Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Memorial Day Travels

I don’t remember many Memorial Days from when I was younger, but I do remember a couple of times when my family would go down to the Jersey shore with my great aunt and second cousins, because they lived down there. We would spend the day in the sand, the sun, and the water, and then go back to their house for a barbeque and some relaxation. I distinctly remember finding a slug one time on their porch and freaking out as one of the cousins poured salt on it and it started to wilt. Gross.

Memorial Day, an American holiday, is a day full of small travels because it is a federal holiday. Many people have off of work, off of school, allowing families to gather together to remember all who have died for us so that we can drink beer and barbeque on what would be a working day. We are commemorating the men and women who have made big travels, many risking their lives and their limbs, so that we can be as free as we are.

I met a man who was in the Army on a plane trip once. I can’t remember if it was when I was on my way to NJ or back to Los Angeles, but either way, we talked the entire flight (It was a shorted flight from NJ to North Carolina or vice versa). His name was Aaron and he was going home to see his family for a few weeks after completing training, before being shipped out to Afghanistan. He was 21 years old (my age!), and he was sacrificing everything to get a good education and fight for his country. It was eye-opening talking to him, because he was extraordinarily nice and friendly, very affable, and it was just sad because he was leaving right before the New Year to fight overseas.

So I dedicate this post to Aaron, to my step-cousin who is in the Army, to all the men and women who are currently fighting for the USA, and, especially, for all the men and women who have lost their lives over the years to defend the freedoms that the USA stands for, from the Revolutionary War up to today. Thank you.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Previous Car Travels

So, I think this title will be the first of a series. I have been many, many places by car, since I was very young, up until even now. Cars, for me, will always be about freedom, about the ability to travel anywhere. Also, parking tickets and expensive parking and filling up gas tanks. But mostly, freedom.

In my almost 22 years, I have traveled a lot by car, both driving myself and being driven by my parents. I have been from LA to Phoenix and back in my very old, sometimes unreliable car. I went up to San Francisco and back in a friend’s car. Both of these trips are 6 hours each way. When I was younger, my parents took my brother and I down to Disney World, in Florida, and drove us there from our home in Northern NJ. Without air conditioning. In the spring. Which on the east coast, can be anywhere from freezing to humidity thick enough that you feel like you are drowning. I don’t remember much about it, except that I was in middle school, among other little things. At various points throughout my lifetime, my mom, brother and I (and sometimes my dad) have made the trip from NJ to Indiana by car. My parents drove my best friends, my brother, and I to Boston and back when I was in high school. My dad and I have driven down to DC on multiple occasions, and the last one, I did the 4 hour trip there and back on my own, with an overnight “pit-stop” of sorts in Baltimore. I think we even drove to Michigan once, although that memory is vague. I have taken the two hour drive from LA to San Diego and back multiple times, each time, quite stupidly, trying to beat my previous time. I have also done the 2 hour drive and back from Northern NJ to “the Shore” and back.

I’m going to be honest here: as much as I love driving, when I am on my own, I much prefer the train. The more people involved, the more willing I am to take the road trip. Alone, it can be amazing, wonderful, and freeing… for the first few hours. Then it just gets boring and annoying, at least to me. Or, it can be fun if you play games with yourself, or if your radio actually attaches to your iPod or you know the right stations that play the music that you like.

In college, I had a job for over two and a half years, where all I did was drive in circles around campus and pick people up and drop them off. A glorified taxi service, my friend once called my job. It was fun, depending on the night, depending on the music, depending on how much sleep I got the night before and how late I would be staying up. But even these small car travels (it was only a 1 mile radius from the center of campus to where we could drop off around campus) have stories all of their own. And having somebody ride along with me honestly made the time go by that much more quickly. It was four, five, six, seven, or eight hours of mindless driving in circles, the same journey over and over again, and yet each one, slightly different.

I think I have lost the point of this particular entry, but I guess I can just use it as an introduction to what may be a small series on the many car travels I have seen in my short 21 (almost 22) years. Stay tuned, and have a great Memorial Day weekend.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Small Travels

So today, I didn’t travel very far, but for me, it is still a journey worth writing about. I’m usually the one driving when I go on the 10 or the 101 or the 110 or the 405 or really any of the freeways in Los Angeles, because 1. I have a car and 2. I like to drive. I mean, my job for the past 2 and a half years has been driving people from one place to another place safely near campus. (Yes, for most of my college career, I was also basically a glorified taxi cab, who wasn’t allowed to take tips.) But today, today my friend drove us to the movie theater (we ended up seeing Pirates 4. Not bad, but not good either.) and I just looked at the view.

Sometimes, I forget just how lucky I am that my parents let me go to college (and an expensive one at that) all the way across the country. Right now, one of my younger cousins is fighting her parents just to be able to be more than an hour away.

Anyway, today is a beautiful, glorious, clear day full of sunshine and with barely a cloud in the sky. The palm trees are amazing, the hills are spectacular, and the buildings reflect the sunbeams in just a way that, to me, everything seems to sparkle. I love Southern California and I am sad that I will be leaving, maybe forever, at the end of the summer, but I’m also happy to be moving on to something that may be bigger and better for me.

