Travel Jones

Always Keep a Corkscrew in Your Car – A Funny Wine Story

Stop! I know what you’re thinking. No, I’m not advocating or promoting drinking and driving. A while back one of my best friends and I decided to have drinks and catch up. After all, as we get older and busier with our lives, it gets increasingly more difficult to see one another face to face. This particular gathering started like any other. We call each other up, agree upon where and what time we want to meet, and meet. Sounds simple right? Well, it was simple up until the point I arrived to his apartment and we had no wine to sip on!

Allow me to introduce one of my best friends, Tarquez. Before I go further into the story, let me tell you that this guy is largely responsible for my solo travels. Several years ago before I began traveling, he (Tarquez), out of no where decided to travel to the United Kingdom. Mind you, I had no idea he was going there. However when he touched down, he sent me a text from some unknown number saying where he was. That totally blew my mind. My first thought was why in the world would you just up and travel to some far away land all by yourself?? For reference, please refer to my post about my first trip to Puerto Rico. You never know how someone will inspire you and cause you to take action. My friend had a huge influence on my traveling life style. But let’s continue on with the story, shall we?

When I arrived to his apartment, we talked for about 30 minutes. But before we launch into in depth conversation, we realized there was no wine in the house. He did attempt to warn me on my way there but I missed the phone call while driving. Ugh! Such is life but that’s neither here nor there, though. How simple is it to make a run to the store and pick up some wine? I think we’ve all been there at some point. Needless to say we got up and went to the local convenience store. While we were out, I brought up the idea of getting a bite to eat as well. Anyone that drinks enough wine knows as well as I do that if you drink enough you become very hungry. So food was definitely a must! Spin dip, anyone?

Arriving back to the apartment, loaded with food and wine, this was sure to be a great chill night. Again, nothing out of the ordinary has happened yet. But as we walk up the steps and step on to the landing in front of his door, Tarquez reaches for his door key. The key is seemingly stuck in his pocket as he jostles a bit. After retrieving the key, he places it in the door lock, turns the key and… nothing. He tries it again… still nothing. (…No, we weren’t at the wrong door! I know what you were thinking! Although, that would be funny!) I also gave it a try a few times. For some reason, the key would turn but the lock/ deadbolt would not retract. Explain that?! So here we are, food and wine in hand, and stuck outside. Oookay… what next?

At this point there is nothing left to do but call property management. Not knowing quite how long this will take we take a moment to eat. After all there’s food on hand! But what about the wine?? It sits there with us, untouched. How disappointing! While we’re eating and waiting, Tarquez and I get to talking about future projects. He let’s me in on the production he and another friend, Opus, are creating, “Black Book Basics“. About 40 minutes go by and at that point, the maintenance man arrived to help with the door lock. After maintenance opens the door, Tarquez turns to me and says, “Always keep a corkscrew in your car“. Haha, he’s right. If we had a corkscrew. at least we would have had access to the wine while we waited!

After getting his door lock fixed, we sit down and finally uncork the bottle of Apothic Red Blend. Discussing a bit more about his plans for Black Book Basics, we decide to meet up with Opus (the other half of Black Book Basics). Since we’ve downed this bottle of wine, we take a Uber to a local bar where we meet with Opus. The night was supposed to be a chill night in but suddenly evolved into a night out with the Black Book Basics dynamic duo. It was a fun night filled with unexpected and improvised twists. Remember folks, always keep a corkscrew in your car… you never know when you’ll need it.

P.S. My friends, Tarquez and Opus are relationship coaches. If you want to know more about Black Book Basics, simply click the link above. Also check out their instagram and YouTube! There’s great information over there! Cheers!