If you don’t enjoy reading my writing scroll down to the first video, as it essentially sums up our 4 days in Mykonos.

If you do enjoy reading what I’ve had to say then read on. For the entirety of this 97 day journey I only had two places I planned to be…Lisbon, Portugal May 30th to meet my brother Chris and Mykonos, Greece on August 10th to meet my main honky and his lady, as the title implies. The rest of the time I was just going wherever sounded rad or tagging along with whoever was rad. Worked out quite well.

Just when I thought places couldn’t get any more reckless or lawless, I get to Mykonos….This place was so rowdy. 50% of the traffic their is either a 4-wheeler or a scooter, no helmets are required, nor are traffic laws obeyed, you’re expected to split lanes, weave traffic, go however fast you possibly can, and lastly the roads were absolute shit, more like trails that had once been paved. I arrived before Honky (aka Jack) and his Lady (aka Saige). They allowed me to be the ultimate 3rd wheel on this romantic island getaway and sleep in their apartment that they had rented. Thanks again you two!! The place was epic, had an Ocean view from the front pouch in one direction and great view of the sun when it set in the other.

Saige and Jack’s flight got in at around 10PM. I knew they’d be hungry so I cooked the only thing I am decent at cooking meat n’ mashed pataddie. They said they could just get a cab to the place. But I had a different idea…I showed up to the airport and surprised em both with a couple of cold ones, I was so stoked to see them and they were pumped I was at the airport to greet them. I then convinced them that a cab was a waste of money and preceded to shuttle them and their luggage to the pad on the decrepit and reckless roads in the dark of night via moped. It set the tone that followed us the rest of our time on the island. RECKLESS

They were there for a destination wedding and I was just there to hang out with them and party. Party and hang out we did, we all rented mopeds and cruised the island to a bunch of its beaches, it was a wild 4 days. The video below really sums it all up…

Hahah not even scripted at all, Jack just whipped out his phone as I was shaking final drops out of our Jose bottle that we had essentially opened at the beach that morning(I say essentially because I had had one shot the night before). Kinda reminds me of Wayne’s World or something hahaha Anyway here are some more epic photos and videos we took.

As sad as it is, there are only 3 photos of all 3 of us together…One is rather explicit, I’d have to honkies permission to post it…So for now here are the only 2 photos of all three of us.

Before I graduated I used to live with Honky and would frequently run into his room and dive into his bed with him and his lady…It was just like old times hahaha…

And this photo was taken after we had all been through sheer hell at our ferry departure port…We waited in line for about 2 hours to get our tickets, all the while there was fighting, arguments of people cutting in line, and rumors that all ferries were canceled that day which would have boned Jack n’ Saige, as their flight was at 6 AM out of Athens the next morning….Needless to say we were all a little stressed out, but I did my best to solve the problem…Found the store nearest to our restaurant and purchased a bottle of Ouzo…the stress seemed to disappear in what I deduced to be an inverse proportionate manner to the amount of Ouzo left in the bottle. After an hour all the stress amongst the 3 of us had evaporated and it was at this moment that the bottle was also empty and the ferries were pulling in…my deduction was proved! Hahahaha you can call me Euclid.

We had separate ferries…but all made it to Athens that night. I stayed in a rad hostel and ended up meeting two really cool people, a guy from Texas who was living in Israel and a girl from Canada, we all went out to dinner, turns out I knew the dude’s cousin, she’d studied Mechcanical Engineering at the U and graduated the same year as me.

The week before I went to Mykonos my brother told me that my favorite band was playing a show in Salt Lake on August 16th. I am not typically a concert fanatic, however, I had missed Zakk Wylde the previous year and was sad about it. My whole trip I didn’t have a return flight planned, I just knew that I had to be home before September 3rd, because one of my best friends is getting married that weekend and I am in his lineup, I’m so pumped for that!! Anyway I decided that I would fly home August 15th to see Zakk shred the next day.

The flight from Athens to New York was amazing…Even the connecting flight from New York to Salt Lake was great it wasn’t Delta One Class, but…Something that never EVER happens, happened to me…We’ve all been through it, you’re sitting by your gate people watching, doing whatever and then you spot that one really attractive person and think damn that’d so dope if he/she sits next to me…But it literally has never happened to me on any of the 100’s of flights I’ve taken, I usually end up seated next to the person who insists the armrests remain up so that their massive asses can flood over their seat’s boundary into mine. But no, this time I board the plane, and get a window-exit-row-seat, which was a score.

