Holy crap, I can't believe I'm doing this! I'm flying to Beijing on my way North Korea to play the first Extreme Frisbee Tournament in DPRK history. I just got back from a wonderful and relaxing vacation in Turks and Caicos, narrowly escaping the wrath of Hurricane Irene. I didn't even get to go home and now after a few hours of sleep and I'm back on another plane, this time headed for Beijing where I'll travel to the most reclusive backwards country in the world, with a bunch of people I don't really know.
Ok, wait, let me back up a little further....
A few months back I got an invite from Neil Strauss, amazing all around guy, and best selling author who just happens to have written some of my favorite books (The Dirt
,The Game
, Emergency
, Everyone Loves You When You're Dead
) A friend of his had been organizing the trip for quite some time and they were opening up for a few others to join. I'm not going to pretend Neil and I are bff's. I mainly emailed with his assistant and furiously googled to find out if this trip was actually LEGAL.... POSSIBLE.... SANE.. (Answers: Yes, Yes, and Probably Not.) Then I read all the North Korean tour posts on tripadvisor.com, but with skepticism. I was convinced some, or even most of the posts were intended to be ironic, or were just blatant lies. Wait a minute, the hotel has a rotating restaurant? And A bowling alley? And 2 Karaoke bars? And micro-brew? And a golf course? This can't possibly be true, these reviewers are messing with my head. (It turns out, it was all true, and the hotel was even stranger than reported.)
Ok, anyway, so far this trip is do-able. Hmm. I looked to my schedule for an excuse to decline... no luck, it actually fit, just barely, between two other trips I had.
I guess I'm going to North Korea!
