A thousand mile journey begins with one step. - The Tao of Pooh

Touching down at Oakland International, I was second-guessing my decision to travel solo. Even to a place I was (slightly) familiar with; I wondered who I would talk to, what I would do, and why I had been so excited for this "opportunity." But I love San Francisco, and it was a gorgeous day, so I didn't get on the next flight back to Chicago as my stomach told me I should.

I had a great time. I knew I would be okay on my second night there. I was sitting at the bar in a restaurant, eating a late dinner (when you travel solo, you eat at bars in crowded restaurants...the tables are for groups). A woman and her son sat next to me (it was quite crowded). When their food came, they asked the waitress for ketchup; she had just brought it to me, so I offered the use of the bottle I had. I ended up with two interesting dinner companions, with whom I talked about ringing bells in churches and how weird religious leaders are in the States (they were from Britain). I didn't eat "alone" for the rest of my trip.

Soon after that, I made friends at the hostel, and then the trip was much better. I met Janet in the bunk next to mine; she was on holiday (that sounds so much better than vacation!) from Germany and we bonded over morning complaints of all the snorers in our room. Ronald and Alex's first night at the hostel was on Wednesday night; Ronald is Dutch and Alex is British- they met in a Seattle hostel and are now traveling together until Mexico or some sort plan. We traveled to another SF hostel together, thinking there was an event, but wound up eating at a nice lil' Indian restaurant (my first time!) after discovering the event had been cancelled.

The rest of the trip, we did as we pleased during the day and met up at night. Over the course of the event, I hiked Telegraph Hill, explored Chinatown, made use of the public transportation, shopped a Farmer's market, went to Berkeley, toured Monterrey and Carmel to the south, browsed the art museum in Golden Gate Park, got lost, experienced a public bathhouse, and saw a sunset over the Pacific Ocean. Not to mention made some great friends.

Ronald, Me, Alex

The point of this narrative was to explain to people why I quit my job, gave my dog to my sister, applied for my passport, and various other odds and ends that will allow me to make use of my "year off." Thus far, it has been overrun with accepting obligations that I didn't really want and slowly siphoning off my time until there was none left for me to do what I wanted. And so, I'm done with that. From this point forward, my year off (or two or three or until I return) is my own. I'm making plans to visit Puerto Rico in December, Korea in January, and in February, my real adventure begins...from Mexico City to the tip of South America in...however long it takes.

Finally, a dream I can follow through on.

Just keep me focused.

Lace