Adventures of Devon Carlton - 4. ADC Chapter 4

Devon was the first of the three to finish all of his exams, and after relaxing for most of the afternoon, Devon went for a walk around town, and he stopped when he came across a travel agency.

Walking in, he saw a wall covered with tour brochures, of places all over the world, and he felt a bit lost as he had no idea where he wanted to go.

“How may I help you young man” Devon’s thoughts were interrupted by the enquiry, “Oh, yes, um I want to go on a very unique holiday, nothing that is over-crowded with tourist, but has spectacular scenery, plenty of comfort, but lots of activities too, and it would be for myself and my two mates, and money is not an issue” he said, wondering what options would be presented to me, when the travel agent went to the wall and collected just one brochure and sat back down at her desk, Devon began to get nervous.

The travel agent smiled “with those requirements that you gave me there is really only one destination that I recommend, and it’s not one that you would expect” she said and she placed the brochure in front of me. “Antarctica, wow I would never have thought of that one, and yes it does match my requirements to the tee,” Devon said with a little laugh.

Devon went through the brochure and as the minutes passed, and with the turn of each page, Devon was looking forward to this holiday a lot more. After asking a series of questions, Devon decided that this is the holiday he wanted, and he asked if he could have a moment to make a call.

When Mitch answered the house phone, Devon took a deep breath, “Hey it’s me, is Gary home... good do you have a current passport? And ask Gary if he does too… excellent put me on loudspeaker so you can both hear me…”

I paused for a moment to think about what to say next, “I am at a travel agents now, just happened to go past one when on my walk, any way I said to the travel agent that I wanted to go on a very unique holiday, nothing that is over-crowded with tourist, but has spectacular scenery, plenty of comforts, but lots of activities too, and it would be for myself and my two mates, and money is not an issue” Devon said.

Gary spoke first, “That is perfect, and how many options did the travel agent come up with?”, “Just one, and when she let me wait till she was seated I almost burst with interest” Devon said, “So come on, don’t let us burst, what was that one option” Mitch said, annoyed that Devon was doing the same thing to them, “How would you guys like to go a Cruise of…” Devon had hit the call end button to really piss his housemates off, and he waited till they returned his call.

Answering on the first ring, Devon received a very annoyed almost shouting response to his dirty trick, “You bastard, I’m going to get you for that, now tell us where this cruise is going to? Mitchell said starting to calm down a bit.

“It’s a 25-day cruise of Antarctica, including the Falkland, South Georgia, Orkney, Shetland and Sandwich Islands before going to the Antarctic peninsular” Devon replied.

There was total silence at the other end, then Devon heard Gary ask Mitch “Is he serious, that would be so cold, but I must admit the travel agent did check everything off the list”, “Smart arse Gary, Devon I think that it’s a great place to visit, once in a lifetime, I’m up for the challenge” Mitch said happily, “Me too Dev, I was just a bit shocked at the destination” Gary replied. “Ok guys I’m going to organise it, just wanted to check it with you both first, catch you back home soon, Bye,” Devon said and he hung up.

When Devon returned home with an armful of brochures, and a small travel bag over his shoulder, Mitch and Gary raced to sit down to find out what kind of holiday they would be experiencing, Devon said “We fly to Sydney then Auckland, where we have a 12 day tour of New Zealand, before boarding a flight to Santiago and finally Buenos Aires, and after a day’s rest, we fly to Ushuaia on the far southern tip of Argentina, where we board the cruise liner, with 3 adjoining deluxe cabins, for a 25 day cruise.

After the cruise, it’s a two-hour flight to San Paulo, and a connecting flight to Johannesburg, South Africa, where we are doing a personal 18 day Safari Tour, before we fly home” Devon smiled as he saw the shocked look on his friends faces, “oh and all three of the long haul flights are 1st class seats” Devon added.

Gary and Mitch couldn’t believe what they were hearing, not only was it an Antarctic holiday, but also an African Safari holiday, plus they were flying around the world.

“Dude this way too much, you can’t spend that much money on us, we can’t do it” Gary said, sorry guys but you said the holiday was all ok, I just added a few finishing touches to it, it’s all booked and paid for, we leave in three weeks, in that time we have to get visas for each country, all the required vaccinations shots, and some serious shopping to get the right gear we need for each stage of the holiday,” Devon said, handing over a folder to each, with their names on it.

Inside were the tickets for everything, the full itinerary of the whole holiday, and… “Whoa, what’s this dude,” Mitch asked holding up a MasterCard Credit card in his hand, and he saw that it had his name on it, and Gary held up his card too in confusion.

