Key West – Finding Time for Rest and Relaxation

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All right, well, listen. Welcome to another edition of the DJ Doran show. I’m your host, DJ Doran. And this, the show tonight is going to be awesome. We’re going to be talking about my recent trip to Key West and my husband Joe. We went down there for a couple of days and we stayed at the Equator resort for men, right on on Fleming street right off of Wall Street, which is the main drag and Key West. And for those of you that have never been to Key West, it’s a must go. It’s a bucket list destination. It is awesome. It is crazy. Everything goes in Key West, what happens in Key West should stay in Key West. Anyway, we were there for a couple of days, a little bit of business, a little bit of relaxation, and we had a lot of fun. And so we’re going to talk about Key West and some of the things that you can do when you go there. And, and some of the places that you can stay so on Fleming street there are two male only men only guest houses. One is The more tame equator, a resort for men. And that’s where we stayed. And then right down the street is the little bit more out going, if you will, the island house and both of these guest houses are clothing optional and and I’m going to reveal whether I did or didn’t while we stayed at the equator, in but a little bit later on in the show. But for right now we’re going to talk about a key west. So Key West is the last key all the way at the end of Florida and it is 90 miles from Cuba. At its very tip. That’s not very far. If you think about it. It’s swimmable. For some, it’s definitely boatable for just about everybody else. And when we were there we had the most amazing weather. So it was so enjoyable. Now we went, we went a day before we flew into Fort Lauderdale. We stayed overnight in Fort Lauderdale, and then we rented a car. And then we drove the three hours or so to the keys, which by the way, it’s, it’s kind of narrow like there’s only at most spots, there are only one or two lanes, but once you get further down towards Key West, it reduces down to one lane. And so if there’s traffic, you just have to be patient and enjoy the ride because there’s not really anywhere you can go. So as you’re driving, you’re crossing over, of course, some of the smaller islands and, and a lot of times you’re crossing over a large body of beautiful turquoise water. One side of the road is the Atlantic Ocean. The other side of the road is the Gulf Coast. And it is beautiful. And there are lots of palm trees and there’s, believe it or not, there’s a lot of places to stop on your way down there. So it’s not like you’re you know, driving out in the middle nowhere. But, but there are some great places to stop and eat and visit while you’re While you’re heading to Key West, but once you get to Key West, it all changes. Key West is paradise and paradise for, for many reasons. First of all, it’s awesomely beautiful. It was 80 to 85 degree weather. When we got there, there’s so much food and drink and, and a sort of a festive atmosphere. You know, it’s not like it’s, it’s not like it’s a lazy, it’s a very active Island and there’s a lot to do and quite frankly, you know, there are so many different things I don’t even know where to begin. And some of my I’m going to talk about some of my favorites but but

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but there’s just so much to cover, but you can’t go to Key West without having key lime pie. That’s what they’re one of the things they’re famous for. However, I’m not a big fan of the pie. I am a big fan of the key lime pie on a stick dipped in dark chocolate, frozen. And there’s so many different places that you can go and I’m trying to remember the name of the place that I went to, to get that and completely escapes me. But before we get too far into it, I want to really thank our hosts at the equator resort for men on Fleming Street. You can follow them hashtag at equator resort for men, I think or equator resort, but you should check them out. It is a wonderful place there are lots of different types and styles of rooms. They have two big pools, they have a couple of hot tubs which we took advantage of the service was impeccable, the staff was super friendly. It was convenient to just walk out of the resort and walk right walk two blocks down to Duval Street. So it’s pretty fun, pretty fun for that. And and we did just that and sometimes we just lounge around and it was nice. It was actually nice not to do anything. We’re not having to do anything and we stayed up reasonably late. We got up reasonably late. You know and most of the time we spent in the hot tub, then back into The pool which was cool then back into the hot tub and back into the pool and then floated around for a bit and it was great. From 5:30 Nope, from five to 6:30 or something like that. Every night is happy hour and it’s free drinks. So every day at 5”30 we’d make our way back to the resort lounge in the pool and go up to the bar, get I think I had a watermelon concoction frozen blended thing that was delicious. And Joe had vodka and soda but it was just really a nice experience. We didn’t go crazy partying we didn’t do anything. We just relaxed, talked, floated around the pool, sat in the hot tub. We did a little bit of work as well. But for those that haven’t been to Key West, it when you walked out first of all we were in Old Town which is the architecture is absolutely stunningly beautiful everywhere you look every house every building is beautiful. palm trees and old growth, you feel like you’ve stepped back in time. You know, Ernest Hemingway was there and lived there and his house is still there. And there. It’s sort of known for having a whole bunch of feral cats walking all over the place. And so that’s there. And you know, and this is something you may or may not know, but President Harry S. Truman actually had the summer White House in Key West. And so that’s there as well. And so it’s very nice. It’s a I will tell you, though, that the first time I went was many, many years ago. It’s much more built up now. And there are a lot more people and when you go to Key West, when the cruise ships come in the town literally is overrun by tourists. So prepare yourself, you just need to go to your happy place. We you know, remind yourself that you’re in Paradise, and just don’t get stressed out by all the people and that’s what I did and I didn’t even like crowds, quite frankly, I get claustrophobic when is when there are too many crowds now also tell you that I’m 59 and I felt like a youngster. So they’re from a gay standpoint, there are lots of older gays that go down to Key West. There’s some Don’t get me wrong, there’s still some plenty of good looking younger, younger ones, but for the most part, I was like, all right, I still feel pretty young here. So that was, you know, that was awesome. So now to get to Key West is so easy. There’s only one road, it’s A1A south. Once you get on A1A  south, if you just stay on that road, you’re eventually going to end up in Key West because after that is the ocean. So it’s easy to get to. There are lots of speed traps in the keys. So this is a tip, do not speed. You’ll see people speeding, let them get the tickets, but there are lots and lots and lots of speed traps. And so I didn’t speed and I like to drive fast but I did not drive fast on the way down there. And every time someone has me doing 20 miles over the speed limit was like, Okay cool, as long as he’s ahead of me, we’re safe, but it’s just not worth it’s not worth the hassle to get pulled over the the speeding ticket in the keys is pretty expensive too. So anyway, so tonight’s show is all about tropical destinations and is my experience at at Key West, so I’m going to tell you that that this was one of the

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most relaxing and enjoyable times that Joe and I have had on a vacation. You know, like sometimes people go on vacation and they are exhausted from their vacation when they come home. I didn’t feel that I kind of felt rested, because we didn’t overdo it. We ate some good food. We enjoyed ourselves. We relaxed in the pool in the hot tub. We didn’t overbook any sort of excursions or events or things or anything We just sort of took advantage of it and and it was nice. So when I come back on and talk a little bit more about the equator resort and and the island house resort, which are the two, two Big Gay Men’s resorts and then I’m gonna talk about the some of the things to do in Key West. So don’t go anywhere. We’ll be right back. You’re listening to the DJ Doran show.

