Once upon a time... no, wait, this isn't going to be a fairy tale... here's the story of my vacation and going down to meet Zak for the first time...

It all started with a nice offer from a good friend. My long-time friend Geoff who works in the Canadian airline industry had offered several times to give me one of his buddy passes (basically a free ticket) to come out and visit him at his home base in Vancouver. He had also promised in the past to provide me with a pass to go see Zak if the opportunity was ever presented. I hadn't really had the chance before, but finally took Geoff up on his offer to visit Vancouver when he was in Ottawa for a layover in April (the webmaster lives in Ottawa, Canada). I decided to come out to the West Coast for the long weekend in August (as Canadians have a civic holiday annually the first Monday of August, it gave me an extra day of vacation). Geoff booked the trip during his visit, and our plan was to go for a visit to San Francisco for a few days together as a side trip on the same ticket while I was out in Vancouver. I contacted one of my friends in San Francisco to see if they'd be willing to put me up, and my friend Mark said that he would love to have me come down and visit and see where he lived (he's a transplanted Ottawan who is working and living in San Francisco).

A little over a month later, Geoff and I met up in Chicago for International Mr. Leather weekend at the end of May for some fun and partying (IML is great fun, and Chicago is one of my favorite cities), and at the end of the weekend he gave me my ticket. I was so happy finally being able to visit my friends in the two cities on the West Coast - I knew it was going to be lots of fun.

Now, I had been trying to get Zak to come up to Canada for a visit for a while or for me to find the funds or opportunity to get down to visit him.  Since I was going to be out on the West Coast and visiting San Francisco as well, I had talked to him about coming up to visit and meet up in San Francisco.  Unfortunately, he said he would be unable to due to work commitments.  So I shelved the idea of meeting up with him.

A few days after getting my ticket from Geoff, I realized this might be the perfect time to get a chance to finally meet Zak and get to know him in person by changing my plans and adding an LA leg to my journey. Although I knew Zak fairly well through all our chatting and phone calls, it just isn't the same as actually being able to talk and see the person one-on-one. I sent Zak an e-mail asking him if he might be up for a visit down instead - given the fact that he had said in the past that he was interested in me coming out and in him meeting me as well.

Zak had a couple of reservations, in the fact that he doesn't have a guest room for people to stay in at his place, and due to his busy work schedule, but he said that he did want to get a chance to meet me. After a few e-mails back and forth to find an opportune window (and when I explained that I am not a high-maintenance fag and that I'd happily sleep on a couch), everything worked out for the weekend of August 7.

At the same time, Zak was getting annoyed with his existing computer that he had had for a couple of years. Since it was causing him all sorts of problems, I was helping him choose and put together what would be an ideal computer for him (I'm a computer systems analyst, and have helped many friends design their own computer systems). I suggested that maybe he should order his new computer and have it there for when I came down so I could help him set it up (plus it would make it easier for me to give him support in the future that way). He thought that was a great idea, and it became part of the plan for the visit.

I contacted Geoff and asked if it would be any problem to amend my flights to fly into and out of Los Angeles, and there wasn't, outside of the fact that I would have to pay for flying between San Francisco and Los Angeles. So we changed the tickets and everything was a go - and I found an inexpensive flight to Burbank from San Francisco with United Airlines. Zak had said it was pretty well equidistant for him to pick me up at Burbank or LAX, so I figured it would be easier to fly into the small airport at Burbank and avoid all the traffic at LAX.

Well, to say I was excited is definitely understating things - I finally was going to get a chance to meet the man I idolized. Not only was I going to have a fantastic vacation in Vancouver and SF, but I was going to have the high point at the end of my trip of meeting Zak! Geoff let me know then that because I was cutting short my vacation to San Francisco to go to Los Angeles, that he wouldn't be joining me in San Francisco since I wouldn't be there for the whole weekend. It was no problem with him at all, since he was going to go to San Francisco for the Doré Alley fair instead.

Days seemed to pass slowly as things geared up for the trip, and finally my departure day arrived - I was ready to fly to Vancouver. The only real nuisance of a buddy ticket is that you are flying on standby, which means you can be bumped from the flight if the flight is full. I was nervous about this, because it could wreak havoc on my plans and time schedule, but blessedly, the flight from Ottawa to Vancouver had a few free seats and I was off, winging my way to my first-ever visit to Vancouver. After a long and uneventful flight, we started our descent into Vancouver International and the start of the fun.

