Charlie

The only time I bought an around-the-world plane ticket, I did all the travel westbound (Philadelphia-Detroit-Seattle-Tokyo-Moscow-Warsaw-London-Philadelphia). I don't remember having too much trouble with jet lag, but that may have just been coincidence.

Ah, the hottie Mike Austin!

When my spouse used to fly regularly on business from Philadelphia to Singapore years ago, he always had to do it with two stops, one in California and one in either Tokyo or Hong Kong. Between the length of the flying time and the 12 hour time difference, it was always very stressful on the body, and by the time he had adjusted, it was time to return and go through the process again. I refuse to go through that unless I am going to spend at least a week in my destination.

I flew a few times from California to Asia or the South Pacific, and once from Chicago to Osaka non-stop, but after the first trip in economy, I vowed never again to take any flight longer than seven hours unless it was in First or at least Business class. I don't really need lie-flat accommodation (I have done that a couple of times in flights from LAX to Heathrow), but I do need more room than any economy seat offers.

I sent you a private conversation.

"Plus travel" usually means the expense of him traveling from his residence to the hotel if it requires more than public transportation. If it matters to you, you might want to ask him how much he estimates it will cost him. Depending on the city, the location of the hotel, and his location, it may be in double figures.

I have a rather unusual name, and I always thought I was unique. However, the first time I tried to google myself, instead I found links to a young engineer in Switzerland, who is much hotter than I ever was.

I don't piss that much!

I will send you a private conversation, rather than go into specifics here.

Back in the 1950s and 60s, the "models" were usually straight, and their payment for posing was frequently a blowjob.

My spouse's doctor was so popular that he had a ridiculous number of patients, and my spouse almost always ended up seeing the doctor's P.A., who was very good. However, when the P.A. moved to San Francisco, the doctor decided to change to a concierge practice (MDVIP), to dramatically reduce his patient load and see them all himself. My spouse decided it was worthwhile for him to spend the money ($2200/yr) to become a patient in the practice, and we have had no regrets. He gets lots of consultation, and it is much easier to get appointments than it used to be. The doctor is oriented very strongly toward preventive care, so he is always doing tests and monitoring results. He also is very connected to the local medical network, so his referrals are uniformly excellent. When my spouse first mentioned that he was having short term memory problems, the doctor immediately sent him to a neurologist friend of his who was running a nationally funded study, which included a free (!) PET scan of the brain, that revealed the typical Alzheimer's plaque on my spouse's brain (Medicare didn't routinely pay for the expensive test before the study, but the study results have apparently convinced them that it is worthwhile to do so, and they will probably soon include it as a standard benefit). During a routine exam, when my spouse casually mentioned an odd symptom, the doctor immediately ordered an MRI, and called us on a Sunday from his office (!) to say that he had just contacted a vascular surgeon whom he wanted us to see the next day; the surgeon confirmed that his carotid was 90% blocked, and operated a couple of days later. Normally my spouse would have completely ignored the symptom, which didn't seem problematic. To us, all this coddling seems worth the price. I had a different P.C.P. until last year, and although I liked him very much, it was obvious to me that he was winding down his practice as he grew old (well, he's actually younger than I am, but still...). I was getting tired of calling the office but frequently being told that he wasn't available and I should go to urgent care instead. Since I go with my spouse to all his appointments anyway, because I manage his care, I decided it made more sense for me to pay the concierge fee and switch to his doctor myself. Suddenly I find my own health being much better monitored than it has ever been before, and chronic problems that my old doctor passed off as "just getting old" are looked at seriously. One of them has even been eliminated with medication that my old doctor never considered. I admit to feeling a little uncomfortable at paying to get special treatment, but it really has been an investment that has paid off.

I knew several gay photographers back in the 1960s, and believe me, they always got involved.

We bought a house that had a bidet in the master bathroom. We never used it, so we took it out and used the space more efficiently for a bookcase, which we needed in the bathroom. We left the bidet in the basement, in case the next owner wanted to reinstall it. Our current house has a huge jetted tub in the master bathroom, but it also has a separate large shower stall with a seat; in the two years we have been here, the tub has never been used. We speculate about how we might better use the tub space, but we haven't come up with anything practical. I like the idea of having a urinal, but the space is much too large.

We bought a house that had a bidet in the master bathroom. We never used it, so we took it out and used the space more efficiently for a bookcase, which we needed in the bathroom. We left the bidet in the basement, in case the next owner wanted to reinstall it. Our current house has a huge jetted tub in the master bathroom, but it also has a separate large shower stall with a seat; in the two years we have been here, the tub has never been used. We speculate about how we might better use the tub space, but we haven't come up with anything practical. I like the idea of having a urinal, but the space is much too large.

We bought a house that had a bidet in the master bathroom. We never used it, so we took it out and used the space more efficiently for a bookcase, which we needed in the bathroom. We left the bidet in the basement, in case the next owner wanted to reinstall it. Our current house has a huge jetted tub in the master bathroom, but it also has a separate large shower stall with a seat; in the two years we have been here, the tub has never been used. We speculate about how we might better use the tub space, but we haven't come up with anything practical. I like the idea of having a urinal, but the space is much too large.

I was shocked to see this thread, which brought back many memories, as well as tears at suddenly hearing his authentic voice again.

Second from the left in the first photo is Tony Bishop--you can tell from the tat on his pec.

My spouse does the NYT crossword from Monday till about Thursday, then has to give up. If I help him, sometimes we can do the full week, and of course at any time he asks me for answers on subjects he knows nothing about, like sports and popular culture. His neurologist says that it is very important to keep doing crosswords for as long as he can as one of the ways to slow the progression of his Alzheimer's dementia.

Not to mention the Pulaski Skyway in New Jersey, which is in almost as bad condition as his skeleton. I wonder if this will cause firefighters to reconsider the name of the "pulaski tool."

I was responding to the photo of the two guys on the beach at Waikiki!

Oh my! I've stayed there and I didn't recognize it.

In the old days before the Internet, when most escorts advertised in print media, many ads had no photos, just self-descriptions. I hired more than one escort who turned out to be much less attractive than Howie, but they often seemed to believe their own descriptions. At least he uses photos that are honest, and text in which he acknowledges his age and weight, and what he thinks he has to offer a client.

In the first link, he gives his age as 36-45, but maybe the site template doesn't give any higher category option.

And a note to anyone who suffers from seasonal allergies: the wet winter followed by the sudden high heat with strong winds has caused a "super-bloom" of vegetation, including trees, unlike any allergy season we have experienced here in years. The wildflowers are spectacular, drawing crowds of spectators, but they also cause residents who usually have only mild allergies to have severe reactions. Don't forget to bring your most reliable medications for the weekend.

I would add a few more things to Gymowner's perceptive comments. My experience with this type of straight escort is that his "look" is often the result of actually feeling somewhat insecure about himself as a man. Rather than focus exclusively on his image, pay attention to what he really wants to be desired for, which is his personality. If you act like you are interested and respectful of him as a person rather than as an object, he is more likely to warm up and be interactive in return.