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You’re listening to the DJ Doran show. Don’t go away. We’ll be right back. Call 312-235-2281 to speak to DJ

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All right, well, you know, we’re back. And today’s show is about Key West and our recent trip down there. So, you know, one of the things that I can tell you about Key West. Well, first of all, they call it the conch Republic, right? Or the conch Republic, I think it’s called the conch. conch, it c-o-n-c-h but I think they pronounce it conch. So the attitude down there is very laid back. You know, nobody’s in a real hurry. It’s Island time for everything. You know. And if you have a freak flag, that is the place to fly it because nobody gives a shit. Nobody cares what you’re doing as long as you’re not hurting anybody. They don’t care. Everything goes and believe me when you walk up and down duval street. You see a lot of stuff. You see a lot of different people and so be prepared for that. But here’s the thing that I wanted to share with everyone, this resort that we stayed at was very nice and very expensive. And it was courtesy of a friend of ours, a very dear friend of ours that we’ve known from the very beginning of gaycation magazine, which is a gay travel magazine that we publish, and it’s gotta be what like 10 years or so ago anyway, Mr. Guy Ross from I think, I think his official title is VISIT FLORIDA. Anyway, he’s in charge of marketing. South Florida, right. So or South Florida Keys specifically. And so

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So anyway, so we, we stayed at the equator and and he was happy, he was awesome to help get that reservation because it is nearly impossible to get a reservation there this time of year because this is their their peaks season. So that was awesome. We had a wonderful time, from the moment we checked in to, to getting escorted to our room, getting settled in. And then our very first happy hour. The resort is, is sort of I don’t want to say fenced in, but there are palm trees and lattices and buildings all around it. So you have a lot of privacy. It’s amazing considering how everything is built so close together, how much privacy you do indeed have but truthfully, I don’t think people really care anyway. You know, whether you were clothing optional or not. They don’t care. But uh, but anyway, if you have that, if you have that. That nervousness about, you know, letting your freak flag fly, it’s really you do have a lot of privacy. So the first day we got there, everything was great. We went in the room, we relaxed and we went to happy hour we wore our bathing suit, down to the pool, bathing suits down to the pool. And as we were Getting in the hot tub. We sit in the hot tub and Joe says, Do you mind if I take off my bathing suit? And I say, No, I don’t care. It’s not like I haven’t seen it before for crying out loud. We’ve been together almost 18 years. So he takes off his bathing suit. And once he took off his bathing suit, then I decided to follow suit. And for those of you that know me know that I am not, that is not my modus operandi. I’m very, What’s that word? I’m thinking of? Joe says prudish, but it’s not it’s not that I’m just very, like private. And but when we were walking down to the pool, you know, you have all these people just lounging around and their birthday suit. They don’t care, right. One of the things that I’m sure a lot of people think about is, oh, if I go to a nude beach or if I go to a and a clothing, optional resort that everyone’s going to be aroused, couldn’t be farther from the truth, although, although, at another place, I did see somebody walking around aroused but For whatever reason, but it’s not generally the case. And, and most of the people at the equator, um, you know, they’re just they’re mature men. There are a few younger men, but they’re mostly mature men. So I’m like, What the fuck? I don’t care. So we’ve gotten a hot tub and the hot tub had a half moon glass wall around it. So I’m thinking, Okay, it’s still private. So we’re sitting in the hot tub, enjoying ourselves and then Joe says, Do you want to go in the pool? So there are two pools, there’s a pool right in front of the bar. And then there’s a area where you have their lounge chairs where you can lay, and then there’s another nother pool. So I said, Okay, well go into that pool, which is where the hot tub was that we were and we were the only two there. So it has a hot tub. And then I would think I’m thinking to myself, how do I get into the pool without like walking and showing my everything? And then I was like, fuck it. everybody else is naked so I’m going to just do it so I just got the hot tub in the pool was flying around the pool. And I have to tell you there’s something inherently freeing about clothing-less, whatever.

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Excuse me. And, and, and I can tell you that nobody was really staring. Not that day. We arrived on a Wednesday, Wednesday night. So nobody was really there. And Thursday was very similar. There were very few people there was some people but not a lot. Now, Friday was a little bit different story Friday, there was a ton of people in the pool and you couldn’t help but notice a couple of side glances. You know, people like everybody’s checking everybody out. It’s like when you have a car and people like Oh, look at your car. Oh, look at your car. It was kind of like that. So it was a little bit different. Now I didn’t walk around the pool area. Naked but I did go from the hot tub to the pool naked. I did swim in the pool, naked and that was it was fun. But it was it’s so against my prudishness, that even Joe was shocked. He’s like, I can’t believe that you just did that. And I said, Well, I just. And I just gave a big speech about how I didn’t think it was appropriate for people to, you know, like, I had no desire to do that. But I just came to the conclusion that I don’t care. I didn’t care. So I was just gonna have a good time whether, you know, whatever, and we did. So that was a huge milestone for me and a growth moment. And it was, it was pretty scary. And the reason why I’m telling you this is because I’m the same guy. I didn’t come out til late in life. Now that people knew I was gay, but I didn’t come to terms with it until late in life because of my career and some other considerations. But I remember the first time I went to a gay bar, I literally was soaking wet with sweat standing out by the front door. Before I went in. I didn’t I was like, I don’t even know what to Expect I was so nervous. And then when I went in now the first time I saw drag queens, I was like, Oh my god, I was looking at everything like a kid in a candy store. You’re like, Oh, what is that? Why is that? Oh, that’s cool. And it was much ado about nothing. But I had built it up so much in my mind that that when it actually happened, it was anti climactic. Right? But I did it. Same thing. When I went to pride, the very first pride that I went to. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I never had any desire to go to pride. And I still don’t have a great desire to go to pride. I mean, but I went. But when I went to the pride The one thing I noticed that that that stood out, was there were more people pushing baby strollers, then people in doggy masks being led around by chains, which I think is kind of unusual, but funny and interesting. But so I wasn’t I didn’t feel as threatened. I used to think that I would feel threatened when I went to pride I did not feel threatened. So that was kind of That was kind of cool. It’s the same thing at the equator. I just didn’t feel like anybody. I, I gave a shit more than everyone else gave a shit. So once I sort of put that aside, then it was fine. nobody did anything. Of course, you know, I wish I had a six pack instead of a keg, you know, but, but, but still it would, it was fine. And it reminded me of that saying, you know, like, in the gay community, especially, we’re so focused on youth and body image and things like that. And I just thought, there’s always going to be somebody better looking than me, better body than me and younger than me. And but they’ll also be people that are less good looking than me, that are fatter than me, and that are older than me. So you can’t chase that you just do you just do. So that’s kind of what helped me realize it’s like, okay, nobody’s judging me. And if they are, they’re not going to say anything, or they haven’t said anything. And, and I’m not gonna judge anybody else. I’m just worried about me. So I went in the pool and I swam in all my glory. course I’m sure my ass and was pale white. You know, compared to some of the people that have been there for a while they’re all tan they have that Florida tan. But even so, Oh, and by the way you want to know the funny thing is, is as I’m, as I’m swimming, I wear a gold cross. And I have a gold chain that I got for Christmas from Joe’s parents that I wear and the cross is my mother’s. You know, it’s only I have her after she passed. That’s the one thing. So I’m like swimming along. And it’s so funny how

