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Why Assumptions and Original Plans are No Good

Posted by Alyx Michele on January 2, 2017
Posted in: Travel Life. Tagged: , , , , , , , . 3 Comments

You can’t just assume that you can have older, more experienced travelers as a crutch to get around and to get more comfortable traveling solo. That’s not the point anyways. Although it is nice to have someone who has more experience than you to help navigate, it’s definitely not the same or rewarding when you do it by yourself. 

I met Kristy and Toby on Caye Caulker on the second day I arrived and found out Toby had a similar travel plan as I did, as his next stop is also San Ignacio. Then last night, other people were headed to Guatemala, which San Ignacio is on the way to. Perfect, new friends, and I don’t have to navigate the bus process on the mainland by myself!

Anyways, the original plan was to take the water taxi with Toby and then somehow figure out a way to get to the us station for San Ignacio…but since when do original plans happen? Unfortunately it turned out that he had a ticket for the Ocean Ferry not the Water Taxi but we found out as we were boarding and everything happened so fast so I ended up on the Water Taxi without him.

The timing could either work out perfectly that his ferry leaves at 12 as well instead of 12:30…but then again I could get there half an hour earlier. Do I wait for him? We may not even end up on the same dock. And so I put my big girl pants on and am going to cross the country by myself. It’s called asking questions. It’s not like it’s difficult to get around here. It’s just one bus the whole way…the fun part is getting to the bus station and on the correct bus…because this is me we are talking about. I’m 

I could just go on a bus and figure it out from there…no…I’ve already booked the hostel room and am going to the ATM Caves tomorrow. I’ll be fine and will see Toby later assuming he’s under the same assumption I am. This is why assumptions are no good. 

This is one of the many reasons I love traveling. It requires people to think on their feet when plans change or unexpected situations arrive. It’s good for me. I’m not actually stressed at all. 

Sure, the original plan was to go across with friends, most of which changed their plans and left just one, but sh!t happens and you roll with it…oooorrrrr you roll a joint if you’re like some other people at the hostel haha! Side note: apparently the weed is pretty good here in Belize, but I’m not the expert. You can try for yourself if you’re into it. 🙂 

Life Lesson Time:

1. Don’t assume anything. About anyone or about anything. 

2. Trust people, trust yourself, and trust your instincts.

3. Don’t depend on the original plan. It will always let you down by either falling through, or you miss out on other experiences and friends if you turn things down in order to stick with the original plan that will end up not working out anyways.

4. Be flexible. That is mentally, emotionally, and physically. Seriously, don’t forget your morning stretches or sunset yoga on a rooftop!

I am currently on the Water Taxi, and will eventually meet up with Toby and the other hostel friends we were supposed to go with!

As always, stay tuned!

I know I’ve been slacking majorly on the blogging, it’s a new year and my resolution is to be much more diligent with myself about it. That means finally talking about my experiences in Peru as well. I’m promising that in order to hold myself accountable. 

And if anyone has any tips of things to see and/or do on the mainland, please comment below or email me at alyxmichele93@gmail.com! 

When Life Gives You Lemons…

Posted by Alyx Michele on September 24, 2016
Posted in: Through My Eyes, Travel Life. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

…Always make sure to have sugar on hand. That way you actually have lemonade, not just lemon juice. Why does no one specify that in “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade?” Lemonade requires more than just lemons…or you are still left with a sour taste in your mouth, you just did more work to stay right where you are.

Anyway! The reason for this post is to announce that unfortunately due to adulty circumstances, I will not be going to Antarctica this year. Even if I ask for early Christmas/birthday money, I would barely be able to scrape by to go there for just a few days. It would have worked but between having to pay $1000 dollars for car repairs and my phone disappearing (requiring me to buy a new one), I will have to postpone Antarctica for another time. I will definitely be going, don’t ever doubt that, I just feel like it would be wise to save that for a later date, so I have enough time to save up for a substantial trip there.

That being said, I am not just going to stay home over winter. I have yet to do a tropical relaxing experience involving drinking sugary alcoholic beverages out of a coconut with a cute fancy umbrella. That changes this year! Whether it will be Hawaii or Belize or somewhere in the Caribbean, that is next on the travel agenda! Even still, I can guarantee that I will not only be relaxing because come on, this is me we are talking about. There is so much to go see and explore everywhere, and while beaches and sunsets fit that category, so do other things like swimming with whale sharks and visiting ruins. 🙂

Why mope around when you don’t meet your New Year’s Resolution? Well…for one thing, setting a timer on goals isn’t really the most effective way of achieving them. It took my three New Year’s Resolution periods to get over my bird fear. Some things just can’t be rushed or forced. They will happen, just not always in the time you expected or hoped for. That doesn’t mean give up. I don’t give up. I tried the assuming the worst thing years ago, and that didn’t work out for me. Honestly traveling changed that. Traveling just changes everything, but for the better! I will be traveling this December, just somewhere else more manageable due to life circumstances. 🙂

Stay tuned for the announcement of the next official travel plans.