I was one of the first to board, sitting in my seat jamming some tunes and lo and behold I see the goddess herself strolling down the isle, didn’t even know if she was on the same flight, sure enough she was and…boom, sits down with one seat between us, I thought there is no way, I cannot be this lucky, she either mis-read her ticket or somebody is gonna take that middle seat, essentially absconding with my opportunity to talk this beautiful girl….But no the sky god’s were smiling down upon that day, on the first flight the God’s gave me a layflat bed to sleep in, an open bar for 10.5 hours, and a slew of movies to watch while I rip across the Atlantic AND then provided the opportunity to meet a girl who turned out to be super rad, we shared common interests, mutual friends, and she had even partied in the very house my buddies and I used to rent.

On the flight I finished writing the final pages in a book that only I shall read.

Don’t worry, I am not some spoiled rich ass kid who just flies first class around the world, my parents are flight attendants and owners of a small business, so I get flight benefits…That is until August 30, 2016…Then my life will change forever…my benefits end because I am too old and no longer in college…Poor me right? Haha Reality is settling in, I actually have to use my engineering degree, get a fucking job AND pay for flights…Life is about to get rough…Just kidding, life’s what you make it and change is constant, I just have to learn to embrace these truths.

The concert was well worth coming home for. I ended up going with some good friends I’ve had forever and my brother, I bumped into a few other familiar faces, my old church teacher among them. Hahaha he is about the only reason I liked church for a long as I did, he’s the man!!

Zakk Wylde is a mad man…He shredded at least four 10 minute long solo’s.

 

One of the solo’s he came down into the crowd and shredded it out…I was standing right in front of him the entire time…Just to say I did it, I reached out and touched the tip of his guitar whilst he was shredding it, I was that close.

He put on an epic show, played the harmonica and piano as well. His voice was dialed in. I’m still super jet lagged and haven’t been able to sleep much…I keep waking up at 6 AM and laying there…So I just get up and go mountain biking, turns out 97 days of riding nothing but moped’s and bar stools will take a serious toll on your fitness. I am so out of shape it’s not even funny, I look at pictures of me at the beach in Portugal and just get sad…It’s gonna be a much gnarlier road getting the fitness back than the pleasant path taken to lose it, that is for sure.

Even though I only spent 2.5 days in the place where I’d grown up, it was really strange to go from not seeing a soul I’d known for longer than a few nights, to seeing so many familiar faces I’d known for years. My first day on the trails I ran into a few people knew. Then I went to the store after biking one morning and bumped into an old friends parents and that same day on my flight from Utah to California my buddy’s dad was on the same plane. My travels have proved to me that the world is indeed a small place, Utah is a microcosm.

So yes, my 2016 Summer Eurotrip of a lifetime has come to an end, but my journey is far from over. I am on the flight back from California after one hell of a weekend with my best friend in the world Parker Christensen his Uncles Mike and Larry, the Big Bad Wolf and his wife. We had a good time together.

Boy and I at Griffith Observatory

While walking down the beach Saturday night at about 6:30 PM, just before seeing those seals in the video above, it was decided that I would catch the first flight out of Burbank Airport back to Salt Lake City, Utah, Sunday morning where our best friend, someone I would consider a brother, Braxton Bohman, was to pick me up. Then Braxton and I road tripped back to California, Lake Tahoe this time.

It was a long day for me, but the trifecta of brotherhood was finally completed here in Lake Tahoe at Parker’s house.

During my travels alone and across the European continent in addition to all of the debauchtery and funny stories I have written about, I did learn a lot about the world and how things work on global and local scales, I discovered what’s most important in my life, how I want mine to be, and how to go about attaining my goals. Some of the friends I made over there will last a lifetime as will the lessons I learned. To all of the friends I made abroad don’t hesitate to call when you enter the western United States, as I am sure I could arrange for some epic times to be had. I am so grateful I have had the opportunities I have in my life, I’ll never forget the people who have loved, respected, and shaped my life. I can’t wait to solve some problems, have some fun, and keep on keeping on.

Who knows, I may continue to to publicly write and share the events that transpire in my life, as they seem to entertain more than just myself. If not, and I don’t continue to publicly write, I have made it a goal that I’ll be publishing a book before I am 60 years old called My Life’s Stories, I have been working on it since I was about 17 and already have a couple hundred pages written of the madness and people who have shaped my life into what is it today, Europe will take up a few chapters. For those of you that are reading this and thinking “dear god, heads of my family/friends will explode, and relationships will end if they read some of the shit we’ve done.” Don’t worry, I’ll change all names before publication. But you’ll still secretly know who you are and that will be epic. On that note, I did post a lot of photos and write a lot of stories for the world to read without the permission of those involved. I don’t know how publication and privacy works, but, if anyone reading this would like a photo removed and/or a name deleted don’t hesitate to message me and I will most likely oblige your request.

Hope you’ve enjoyed reading.

-Cbutter