It was time for me to move home. My year in Melbourne was over.

I was excited about getting back to the UK, but I was even more excited about the journey I was taking. When I travelled to Australia from London I flew from Heathrow to Hong Kong and then down to Sydney. On the way home I had decided I was going to fly from Sydney to Los Angeles then onto London. Thus, I would have circumnavigated the globe!

Spoiler alert…This blog is not for anyone who believes the earth is flat.

 

My good friend Amanda had told me “when you get to LA come and say hi” and that is what I intended to do!
After getting to the hotel and sleeping for a few hours, I went to pick up my hire car and figure out where my friend lived. This was 2005. There were no iPhones, no apps, so I had to find an internet café and PRINT OUT a map!

My journey began late afternoon and the journey was only supposed to take 50 minutes, so after 2 hours, I decided I might be lost. After driving around for another hour I still didn’t have a clue where I was. I was sure I was in the right area, but was the map upside down? There were no streetlights to see any of the road names or house numbers. I figured the best thing to do was ask someone for directions! A brilliant idea with only one significant setback…There was NO ONE around to ask. I mean there was not a soul to be seen. It was like the purge!

 

Ok new plan! Let’s knock on someone’s door and ask for directions!

 

First door I knocked on didn’t answer, second door I knocked on the person inside spoke to me through the door but couldn’t help. The third door, the owner turned out to be English and knew my home down, which was brilliant, but sadly didn’t know where my friend lived.

 

I carried on going and saw another house with the lights on! This was it…I felt VERY lucky about this house. I could see a lady cooking in the kitchen I could see a man watching TV. He was watching friends! These were my kind of people!

 

I knocked…Nothing. I knocked again, but more forcefully.

 

The lady of the house came to the door, and I explained I was lost and needed help. She stepped outside carrying a very large cooking knife! And I remember thinking “this is it…THIS is how I die!”

I went through all the available options in my head. Do I run? Do I fall to my knees and beg for my life? Wetting myself wasn’t an option, I had stopped at the gas station up the road to use the bathroom! The man obviously heard her talking to someone outside and came to see who, he stepped outside followed by a dog the size of a small horse!

So running wasn’t an option. Just stand here and get killed and then eaten…What a way to go.

I explained my situation in minute detail, showed them the address I was trying to find, I apologised profusely…I may have begged for my life, and I asked for their help.

 

There was a pause which seemed to last an eternity…Then the man smiled and said “Oh dude you’re not far from your friends house” HE KNEW WHERE MY FRIEND LIVED!

 

Not only that, he went into the house and printed me off some directions! What a TOTAL legend! God bless America!

I took my new map, jumped in my car said thank you to my new friends! I drove to my friend’s house, I knocked and the door…Annnnnnnd her roommate told me she had gone to a Coldplay concert!!!

 

The thing is we all get lost from time to time; we all need help. When we find ourselves in unfamiliar surroundings, we might need a map or someone to be our guide and show us the way.
That’s just life and planning your wedding is no different.

If you have never organised a wedding before you might not know what you don’t know. There’s no shame in asking questions. There is no shame in saying “Marc…I am lost”
I am here to help guide you through the process and help you find your way. We’re on this journey together.

And you can absolutely trust we won’t get lost, besides…We have iphones and google maps now!