Naaaaaants ingonyama bagithi baba!!

Posted by Alyx Michele on September 3, 2016
Posted in: Travel Life. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . 2 Comments

Zulu for “There comes a lion,” in case you were wondering what the words from Circle of Life actually means. 🙂

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Nants ingomyama bagitha baba, Sithi uhhmm ingomyama

As my first post for South Africa, I felt it fitting that it be about the safari since that is usually the first thing people think of regarding anything involving Africa. Quoting Circle of Life lyrics in the title is about as close as I can get to referring to Lion King since I saw every character except the freakin’ lions. Seriously…I spent a month there and I didn’t see a signle lion. Other people in my safari group did, but they were in a different jeep. Oh well, I am not finished with my African experiences by far. I will be back and I will see lions!

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What did the buffalo say to their son going away to college? Bison!

I went on a 4 day, 3 night camping safari in the Kruger National Park with African Budget Safaris. They are based in Cape Town, South Africa, but they offer a ton of different safari options with various lengths and locations, even outside of South Africa. A few people in my group were continuing on to Zambia and/or Tanzania after this trip.

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It’s hard to see, but theres a leopard right smack in the middle on a tree branch eating lunch.

I was mostly satisfied with my experience. I saw four out of five of the Big Five (which are lion, elephant, buffalo, rhino, and leopard). If you want a guarantee that you will see animals, go to a zoo. But don’t go to zoos, they are terrible for the animals. Just go on a safari hoping for the best, but know that you may have to go on multiple safaris to see what you really want to see! Every day is different. Every hour is different. Even every second, depending on how fast the animals are. Safari guides communicate with each other so they have a good idea where the activity is. Unfortunately though, just because there is activity at the time Guide A saw something, doesn’t mean things will still be happening by the time Guide B arrives to that exact spot. The park is huge, and there are other places to go on safaris that are even bigger. Do go, but don’t expect to see anything. That way, you can always be pleasantly surprised with you do see things!

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A zebra is 26 cup sizes larger than an abra

Sometimes you will see nothing but plants after an hour or so of driving, but then all of a sudden ten elephants decide to cross the rode in front of you, or a white rhino marking his territory, or three hyenas sleeping on the side of the rode, or even a leopard in a tree eating an impala. If I can guarantee that you will see anything in Kruger, it’s impala. Seriously, So. Much. Impala. It is entertaining to see people on their first game drive getting so excited when they see impala, because they don’t yet realize that they will always see impala. After two to three drives if anyone hears any rustling or sees something running and gets excited, the excitement quickly turns into a sigh or groan accompanied with “Nope. Just more damn impala.” They are delicious to eat as jerky though! Oh don’t give me that…there is no shortage of impala whatsoever here. And besides, helloooooo it’s unusual to foreigners so of course I’m going to eat it. 😉

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Kudu please do me a favor? 

When my group first arrived to the park, there were a sh!t ton of vultures in the trees as if they are waiting for something. There was a gigantic hippo laying there dead, probably due to dehydration as it traveled too far away from their water source. The vultures were just in the trees waiting though, not eating. This is because they know the lions get first dibs, so the lions clearly have not yet arrived. The guide announced that we will be having baboon stew for dinner. Cool! Just kidding, we had chicken. Sigh, South African humor. They joke, but are not always actually joking so it’s hard to tell whether they are serious or not. I totally would have eaten the baboon stew if it was a thing. I’m sure it’s a thing somewhere. The camp is fenced to keep the majority of the animals away from campers, however warthogs (Pumbas), monkeys (thiefs!), and even hyenas are known to roam the camps. Use extreme caution, a flashlight, and the buddy system when walking around at night, even if the toilets are close by.

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“We could have whatever’s lion around!”-Banzai, Lion King

Before the first game drive, you have a waiver to sign. That way, if you die, you can’t sue them. Standard procedure of course. “Here is a pen so you can sign your life away,” the guide said, to which I responded with, “Man if I had a knickel for every time I do that, I could travel without working for years!” I know that is not comforting to boyfriend and certain family members, but oh well. Hee hee! I obviously survived as I am writing now. 🙂

baby elephant

This pun is irrelephant

I am quickly figuring out the limitations of my GoPro. It is fabulous for landscape shots and extreme activities, but not so great for animals and other more specific and stationary things. One of my next investments will be an actual camera, because my phone isn’t really sufficient either. Life is a learning process…

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Did I have fun here? You bet giraffe I did!

We got to go on a night drive, which apparently they’re not really supposed to do? Oh well, it works for me! We saw giraffes, lots of hippos and rhinos, impala (duh), and some hares! We also saw an African civet buuuuut I didn’t get a good picture because I had terrible camera access and the sucker was fast. A giraffe drooled very close to the jeep…how nice.

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Unicorns are real!..Stop poaching them.