These small car journeys, even when I am stuck in the terrible traffic that plagues LA, are fun for me, especially when I am alone. I blast my music, I talk to myself, I read the bumper stickers of the cars around, and I look at the license plates. I’m calm when I am on my own. I don’t have to keep someone else occupied. Although, I have to admit, on long car journeys, it is always very nice to have somebody with you. I’d say any journey over 2 hours qualifies as long, especially in a car. In a train, not so much, because you can get up and walk around, go to the bathroom without having to change course, you can read, and you can just be at peace. And airplanes, well, it is always nice to have company in an airport to watch you stuff when you need to go to the bathroom, but not always necessary. I have mastered the art of flying alone. Round-trip flying at least four times a year will do that to you.

So today, as we were cruising along the highway, I just felt right. I must admit, at times, I don’t feel like I am in the right place, or with the right people, or even that I am the person that is standing before me in the mirror, but sometimes, these crystal clear moments of bliss in a car, on the beach, sitting in my room reading, at work or talking to people remind me that I have made choices to be where I am and who I am. I guess what I am saying is that life is a journey. (ClichĂ©, I know, but how else can it be said?)

I value the moments I am allowed to spend living the life I always dreamed when I was younger. I’m doing it now. And I am so proud.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Traveling by Train, Car, Plane!

So these past few days have been very hectic but completely worth it. I graduated on Friday, so my parents came out to celebrate with me, along with all three of my grandparents. I feel bad for my mom and dad because this was their vacation and they barely got to rest at all! They flew in to Phoenix last Tuesday to meet up with my mom’s mom, then drove six hours the next day to San Diego to meet up with my dad’s parents. Then all five of them took the two hour drive up to Los Angeles on Thursday, stayed the night, watched me graduate, and then drove back down to San Diego on Friday, which took over four hours due to all the graduation traffic. I feel really badly that they had to sit in that!

I had plans on Saturday that got canceled, so instead of driving down with them on Friday, I ended up taking the Amtrak Pacific Surf-liner down from Los Angeles to San Diego. The train ride is always a pleasure, and it’s nice to let go of control for once and just enjoy the ride. The past two years I have mostly driven down to San Diego to see my grandparents, which has taken me anywhere from an hour and fifteen minutes (speeding the entire way, in the car pool lane) to three hours (beach traffic on a Saturday). The usual driving time is about two hours. I highly recommend going on the train at least once though. Between the cafĂ© car, and the absolutely breath-taking views of the beach and ocean (especially around sunset), it is completely worth it. Sometimes, I have even met and talked to some interesting people. This time around, I ended up talking to an older Australian man who had never been to America before, who asked me what there was to do in San Diego. There is so much! I would probably make a really good travel agent, because I get so excited about everything that has to do with traveling and exploring.

One time, about two years ago, I was on the train and it was packed, so instead of sitting alone, I sat with these two guys who looked to be about my age. They made fun of me because I guess they thought they looked menacing and I just sat right down next to them and started chatting away. I ended up finding out that they had just gotten out of jail (for burglary)! Oops! But they were really nice anyway, so it didn’t matter much to me. See? Random adventures on the train!

Most of the time though, I sit alone and listen to the conversations around me or people watch out the windows. This last time on the train, there was this group of four girls and two mothers, and the two mothers sat across the aisle from me, and the little girls sat in front of me, and they were so loud but exceedingly adorable! It reminded me of the time I was on the train sometime back and it was a really quiet train ride (you never know how it’s going to end up), and I was on the phone with one of my friends from home, and the lady behind me asked me to be quieter, so I lowered my voice, and then, apparently I wasn’t quiet enough, and she complained to the conductor about me! Excuse me, but there are no quiet-ride trains, and when you ride the train, there is a chance people will be loud. I know I sound like I was really rude, but honestly, I tried to be quieter and the conversation was really important. She ended up moving seats and giving me a really nasty look in the process. Dude, chill.

Anyway, so I have obviously had many train-ride adventures, but that is not where this weekend ended. So I took the train down to San Diego on Saturday, and then we left my dad’s parents, and my mom, dad, mom’s mom and I all departed for Phoenix on Sunday, with a stop in Yuma to see my little cousin, Alex. It was a three hour ride to Yuma, and I slept most of the way, except when we were passing the border fence that separates Mexico and the US. It was very surreal to see something so… so… so dividing. Dividing is not the right word, but it will work. I know that I am simplifying this, but the US is a country built on immigration, the salad bowl or melting pot or whatever you choose to call it, and it just seems so extreme to have such a clear definition of who “counts”. I know it is a lot more complicated than I am making it, but this is just how I see it. I guess it has a lot to do with the fact that while I was in Nicaragua, the group I was with listened to a guy give his story of trying to (illegally) immigrate to the US, with all his hardship and risk of death sitting on top of trains through Central America, only to be caught as soon as he crossed the border. He then spent months in jail. It is just so saddening to hear something like that and then see the proof.