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it’s to me, it reflects my faith, but to other gays. It’s almost like, like an affront. You know, like, like, I felt like oh my god, you know, like, Oh, he’s a He must be a religious crazy. You know what I mean? You you start now that may not be the case. But I’m telling you it was in my head. I’m thinking about that much. I take my cross off, you know, and then it that’s a whole subject for another story. And by the way, you should listen to my show on the website called being gay and Christian. It says it’s Funny and informative, but this is one of the things that I always fight against is how, you know, why do I feel nervous about that in our own community? Are we not allowed to be, you know, faithful to our I’m you know, we’re not allowed to have faith. So, but still, I thought wow I’m swimming naked with a cross. I wonder what the conversation is at the bar, but but I’m sure there wasn’t anything it’s funny how your mind just builds up and plays all these tricks on you and you create these stories that that probably are nothing there and and it then it starts to make me think what about everything else that you do in life where you create a story, you you fight and win or lose a battle in your head before you even step on the battlefield of some challenge in your life. And and you if you in your mind, lose that battle, you don’t take that step. And I and I came up with this cool idea. I want to start another podcast called amateur entrepreneurs, and talking about how do you overcome these fears in business, and it just started this whole thought. So the problem was when you go on vacation, and you’re relaxing your brain, it’s amazing. But when you start letting yourself relax, your brain gets Uber creative. And you start thinking about things that never had room in your psyche while you’re working. Now, all of a sudden, you have these, these ideas, and I really felt like my creative side was was being, like the flames were being fanned. And, and so that made me think that shit, I could talk about entrepreneurship. I am an entrepreneur. You know, I’m the president of NEMA. I have I’m the I’m a publisher, I have my own business. I have an advertising agency. I’m a pilot. I could talk to people about how I overcame my fears. Right now I know the show is about Key West and it is about us. But what I’m telling you is that when you go to a place like Key West, and you let yourself relax both body and mind and even soul, it opens doors to other areas that you’ve left unattended if you will. And that’s what happened. So as I’m sitting there floating in the pool talking to Joe, I’ve never felt closer to Joe because we were just, it was just us. Just talking. No agenda. We were just floating around the pool naked.

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talking, talking about life talking about, you know, where we are, how we got here. What do we want to do, where our focus is, what are our priorities, and, and it was nice, there was no cell phones, no phones ringing no any meetings to take them nothing. And, and it reminded me again, of how important it is to relax to recharge. You cannot go 100 miles an hour all the time. At some point, you’re going to start bogging down because your brain is tired, your body is physically tired. Now, I will tell you that I had some challenges. Just before we left for Key West. I hurt my neck. And I don’t know how I hurt my neck. I don’t know if I slept wrong or anything but at the base of my skull, down along my neck and back to my shoulder blade, it was so excruciating pain. It felt like my head was in a vise. And it was worse when I lay down so I couldn’t lay down so I had to sleep sitting up. And then when that didn’t work, I just took drugs. They are not illegal drugs, but painkillers, just so that I could get a decent night’s sleep. To make even matters worse. If it could be worse. I had an ingrown hair on my back and it abscessed it got into like, it wasn’t a pimple. It was just like a lump, and it was so painful and just couldn’t even touch it. And then finally, I got sick of it and I took a knife and I cut it myself to let it drain. And then Joe and thank you, Joe so much and my husband is so awesome. Even though it was so painful, I literally was biting into a towel. He just kept pushing and, and not grossed me out but all the stuff came out. And now it’s healing right? Of course, you know, after the fact I googled how to treat a cyst or an abscess. And what are you supposed to not do? Do you think? You got it, you’re not supposed to Lance it or squeeze it out. But then again, you know, it’s me so I do what I do, but I did it and it’s better now and my neck is better. So my thought was that that cyst, it hit some nerve or did something in the muscle, which was creating the pain in my neck because it was my pain in my neck dissipated as the the thing on my back healed. So we had to overcome that. And but still I just kept saying I’m in paradise. So I’m going to focus. I’m going to focus on that. So anyway, getting back to us, we added some great restaurants. You got to be careful because Key West when especially when cruise ships are in, here’s a tip when cruise ships are in all the businesses sort of cater to that tourist, you know, that there’s cruise ship tourists, so prices can go a little bit crazy, you know, and everybody’s trying to make make a buck and and they make money off of that. So you have to be careful. But there are some places that you can go that are local, and like we went to this place.

