Thursday, November 18, 2010

On the Road

You know what's an unnerving feeling? Falling asleep on the bus and waking up with most of the bus occupants gone and in unfamiliar surroundings. Yes, that happened to me this morning.

Whenever I don't have to leave early or when I have other places to stop, I always take the express bus between Provo and SLC. I forget how much I love public transportation until I get the chance to use it, and this is the first time in years that I've been able to utilize it. $100 for a bus pass for the entire year and I can use any part of the bus system and Trax? Yes, please!

What's doubly nice is that because I usually leave so early is that the express bus is nice enough that I can get comfortable enough to fall asleep (which may not be saying much as one of my super powers is being able to fall asleep ANYWHERE) and I can get back another hour of sleep before coming into the COB. My fear, however, was realized this morning when I was completely out and I opened my eyes to realize that I was in unfamiliar territory.

No matter, though, because I was only a few blocks passed Temple Square, the morning is pleasant with the sun just beginning to peak out over the mountains, so it was actually a pleasant little stroll.

That little jaunt gave me time some time to think about some of the random experiences I'd like to have someday:
  • Hitchhike a significant distance in the US. I've done it in Chile for brief stretches, but it'd be neat to try and hitch a ride for a lengthy distance. Although my idea of hitchhiking might be romanticized by my reading of On the Road.
  • Move somewhere completely foreign without any kind of contacts. One of my friends from high school kind of did this in college, moving to Spain and working as a bartender and tow truck driver. I'd kind of just like to see how I'd handle a situation like that. This next one is kind of similar...
  • Adventure-mode a whole vacation - I think it'd be cool to just show up at the airport with no plans, several days free, and pay for the next available flight at the ticket counter and just go somewhere and do everything on the fly (yup!). Wouldn't that be cool? You'd have to just show up in some random city, talk to random people, and just kind of figure out as you go along. The vacation is the experience.
Those are just a few things I'd like to do. Maybe I'll miss my exit more often.

3 comments:

Kira Cook said...

I like your last idea the best. You can look at jet blue and sometimes they have that deal where you pay $600 and you can fly where ever they fly for a month. You could definitely end up in some random places.

Laura said...

i once missed my train stop, plus the next and ended up in simi valley with no trains going the other direction the rest of the day. i had to sit in the abandoned train station in the dark until matt picked me up (who was not happy about it). i don't think i could do adventure mode for a vacation. i am kind of a planner.

Amy Silva said...

Haha. I love the idea of you going up to the ticket counter. "I would like a ticket to where ever. I just want to get on the next plane, where ever that's going." That wouldn't look suspicious at all.