#phoenix andersen

I wanted to type out this whole experience before it starts get all fuzzy, so here goes!

A little context for anyone who doesn’t follow me, I’m a huge AJ Cook fan living in Perth, Western Australia. I’ve always admired AJ from afar, kind of just accepting that I would never get to meet her because of the fact that we live on opposite sides of the world.

In April last year (2018), I travelled to Los Angeles with my dance studio to perform at Disneyland. We had eight days together, performing, learning, and having a great time. It was particularly special for me as it was my first overseas trip without my parents, and the furthest I had travelled since going to Thailand in 2010. At the conclusion of the tour, I was expecting to travel around with one of the other girls, Steph, as we had both extended our stays in the USA. After bidding half the group goodbye on the evening of Thursday, April 19th, we headed to Venice Beach, where we had booked four nights in a hostel to just wind down after the craziness of the last eight days. On Monday April 23rd, we were ticketed to fly to San Francisco.

It was here we hit a road bump. Steph suffers from chronic fatigue and generally gets travel sickness and really bad jet lag. She hadn’t been well the entire time we were on tour, throwing up a few times, including on the bus back from Universal Studios 😞 by Saturday night, we were in the ER, getting her rehydrated and prescribed anti-nausea, as well as removing two infected piercings from her right ear which were causing her an insane amount of pain. Sunday morning came, and I wanted to go out and explore the south beaches (Manhattan, Hermosa, etc) because I was really not keen on the Venice area. Steph convinced me to go because she didn’t want me cooped up because of her.

So I got an Uber to the Hermosa Beach area, where there was a heap of cafes, a few little stores, and a metric fuckton of people. Not even kidding. Feeling a bit out of my element (and with aching calves thanks to hiking to the Hollywood sign the previous day), I set off down the path away from the busiest area, wanting to find a nice spot to sit on the beach and take it all in.

As I walked, I passed about 50 blonde women. Seriously, everyone in Hermosa is blonde with a tan. That struck me with the sudden reminder that Hermosa is the area around which AJ Cook lives/hangs out in. I kind of laughed to myself and thought “wouldn’t that be hilarious if the one day I’m down here, she was here”.

About two minutes later, I neared some volleyball nets. I was half looking at my phone as I got there, and when I did, I glanced up and almost dropped my phone in shock. Because I immediately recognised Nathan, AJ’s husband, and on the other side of the net to him, was AJ.

Immediately I was like “omg omg omg” and I knew I would eventually have to go up and say hi or I would severely regret it, but at first I doubled back, walked in a wide circle around the net, and sat down in the sand a little ways down the beach. I was on my own, and I knew I would have to muster up the courage to go and say hi all by myself (thankfully @thetheatrelady and @cmcrazies were texting me and giving me the moral support I needed).

After sitting there for nearly ten minutes, I got up and slowly made my way over to the nets. AJ was standing there chatting to her friend, who she later introduced as Vinny, while Nate was down at the water with the boys.

Even though I know she’s just a normal person like us, I was bricking it as I got closer, but I still smiled and tried to gently get her attention without interrupting them too much.

Me: “I’m so sorry to interrupt, but... are you AJ?”

AJ: “Hey, hi! Yes I am!”

Me: “I’m such a big fan, I just wanted to come and say hi”

At this point AJ gave me this huge smile and held out her hand to shake mine.

AJ: “Well, hey! What’s your name?”

Me: “Courtney”

AJ: “Nice to meet you Courtney, where are you from?”

Me: “I’m from Perth, in Australia”

AJ: “Oh my god, no way! I’ve always wanted to go to Australia! What brings you to the US?”

Me: “I came with my dance studio. We just did a week performing at Disneyland. We got to do the parade”

AJ: “Oh some of our Canadian friends did that! What did you think?”

Me: “It was amazing. Once in a lifetime experience”

At that point, Nathan returned with the boys, at which point Phoenix proceeded to strip naked and lie face down in the sand 😂

AJ: “Oh, this is my husband, Nate, and our friend Vinny”

Mekhai walked up and wrapped his arms around AJ’s waist (HE IS SO TALL GUYS)

AJ: “This is Mekhai, and that lil’ naked one over there is Phoenix. Nate, this is Courtney, from Australia!”

Nate: “Oh hey, I think I know you from Instagram!”

(I almost died when he said that 😂)

Nate: “So how long are you in the US for?”

Me: “Nine weeks all up”

Nate: “ooh that’s a long time!”

Me: “yeah, well it’s seventeen hours of flying before you even count the time in airports for me to get here, so I thought I would make the most of it”

AJ: “Yeah, I’ve seen that the flights to Australia are super long. Where else are you going? Are you doing all this by yourself?”

Me: “My friend is supposed to come with me, but she’s super sick so i think she’s going home. But I’m going to San Francisco tomorrow. Then up to Toronto to see the Falls. Then onto Boston-“

Mekhai: “BOSTOOON!”

AJ: *laughing* “He loves the Boston Celtics”

Me, laughing at Mekhai: “Um, then to New York, where I join a group bus tour, and we basically go down the east coast and across the South before getting back here. Then I’m flying to Honolulu to meet my dad for a week before we go home”

Nate: “That sounds really cool. You’re gonna love Hawaii”

Me: “I’m really excited about Hawaii”

AJ: “Well it sounds like an amazing trip!”

Me: “I hope so”

There was a little bit of light chatter between myself and Nathan, who is SUPER friendly and so so lovely, he’s definitely way more of a teddy bear than he looks, before I turned back to AJ.

Me: “Would I be able to get a photo?”

AJ: “yeah of course!”

She wrapped a towel around her waist while I gave my phone to Nathan, and he proceeded to take a few photos for me from different angles 😂 you can tell he does this a lot. Then he handed the phone back to me and said “I think they’ll be appropriate for Instagram!”

I just laughed, and then because I didn’t want to look like a crazy fan, I put my phone away without even looking at it and picked up my bag.

AJ: “it was so nice to meet you! We’ll look you up if we’re ever in Australia”

I laughed and dropped a not so subtle hint for them to visit Perth.

Me: “anyway, thanks so much! I should probably go, but you guys have a good day!”

AJ: “you too! I hope your friend feels better!”

I thanked them again, and turned to leave, as calmly as I could, and walked until I was out of eyesight of them before pulling out my phone.

Later that day when my mum woke up, she texted me to see what I had been up to, and this was our exchange 😂

But yeah! That’s my whole experience! AJ was so so lovely and welcoming, and I never felt like I was intruding. They were warm and friendly and perfectly happy to chat with me! The other thing that really struck me was how much of an interest they took on me and what I was doing in the US. It was truly the thing that topped off my entire trip. The one person I wanted to meet most in my life, and I got to do it on an absolutely amazing trip. Even my mum said, if she had asked me before I left who I would want to meet most while I was there, I would have said AJ.

And even now, when I interact with Nate on Instagram, he remembers me and refers back to that day! Overall, a super cool experience, and I’m extremely grateful and know how lucky I am that me, a 21 year old Aussie tourist on her first big overseas solo trip, got to meet one of her favourite people in the entire world by the biggest stroke of coincidence around.