I taxied to Geoff's place in downtown Vancouver, and I had a wonderful five days in Vancouver. Vancouver is an incredibly beautiful and green city, nestled into the mountains with beautiful views of the ocean. The city has a very relaxed and laid-back attitude, with a vibrant gay ghetto. It was Vancouver Pride weekend, so there were lots of events and parties to attend. Geoff and his lover Harley were wonderful hosts, and I had a great time staying with him at his condo in the downtown. It was a very relaxed and fun time, going to Wreck Beach during the days to relax and suntan, having marvelous dinners (Geoff is a *fantastic* cook), and lots of fun and partying in the evenings.

I met up with other friends while I was there as well, like my old roommate Jim who now lives in Vancouver, and it was wonderful to finally see where some of my transplanted friends live. Gay Pride was wonderful in Vancouver - I got a chance to see and meet Colt model Wade Neff (who lives there), as well as there being plenty of eye candy around at the festivities. There were even fireworks, as the fireworks competition was happening that weekend as well. The weather co-operated, too - it had been an awful summer in Vancouver with cool temperatures and lots of rain, but it had cleared out and warmed up for my whole visit.

So after too short a visit with my friends there, it was time to jet off to San Francisco in preparation for the second leg of my trip. This time, being on standby was a nail-biter, since the flight was fully sold, but I lucked out as there was one no-show and I ended up getting the final seat on the plane at the last minute. Whew! It was a nice flight, and in what seemed like no time at all, we were landing at SFO. It was a cool day - the clouds had come in off the Bay, so it was a little dreary - but I was happy to finally be back in San Francisco again for a visit (my last visit having been 12 years ago).

I took an airport shuttle and arrived at my friend Mark's house in the Castro - he hadn't arrived home yet, so I waited on the doorstep and took in the surroundings. After about ten minutes, he zoomed around the corner on his bike, and we went into the house and got settled. San Francisco was loads of fun - spending time with Mark, lots of terrific food, shopping, and running into lots of old friends. It was great seeing my friend Nick who used to be my next-door neighbour for many years, and who had moved to San Francisco about five years previous, as well as running into other friends like Rick from NY. I had mentioned to Rick that I was going down to finally meet Zak, and he was excited for me to finally get a chance to meet him.

When I got back home to Mark's, Zak had called and left a message on the answering machine to make sure of all the details for my arrival on Saturday. It was quite funny, since Mark's roommate Klaus had been listening to the messages in the kitchen and almost dropped his glass he was drinking from when Zak's voice came on the speaker, because it was so deep and sonorous (we had a good laugh about it).

My final day in SF in the late afternoon, I ran into Rick again on the street with a friend of his, Robert, who is an old friend of Zak's. It was very interesting chatting with Robert and getting another viewpoint on what Zak was like, and Robert only had good things to say about him. I had also called my friend Chris Ward (the porn director and actor) several times to try and meet up with him, but we ended up playing telephone tag and never got the chance to connect. However - surprise, surprise - I ended up going to a private sex party on the Friday night and ran into him there. It was great to see him, and to have an opportunity to play with him (for those of you who ever get the chance, make sure you play with this man - he is *amazingly* talented and a real sweet guy as well). After sex, Chris invited me back to his home in the Castro where he showed me how he makes movies and screened some of the unedited footage for me of one of his upcoming releases - what a treat! We sat up and talked until 4 in the morning - when I bowed out, because I didn't want to be too exhausted on meeting Zak the next day.

Well, even with all the excitement, the late return home that night meant I slept like a baby, and I got up around 9 a.m. I had figured I would be out late, so I had made sure I was mostly packed. It took about a half-hour to get everything together and make sure I hadn't forgotten anything, and then have a bite to eat before leaving to catch my plane at 11. Mark drove me to the airport (he was excited, too, because he really likes Zak as well and was elated for me to finally realize my dream of meeting him), and came in to wait for me to catch my plane. Well, all I can say at this point is *I hate United Airlines* - they had cancelled my flight to Burbank (which evidently is not uncommon for them), and I had to rebook on the next flight which was leaving at 1:30. Damn - I called Zak to let him know, since he was coming to the airport to pick me up, and informed him of my new schedule. Mark left shortly thereafter, since it was going to be a long wait and he'd planned things to do for the afternoon, so I settled down with my laptop and a magazine or two and waited. Well, it turned out to be a *very long* wait - the marine layer of clouds had come in off the Pacific and as a result there was only one runway available at SFO, so flights were being delayed. Not only that, a flight that was landing on the only open runway blew out two tires on landing, which ended up closing the airport for what would eventually be almost four hours because it was stuck on the runway, but I didn't know this at the time.

