Bryce

When Bryce’s sample pictures first arrived via e-mail, we assumed that he had to be yet another young man from central or Eastern Europe.

 

There was his general colouring…

 

The pale blue eyes that so many Slavic boys seem to have…

 

And the thick, sensuous lips that you also see a lot once you’re behind the old Iron Curtain…

 

And – even though it turned out that Bryce was actually born and bred in Australia, of all places – we weren’t, it turned out, entirely wrong because his background is definitely Slav.

 

His dad is Pavel and his mom’s Ludmila and, in 1968, when they were just kids themselves, their families escaped from Czechoslovakia. After a short stay in Western Europe, they emigrated to start new lives in Australia where Pavel and Ludmila got married and, in 1989, their son Bryce was born.

 

Actually, he was christened “Bretislav”. In the Czech language that means “glorious noise” – it seems he was a pretty noisy baby!

 

But he’s understandably insisted on being called “Bryce” ever since he was a little boy.

 

It’s only now that he’s finished his education that Bryce has decided that he’d like to go and visit the Czech Republic for the first time and to see where he was actually born – a village east of Prague that’s so small that it doesn’t actually appear on any map that he’s been able to get his hands on.

 

“I’ll be backpacking – but in reverse”, he laughed, when we gave him a call.

 

“We get lots of young kids from Europe travelling all over Australia. But you don’t hear of many doing it the other way around.

 

“It’s not cheap, though – especially with air fares going up all the time with rising oil prices.

 

“And that’s why I sent my photos in to HMBoys.”

 

We’re certainly pleased that he did so… And we were even happier when Bryce told us that, if we wanted and providing the money was right, he could easily persuade a friend of his to join in and produce a duo set.

 

We didn’t need asking twice.

 

And, as a result – and unlike any other backpacker that we’ve ever known - Bryce tells us that he’s now thinking of flying Business Class!