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And I can’t remember the name of it again, because we went to so many but what this place had, I had a great Philly cheesesteak sandwich. It was so good. And then Joe had a burger and that was that was really good. And then we went to a place called The Flying Monkeys the next day. And I was like, you know, we need to eat some, we need some fiber we need to eat some greens. So we both had salads and then I had it has a whole bunch of different blended alcoholic drinks that you can choose from. So I chose I believe it was like a pina colada. And I bought a cup, not a cup travel thing, you know, with a straw in it and filled that up. It was so good. And those are the alcoholic drinks that I can drink. You know why? Because I can’t taste the alcohol. So it’s like, oh my god, this is so good. Oh, my I, I drank that thing so fast. And I gave myself a buzz because it actually has alcohol in it. And I was gonna get a refill, but I was like, You know what, I have a nice buzz. I my belly is full. It’s great. Like, I want to just leave it, leave it at that. So, so that’s a cool place. The Flying Monkeys is very cool and it’s very popular. Down in Key West now. We walked up and down Duvall street in the evening and I mean the road it’s like cruising like when you were kid you would cruise up and down the boulevard that’s what it’s like but everyone’s wearing Hawaiian shirts or and flip flops and and they have all sorts of like they have some cars and then they had these mopeds and everyone rides a bicycle, lots of bicycles, by the way everywhere everyone rides bicycle and and these three wheelers and so people are going up and down. There’s tons of people walking and you can carry alcohol out in public too, by the way, so you can get a drink and walk up and down. Enjoy yourself. The evenings at, during the day gets a little bit hot, especially in the sun. But in the evenings, there’s a nice cool breeze that comes off the ocean. It’s unbelievable. And the smell is just, it’s just unbelievable. So Key West is is one of those places that is always a soft spot for me. Anyway, I’m gonna go back to guy Ross. Guy Ross knew us when we launched Gaycation magazine, God seems like 10 years ago. But you know, he has always been a great friend to us and a great supporter of what we were doing and it was over all these years he’s been the same person that he was in the very beginning. He’s just one of those individuals that that that come across your path that you know are special and so guy if you ever listened to the show, oh, you will be listening to the show because I’m going to send you the link to it to make sure you’re listening you better damn well fucking subscribe to I need more listeners. And but you’re he was a great guy. He was great host absolute, I’ve never very few people make me laugh as much as he made me laugh to the point where I thought I was gonna wet myself. And and we’re very similar in you know, in what we do. We’ve been through the wringer both of us and and, and come out the other end. So we’re sort of, we have thick skin if you will, but he’s He’s a great guy, so, and he made the experiencing key west by making the reservation at equator resort. So much more pleasant and so enjoyable. I can’t even Thank you. Enough. So big hugs for me. And Joe to you guy, and I look forward to seeing you again soon. Alright, well anyway, so um, now you know, that I did. I did. strip down and swim in my birthday suit at the equator resort because inquiring minds want to want to know, I could be like Alex Trebek from a from a jeopardy. I will take did he swim nude for 200? Please, if we had 200 but, but it was a great experience. And I think now that I’ve done it, I used to say I would never go to a nude beach but now I I’m not so certain that I wouldn’t try that because I don’t care. You know what I mean? The only thing that really kind of worried me like I don’t know, swimming in a pool is one thing but swimming in the ocean. There are animals. You know, there are fish and you know, so, and I’m Sicilian. Wink wink. So I want that thing trailing behind me when I’m swimming. Just kidding. I’m just JK, as Joe said, Joe says all the time JK, but still, I’m not sure about that. It’s one thing to swim in the pool, it’s another thing to swim in the ocean. So now when we come back, we’re gonna talk a little bit more about what to do and and where \, what you should see while you’re in Key West. But until then, we’re gonna take a quick break. I’m gonna I’m gonna play a little bit more Island music. Let’s try this one.

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You’re listening to the DJ Doran show. Don’t go away. We’ll be right back. Call 312-235-2281 to speak to DJ

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That’s pretty much heard from our room the whole time in the ocean and the birds. And, by the way, we’re back and I’m DJ Doran, your host and we are talking about our recent trip to Key West, Florida. Staying at the equator resort for men. Check them out, go to the website, equatorresort.com. And if you ever have a chance to go to Key West, you should check them out. Tell them that DJ and Joe sent you but book early because it’s very popular. A place now the other the other resort that we went to when we had lunch at was called the island house and that is just up the street from the equator now, Island house is a lot bigger. It has a cafe that serves food at the poolside and it is a, I’ll leave you with this it’s an experience but be prepared because I won’t tell you everything that goes on but everything goes on if you know what I mean. But it’s also a very welcoming non judgmental place you know nobody everybody there made us feel super welcome I didn’t feel uncomfortable at all or whatsoever and, and but it’s also very very very very popular. So if you want to stay there go check out their website I house.com and you know if you go to Key West those or if you’re gay man Anyway, those are two places to to stay the one of my other favorite places I mentioned just because I know it off the top of my head is Alexander’s guest house. And it isn’t. It’s owned by, I think, a gay couple, but it’s not exclusively a gay guest house. So you might see families with kids there in addition to, in addition to gay couples or lesbian couples, but it is not clothing optional. So it’s a more traditional, but absolutely, stunningly beautiful. Absolutely, stunningly beautiful. So those are the three places that we know of course, you know, you have your traditional big hotels like the I think it’s the Hilton or the Marriott at the end. And then they have the waterfront where all the boats are and key west once you walk down Duval Street to the end of the water, end of the island. On the northern side, there’s a walkway that, that meanders along the waterfront, where all the boats are, are docked, that you can walk around in this like restaurants and pubs and bars and everything that you can stop and have a drink or grab something to eat. And we did and we end Everything is open. So you like you’re sitting there and you hear the birds the seagulls chirping mine, mine, mine mine. And then, you know, you smell the ocean, you have a beer or a few and you know and keep walking. I don’t know how long the pathway is, but I think it’s pretty, pretty long. The other side, the southern part of the island, you know, everyone sees that world famous. I think it’s the big Bell, like, you know, it’s red, black and yellow and white. And it’s the furthest tip of the United States, and everyone gets their photo taken. And that’s that’s also worth seeing. And, and you get down there and you’re like, from that tip, you’re 90 miles give or take from Cuba. And it’s kind of you realize that that’s not very far think about 90 miles, you know, that’s not very far. That’s what, a couple hour drive if you were driving.