Well, my flight was delayed an hour initially to 2:30, so I called Zak to let him know, but got his answering machine and left my new details. Then it was delayed to 3:00, then 4:00, then they just put up "delayed" on the board - damn. I called Zak and told him that if he got this message, to go home from the airport and I'd cab it to his place when I arrived, as I didn't want him waiting when I didn't know what time I was eventually going to arrive. I was getting really upset, because I only had two days time in LA to visit with him, and this was cutting deeply into that, and plans were to go out for dinner with him that evening. My flight finally ended up leaving at 6:30 p.m. - wouldn't you know it, the only flight that I paid for was the one that caused me the most trouble.

I was surprised at how calm I was as the flight progressed - I had figured I'd be far more stressed. The guy in the seat next to me and I ended up chatting, and Walter turned out to be "family" and we had a wonderful conversation. He asked me what I was going to LA for, and I explained that I was meeting a friend who used to be a porn star, and Walter knew who Zak was from his fame and was surprised when I told him the story on how we met online and had never yet met in person (Walter and I have remained in touch since).

So, the flight started its descent into Burbank and then the anxiety hit me a bit - gee, what if Zak and I didn't get along, what if things went wrong, what if I couldn't find his place... all kinds of things. So my heart was beating a little heavily when we touched down at Burbank around 7:30 p.m. and deplaned (Burbank doesn't have gates - you exit the plane by the stairs.) Burbank is quite a small airport, so I entered the terminal and looked around for a few seconds to see if I could find Zak, but he wasn't there in the terminal (I hadn't planned on him being there, with me arriving so late and having instructed him to go home, but I was still a little crestfallen.) So off I went to wait at the conveyor for my luggage to come off the plane.

As I was waiting patiently for my bag to appear, I looked down the hallway and did a double-take - there he was, walking down the hallway, with a big grin on his face. God - my heart was just a-beating - finally I was getting to meet the man of my dreams. He came over, said, "Hi" and then gave me a big hug. Wow - trust me, you have no idea what it feels like to be hugged by this massively built guy. It was such a great moment, and all my anxieties quickly evaporated. I knew then that things were going to go great - he has the ability to make you feel totally relaxed with him. It was amazing to finally see the man in person that I had only ever seen pictures of before. Zak is very handsome, and I was somewhat in awe at finally meeting him. He had waited the whole time at the airport for me - he had received my messages, but he and his roommate had decided to camp out at the airport bar, cruise men, and wait for me, since he felt it was important to meet me when I got in. He introduced me to his roommate John, grabbed one end of my dufflebag, and we headed out of the terminal to John's truck.

We tossed my bags into the back of the truck, and jumped in, John driving, Zak riding shotgun, and me in the back, and off we headed toward Zak's place. I was having a fun time, chatting both with Zak and John (while being absolutely mesmerized by Zak's voice in person), and watching as things sped by to get familiar with where I was and where I was going. Because of my late arrival, we decided to forego going out to dinner and just grab a bite at home. We started chatting about plans for the rest of my visit, since the delay in getting to LA has thrown a wrench into those already laid for the evening. Knowing how much of a movie buff Zak was, I was going to mention to him that maybe we should go out to a movie on Sunday (my plan was Sixth Sense) when he suggested exactly that, and I accused him of being psychic - that's when I knew that we were operating on the same wavelength and that this was going to be a fantastic visit.

We pulled into the basement garage at Zak's condominium complex and headed up the stairs, and wandered through the maze of the entry garden to the door. As John opened the door, Basia and Baloo (their two dogs) bounded out and were all over him as I came in - I asked Zak where I was sleeping (the living room) and tossed my stuff there while he was still greeting the doggies. I turned to Zak and said to him, "Well, now it's time for a real hug!" and with a big grin, the man just *crushed* me (I'll swear I heard my bones crack) - not that I was complaining, as I was just ecstatic to be there and to be with him. He is such a big huggable bear!