 

 

In the Game of Hippos, you play or you die. It’s such a sad and usually short life to be a hippo. They are extremely territorial, even within families, so fights to the death are typical. 😦 They also kill more humans than Great White Sharks, soo then there’s that.

hippo

Hippothetically speaking…if this guy thought he was sick all the time, he’d be a hippochondriac and would have to be injected with a hippodermic needle.

On the second day, there were a few elephants crossing the road right in front of us. Cool! Except not cool because they are very protective of their young when the young are around. They were. The male stopped in the middle of the road, turned towards us and started walking. The guide said “Okay everyone, stay quiet and still, we are just going to wait here and hope he doesn’t charge at us.” The girl in front of me ducked her head and let out a faint squeal in terror. And what is that going to do? Absolutely nothing. Dude it’s an elephant. If it’s going to charge, we are all dead. Ducking your head won’t do anything. Unless you don’t want to see what is about to kill you, but you already saw it soooo…. Eventually the elephant just turned and completed his trek across the road to meet his family on their merry way towards the empty water hole. California isn’t the only place suffering from drought.

elephant

Hi

Things I learned: 1) get a good Canon camera, and 2) if seeing lions in Africa isn’t guaranteed then nothing is.

Would I recommend? Yes!

winter in africa

Winter in South Africa

Would I do again? Yes, if with someone who hadn’t done it before. The next safari trip I really want to do is in the Mesai Mara, Kenya during the wildebeest migration (sometime between July and September).

baboon eating orange

A baboon going bananas about their orange.

Why did the lion start running? Because he wanted to mufasa! Haaaaaa

the end

The end!

Okay bye, see you next week!

Does Traveling Alone Ever Get Lonely?

Posted by Alyx Michele on August 27, 2016
Posted in: Through My Eyes, Travel Life. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , . 5 Comments

No. It doesn’t. If anything, it is quite the opposite.

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Photo Credit: Craig Duckering

This is a question I often get from people only who have not ever traveled alone, but I feel it is important to discuss. Traveling alone is perhaps one of the best ways of not being lonely. If you crave social interaction, opportunities are endless! Often times, it just takes a simple “Hello!” and you have met a potential long term best friend or even soul mate. All you have to do is be open to new things and new people. Sit down somewhere, strike up a conversation, and see where it takes you! You never know who you are actually sitting next to unless you engage them. Besides other travelers like myself, I have ended up talking to an inventor, CEO, multiple war veterans, a Holocaust survivor, etc. They may even show you how they live not just through their words, but through a tour of neighborhoods you wouldn’t get to see otherwise.

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Kliptown, in Soweto, Johannesburg. Yes people still live here, and are more lively than the wealthier areas.

If you are too shy to initiate a conversation with someone, that’s okay. Another door into interaction is just by reacting to something those around you are doing. Perhaps the couple at the table next to you said something so ridiculously funny that you can’t help but laugh. They will at least look over at you, make eye contact, and invite you to come sit with them at their table and join the conversation…or kids who don’t even speak your language could invite you to play a game or two.

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Traveling alone doesn’t mean you’re alone. Traveling alone means you have all the freedom in the world to make new friends. Friends who, no matter what their first or second language is, will always be there for you whether you need a place to stay when you’re in their native country or just a virtual shoulder to cry on…or to sit on.

to support you no matter from how far

Thanks, Jackson!

A benefit of traveling alone is not feeling obligated to be social when you prefer time to be introspective, or when you are just completely annoyed and unimpressed by the people around you (particularly in the morning! haha). Don’t get me wrong, traveling with friends and/or family is great, but it’s a different experience because you might not always have access to those antisocial moments that keep you and everyone around you sane. Unless there is beer or wine involved, of course. Those help! 😉

On the other hand, if you travel with the right person who understands you need time for yourself and uses that time for themselves too, it can be a close to perfect pairing! With that, each party can either relax somewhere by themselves OR can go out and meet new people to later introduce to the other party…then you have an actual party!

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Photo Credit: Leonardo Ramirez, Festival de Belen, 2015 in Iquitos, Peru

The only uncomfortable thing I have experienced alone is being in the hostel room all by myself because I may or may not still be a little afraid of the dark. Will that stop me from spelunking in caves, camping deep in the wilderness, ghost walking in areas known for their horrific pasts, etc? Uh NO! I wouldn’t pass any of that up for the world! Fear, schmear…reminds me of bagels.

 

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Mmmmm bagels!

Okay I got off track, sorry…back to business.

Traveling with friends and/or family is a great way to learn about people you’ve known for a while in a new way, while traveling alone is a great way to get to know yourself in ways you can’t otherwise experience.

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To new beginnings!

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To new heights!

 

unda da sea

To new depths!