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an hour if I’m driving, but a couple hour drive, and it’s awesome, right and there’s not too many beaches. Where we were on Key West is one beach. It’s a public beach. But it’s not. That’s not what you go to Key West for. Don’t you don’t go to Key West to lay on the beach. There are plenty of other beaches in Miami and Fort Lauderdale for that you go to Key West because it is an awesome town. And there are awesome things to do. And it’s right on the southern tip of the United States. And, and every time we’ve gone we we’ve been we’ve been blessed with beautiful sunsets. Absolutely beautiful sunsets, and more importantly great weather. Now, I will tell you though, on the way back, it was a little bit cloudy, it looked like they were getting a storm, but it was still 75 degrees, you know, and so, so it was a it doesn’t always have perfect weather, but when the weather changes, it’s not very, it’s not very bad for very long. So when you go down to Key West, it’s important to note that it’s a crowded, little island. So you have to be mindful of People when you’re driving, and you know, a lot of times people are having fun, if you know what I mean. So they may not be paying attention. So another tip is, if you’re driving down there, be careful. The cool thing is that in Key West, there’s street parking and you don’t have to pay for it. But each parking space, there are some that say resident parking, and it has a white bar, cross it, so you can’t park there. But wherever there’s a space with no bar, you can park and, and, and leave your car there. So that’s what we that’s what we did. And I think that’s kind of an anomalous thing. Because any other resort that you go to, it’s like, oh, you gotta pay 20 like, we stayed at the hotel, I had to pay $15 to self Park overnight in a hotel, in addition to the hotel room. You know, and in New York, it’s even worse or some of the bigger cities it’s even worse here in Chicago. So, um, so we we spent the whole time in Key West we did, we did very little activities wise, but we did walk around. We did Eat well, we did have a few drinks. We just enjoyed the island, you know. And for those that haven’t been there the first time you go there, it’s sort of like, oh, anything goes, I want to try everything I want to get drunk and party and because the island is 24 hours, roughly. And so, we did that the first time I went, we did that we just like partied and did all sorts of crazy stuff. This time was, let’s just take a casual and leisurely thing. And that is the beauty of Key west. You can be wild and crazy, or you can just be subdued and relaxed, where and everything in between. It is not one or the other. So this time we were subdued and relaxed. And I enjoyed myself tremendously and it was a sad day. It was a sad day when we knew we were leaving. And when we were leaving. It was, everytime we go to these tropical destinations. My husband Joe says, Oh, I could live here. I think we should move here, I think we should have a place here. And it’s not just Key West, every time we go to Mexico Oh, I could live here. I could let’s do here, whatever it came to. I think I just sort of realized that we are now at that point in our lives where we want to have a, a place where the seasons change in a city that is energizing. And we also want to have a place that we can go to in the winter, that is relaxing and rejuvenating. And I’ve never felt it more than I have. This time. I never felt the need for it more. Because we live such a busy lifestyle, that without that, those little strategic times to recharge. You can burn out really easy. And when you burn out, even though you’re pushing super hard, you’re still only 50% effective and that’s going to be a topic, I think I’m going to talk about on my new show on amateur entrepreneurs. Because really, if you’re an entrepreneur, especially, and I’m going to speak specifically to amateur entrepreneurs, I’m not talking about someone that has, oh, I’m gonna go out and get a million dollars and start my, my company, right? Yes. Are they entrepreneurs? They sure are. But I’m talking about the person that says, I have $500. I’m going to start my little business and I’m going to build it from there. Right? And I can’t afford to be like Uber, you know, I’m not profitable. I’m not for four years. It’s These are the people that start their business on Monday, and they have to have some level of profitability by Friday.

40:41

Right. And I want to talk to those people about what does it take and how do you know how you continue to go, when you have setbacks when you have successes, how do you plan you nobody plans for success. This is something I’ve learned over the years I’ll share this little tidbit. This is a preview to a new Potential show. Everybody plans for failure. Everyone.

41:06

Few people plan for success.

41:09

And I think both are equally important. You know, I, I feel like, I feel like that as an entrepreneur myself, you have to be creative. And you have to, you have to think outside the box and you have to be bold and and aggressive and, and perseverant and, and patient in some cases, which is absolutely not my strong suit. So there’s a lots of lots of different things and I think that talking about that, especially as a gay as a gay man doing gay business, there’s so many different challenges, you know, when you I don’t want to get too much into it, but when you do business as a as a gay person, it’s easier now but it used to be that some other business people wouldn’t do business with you because they didn’t want to do business with gay people or LGBT people. So you would do business not telling anybody about who you are and what have you. But now there’s a lot more power that comes, comes with that. And so our, our demographic, our market,

42:19

is sought after. But the point I’m making is we don’t have to be in the shadows anymore we can we can be ourselves which makes it a lot easier doesn’t mean that that still doesn’t happen. It does. But we don’t have to. We don’t have to be in the shadows. So that’s something that will, we’re going to talk about and I think I love the idea of the show. By the way, I got this idea on the plane ride coming back while I was packed in the back of the plane. And because we got these cheap flights and so they just threw us I’m surprised we didn’t get the car room apartment. But and I’m gonna tell you about that in a minute. But I got that idea sitting in the back of the plane listening to classical music on my headphones because it was a screaming baby two rows behind me and two older women that, they were sisters or friends or something, but they would not stop talking and they were, Have you ever seen? Has anybody ever seen that video? You know where these two old ladies and they insult each other? They’re like 95 years old and it’s like you stupid bitch. Get it? Give me my money. You’re You’re a bitch. That’s what they were the whole trip. But you could tell they were friends. You know, like it was like a, like a x rated version. No, not the X rated version, that’s bad. The R rated version of the Golden Girls. Anyway, so that I had my ear pods in I was listening, listening to classical cello, which is what I have to listen to, to calm me when I’m in a stressful situation. And you want to know the irony of it. I’m gonna tell you that in a minute. But, but again, when you’re rested, when you are recharged, these things flow much more freely. And it was really nice. It was nice. Now here’s the irony. For those of you that know or don’t know, in addition to everything else I do, I drive for Uber occasionally. So today I was like, Oh, I feel rested. I’m gonna drive for Uber and I have a thing where I drive. You know, I’ll get an airport run. And I was like, Oh, I got an airport run. So I’m going to pick up someone on the way back to the city. So I took someone to O’Hare. And on the way back, I picked up this girl and lo and behold, what do you think she had on her back? No, not a Manitou.

44:39

A cello.