So Zak then proceeded on giving me the tour of their place so I knew the layout. Zak and John live in a very nice two bedroom condo in West Hollywood - it's very modestly and tastefully decorated. A very nice living room/dining room and kitchen downstairs, and their two bedrooms upstairs. Finally getting to see Zak's bedroom was quite interesting - I had visions of a sado-masochistic torture palace, but to my disappointment (grin), it turned out to be a standard master bedroom with an en-suite bathroom off the side. Zak has a king-size bed (not at all surprising since the man is king-sized himself), with a big pillow on the floor at the foot for the dogs to sleep at night. Zak is a big video buff - he has a large conventional big-screen TV in the corner of his bedroom to watch video and DVD with, and his computer set up opposite of it. It was fun to finally see where the computer is and to make a permanent mental picture of the place where we chatted to each other so often - it's nice that now when we chat, I can picture him where he is and how he's sitting.

Basia and Baloo were clamouring to go out for their walk, so we all headed out with them to give them their evening run - and an opportunity to see the neighbourhood. Zak lives in a very nice spot not far from Beverley Hills, so there were many nice homes to look at and to compare the differences in architectural style between LA and home.

When we arrived back, we headed back up to Zak's bedroom to work on his computer. Zak and I chatted while I sat down and starting fiddling with his computer, and starting installing things and getting other things set up for him. As we were sitting there, I asked him a favour - I'd always wanted to see his arm tattoo, and asked him if he would mind - again, big smile, and he bared his shoulder to show me. Wow - it made me realize how much bigger Zak is now than when he was doing movies - the tattoo looks small on his massive arm now. It was really great to see something that is such an identifiable symbol of him.

We spent a couple of hours (with a break for pizza mid-way) working on the computer, configuring software and teaching him how certain pieces of software worked, and just talking and getting to know each other better. As it was getting late and I had had a late night the evening before, and the fact that he had a client early in the morning, I headed off, got my bed set up, and quickly fell asleep, still a bit incredulous over exactly where I was.

Zak was up and about early in the morning, off to his appointment, and I dozed for a while and then got up and put away my bedding, and ended up chatting with John for a while. Zak had told me that he was looking forward to getting John and me to meet, since he knew that we would get along - and we did. John is an interesting individual - he's very quiet, friendly, and has an almost studious look about him. He's very nice, with a sweet disposition and quite a good sense of humour. He and Zak have been friends for years, and it is quite evident how close a friendship they have by the banter that goes between them. It's quite humorous - they carry on like a married couple, bitching and complaining and insulting each other, but all in a sense of fun - but you know that they both respect each other greatly.

When Zak finally got home in the late morning, we all got ready and headed out to Universal Studios to go see Sixth Sense, after stopping at the Hard Rock Café there for lunch. A waiter at the restaurant recognized Zak from his movies and said hello, asking if he was Zak Spears, at which time Zak responded with an affirmative, gave his real name, and made the guy feel completely comfortable. Again, it was evident how nice a person Zak is, and quite interesting to see how he reacted to being recognized as a celebrity, and how he puts people at ease. Unlike some other people in the industry that I've met who are self-important and very snobbish, Zak is totally relaxed and friendly - possibly part of his mid-western upbringing, but refreshing, nonetheless. We had a nice lunch, and then headed over to the theatre.

We settled into the movie theatre and continued chatting while waiting for the movie to start - John on my left and Zak on my right. When the movie started, Zak got totally quiet and completely immersed in it - he's very interesting in how he can focus on something to the exclusion of anything else and get lost in it. After the surprising denouement, which caught all of us off-guard, we headed out of the movie and wandered around Universal Studios for a little while, checking out the stores. It was a lot of fun wandering around with John and Zak, and watching how Zak walks - he has a cute little waddle in his gait, that I've seen in a lot of bodybuilding types because of their large builds. It was very endearing, and I was feeling wonderful, just being with him and around him.

After the short stroll around the facilities, we piled into the truck to head back home. On the drive back, I don't recall what we were talking about, but Zak suddenly said to me, "Give me your hand." I reached my hand up to the front of the truck, and he grabbed it and pulled me forward. "Here," he said, "I want you to feel this," as he pulled my arm across his chest and put my hand on his right nipple. "Feel that," he said, as I squeezed his nipple, "I've been playing with it a lot." My god - he now has nipples on his chest that are thicker than a ballpoint pen, and are close to 3/4-of-an-inch long, plus the pec under my hand was hard as a rock. Wow! I remarked on it, and was greeted with a big mischievous smile.

