“Doug” was used most prominently as my alias on my trip through Mali to Timbuktu, when I used the name to introduce myself to a tout-turned-guide name Van.  The entire trip he knew me as Doug—I was even introduced to other people as such.  To this day, Van still knows me by that name.

Terence has made appearances on “The Trinidad Show,” first in the DAY 125 entry of The Global Trip 2004 blog when he met up with me in Rio de Janeiro.  His most recent foreign travels with me was to Munchen, Germany, for the 2006 Oktoberfest celebration, immortalized the German entries of the blog, “Tomatoes, Grease & Beer.”

Lara and I met at a hostel in Lima, Peru on my big 16-month trip, and we hit it off when we took a day trip to the nearby beach suburb of Miraflores.  Since that time, we kept in touch via e-mail, leapfrogging on our own through Peru, until we eventually met up in Cuzco for Christmas dinner and a horseback ride through the Sacred Valley.  We went our own ways and eventually met up again in La Paz, Bolivia, where we partied with locals and other travelers before going on a tour of the Bolivian salt flats of Uyuni.  We split up again, but reunited in Iguazu Falls on the Brazilian side, where she had taken care of me when a sign fell on my head and sent me to the emergency room.  From there, we traveled through Brazil to Rio de Janeiro, where we eventually shared an apartment together overlooking Copacabana Beach for a couple of weeks.  In Rio, we handglided, cheered at soccer games, entertained friends from out of town, and, most significantly, participated in the 2004 Carnaval competition with the Beija-Flor samba school—the winners in the Sambadrome that year.

Lara has since gone back to Guernsey and settled down, but is still in touch with me on occasion so that one day, perhaps, she’ll make another appearance on “The Trinidad Show.”

“I guess we’re going to be characters on your website another day,” Sam told me.

“Yeah, it’s like The Truman Show,” I said, citing the 1998 movie starring Jim Carrey. 

The blog nickname “The Trinidad Show” stuck amongst myself and the other blogreaders—some of which wanted to be a part of said show—and has been used ever since.

Many SBRs remain quiet under the notion that only Erik’s close friends post comments, when in reality many of the commenters have never met him in person.  On occasion, SBRs have come out of “hiding” by posting a comment—this makes Erik smile—making them members of The Fellowship of the Blog.

TGTGs aren’t exclusively Canadian; there was one definitely TGTG I met in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, ironically on Valentine’s Day 2005: Vivian, who not only entertained me with her family and treated me to a ride in an indoor skydiving simulator, but also gave me a mix CD with music that reminds her of me—tracks included “Lean Back,” “Let’s Get Married,” and “Tricky.” It may be interesting to note that, at the time of our meeting, she was an underage high school student.