The trip, the skateboard and everything else
Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2025 10:05 am
Hahaha, the trip is great, we're all waiting for it. One day you'll fly to travel, fly far away and know that you have something with you that others don't have, the skateboard. In your suitcase you take with you the number one means of entertainment, with which you'll get to know the locals, get to know better places to hang out and make friends who will accompany you for a long time.
I also traveled, a lot. At the time (1998) I did a trip around the world that started in Thailand, which is familiar to Israeli travelers, and ended in New York. In Thailand I managed to screw up a few not-so-bad sessions in Bangkok, one of which was in one of the most insane skate parks I've ever seen. The skate park was located on the sixth floor of some mall, to which I had to travel 50 minutes on a motorbike in the dirtiest city there is, with a motorcycle taxi driven by a gay man who was waving at me the whole time...
At the skate park there were Thais who embraced me with joy as if I were some kind of pro and I gave them a session that wasn't bad at all, it was great!
After Thailand, I continued on to Australia, which is the stronghold of almost every skater. There are no words to describe this place. There is not a city, not even the smallest, that doesn't have a skatepark. Everything revolves around surfing and skateboarding. It's so much fun there that many people decide to do everything to stay...
Wherever you go on your skateboard, you'll meet good people, locals who remind you of your friends back home, people who know how to cheer you on when you land and applaud you even if you're a complete stranger. More than once, I found myself at private parties that I got to thanks to those skateboarding guys, and what a party they were, alcohol, girls, smoke, and smiles of happiness.
There's no way you'll be bored, in their summer (our winter) there email data thousands of festivals that regularly put a terrifying halfpipe at the center of the event with local skaters, there's always some connection to the matter in a way you didn't know. Australia will remain in my heart forever and will be remembered as one of the most beautiful and fascinating places I've ever been.
In New Zealand, it's the same, thousands of skaters, full of perfect skate parks, and you'll always find your place, even on rainy days... A kid
once came up to me at a skate park in New Zealand and asked me where I was from, so I told him "Israel." After a few minutes and a few whispers to his friends, he came back to me and asked me if I was a soldier who escaped the war... After a few minutes, I realized that he saw my military Bermuda shorts and associated my appearance with those TV images that show Israel as a state at constant war... Not to mention the fact that he asked me how it was that there was skateboarding where I came from... Go explain...
Another nice story that I remembered while writing these lines is about a small event initiated by the hostel where I was staying in a small town in New Zealand. They opened a mini-bar with pitchers of beer for only five dollars (a ridiculous price compared to a regular bar). As an average Israeli, I jumped at the chance and drank two fucking pitchers by myself in about half an hour... I was dead and drunk as hell... I took the skate And I went to travel, I could barely stand on my feet, but I insisted on going on the skateboard... After five minutes of driving I took the fall of my life right on my wrist. Two months later I was in an itchy cast that slowly became unexplainably smelly...yes, yes, experiences.
I also traveled, a lot. At the time (1998) I did a trip around the world that started in Thailand, which is familiar to Israeli travelers, and ended in New York. In Thailand I managed to screw up a few not-so-bad sessions in Bangkok, one of which was in one of the most insane skate parks I've ever seen. The skate park was located on the sixth floor of some mall, to which I had to travel 50 minutes on a motorbike in the dirtiest city there is, with a motorcycle taxi driven by a gay man who was waving at me the whole time...
At the skate park there were Thais who embraced me with joy as if I were some kind of pro and I gave them a session that wasn't bad at all, it was great!
After Thailand, I continued on to Australia, which is the stronghold of almost every skater. There are no words to describe this place. There is not a city, not even the smallest, that doesn't have a skatepark. Everything revolves around surfing and skateboarding. It's so much fun there that many people decide to do everything to stay...
Wherever you go on your skateboard, you'll meet good people, locals who remind you of your friends back home, people who know how to cheer you on when you land and applaud you even if you're a complete stranger. More than once, I found myself at private parties that I got to thanks to those skateboarding guys, and what a party they were, alcohol, girls, smoke, and smiles of happiness.
There's no way you'll be bored, in their summer (our winter) there email data thousands of festivals that regularly put a terrifying halfpipe at the center of the event with local skaters, there's always some connection to the matter in a way you didn't know. Australia will remain in my heart forever and will be remembered as one of the most beautiful and fascinating places I've ever been.
In New Zealand, it's the same, thousands of skaters, full of perfect skate parks, and you'll always find your place, even on rainy days... A kid
once came up to me at a skate park in New Zealand and asked me where I was from, so I told him "Israel." After a few minutes and a few whispers to his friends, he came back to me and asked me if I was a soldier who escaped the war... After a few minutes, I realized that he saw my military Bermuda shorts and associated my appearance with those TV images that show Israel as a state at constant war... Not to mention the fact that he asked me how it was that there was skateboarding where I came from... Go explain...
Another nice story that I remembered while writing these lines is about a small event initiated by the hostel where I was staying in a small town in New Zealand. They opened a mini-bar with pitchers of beer for only five dollars (a ridiculous price compared to a regular bar). As an average Israeli, I jumped at the chance and drank two fucking pitchers by myself in about half an hour... I was dead and drunk as hell... I took the skate And I went to travel, I could barely stand on my feet, but I insisted on going on the skateboard... After five minutes of driving I took the fall of my life right on my wrist. Two months later I was in an itchy cast that slowly became unexplainably smelly...yes, yes, experiences.