Hello hookah forum!

    Does anyone else have the problem where they magically just find themselves in a hookah shop or a head shop that sells hookah things .... and they're looking for hookah parts/shisha/other hookah items before they get most, if not all, of their Christmas shopping done? That's a perfect description of how my holiday shopping is going right now. I'll sooner find myself almost accidentally in these types of shops before I've even gotten any other shopping done. These shops can actually be the coolest thing though! As an example, I mentioned in my "New Flavour!" entry that I had this really cool mini "supermarket" that made me feel like I was somewhere in the Middle East. Their hookahs are gorgeous! I have never been more tempted to buy one, even though mine is perfectly fine and works well.

    I occasionally (key word for "more often than I'm willing to admit") look up ornate hookahs on Google Images. And as much as I have this massive urge to go online and just buy it (Christmas gift to myself! Haha) I wonder how difficult they must be to clean. I otherwise probably spend an unhealthy amount of time Googling online hookah shops, YouTubing hookah sessions, looking at antique and ornate hookahs on Google Images, and even researching starting my own hookah lounge. This is my life currently, but it's honestly a place where I don't mind being. Everyone needs that time to relax and do something they enjoy. Mine currently is smoking a hookah at night. I wouldn't trade that in for anything else. I love what it means to be involved with the hookah culture.

    One thing I would absolutely love to do is actually go to a place where hookahs originated from. Imagine going to the Middle East and having a traditional smoking session there! How cool would that be?! And yes, I've also YouTubed and Googled this, and that is where this whole interest came from. It would be the most amazing experience to just get out of the comfort of my own home and experience a culture that is so radically different from my own. I can say that it will be an absolutely massive culture shock to go from the cold Canadian climate and familiarity of home here to somewhere like Turkey or Arabia. And being someone with a pale complexion, thanks on both fronts to genetics and a colder climate, I know I'll be facing a massive sunburn for most of my trip there - and I probably wouldn't be allowed back into Canada because I won't even look like my own photo by the end of the trip. Totally worth it? Maybe once the sunburn fades. If anyone has actually had this experience on a vacation/other type of trip, drop it in the comments!

    Gonna head off to continue my day! Have an awesome one, everyone.