44:41

She had a cello. So I was listening to two classical cello and then I picked up a cellist I think that’s the column that we go. No, what do you call them, a cellist. Cello-ist, cellist. So I picked up a cellist but here’s the funny thing is I was helping her load it into the car. I was like, Oh my god, this is light as a feather. I was expecting it to be a big heavy thing. It was not it was because I felt bad for her because she had it on her back, like with a backpack. And I was like, Oh, I’m gonna help her. And, and then I lifted it up. I was expecting it to be heavy. So I lifted it up really fast. And I was like, oh, oh, it’s really light. So then she was explaining to me, she goes, Oh, do you love the cello? I said, I love the cello. And I was telling her how I listened to it to calm me. When I’m stressed out and she goes, Oh, you should learn how to play. It’s like, I don’t have any musical talent. She goes, everybody has some talent. And then she goes, Can you dance? And I started laughing. And I said, define dancing. I said, I am. I don’t, I’ve never really learned how to dance. So when I go out and dance, I’m either drunk or drunk, and then I’ll just move and then it always evolves into some sort of sexy dance. Like I’m twerking, and I don’t even know what that means for the most part. And so Joe was like, don’t do that. You’re gonna hurt yourself. And I was like, but then you’re drunk and you don’t care but That’s my version of dancing. But you know, like some people you look at like, Oh my god, they know they like move their hands in a certain way and their feet and everything and it looks choreographed and coordinated. That’s not me at all. So I said, No, I can’t really dance. And then I said, I said, I also wanted to learn how to play the piano when I was younger, but the piano teacher said that my fingers were too short. And so I never, after that I was like, I didn’t do it. And so I held up my hand she was your fingers are absolutely not too short. And, and she said elton john has little stubby fingers and she goes most concert pianist that are Asian. Right. And I don’t know if this is politically correct, but she said most concert pianist that are Asian, they have small fingers. And she goes I really hate it when I hear that teachers discourage people from pursuing music with stuff like that, instead of encouraging them to find a different way to to play. So I in one room I was like, Oh, well, maybe I should learn how to play the piano. Because it’s something I’ve always wanted to do, including I’ve always wanted to learn how to play the violin, as well. And then, and then I thought, but now it’s too late. Because now I’m older. Well, it’s never too late. Obviously, that’s what she said. But it’s you. You have a career. You have so many pressures on your time that you know that you’re like, Oh, I can’t practice I can’t. I can’t. But this is why going to Key West is so revitalizing is it almost transforms you in the way that you’re on Island time? There is no pressure. There is no timeline. There is no, I have to fill my day, my minute, every minute of every day with something. It is like oh, yeah, you know, if you Yeah, you can do that. Oh, you want to sleep until noon. Go ahead and sleep in, like there’s no there’s no pressure and I didn’t really realize how much I put how much pressure I put on myself. And I don’t think Joe recognized this either. Until you go someplace and you’re like, I’m not gonna use my phone, I’m not going to do this and I’m gonna hang out with the pool and the world did not fucking burn because I wasn’t on Instagram, or posting or emailing or talking to someone on the phone. So that’s something that even an old dog like me at 59 needs to be reminded of that the world is not going to burn because I’m not engaged in it. I didn’t even watch the news. I think the last day I watched the I was the first time I watched the news. Oh, by the way, here’s another little tidbit about both the island house and equator. There are big screen TVs all over the resort. Every one of them are playing porn 24 hours a day. Seriously, I’m telling the truth. All sorts of porn, whatever you like. I there was some terms I didn’t even know but they were like Twinkies. And and this and bondage and that and everything in between and you know most of it I was like oh man that is oh, oh I wouldn’t do that oh my god most of that that’s how I reacted there are some that were like oh you know not saying that I’m a porn addict or anything but when you have like 10 different TV screens playing it 24/7 you can’t not look.

49:28

so equator was a little bit tame, island house not so much. Just saying right? Anyway doesn’t really hurt to be watching, even on our TV like the first seven channels was all porn. Like so easy then you have to use the internet was on TV. So it was good for me it was good for Joe, and it was good for both of us. Wink wink if you know what I’m talking about. So we did have some fun with that. And for those of you that are offended by that, too bad. It is what it is. So we there is that so there, there is sort of a riskque sort of feel to it at first when you first walk in there because here’s the thing when you first walk in, you’re dressed like we were dressed in clothes because we came from Chicago where it was cold. Everyone is either naked or in a bikini bathing suit or less. If they’re like thong bathing suits or whatever. You’re walking in with jeans, I had a hoodie sweatshirt on and a baseball cap and sneakers. That was obvious now we were obvious. But as you’re walking in, you’re like, it’s like in a an assault on your senses. Like, whoa, whoa, as you see all the TV screens with all the various machinations of, of men and young men. And so and then everybody looks at you because you’re like fresh meat. It’s like going to prison. You’re like fresh meat coming in. So the first thing we would go up to the room and we sort of like, Okay, that was awesome, and freaky and scary at the same time. We need to get rid of these clothes. At least get down to our bathing suit. So we did that. So we turn on the TV, I’m expecting to look at the weather channel. And here I see, like, all sorts of things happening. And I won’t go into because I won’t turn all of you on but, but there was a lot of that. So then, um, so then after that gets digested, we were trying to figure out what we wanted to do and we got there. I think it was like three. No, we got there five, just as happy hour was starting. So we ran upstairs, put our stuff in the room, put our bathing suits on because I was not ready to be naked then. And then we sat at the bar, and I don’t know what I had like four of those watermelon drinks. So I was buzzed. And I think part of that was because I was so nervous. You know, it’s like, oh, my god, they’re all naked people around me. I didn’t know what, what to do. And I sat at the end of the bar, and Joe was sitting next to me and I was like, I’m gonna look at the bar, except for the fact that there were two big screen TVs behind the bar showing porn. So it’s either I had to look full at the porn going on, or I had to turn around and see all the naked People behind me. So that those are my two choices. So, anyway, our bartender was awesome. He was from, I forget where, but he had a really unusual name. He was from the Far East somewhere. I want to say Thailand. But anyway, he had a, he had a bikini jock sort of looking bathing suit. So it was a pouch that held his thin,. things and then in the back were just strings look like a thong. And that was it. I was like, Why even bother? You have you’re gonna have that why even fucking bother. I don’t know, maybe thought it looked great. But he was funny. He was really nice and, and very welcoming. So that made me feel comfortable. You know what I mean? And then what I did notice that a lot of the people at the resort knew each other. So they had been, they were regulars. They had gone there. They’ve gone there before. So Joe and I were sort of like the only ones that I had only been there once before. And that was many years ago. But even so it was still, it was still very nice. Every morning, they put out a beautiful continental breakfast, you know, it starts at eight o’clock, and it was great coffee and, and stuff like that was 24 hours, go down there and have coffee. It’s just that. I mean truthfully, it was just a nice time, a nice relaxing time and, and I really needed that. And as a result of that, number one is I got all these ideas that I kept writing down, including the amateur entrepreneur show. And then secondly, I had some clarity about DJ What the fuck are you doing? You’re spending so much time doing all this shit and I just start condensing What can I get rid of? What should I be doing? What should I be focusing on? So anyway, it was a fun time now when we take a break here but when we come back, we are going to, we’re going to talk about the trip home and the flight home and that whole thing, so don’t go anywhere.