You never know how far you can take your life, or how far your life can take you unless you get out there and do! Traveling with others is enjoyable, but it is a different experience altogether. When you travel alone, you only have yourself to hold accountable for doing or not doing something (except the weather…often times yes you can blame the weather…especially in Cape Town). Being the only one pushing yourself to experience things like jumping off the tallest commercial bridge bunjy jump in the world and dive with Great White Sharks is way more empowering than doing something simply because someone else wants to. There is no one else. This is all you. You did this and you are great for that!

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All things said and done, although it may feel like it at times, nobody is ever truly alone.

 

Amtrak Around the Country: Day 12-Aaaaaaaand I’m Done

Posted by Alyx Michele on May 30, 2016
Posted in: Travel Life. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

It is 1:51AM and the train is moving again. I don’t know what time I woke up and realized it was stopped. Hopefully we get to LA in time, but I’m prepared to buy a flight out of LAX if I have to. This is a cool trip, but definitely not a good idea to do it if you’re pressed for time.

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The conductor said estimated time of arrival in Los Angeles is 9AM, but we will see if we can make up some time. Yeah I don’t believe that is possible for a second.
Someone in my car apparently got robbed overnight. Two guys kept going back and forth in the car, so apparently they’re thinking it was them. They stole almost $1000? Or the girl just lost the money? I don’t know…that’s a huge accusation and it’s only 6:30AM. They’re not thinking rationally since they’re upset, and rightfully so, and it’s clearly not a good idea to tell them to check their stuff again. Her friend just told her to check and she freaked out. She’s screaming. So much for sleeping.

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The attendant needs to stop joking the way he does. I knew we were somewhat behind and he said ETA for LA was 12:30. I asked what about the Coast Starlight? (My next train). “You’ll make it,” he said. “No it leaves at 10:20.” He laughs and exclaims, “Just kidding!”
Mother f@cker! There’s a time and a place for jokes…that is not cool.

I wonder what I did with my keys…Are they buried in my bag or are they at home? Apartment key?

Phew I’m smarter than I thought. The keys were at the bottom of my bag. Now they’re at the top. Haha that would have been interesting…

The girl who lost her money is going up and down the car asking each passenger if they saw anything. It’s only 7AM, chances are everyone or most people were asleep.  One guy who was awake all night is now a suspect to her so she was like, “Okay if I tell the police to search your stuff that’s okay? I still don’t know what really happened, but this is why I respond with, “It could literally happen anywhere” when people ask me if I’m worried about getting robbed or about my safety in general. Hide your valuables.

And I’m off now at LA Union Station. We were supposed to leave at 10:10AM, but they still have paperwork to take care of. Are you freakin’ kidding me? …12 minutes later and we get an announcement saying mechanical is on board doing some work…Uh huh.

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Ok were an hour behind but hopefully we can catch up! I’m next to a girl from London who’s an RN and coming over to Oakland to visit her girlfriend, which she does every six weeks…wow! She would have to start schooling all over pretty much in order to come here and become an RN.

img_6639Justin bieber is on the train next to us! No I’m kidding, but he is scarily close to the point where London girl and I were studying JB’s tattoos and matching them up to the doppelgänger’s, all while he’s asleep. Haha we are creeps, but hey a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do?

img_6640Lunch with Amy (London) and a couple that spent three months in Puerto Rico. Ooooooo!!

This train is going slow as f@@@ck and I’m probably going to have to cancel food with Michael and get an Uber to drive me home because I don’t want to keep him waiting or awake. I feel so bad, and we’ve both been so excited this entire time. Sigh, they said the earliest I’d be in San Jose is 9PM, which is 40 minutes later than scheduled, and we’re not even at San Luis Obispo yet so this sucks. I just feel awful cancelling the plans even though I know it’s not something either of us can control. But still.

img_6644Dinner was fun at least. A guy who worked on a river boat, an Aussie nurse, a British nurse, and a psychologist walk into a bar…
The waitress was squinting when reading the receipts and the Aussie offered up her glasses.

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Secret government stuff happens here. No cell service.

We are stopped in Watsonville because they’re waiting for permission to continue going the direction we are going. Umm what? Why wouldn’t you have permission and why wouldn’t you deal with this before?!
Ok we’re moving again haha

img_6645I guess I feel a little less annoyed now that I am not keeping anyone waiting, but I really wanted Michael to be the first person I see when I get off the train. Oh well, we rescheduled and it will just be that much better. I am now at the train station at 9:45PM, the Lyft driver is on their way. I just want to go home and sleep. Good night.

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Amtrak Around the Country Day 6: New York, New York!

Posted by Alyx Michele on May 19, 2016
Posted in: Travel Life. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Gooooooooood Morning! I slept through most of it.

Roxie and I had Cheez-its for breakfast. I know someone back home who will appreciate that 😉 We were having loads of fun messing around with Snapchat filters.

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Our phones showed different times for a while, and we had different Snapchat filters…but we were right next to each other. Technology is weird. I haven’t written much on this leg of the trip because I have been goofing off and hanging out with Roxie instead. My stomach hurts from laughing so hard.

