...and ignore all the advice from friends that goes against the idea.
I always wished to travel and explore a city and its people all alone. The idea of seeing it with only my perspective gave me the highest thrills. So my last day in CA, I took the VTA Light Rail from Dowtown Mountain View and reached San Jose Conventional City Center in an hour.
This was finally the moment I had been living for. This was it, the beginning of an adventure.
As soon as the train passed and I faced the city, it dawned on me that I was a terribly meak and little creature to be alone in that enormous city.
Regardless, I mustered up some courage and starting walking towards the sign that said "Tech Museum round the corner." I thought that this would be the start of it. So I reached the museum, got in, decided that it wasn't worth seeing even before I saw any of it, and got out. Across the street was a little park and fountain. I thought that it was a nice place to ask for directions from people. I found out that the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum was about 3 mules away but the Art Museum was just around the corner.
Did I mention that I was on foot? Also, never go to the San Jose Art Museum on a Monday-it is closed.
Then I started the hunt for a bus that would take me to the Egyptian museum. The drivers who drove the downtown shuttle had no clue. It toom me half an hour to figure out that I could probably call the number on the bus stop and inquire. FYI bus # 81 takes you to the corner of Naglee and Park Avenue where the museum is and it takes about half an hour if you are standing on the intersection of Almaden Ave. and San something street.
It was already 4:15 and I was starving. So, I decided to look for some place to eat. On the way, I saw the Guadalupe River Park and decided to go there even though my body was dead from walking in the sun. Once there, I realized that it demanded a lot more time than I had. So once again I kept on asking random strangers if they knoew of any food joints nearby. No one did.
After another 20 minutes or so, McDonald's came around the corner to save the day. So I finished my lunch and saved the cookies to munch on along the way because I was terrified.
I finally caught the train back to Mountain View before daybreak because once there, I had to walk a considerable amount of distance to catch the bus back home and I didn't want to do that in the night.
I had a 100 epiphanies and learned a 1000 lessons:
I always wished to travel and explore a city and its people all alone. The idea of seeing it with only my perspective gave me the highest thrills. So my last day in CA, I took the VTA Light Rail from Dowtown Mountain View and reached San Jose Conventional City Center in an hour.
This was finally the moment I had been living for. This was it, the beginning of an adventure.
As soon as the train passed and I faced the city, it dawned on me that I was a terribly meak and little creature to be alone in that enormous city.
Regardless, I mustered up some courage and starting walking towards the sign that said "Tech Museum round the corner." I thought that this would be the start of it. So I reached the museum, got in, decided that it wasn't worth seeing even before I saw any of it, and got out. Across the street was a little park and fountain. I thought that it was a nice place to ask for directions from people. I found out that the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum was about 3 mules away but the Art Museum was just around the corner.
Did I mention that I was on foot? Also, never go to the San Jose Art Museum on a Monday-it is closed.
Then I started the hunt for a bus that would take me to the Egyptian museum. The drivers who drove the downtown shuttle had no clue. It toom me half an hour to figure out that I could probably call the number on the bus stop and inquire. FYI bus # 81 takes you to the corner of Naglee and Park Avenue where the museum is and it takes about half an hour if you are standing on the intersection of Almaden Ave. and San something street.
It was already 4:15 and I was starving. So, I decided to look for some place to eat. On the way, I saw the Guadalupe River Park and decided to go there even though my body was dead from walking in the sun. Once there, I realized that it demanded a lot more time than I had. So once again I kept on asking random strangers if they knoew of any food joints nearby. No one did.
After another 20 minutes or so, McDonald's came around the corner to save the day. So I finished my lunch and saved the cookies to munch on along the way because I was terrified.
I finally caught the train back to Mountain View before daybreak because once there, I had to walk a considerable amount of distance to catch the bus back home and I didn't want to do that in the night.
I had a 100 epiphanies and learned a 1000 lessons:
- Get a map! I thought I'd be able to find a gas station and a map from there; obviously that wasn't what happened.
- PLAN the "adventure". It sounds really cool and fun to be spontaneous and go with energy but it completely fails.
- Get a companion! So that if you give yourself false encouragements, he/she can knock the facts at your face before it's too late. Also, their brain can work when yours is scared and panicked and hungry.
- Take a cycle? perhaps?
- It would also be better to be in touch with someone who knows their way around the city.
Anyway, it was quite ironic that every who tried to dissuade me from doing such a thing in the first place had to listen to my rants of how I am almost 19, have a brain and common sense, and can talk in English!
None of that actually worked. So I hope, fellow travellers, that you see the moral of the story.
Although, I'd like to add that I was glad I did something that took me straight out of my comfort zone and forced me to put myself into situation that challenged my abilities. Also, I got to do such an incredibly stupid thing at the age of 18 and not at 48...