54:07

This episode of the DJ Doran show is brought to you by our friends at Joe Eats World featuring chef Joe Morales as he eats and drinks his way through life sharing recipes, dining experiences and cooking tips. Be sure to follow him at joeeatsworld.com and on his Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

54:24

You’re listening to the DJ Doran show. Don’t go away. We’ll be right back. Call 312-235-2281 to speak to DJ

54:48

I just love that music.

54:51

Don’t you feel like you’re on an island and you just start swaying, you know ordering mai thais or or some drink a pina colada Or something in a coconut? You know, I think that’s, that’s what it does for me and I could listen that music all day, all day. But anyway, that’s kind of how it was, That’s kind of how it was in key west it was, it was pretty awesome. So now, I want to tell you about leaving. So we we check out at 11 o’clock. Everything is good. We start driving. But the night before we got alerts from United Airlines saying, hey, there’s a huge winter storm in Chicago that’s going to hit on Friday night was I think we start getting it Friday night. So call into united and if you have some flexible plans will you can change your flight with and we’re going to waive all of the change fee. I’m like fuck that. I’m not I’m not gonna be stuck here. You know, we had planned. So I said if it’s worse comes to worse. We’ll we’ll do what we have to do, but I’m not going to voluntarily change our flights. So I didn’t do anything. So as we’re leaving and we’re driving the weather, you can tell it’s changing in Florida, so I was like okay, Perfect timing. We had Sunny, beautiful weather for the whole time were there. But now that we’re leaving, it’s grey, windy, and cooler. So as we’re driving, you know, we have to first we’re going to spend the night in Fort Lauderdale. And so I was like, I don’t have to worry. We’re going to stay at the same place because when I checked out, the woman said, Oh, when you come back, we’ll give you a better rate. I said, Do I need to book it now? And she goes, No, you can book it when you come back. So we drive all the way to Fort Lauderdale. We go to the same resort, because our room was really awesome, right? Go to the same resort. I go to the front desk, and I explain the situation. And the woman says, Well, I’m sorry, she told you that. But we’re sold out. No rooms at the end. I felt like Joseph and Mary from the you know, when they were looking for a place to stay. So no, no problem. hotwire.com on my phone. We go in and I go in and I find a hotel in the area that I want to stay near the airport. Because we don’t want to, we have to leave early. So I wanted to stay close to the airport so that when we dropped off the car it was easy, right? And of course, because we got the economy car, it’s not on the airports, you have to take a shuttle, right? That’s a whole other story. So anyway, I book a hotel that has three and a half stars. I read the reviews and it says, Oh, this is a good hotel. Everything’s fine. Everything’s fine. We get to the hotel. Well strike that. We get to Fort Lauderdale. We meet with a friend of ours talk a little bit of business. We left. And then we’re going to go see a friend of ours that we hadn’t seen in 10 years who used to live on a boat when we lived on a sailboat. And so we catch up with him. And we have dinner and it was a great time, we caught up it was great. Like, like 10 years, it was like we never left. He’s the same person he was and he may, you know, whatever. After we dropped them off, I say okay, let’s go the hotel it’s about almost 11 o’clock, and I’m thinking no one’s gonna be checking in 11 o’clock. I pull into the effing hotel. There is literally a line out the door and there’s a bus with tons of luggage on the on the driveway. I’m like, What the hell is going on here? Now I’m not one for waiting. I don’t like to wait in line for anything. Nothing is, you know a little bit maybe but not like that. So I told Joe  no, I’m not doing this and, and now I’m tired. So I said, but you know what, let’s I forgot to fill up the car. So let’s go fill up the car and come back. Hopefully the line goes down. Wrong. Go get gas come back. There’s another fucking bus with even more people. And it’s because of the cruise ships. There was something going on with the cruise ship. So all these people are checking into the hotel. They’re leaving for cruise tomorrow. Right? So I’m like Joe’s just stand in line. I’m like no. So I pull over and I back into a, into a space and I recline the seat so I’m just going to close my eyes. Wait a little bit until the line to line goes down. So after about half an hour, just like we need to get some sleep we’re leaving early in the morning. So I go over to the, to the front door, there’s a line of people still out the door and I’m like, fuck it. I’m just gonna, I’m just going to stand in line.