We arrived back home shortly after that, to continue fiddling on the computer. Zak had said that he hoped that things would be completed soon, since he just wanted to spend time talking with me and getting to know me better. I figured that there was at most another hour of work, so we'd be done before late afternoon. The only thing left to do was a complete backup of the system so that if anything catastrophic ever happened, he would be able to recover it without having me there.

While finalizing the backup process, I showed Zak some pictures of my trip that I had been taking with my digital camera. When he saw the pictures of Mark, my friend in San Francisco, he got very excited, because he thought Mark was just amazing (Mark's a very cute little bodybuilder with a boy-next-door kind of look and a great personality). Later that afternoon, while on a break getting a drink in the kitchen (knowing how enamoured Mark was with Zak and how Zak had liked Mark's picture), I ended up calling Mark to let him know how everything was going, and then (to Mark's surprise) passed the phone on to Zak. Well, Mark and Zak ended up chatting for half an hour, and have now become friends as well - I hope to get them to meet sometime soon. Even if it doesn't end up becoming anything more than platonic, I find it very nice to join two friends of mine who are of such quality together as friends as well. We then returned to Zak's room to wait for the backup of his system to complete.

At that point, after sitting down for a few minutes, Zak asked me something that hit me like a bombshell - he asked me if I was at all disappointed in having finally met him. I hadn't known this, but Zak had obviously been anxious about meeting me as well, since he must have felt there was a lot he had to live up to. I was amazed at this, having never thought about the impact that this was having on him as well - and truthfully reassured him that he was everything that I expected and more. Again, one more gesture that endeared him to me even more - and brought the friendship bond closer, as well as making me realize how totally human and real he is, and how sensitive a heart he has. What a wonderful guy. And all through the work I was doing, Zak kept on telling me how much he appreciated me taking the time to come down and help him out with his computer. I was having a great time, and felt totally comfortable with him. I was enjoying every minute that I was spending with him, and the bond between us that was continuing to strengthen.

So finally the computer was done, and we switched places, Zak on his computer and me sitting relaxing on his bed, chatting while he surfed for dirty pictures (hey, he's got urges just like the rest of us!). After chatting about who knows what (again I don't recall) for an hour or so, I got out my laptop and connected to the 'Net as well to read my mail. I noticed Mark was connected to AOL, so I gave Zak Mark's screen name and Zak IM'ed him. Mark didn't answer back, because he didn't know Zak's screenname - so I IM'ed Mark, and asked him if he wasn't going to say hello to Zak. Mark's response was, "That's Zak? Ohmigawd. Hold on, I'll be right back" and responded back to Zak's IM. After they chatted for a few minutes, we all ended up all chatting together for a half an hour or so. Then it was getting time for bed again, and as Zak had several clients in the morning, he needed to hit the sack early as well, so we each headed off to our respective beds.

Zak headed off to his first client's in the morning, as John and I got up and around. He arrived back later shortly before John and I were going to head out for brunch (which he couldn't come to, unfortunately, because of another client appointment). At that point, I asked Zak if he minded me getting a couple of pictures of him - I hadn't asked before, because I didn't want him to think that was the reason I'd come down (it wasn't), but I wanted to get a couple of pictures to remember the weekend with. Zak broke out in a big smile, told me to grab my camera, handed the camera to John, and jumped on his bed with me and wrapped himself around me. He told John to snap a couple of shots of the two of us, and then I took a couple of shots of Zak and his dogs (which are in the new Exclusive Gallery 03 on the site). So after a couple more hugs from Zak, an offer to come down and visit anytime (and vice versa), and our goodbyes, John and I headed out to brunch, since I was flying out of LA around noon.

John and I went to a nice little restaurant with an outdoor patio (it was a beautiful day in LA, sunny and warm), and had a wonderful brunch, chatting about the visit and about all kinds of things in general. He mentioned at how impressed Zak had been when he came across the website that I had created - he had loved the design and how professional it was. Zak had been surprised at how much I had found out about him and how accurate the information was, and that was one of the reasons he had contacted me about it - he was so flattered. Also, John told me that I should consider myself very fortunate, since I was the first houseguest that they've ever had since they've moved into their place together (five years ago) - wow, I was so amazed and felt so honoured, and it made me feel even more special.