“That my dear friends is your own MasterCard Credit cards, with a limit of $10,000 to spend, use it wisely as that has to last you the whole trip, firstly you need to use it to get some clothes for the trip, so come on lets go, its late night shopping tonight, so let’s get shopping” Devon said.

For the next two and a half hours the three friends each spent $800 on new clothes and shoes for the trip, including a new suitcase each, once back at home all the clothes were placed in the washing machine to be cleaned before trying them on then packing them for the trip. After a light snack, they went to their separate bedrooms and collapsed onto their beds and fell asleep.

Gary and Mitch were woken up by the smells of a cooked breakfast, and they were soon at the kitchen table waiting to see what Devon had cooked, which was toast, scrambled eggs, tomato, sausages and bacon. After this was consumed, Devon announced that they all had doctor’s appointments at 10 am to get vaccinations, and then they had to visit the South African and Argentinean Consulates, with passports and airline tickets in hand, to get the visas arranged.

It was well after 1 pm by the time the trio arrived home, Mitchell headed to the kitchen to make some sandwiches for lunch, while the other two relaxed in the lounge, after lunch they just lounge around the house, as they were all so exhausted from all the running around yesterday and this morning. When the phone rang in the late afternoon, it was Grace, and Mitch passed the phone to Devon.

“Hold onto your britches dear son, the news is out, I suggest you get out of there as fast as you can before the reporters find you,” she said, and she hung up, not wanting to waste any time.

“Red alert, grab everything that you have pack up guys, we are going away a bit earlier than planned, apparently the media know who the recipient of the fortune is,” Devon said and he dashed into his room. An hour later all three where in the lounge double checking that everyone had everything, once that was done they emptied the fridge, put the rubbish out in the outside bin, left a new recording on the answering machine and left the building.

Stuffing everything into the boot and back of Devon’s car, with Gary squeezing in the back also, they set off to the university, where they had arranged to meet with the Dean of Law, where they swapped cars and headed off towards the Airport.

Lucky for them the travel agent was still in her office, and after some quick changes, she had them booked on a flight to Vanuatu, for an extended holiday, before they fly to New Zealand, cancelling the flight from Sydney to Auckland, and booking some accommodation at a 4-star hotel in the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu.

It was well after midnight when the trio arrived at their hotel bungalow suite, three bedrooms with a huge lounge room, and a balcony overlooking the Pacific Ocean, the boys found a room each and collapsed on their beds falling asleep almost straight away.

Waking up just before noon, Devon took his first good look around his room, it was very spacious, and the bathroom was huge, the rest of the bungalow was pretty impressive too, knocking on the other two bedroom doors, “Come on sleepy heads, it’s a beautiful day and there are lots to see and do” Devon said as he pulled out his phone to check for text messages.

Message 1: “I heard the message you left on the answering machine, hope you guys are all ok, Love Mum”

Message 2: “Son thankyou what you have done for Mum and Me, regarding the farm. So proud of you, Dad”

Message 3: “Hey Bro, I saw your name and photo on the front page of the paper, take care of yourself, Love Sis”

Message 4: “Hey Bro saw the paper today, wow we didn’t know it was you, can we have a loan? Love Twins”

Devon laughed at the last message, just as Gary and Mitch made an appearance, both of them just in their boxers, with no shirts, “get changed guys, we are going out for lunch” Devon said and they turned around and went to change, while Devon called the front desk to make some enquiries. Sitting outside a café, in the main town not far from the resort, the trio were enjoying a relaxing lunch, with a glorious view of the ocean, “So guys what are we going to do, for the next two and a half weeks? Devon asked as he finished his meal.

Gary and Mitch just shrugged their shoulders, still not believing that they were at the start of their holiday of a lifetime. After they had finished lunch and were walking down the street, they saw a group of young men walking towards them, trying their best not to be recognised. “Nice try guys, but you need to try harder, have a nice day,” Devon said as they passed the five young men.

Gary and Mitch looked at Devon strangely, and he stopped, “What? Didn’t you recognise them? That’s the new Gaelic Boy Band from the UK, EQD is their name, I’ve heard their music, it’s quite good actually” Devon said and he continued walking, wondering if the EQD guys had heard him.

After a short distance, Devon walked into a music store, and after some searching found the CD he wanted and purchased it, Gary and Mitchell stayed outside as they were not really as interested in music as Devon is.

Their next stop was the local tourist centre, where they looked at what was available on the islands, and Devon told his mates to collect brochures on two or three activities that they would like to do while on the island, and we will take them back to the bungalow to decide, what we will do for three weeks.