So when we got to Yuma, I realized that there really isn’t much to do there. There is a mall and that is about it. It is very spread out, very desert-y, and very much a place I would never like to live in. It was nice to go out to lunch with my cousin, but then we were back on our way to Phoenix. Again, I slept most of the way, until we picked up my grandmother’s dog about half an hour outside of Phoenix. Getting to Phoenix was nice because it meant the end of traveling for at least a day. Monday was nice and relaxing, we drank some wine and helped my mom’s cousins plan out a trip to New York City. I’m sad I’m going to be in Los Angeles when they are in the City because my mom’s cousin’s son is turning 21, and my parents are going to visit them in the city, so it seems like it will be a good time. But at least I’m going home for my brother’s graduation, and that is all that really matters, right?

And now today, Tuesday. My parents spent the last 5 of their 7 “vacation” days traveling, and now we are all flying, albeit in different directions. My mom and dad are flying home to New Jersey, but they are in a different terminal, so we had to separate. I’m flying back to Los Angeles to start my last ever class at USC. Yes, I graduated, but since I had two majors and a minor, I kind of forgot to fulfill my language requirement, which has actually worked out fine for me because my Peace Corps recruiter got very, very excited when I told her I was taking French, telling me that I may just be able to leaving in January of next year, instead of somewhere between April and June, which would be awesome. My poor parents, their flight got delayed by an hour due to storms in NJ. My brother is going to pick them up, and he has never made this drive by himself. He’s a good kid, I just hope he doesn’t get lost. Newark Airport is not in the best place possible.

So now I’m sitting in the airport, waiting for my flight to start boarding. We got to the airport around 9:30 am, because my parents’ flight was supposed to leave at 11:15am, but of course got delayed. My flight doesn’t leave until 1pm. I didn’t have anyone to pick me up until one of my sorority sisters said she could. I love my house! So now all my worries are gone and I just have to get on the plane. I’m flying Southwest, which I like but also don’t like. I love that there are no baggage fees, but I do with they had assigned seats, but I guess that is what makes people fly them, because as long as you check in early enough, you can get the seat you want. At this point, since this flight is only an hour and twenty minutes long, I just want to take the closest seat to the front as possible. Usually I try for a window, but right now, I just want to get back to my house.

I will probably post this after I get back to LA because the airport here at Sky Harbor does have internet, but it is excruciatingly slow. Have a great week everyone!

PS – I didn’t have to go through the body scanner this time! Last time I flew through PHX, they tried to make me, but I opted out. I refuse to go through them. It made me so angry because after me, they closed it and then had people just go through the regular metal detector, as if to tease me. UGH! But, at least they were very professional and quick about it. I have heard horror stories where they make it very apparent that a person has opted out and just basically make it hell. That is the one thing I loved about Sky Harbor, they are super professional.

Monday, May 16, 2011

Welcome to my travel blog!


So, I’ve decided to start a travel blog. Not that I travel very often (okay, that’s a lie, sort of) or that I go to exotic places (also a lie, sort of)… but this is an experiment for me. I’ve started blogs and forgotten about them or never finished them or “didn’t have the time” to update them. But I want to have a log of all of my travels, so I’m doing this. Since I don’t plan on traveling much until next year, for now I can describe my past travels, pros and cons of different places, and all of that kind of stuff.

To start off, my name is Mary and I just graduated from college. Before high school, I had never traveled outside of the United States, however, I had been to many different states. My freshman year in high school, I went to Germany for two weeks, with day-long stops in France, Belgium, and Switzerland. I didn’t travel outside of the country again until the summer after my sophomore year of college, however, I did move across the country from NJ to CA for college, which is apparently a big deal to some people. It was a bit of an adventure. Summer of 2009 I went to Tanzania to volunteer for two months, with a stop in Amsterdam airport for a few hours, and a trip to Uganda for a week in the middle of volunteering, with a stop in Kenya on the way to Uganda. In the spring of 2010, my second semester junior year, I studied abroad in Ireland. While there, I visited Northern Ireland and England, and due to a stupid volcano in Iceland, I also went to Wales in order to take a ferry back to Ireland, since flying was out of the question. In the first week of this year, 2011, I went to Nicaragua on a school trip to learn about gender and social justice issues. I guess you can say I have a bit of a travel bug, and I love learning about different cultures, which is why I applied for the Peace Corps. I’m currently waiting to hear on my nomination, and I may leave as soon as January of next year.

Why do I love traveling? Between the people you meet, the experiences, and the beautiful places that you have to see to believe, there is nothing that I don’t love about traveling. Even the traveler’s diarrhea/constipation/sicknesses can’t deter me. That’s another reason for this blog. I want to write about these memories while I remember them and while they are happening so that I can remember them in the future. Hopefully, I can adventure some this summer, and report back, write about it, and basically keep this blog alive. I’m already planning a cross-country train trip, so if you have any suggestions or ideas about what I should see along the way, please tell me! I will write more about it as it pans out. I may even make the best of my last summer in southern California and take a trip up the Pacific Coast Highway.

Have a great week!