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Inga (the friend I am staying with tonight) sent me a picture of Black Tap Burgers and Beer as an idea to do for later. Apparently that is the place Roxy and her friend happen to be going to later too! Hahaha she thought she’d get rid of me and never see me again. Surprise! 😀 We were looking at the pictures on Yelp and OMG, they have the craziest milk shakes! I am going to diiiiiieeeee.

More than 34 trains passed us between Rochester and NYC…lots of freight deliveries in this neck of the woods!

I arrived in NYC! Having dinner with Erica (a theatre friend) at the Liberty in Midtown West. We had duck fat fries and Sam Adams beer as an appetizer, then I had a salmon fillet. It was delicious food!It was crowded and loud, but so are Erica and I so we could still catch up over the noise. As with most of my friends, we don’t need to talk or see each other everyday and yet when we do it’s as if the distance wasn’t a thing!

I took a cab to Black Tap in SoHo because I was too lazy to take the subway haha. There is a line outside, but they said it should only take twenty minutes. I think it took longer than that…which is fine because that gave Inga enough time to get over here from her apartment in Hell’s Kitchen. We might see a comedy show or go to a club like we did when I was here last year, and like we did when I was living here, buuuuut we are both tired and will probably just go back to her place and watch a movie or something.

I should have brought gloves with me and left my headphones at home. It is windy in New York and Chicago (well duh), and I forgot to put music on my phone so I have no use for the headphones. Ooooooops! The line for Black Tap is outside, but at least I have my thermal leggings on under my pants!

SO GOOOOOOD
DEVOURED

The last time I was in a bed was on the opposite side of the country…in Seattle. It is decided! We are getting Spy from Redbox and then heading to her place.

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Spoiler alert: We found some

Oops we stopped at a bar on the way. It’s called Bocca di Bacco and is super cute! I had a spicy cucumber margarita…so good!

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I finished mine and Inga got a mojito that was too big so she poured some of her drink into mine glass. The margarita came with a spicy salt rim, but it was tasty with the mojito as well! We were just hanging out at the bar talking with the bartender and manager, and they kept pouring us complimentary glasses of champagne soooo that was nice!

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We walked back to the apartment and tried to watch the movie, but we couldn’t get the machine to work so we went upstairs and crashed.

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I couldn’t even spell “how” correctly. #drunk

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Amtrak Around the Country: Day 5-Touristing in Chicago and My New Friend!

Posted by Alyx Michele on May 19, 2016
Posted in: Travel Life. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

I woke up at five in the morning and checked Snapchat for the Minnesota filter because I missed Idaho and didn’t want to miss another state. Then I started thinking. The Pandora’s box inside my head had been opened before my train trip and I thought I was done with it. I was wrong, and then I realized there were a few tears streaming down my face. I was upset partially because of what I was thinking about and partially because I was done with it. Maybe I will never really be done with that, but maybe that’s okay.

Sigh…John Cusack’s doppelganger will not stop talking. It is kind of entertaining because it is obvious he has no idea what he is talking about, but at the same time…I just want to enjoy the landscape of the Midwest in peace.

Phone camera tip: Put the phone right up to the glass windows to avoid glares and reflections.

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I learned that after taking this photo.

At lunch, I overheard Joyce say “For lunch we have the barbecued pork shank. That is our salad dressing-oops that is our lunch special.” Someone didn’t get enough sleep last night! 🙂 The people at my table for lunch aren’t talkative at all. This is the first time that has happened so far. I guess I shall eat in silence? Ah finally they speak words! The girl next to me is a fourth year PhD student in clinical psychology, and did a lot of studying abroad in college. We discussed the uselessness of the GRE.

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Can you tell I am excited? haha

We have arrived in Chicago! I couldn’t get back to the diner car to meet Joyce before us going to Giordano’s because there were too many people. By the time I got a hold of her she had already made alternative plans, so I went by myself which is also fine. Oh my god this is delicious! Chicago style deep-dish pizza is…well…I can’t even describe how much I love this stuff!

I then went to the Sears Tower, which is apparently now called the Willis Tower. Regardless, I went up to the Skydeck and stood on the glass platform that extends four feet away from the tower so you can look straight down and see everything below. It was interesting and definitely not for the faint of heart. All I could think was “Well this is cool but what if I fall?” The tower is twice as high as the bridge I am bunjy jumping off of in South Africa. Cool…that should be nothing. HAAAAAAAA!!!

Not actually terrified!
Not for the faint of heart!

Ah sh!t, I have 4 percent battery on my phone and I have wait almost three hours until I can get on the train and charge it. None of the outlets in the station are working, of course. Wow I am dumb…I have had my portable charger this entire time. Never mind, it doesn’t work. Yay there is one that does work! There is a girl here named Roxie and so we started talking. She is 28 and in culinary school. YAY FOOOOD!!!! She is here with two not-so-nice people going across the country. I know how it feels to be left out and have “friends” be rude to you on a trip, so I sympathize. We are sitting together on the train, she is awesome and I can already tell we will be staying in contact even after we part ways on this trip! Apparently people on her last train ride got kicked off the train for drinking too much. She took the California Zephyr to Chicago and I took the Empire Builder, so it was cool to exchange stories of those experiences.