Once back at the Bungalow, they spread out their selections, and Devon was surprised that each of them had chosen an all-day snorkelling and scuba diving cruise, except Devon’s, had chosen a more upmarket cruise, two days, overnight onboard a 8 guest suite power yacht, the other thing that was similar was that Mitch and Gary wanted to try some parasailing, which is basically been attached to a parachute and been pulled up by a speed boat, to a height of 300 metres, before being released, to sail back down to the beach.

Devon wanted to do a hiking tour through the tropical jungle, visiting some of the more remote beaches and waterfalls scattered around the island, while Gary wanted to do some surfing, and Mitchell’s last choice was to do absolutely nothing but soak up the sun by the pool. Devon said he would give the parasailing a go, so it was decided, they would do two activities together and have their own separate activity, and they would be spread out, a few days apart.

Devon picked up the phone and called the front desk, and after fifteen minutes, he hung up and announced that their first activity was tomorrow, starting with a 6 am wakeup call, as they were going on a two-day cruise around the islands, and that it was just them on this cruise, as Devon had paid for the whole yacht for the two days.

Gary went to his room and came back soon after with boardie’s on and a towel around his neck, “Time for some serious sun soaking at the pool” he said and headed outside, Devon and Mitchell went to their rooms, changed and were also on their way to the pool, but Gary wasn’t at the main pool, and after some enquiries with a staff member, they went to the more private and smaller pool and spa, just around the corner, to find Gary soaking up the bubbles in the spa.

About twenty minutes later, the trio was interrupted from their peaceful snooze in the spa, by a heavy Scottish accent, without opening his eyes Devon said, “Yes sure Robert, please join us”, which caught Gary, Mitch and the guys from EQD by surprise.

“Looks like we have a fan here Rob”, David the other Scottish voice said but with less of an accent. Devon opened his eyes and smile.

“Sorry about that earlier guys, I have a degree in music, so I sort of keep an ear out when new music comes out, and I knew Robert has the deeper and stronger Scottish accent, so that’s why I knew it was him,” Devon said with a grin.

“I am Devon by the way, and this is my two mates, Gary and Mitchell, from Australia, we are on a sort of extended holiday due to certain circumstances” Devon added.

“Let me guess, would that be because you are being hounded by the media, would it Mr Devon Carlton”, James the only member of the band from the Isle of Mann said, Mitch and Gary started laughing, “well I guess you have been spotted too mate” Mitch said with a cheeky grin, “Yeah, yeah, smart arse” Devon replied.

“We know how you feel, we get this all the time, we can’t go down to the beach, because we been warned there are media on boats waiting for us to appear, so we are stuck here at the resorts private pool, for our last 2 ½ days, except you guys beat us to it” Thomas said who along with his brother Hugh, come from Ireland.

“My rude brother is Hugh, I am Thomas, our 1st cousin from the Isle of Mann is James, and our 2nd cousins Robert and David, who are 1st cousins between them are from Scotland, the last member of the band to speak said, finishing off the introductions, and they all shook hands. “You know guys we may have a solution for you, regarding the beach” Devon started to say, and everyone turned to look at him.

“Tomorrow at 7 am we are on a power yacht for two days and one night, to do some snorkelling and scuba diving, I have booked the whole yacht and there are spare cabins, would you be interested in joining us? Devon said.

“Only if you let us pay for our share of the cruise,” Robert said with a smile, “That sounds fair enough,” Devon said shaking his hand in agreement, and they spent the rest of the afternoon swimming, soaking up the sun and talking. The band's manager had come down with a stomach virus and was confined to bed, so he was happy to let the boys go and have some fun on the cruise while he recovered. Devon had called the skipper of the cruise to inform him that friends would be joining them on the two-day cruise.

The next morning at 6.30am, they had all gathered at Devon’s Bungalow, where a bus had arrived to take them to the yacht, and once safely on board, they yacht set off out to see, and thankfully there were no boats following them, by sight or by radar contact, so once out deep away from the island, the boys from the band were able to strip off their disguises, and just relax in their board shorts.

During the day they stopped off at three beaches, one of them where they had a cooked lunch, a game of soccer and some swimming in the ocean, that evening they were anchored in a protected cove, with plenty of remote white beach.

The next morning, after a big hearty breakfast, they headed to the beach and had another game of soccer, before doing some scuba diving in the shallows, not far from the beach, as they were all beginners, once they had done that, it was time to do some more relaxing, it was at this time that Robert found some space with Devon to ask him if there was any chance they could extend this cruise, as it was the first time since the band formed that they have been able to relax so much.

Devon said that their plans were very flexible, and they both went to speak to the skipper, about extending the cruise.