brother and I have been best friends since he was born, and a trip to Costa Rica (where this picture was taken) a couple of years ago only solidified that bond. We had some insane nights on the beaches, and it’s still amazing to me that we made it home in one piece. One night, both of us were chilling with some new native friends when high tide came in unexpectedly and knocked both of us over, taking with it our hats, sunglasses, wallets, and pretty much every other worldly possession we had with it. That made getting back to the states somewhat difficult, to say the least.

Another day, while swimming in Manuel Antonio national park, I felt something slimy skim my leg, and naturally, freaked out. This response turned out to be the wrong one, because the thing that had swam by me turned out to be a jelly fish, which promptly stung me not once but twice, the bastard! My brother and our friends, having seen the infamous episode of friends where Monica is stung, all offered to heal me by peeing on my leg. Needless to say, I wasn’t going to give anyone the satisfaction (or the amount of verbal abuse that would come with it), and I simply dealt with the pain the rest of the trip.

But for all the other crazy drunken exploits that I could name off, my favorite memories of that trip are when my brother and I would drive in to the town store (the town was about 25 minutes away, we were pretty isolated from the world). We drove through the Costa Rican countryside, which is a beautiful scene of tropical mountains on the left with the Pacific on the right. While some people feel the need to simply fill empty space with conversation, there is something about bond between siblings where nothing has to be spoken for something to be understood. It was then, driving through the rural areas, away from the boys and booze, where me and my brother would just talk about life in general, about everything from our goals to how awesome the trip had been. That’s why Australia would be a perfect trip, because we’d be able to experience not only the cities like Sydney, but drive through the outback, just me and my bro, and really experience the last frontier.

My brother and I have been best friends since he was born, and a trip to Costa Rica (where this picture was taken) a couple of years ago only solidified that bond. We had some insane nights on the beaches, and it’s still amazing to me that we made it home in one piece. One night, both of us were chilling with some new native friends when high tide came in unexpectedly and knocked both of us over, taking with it our hats, sunglasses, wallets, and pretty much every other worldly possession we had with it. That made getting back to the states somewhat difficult, to say the least.

Another day, while swimming in Manuel Antonio national park, I felt something slimy skim my leg, and naturally, freaked out. This response turned out to be the wrong one, because the thing that had swam by me turned out to be a jelly fish, which promptly stung me not once but twice, the bastard! My brother and our friends, having seen the infamous episode of friends where Monica is stung, all offered to heal me by peeing on my leg. Needless to say, I wasn’t going to give anyone the satisfaction (or the amount of verbal abuse that would come with it), and I simply dealt with the pain the rest of the trip.

But for all the other crazy drunken exploits that I could name off, my favorite memories of that trip are when my brother and I would drive in to the town store (the town was about 25 minutes away, we were pretty isolated from the world). We drove through the Costa Rican countryside, which is a beautiful scene of tropical mountains on the left with the Pacific on the right. While some people feel the need to simply fill empty space with conversation, there is something about bond between siblings where nothing has to be spoken for something to be understood. It was then, driving through the rural areas, away from the boys and booze, where me and my brother would just talk about life in general, about everything from our goals to how awesome the trip had been. That’s why Australia would be a perfect trip, because we’d be able to experience not only the cities like Sydney, but drive through the outback, just me and my bro, and really experience the last frontier.