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Yay new friend!

Alrighty Train #4! Lakeshore Limited from Chicago to NYC!! My second home. Oy it’s a good thing this train leg is only a day. Roxie is awesome, but the seats don’t recline as much and the bathroom is absolutely horrendous. At least I escaped this part of traveling for as long as I did. Someone sent me a bathroom sanitation kit to try out and write a review on, which I will do shortly. I had been trying to postpone using it since I only have one and I usually just suck it up and go anyway. But eh what the heck, I will use it now, as there was urine everywhere in this stall and vomit in the other one. After this, I shall hold it until my arrival in New York.

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I can’t even…

Roxie and I keep talking and goofing off, and this lady keeps looking at us. Sorry we are having fun, but sleep will happen eventually. I borrowed/temporarily stole Roxie’s blanket to sleep with. Everyone is snoring haha, no sleep for Alyx because earbuds and ear plugs don’t like staying in my ears.

 

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Who knew

Good night! See you tomorrow New York!

Amtrak Around the Country: Day 4-Jeez Montana is huge!

Posted by Alyx Michele on May 7, 2016
Posted in: Travel Life. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Goooooood morning! I woke up in the Rockies of Montana, which means I slept through Idaho. Sad times, but it still counts! I brushed my teeth, changed my clothes, so now it is up to the observation car I go!

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I overheard someone say, “We should try to see the world more often.” Yes, yes you should. 🙂

I know it is only the third day, but being on a train seems natural already. It’s my new reality, at least for now, and I am totally okay with this. I highly recommend a long train trip to everyone, even if it is not all the way around the country.

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I should brush my hair. I don’t think it’s quite as bad as it was after horseback riding in Iceland, but I know it will still be painful. I have learned my lesson and will probably keep my hair in braids for the rest of the trip.

There will probably be no cell service for the majority of this trip since the train goes through the mountains in the north for most of today.

I had already planned on not having breakfast in the dining car. They have a cafe in the observation car for more suitable breakfast foods. Based on the feedback I have been overhearing about the dining car breakfast…just don’t do it.

It is finally lunchtime! I sat with a woman who has been battling her health for many years, and only has part of her foot. She left before I was done, so I was joined by a woman originally from Scotland who works here in the States as a payroll accountant for movies. She has been doing that for many years and has met a significant amount of well-known actors and actresses, but could not share anything about their personalities of course. It is still cool to be in the presence of someone who has been in the presence of so many, and yet be so nonchalant about it all. She is also a painter and likes traveling. Her husband is more of a homebody, so he stays home while she travels, and they are perfectly happy! Awesome!

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The workers on this train are amazing. One serve got so many jokes, and another is super sweet and gives me free refills on my iced tea. Today’s chocolate mousse was also free. She is going to show me the belt buckles she’s made. Everyone here is so versatile, and the dynamic of the atmosphere is something you really can’t experience any other way. It’s just a matter of opening up and having a conversation.

“You guys know why I don’t get electrocuted on the train?” … “I’m not a conductor.” Haaa

The train stopped to refill gas or whatever it uses, so I got out of the train to stretch my legs. I hung out with the other blogger I met earlier. They originally said thirty minutes, but it ended up being ten, and we both had to run back to the train when they announced the train was about to leave. Oops.

I am hanging out with the workers again for a bit, and helping Joyce, the worker who gives me free food, with her arts and crafts. She is from Chicago and said she’d take me out for pizza and drinks when we arrive in Chicago!

I left to go visit the observation car again until dinner time. I have another 1.5 hours to go but I am starving. As usual. There is really no happy medium here. I am either full on the verge of throwing up or starving to the point where I can feel my stomach eating itself.

I go to the dining car a half hour early haha oops, but Joyce puts me back to work on gluing rhinestones.

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Dinner is apparently on Joyce, as is the rest of my food until the train arrives in Chicago. Yay! I had the steak, but she had the chef put seasoned bell peppers on top of it too, which is not a menu option, sorry. Aaaaand I am full. I am still having icecream…but it just melts and fills in the gaps of the fullness level rather than actually making it rise. I’m gross, but I have to justify this somehow. The girl next to me was struggling with the “spoon” that comes with the ice cream, and I was laughing my a$$ off because that is totally something I would do. Surprisingly I didn’t…very surprising.

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SIXTEEN hours from one end of Montana to the other!

I went to the bathroom to do some laundry, brush my teeth and hair (*cries at the painful memories*), and then ended up talking to a girl who came into the lounge area of the bathroom for like 1.5 hours. We talked grad school, creative writing, long distance relationships, etc.

