8 posts tagged country usa
traveling has been amazing but there’s no place for me quite like SF. a short list of favorites:
grabbing an ice cold 40 for $2.25 at a corner store and heading to Dolores park any time there’s a hint of sun
I’ve gotten a few questions recently from people who want to do a trip around Asia similar to mine and are curious about what to pack. Well, the picture above is everything I packed as a clueless Californian about to embark on something that I had no idea what would happen on.
For the most part it’s been sufficient, a few notable things I’ve bought/haven’t needed. A few weeks in I bought a small daypack backpack because up until then my only bags were a small-ish purse and a fanny pack type deal. I needed something bigger, especially since I have a small laptop with me. It’s something that seems obvious in retrospect but it was super easy to pick up when I decided I needed one.
Also, before I left I bought a water-purifier device, since I knew the tap water here wasn’t safe to drink and that’s what I was used to drinking in San Francisco. In the 14 weeks or so I’ve been traveling I’ve used it only a handful of times; there’s always bottled water available and it is always cheap. I may find myself in an emergency situation where I need to purify some questionable water source… but probably not. I’m not really going super off the beaten track here.
Other than that… there’s been some clothes I’ve bought and small toiletries but those are all easy to find and really cheap and not worth carrying around for longer than you need them. Basically always err on the side of less stuff. This is something that literally every traveler you ask will tell you, so it’s probably a valid point.
There’s really just one thing I really, truly should have brought more of, and that’s tampons. Ladies, seriously. Especially if you plan on traveling in Muslim countries like Indonesia or Malaysia, stock up. Even when you can find them over here in any country though, they’re imported and expensive and often not the small travel sized ones that I prefer for this trip. Aaaaaand that’s about the extent of my advice. Bring tampons, everything else will work itself out.
Also feel free to keep sending me questions, always happy to give my opinion and it’s exciting to see so many of you (especially my friends from back home!) deciding to give this kind of travel a shot. It’s the best.
Cheers,
Laurie
I just got back to San Francisco after driving all my worldly possessions down to store at my parents’ house in San Diego while I travel. The trip went more or less without a hitch, but it really drove home the fact that this is for real. I’m typing this from my now-empty room, which I’ve loved and lived and grown in for the past 3 years. I’ll be moving out of it forever in less than a week. In the past I’ve had a lot of interesting experiences that basically felt like a bluff I just kept on taking farther without having thought it through, and this kind of feels like one of them. I didn’t really plan for this, I haven’t really even researched it, I feel like it’s just kind of happening;
”Sure I’ll buy this one-way plane ticket!” “Sure I’ll cancel my interviews and stop job hunting.” “Sure I’ll get some travel vaccinations.” “Sure I’ll buy this travel gear and move out of my apartment!” “Hey why not store everything I own!” …and then holy crap I’m actually in Asia. Ridiculous.
My sweet rental ride for the long drive. Hot tip: avoid LA rush hour at all costs, unless you hate yourself.
I have one week left in San Francisco before I rent a car and drive my stuff down to store in my parents’ house in San Diego. I’ll be there for a few days, then back to SF to take care of any remaining responsibilities/good times, then I leave. This is crazy.
I keep waking up early and not being able to go back to sleep because I start thinking of all the little things I still need to do. I lay in bed trying to convince myself that I can still sleep before throwing in the towel and just getting up, at which point I may or may not actually do the things I was thinking about - there’s also still a lot of fun to be had in this city. Today was one of those days where I woke up stupid early (7:30?? wtf), although to be fair I did take care of some important things before breakfast, like booking the rental car and buying travel insurance.
I don’t know if I’ll ever feel totally confident that I’ve taken care of everything I need to do, even though I don’t really have any reason to doubt myself. I’ve always been good at making things happen and taking care of details… I think it’s just that, in addition to the logistical minutiae associated with disrupting my life and planning an exotic adventure, this trip has a lot more existential question marks than I’m used to… how will this experience change me? What if I decide that the awesome life I’ve built for myself so far isn’t what I really want to do? Deep down I know I’ll figure it out and everything will be fine, but in the meantime there is plenty to think about. And plenty of fun times to be had before I leave.
This was my day yesterday. It was perfect.
A few days ago I woke up feeling particularly inspired and excited about life, so I biked over to REI to buy the pack I’ll use on my adventure. I talked with a few associates, where I encountered yet another string of “so you don’t know how long you’ll be gone for?”-s and “you don’t even know which countries you’ll be visiting??”-s, which I’m getting more used to handling although my answers really haven’t changed much since I impulse-bought my plane ticket. That said, I erred on the side of smaller (and prettier) and bought this beautiful Deuter pack which I promptly fell in love with and have been staring adoringly at ever since (if you click through that link check out the back suspension system, so hot). Technically it’s classified as a “Weekend Trip Pack”, ha.
This was the first major purchase I made towards this trip since my ticket, and it got me excited all over again. I stuffed the bag I had brought with me into it and biked home wearing it, barely feeling it on my back and wearing a grin that could hardly be contained on my face. Like I had felt immediately after I bought my plane ticket, I knew right away this was the right choice. This is basically going to be my home for the next 6 months or longer, and I couldn’t be more excited about the prospect.
Since I bought my one-way ticket to Thailand I’ve just been reveling in the excitement of leaving the country and being unemployed in San Francisco in the meantime. It’s been an epic week and a half since I decided to do this, and I hadn’t done any actual planning for the trip itself.
Yesterday my travel buddy Michelle came up ostensibly so that we could plan out more of our trip, and that basically consisted of us getting drinks and agreeing that we didn’t actually want to plan anything concrete beyond exploring Southeast Asia. I feel like you tend to have the richest experiences when your schedule is flexible and you say yes to unexpected twists. Both Michelle and I have experienced this firsthand when we’ve traveled before and it’s awesome that we’re both on the same page.
But since she did come up from San Jose on her day off, we felt we should do something productive, so we booked our first hostel to stay at when we arrive in Bangkok. We got a 2-person private room at the New Road Guest House for 4 nights; we didn’t do a whole lot of research but it had generally good reviews and was in a good location close to the train. The best part though, was when we got to confirm our reservation they required a 10% down payment, which in this case was just $3.66 USD. For a private room for both of us, for FOUR NIGHTS. Epic, just epic. ”I got this bill,” Michelle laughed.
I can’t wait to stretch out on some of the most beautiful beaches in the world with my $5 room while eating my dollar pad thai and drinking my dollar giant beer with the sun on my face and the water at my toes. This trip is going to be amazing… anything less isn’t an option.
Today I canceled all my pending job interviews and bought a one-way ticket to Bangkok. The plan is to go with my friend Michelle and then figure it out from there. I have no idea how long I’ll be gone for. I’ll be moving out of my amazing San Francisco apartment. I’m ridiculously excited.
Since my company shut down a few weeks ago I’ve been trying to figure out what my next step would be. A lot of friends and recruiters contacted me about possible job offers, but something was just missing. I’m the type that, if I’m not growing and learning and having regular new experiences, tends to get uncomfortable. I don’t like getting too content, I don’t like things being too easy. And San Francisco is one of the best cities in the world. I love living here, I have amazing friends, I know so many great spots, I have ready job opportunities for positions I actually enjoy, and I always have a good time. But it’s time to leave.
My name is Laurie. I’m 25 and I’ve been working in online gaming startups since I graduated from UC Berkeley in 2009. I live in San Francisco, and love every day here. The last few years have been good to me but I’m ready for something different. Not like switching jobs-different or moving apartment-different, but something less adult and more ridiculous. I’m still figuring out what that will be. Stay tuned.
