Why is this the world's inside joke?
This whole thing started at a cliffside winery in Santorini.
We had just ordered a charcuterie board and a couple bottles of crispy white wine.
If you're like me, the thought of a dart back home is unappealing, but when you step off a plane in a foreign country, the air smells different and the sun hits your face.
Something overcomes you and the thought of indulging in a vacation dart takes over.
So I pulled out my pack and lit another vacation dart. My wife looked over at me, slightly curious, and said "again!?!"
As I took my first puff, I had a big grin on my face and said
"They don't count on vacation"
As those words left my lips, the table next to us looked over and said - "We say that too, we love to smoke on vacation!"
When then combined our tables, told stories of vacations past, and made a connection and lasting memory.
As we continued our travels from island to island, from country to country, people kept saying that this was their inside joke too.
Strangers from countries I had never visited, with languages I didn't speak, so many of them also like to smoke vacation darts.
I thought this was epic, never had I made so many friends on vacation over such a simple little habit, a fun little tradition.
When I got home, I was sitting my in my buddies backyard, reminiscing about the trip.
I mentioned that I think starting an Instagram account about Vacation Darts would be funny, but must already be taken.
To my surprise and delight, it wasn't.
So I immediately snagged up all of the @vacationdarts handles I could find. X, FB, Tiktok, Youtube, Reddit a website...all this and I didn't really even know what I was going to do with them.
I started by commenting on friends pictures as a "vacation dart" saying "hey so nice chilling with you!" or "Can't wait to see you again"! people thought it was funny which was great.
Then, one day in Toronto I was walking down Queen St. passed a t-shirt printing store and thought, would it be funny to make a logo inspired by a famous brand and write "vacation darts" on it.
So that's what I did. When I left the store, within 5 minutes somebody looked at me smiled and said "that's awesome".
Within the next 5 minutes somebody literally said "Vacation darts don't count dude!" I knew I was on to something.
I met up with my buddies at the bar with my new hat on and everybody loved it. Somebody offered me $50 for it on the spot.
I declined but thought, I want my friends to feel what I'm feeling, this main character energy where people are urged to come interact with me because I'm giving off the right vibe.
So I decided to use the website I had created and sell a sample run of 50 hats 50 shirts and 50 bags.
I thought, ok it will be cool to sell this so people like me can really enjoy themselves.
The first few days, all my friends who wanted to buy the hats didn't, so I was left with this stock and failed idea.
I thought, ok since I know people out there love to smoke vacation darts, let me start making memes about smoking vacation darts on my instagram and show those people the products I made.
So I remixed a couple of reels and posted some funny captions about smoking darts on vacation.
Suddenly I had 1000 followers...then a couple days later 2000 followers...days later 5000 followers.
I was amazed but not surprised, people love vacation darts.
With that traffic I introduced them to Vacation Darts headwear and apparel.
A few days later, all the inventory was gone.
Ok sick, this was fun...but it didn't stop there.
I was getting dozens of DMs asking for a restock.
People reached out to tell me that this was their family's inside joke for the last 20 years, the response and support from the community was insane.
So I went and got more inventory, introduced more colors and designs, made more memes.
Now I have a full suite of products from hoodies to q-zips, dad hats to trucker hats and hats custom made for performance.
So many great options for you to feel what I have felt and continue to feel.
To become that main character you know you are.
When I go out wearing the hat now, I still get questions about it.
When I go out wearing the hat now, I still get questions about it.
Now people say, "hey I think I saw you on instagram" which is so incredibly cool.
This is a vibe I think everyone should experience so we made it easy for you to join the community with our incredible bundles built for value.
Each bundle also meets the shipping threshold so you can get it sent to you for free.
All of our orders come with a special Vacation Darts sticker, a hand written thank you note from me, and a custom box.
The shipping times are incredibly fast too, we have tons of reviews telling us how great it is.
So if you've read this far, check out our website, see thousands of people across 16 countries are fussin' about.
So why is vacation darts the world's inside joke? Because we have thousands of orders from 16 countries. The joke resonates with so many because it's not just me and my friends joke, it's the worlds joke.