59:19

I stand in line, there are two people behind the counter. There’s like 50 people in line, there’s two people behind the counter checking people and everybody was over 70 so it was a very slow process to check into the hotel. Emphasis on ho. Sorry, no, that no emphasis on no hotel, even taking their wallet out of taking their credit card out their wallet was a very slow and methodical process. So I’m standing in line. I’m tired right? Now, I don’t know, I didn’t say anything, but I’m to anyone before but I’m type two diabetic. So when I’m tired and hungry, I am irritable. So I’m standing in line, I’m getting a little bit more irritable, I’m getting a little bit more irritable. I’m trying to just be patient. I’m doing all sorts of mind exercises to, to ratchet down my impatience and it was fine. I’ve but eventually I got to the person, right, I got to the person. And, and it took me 45 minutes from the minute I got into line till I got to the counter to check in. And then I check in and guess what my process was like, three minutes, three minutes. And I was, Thank you very much. Here’s your key, go. Here’s a map to where your room is. That’s it. How it took 15, 20 minutes per person. I have no idea. I didn’t want to explore that. But we were in and out. So finally we’re in and out. We go find the room. I opened up the room, and I swear it could have been an episode of CSI. And so I’m like, if I had a black light I’m sure we’d see blood splatter everywhere. So now I’m starting to work myself up into a frenzy because there’s rust on the hinges, the water, the toilet water when I was filling the tank made this screeching sound, and it wouldn’t stop even after the tank filled it wouldn’t stop the the bed curved inward, like like a whale slept in the middle. And so every time I laid on the bed, I rolled towards the center, right? And so I’m just, I was just like, you know, how you get into those moods and it just escalates and escalates and escalates and escalates. That’s that can that’s what happened. It just escalated in my to the point where now I’m so fucking irritated. I couldn’t sleep. And I’m like taking pain pills, taking diabetic medicine pills. I was irritated. So I’m like, Fuck, I’m gonna take a shower, I gonna take a shower. And that’ll probably help me sleep. So I took a shower. I laid afterwards I laid in the bed. Now it’s after midnight, and we have to get up at 4am and I’m already tired. So I know I’m going to be tired in the morning so we weren’t, so anyway, what’s bad, fell asleep, got up at four o’clock, packed our stuff, got out got to the car place. As we’re returning the car. The guy that was checking us in had no effing personality, no personality and he was actually kind of an asshole, if you will. I’ll never use them again. But it was just like an asshole is like, dude, at least have something smile, or at least have some customer, level of customer service. We return the car. We take the shuttle, back to the airport. We get to the airport and it was crowded. But guess what we have clear. So clear is this new thing where you just use your fingerprints and your retina and they scan it and you go right in past everybody waiting in Line, it’s better than TSA precheck. So we get through security, we get to the gate, everything is awesome. We are ready to get on the plane, we’re zone five. We all know what zone five means, right? zone five means you’re going to get a shitty seat, and you’re not going to get any overhead space. Right? So it’s bad enough, we’re already sitting in seat 36. And I’m in the aisle, which I never choose, I always want the window and I put Joe in the center. Because I want to have a buffer between me and the rest of humanity when I fly. Anyway, we’re in the ascendancy and you know why I don’t like to center. I’ll tell you why. Because I’m a bigger guy, not fat, but I would say, broader shouldered. But every time the fucking cart goes by, or anytime somebody walks by, they always hit my shoulders. And so I hate the aisle. The only good thing about the aisle is that when you have to get up to the bathroom, you don’t have to disturb everyone in between you. So that’s, that’s a plus. So I’m sitting in my seat, everything’s great.

64:01

until everybody gets on is an absolutely full airplane, no seats. two rows behind us is a screaming baby who screamed the whole time during taxing and then directly behind me with these two old ladies who like I was saying earlier, they must have known each other and they yak yak yak yak yak, non stop for three hours yak, yak, yak, yak, yak, even over my classical music that I was listening to, I could hear them hear them yakking? And, and it’s it was it was a challenge, but I did it and even when we landed I knew this is a thing when you sit in the back of the plane when you land you know, everybody stands up and like, like where are you? Where the fuck you going? It’s like what you didn’t stand up in the aisle. Might as well sit in the seat but, so I sat in the seat and it took forever but we offload the plane, get off the plane. We get our luggage and I start wheeling it and I noticed this big dent in the corner of our luggage and one of the wheels must have got stuck on conveyor belt and it shaved it. So as we’re wheeling the luggage you know, clack clack clack clack clack clack clack. And I just have a thing. I don’t like noises like that, like I don’t know why I think it’s just because being a pilot, I want everything to run harmoniously. Does that make sense? So like a nail in the tire will drive me insane when I’m driving or a rock or something. It’ll drive me insane. And until I can find it or remove it or whatever. And I once had a car that had hubcaps. I don’t know if cars have hubcaps anymore, but had hubcaps and it got a rock in the behind the hubcap in the wheel. And so it was like, you know, rolling around drive me insane. Anyway, so I was like that. So now I’m trying to tell Joe that is a new sound. He goes No, that’s always there. I said that is never the same. Oh, it’s because of the cracks in the tile. I said it is not and I went on this big slab of concrete and it’s still made the sound there are no cracks. It’s still making the sound. So anyway, we get in The airport we get our luggage we’re like, All right, ready to go home. We go outside we order Uber we go outside the airport, it is fucking five degrees. Of course you don’t bring a jacket with you to Key West. I had my hoodie Thank God. So we’re standing there shivering and I took a video of Joe and I shivering our faces are all red and you could see our breath because we’re so cold waiting for the Uber. And then we got the the Uber finally came is a old Russian guy. And he was nice enough but a sports fanatic. Right here tell you that Joe and I really give two shits about sports except for the fact that there’s some good looking players, right? That’s our interest in it. But we’re like, oh, yeah, the bears. Oh, I know Kansas City’s gonna go to the Super Bowl. You know, all that sort of stuff. Neither one of us knew shit about what we’re talking about. So he would say something Oh, really? Oh man. I know. And it was amazing how you can adapt. So the whole drive as we’re driving the conversation goes on. creepily sideways as he’s talking about his wife, who he gave pot to, and once she started smoking pot, she became horny. And so now this is mind you this is like the guy was in his 70s or something. So I’m like, Oh my god, I just want my inner eyelids to close and my ears to close. But we he was just going on and on. And he was saying how she did this and did all these things that straight people do. And then afterwards, you know, he goes, Oh, a few weeks later, my wife’s like, Where are those magic cigarettes? Those were really good. And I was like, Okay, I don’t want to know what goes on. But that was our Uber drive home. Very nice guy. Wonderful. I gave him five stars. But that conversation was just over the top. And that, my friends, was our trip to Key West.

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Before we sign off here. Thank you for listening to this edition of the DJ Doran show. You can find this on iHeartRadio, Spotify, SoundCloud, Stitcher, and all the major podcasting sites or you can go to our website www.dj doran.com you can see the episodes there. We’re still recording some, sorry, uploading some of them but they’re getting there little by little each week. Make sure you give us a follow on Facebook at the DJ Doran show or at Twitter at DJ Doran show you can follow us on Instagram as well. So next week will be another edition um We’ll be putting out what the topics gonna be about, but I can guarantee you it’s gonna be exciting and fun. So I hope you’ll join us and until next time, you’ve been listening to the DJ Doran show.