I went back to my seat, and Joyce came over to tell me that Ricky apparently has a crush on me. Haha I told them I have a boyfriend (even though I don’t currently…or do I? I actually have no idea what is happening with the guy I’ve at least been talking to and hanging out with). Joyce was like “I just had to let you know. When you see him tomorrow, maybe namedrop the boyfriend a little bit haha us girls have to stick together!”

I like Joyce. She has a past with the Chicago drug culture. Heroin was her drug of choice. She had to get a blood transfusion at age 21, then contracted Hep. C. Of course it was the bad kind that they couldn’t use the regular treatment they had at the time. She is okay now and got her life together. She has been working with Amtrak for 28 years and is retiring in two years to focus on her art and take care of her elderly mom. That is really great! Peoples’ life stories…I just can’t get enough. One of the main reasons why I love traveling the way I do…

Ok I am signing off now. Good night! Let’s hope my braid stays in tact.

Amtrak Around the Country: Day 2-Trees and Convos

Posted by Alyx Michele on April 23, 2016
Posted in: Travel Life. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

Well that was an interesting sleep. I’ve had better and I’ve had worse. It’s now 8:30AM and I’m going to check out the cafe car in a little bit. Some guy wanted to move seats and had the girl next to me hold his beer. It’s not even 9AM dude what are you doing?? It’s 5 somewhere I suppose. For breakfast I had a plain bagel and chream cheese microwaved. Nothing special. It was $2.75 which is around the price I paid for one in college.

I am now hanging out in the observation car during the daylight because I can. As annoying as the 6.5 hour delay was, if the train was on time, it would have been pitch black through most of Northern California and maybe even part of Oregon. I definitely would not have seen Mount Shasta without the delay, so yay for everything happening for a reason!

Something to note: In addition to delays due to mechanical issues and people getting themselves hit by trains, there is another major factor causing delays. Freight. These are called Z trains, and they actually own the tracks…Amtrak just rents them. If a freight train is coming, Amtrak trains have to pull over and wait for the Z trains to pass through. It happens…a lot.

Apparently the train was also stopped because there was a suspicious bag or two bags in separate locations? They had to call the bomb squad just to be sure.

Let’s talk food! You do not need a reservation for breakfast in the dining car, but you do for lunch and dinner. (Some trains are better at coming around to you than others…and some actually get annoyed if you go to the dining car to make a reservation)…not consistent customer service. Also if you are not with a group of at least 3, you will be eating with other people at your table. Sometimes people are awesome! Sometimes they take care of your meal! Sometimes they are…not so awesome or boring or racist or whatever the f$ck. It does make feeding time much more interesting and entertaining, even if it is not so entertaining at the time. I don’t recall having any awful experiences with anyone I sat with, but others I have sat with told me stories of their unpleasant experiences. I got off lucky in that regard!

We are near Mount Shasta now at 12:16 PM. We are in the mountains and you can feel the chill seeping through the spaces open to the outside atmosphere, and can even here the rapids like the ones shown in the above photo.

 

I got to eat lunch while having awesome views of Mount Shasta. The hamburgers here are actually not bad! Bacon and cheese is optional. But when bacon is involved…is it reeeally optional? I didn’t think so. I had lunch with an older guy named Norm and an older woman who had no teeth. They were both really nice. Norm occasionally made some sexual comments…not about me, just in general. Still though, I don’t really need to hear about your fetishes or see certain types of videos that fill your Facebook newsfeed when you scroll through to show me a video of a jazz band we both like. He did end up paying for my lunch though, so thank you very much for that!

I went back to the observation car, took a nap, and admired more scenery as we travel north up through Oregon. There is a little kid unattended, running around like a maniac…after there have already been 7 announcements about not running and parents having to keep an eye on their children. Stooooooppppppp.

I am now talking to another woman about her life. She was married for ten years and then decided she didn’t want to be married anymore, so is now in a long term relationship of six years with a guy in France. She still doesn’t want to be married though. It seems to be working out well for them as they are both happy, so all power to them! We were talking about societal norms and relationships still working even if they are not conventional, and then the lady from lunch randomly blurts out “I’ve been married to the same guy for 34 years!” Cool? I am sorry, she was nice, but ummm….we were kinda in the middle of a conversation and not only was it not ideal for you to interject that way with one comment, we certainly didn’t really want the rest of the conversation to revolve around your life. Conversation is about balance…and it would have been fine if a balance existed.

Fifteen minutes before dinner so I have just enough time to do some “laundry” in the sink with my biodegradable laundry soap sheets.

It is my first dinner of many on a train so why not go big or go home. Steak and red wine it is! The wine was gone well before the food came haha ooops. The steak was actually perfect, the rice was delicious, and the veggies were much better with a little salt added. The woman with the French boyfriend joined me for dinner, and we sat with a dad and daughter. The daughter spent dinner drawing a really cool cross section of a ship! She then proceeded to explain everything, which was all normal until the very bottom of the ship where there was a slide and a pool of mud noodles. Yum? The woman with the French boyfriend is allergic to corn….which is in everything. EVERYTHING. It was kind of ridiculous hearing the list of everything she can’t eat or even use.

