I am sitting in the dining room of a rustic wood cabin on Pender Island. Seated around me are six amazing people with a deep passion for WordPress. All morning the air has been buzzing with conversation on the future of WordPress and how to make it even more awesome. Everything was different just one day ago…

When planning for this meetup first got underway the faithful Zippety Doo Dah, my sailboat, was going to transport me to the house which is situated on the water and has a great dock. But a few days before, the weather started getting rough, I did not want my tiny ship to be tossed. Even with the courage of the fearless crew I did not want Zippey lost. So I pulled the plug, no pun intended, on the venture and made other plans to get to Victoria to catch the Pender Island ferry.

Friday at the respectable hour of 4am I awoke and forced myself to rush out of bed. I had almost a three hour drive to Port Angeles ahead of me! Though drowsy I pushed my body to the limits and made the Black Ball Ferry just as loading started. After victoriously landing in Victoria I messaged the group joining me to let them know I had arrived on Vancouver Island and after some food would drive north to the airport and meet them. The only response, “Ben, you know we get the house tomorrow right?”… I had departed my precious bed and country a day early!

All was not lost however. I have been to Victoria several times and enjoy the city. I grabbed a room in a hotel situated on a point of land that overlooks the boat traffic in two directions and then strolled around the waterfront oogling the boats. The sun was out and the weather great. I enjoyed the downtime during the daylight hours before launching into another adventure.