This is chocolate mousse topped with chocolate flakes encased in an edible chocolate bowl. I cannot even begin to describe how freakin delicious this thing is. I had one almost every day I was on the train haha.

The corn lady is also a theater person! It was really cool talking to her more since I don’t know many people where I live who can actually hold a knowledgeable conversation about theater.

We got pushed aside by 1 maaaybe 2 Z trains, so that isn’t tooo bad I guess. But it is now 2:13AM and I’m less than ten minutes out from the train station. Yay! I get to hangout with Aunt Jody during the twenty or less minute car ride then we are both going to sleep. She is leaving at 5 AM to go to the airport, headed for Baltimore…and yet she still is picking me up. Thank you so much Aunt Jody, I really appreciate it and am very glad I still get to see you. Any amount of time is worth it!

Sometimes I question what I am doing, and/or why I do what I do. Then I remember the answer always starts out with “why not?” or “because I am insane, obviously.”

Tomorrow is family time and exploring downtown Seattle! 😀

 

*Today’s Stats:

Train name-Coast Starlight

Train quality- No complaints that stand out. The bathrooms were clean and orderly.

States covered- California, Oregon, Washington

The Light at the End of the Tunnel…Oh Wait, That’s a Train!

Posted by Alyx Michele on March 24, 2016
Posted in: Through My Eyes. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 2 Comments

“Can you remember who you were before the world told you who you were supposed to be?” -Danielle LaPorte

“And are either of those people who you really want to be?” -Alyx Michele (me), in response to above.

I can easily travel by myself, and I have been doing so, obviously. However, I have always found a way to occupy myself in order to avoid the self-reflections required to open and sort through the issues in my “mental box” that have been locked for many years. Whenever I would acknowledge the presence of the box, I become Brad Pitt in Se7en for a split second asking “Ah what’s in the box?” and just as quickly decide, “Nope, just kidding I don’t want to know right now.” And the box continues to exist ignored. Lot’s of things go in, but nothing comes out. Well, they need to. The box has needed to be dealt with for a long time in order for me to truly understand myself and become the person I want to be.

I  spent all of college focusing on academics and the surface issues (residual effects of my parents’ divorce and body image issues mainly), rather than spending my time and energy chasing boys and what not. If I didn’t spend my time and energy on “me,” I would by no means be the same person writing this today. I can say that I am proud of the person I have become, and am excited to continue growing into the person I want to and CAN be. Life is a work in progress, how we see ourselves and the world is a work in progress, the world itself is a work in progress.

The only thing blocking me from the final frontier of progress is my avoidance of opening the Pandora’s Box of my past experiences and thoughts. Until a few days ago I was kind of freaking out about the fact that I will finally be processing all of this stuff now, but not anymore. After a few conversations with a friend (mainly her knocking sense into me haha), I wrote a list of the things I at least think are in the box so I know what things to start with during the processing and reflecting. The list wasn’t actually as long once I condensed it into themes, which were not surprising either. And all of the themes really just contribute to the question of what I really want for/out of one main aspect of life. Honestly, I feel that most of the work is already done, simply by that. I put the list away and will not be looking at it until I am on the train, and will continuously condense and cross things off as I go through and think about everything.

Thinking is good. It helps with the creative and learning processes with everything, but this time those exercises will be geared towards those pesky, shelved internal issues that have been put on the back-burner for so long. I have discussed before that I feel the best way to learn about one’s self, and the majority of my maturation and self-discovery process has occurred whilst traveling. And so the time has come. Just me, a few train rides, my thoughts, and random strangers (some of whom will most likely become lifelong connections).

After a long conversation with a dear friend, I feel much better about the situation. I think. We will see when the time comes. But as she said, “You’re the only one who can do it and address it and fix it. It is directly tied to how you feel about yourself and your life, so it will be what you make of it.” She is exactly right. I am going to find out a lot of information about who I am today, and how exactly my past experiences have affected me at various stages of my life.

When we receive information of any kind, there are two main choices: take action or ignore. I am choosing to take action: make any necessary adjustments, set reachable goals and achieve said goals. Ignoring problems does not make them disappear or easier to deal with. It just makes dealing with them that much harder if/when you decide to do so. But it will be much more worth your while to actually deal with them, otherwise the person you really want to and CAN be will never become a reality.

That being said, I am still very excited for this trip and look forward to seeing some friends and family I haven’t seen in a while, as well as witnessing some awesome landscapes. This will be a good trip and I will definitely be much closer to the person I want to be, as that always happens when I travel. I highly recommend others do this or something similar as well! 🙂

Well, I am on the first train now! Stay tuned for my writings on the food, scenery, interactions, and everything else!