Day 0 - September 9, 2009
It’s 9pm in NYC right now, but I’m a few hundred miles over the Atlantic (Halifax to be specific) currently on our way to 37,000 feet.
Over the past few weeks, many of you have given me welcomed advise (and a number of you still owe me details mentioned during Electric Zoo…). Thank you! I’ll sort through the details over the next week or two and hopefully plan out the next year in reasonable detail. But don’t let me stop you from sending more travel tips and advise.
Two of you gave me significantly different advise, concerning survival as a party of one while thousands of miles away from everything and everyone I know. Most people don’t think about that side of the journey it seems, even though it provides the largest challenges.
So where does that leave me?
Predictions:
- This trip will change me. I’m going to see more cultures, eat more foods, and experience a variety of peoples exceeding even the most cultured New Yorkers.
- I have not fully comprehended the magnitude of that which I am undertaking.
- Life has a habit of dealing me the best hand when I’m just about done at the table. The last few weeks in NYC were fantastic! And I predict my continually changing locales to help create a world wide web of pretty ladies, couches to crash on, and drinking buddies to last a lifetime.
- I will spend a lot of $ on postage mailing postcards, sending home mementos so I don’t have to carry them, and sending couch surfing hosts thank you gifts.
- I will miss NYC:
- pizza (had 2 slices today)
- coke cola (they have it, but it’s way more expensive and I need to cut back anyway)
- taxi driver abuse, I’m sure to get taken a few times without the ability to call them on their shit.
- anything delivered any time I want. Seamless web, corner bistro burgers with deep fried bacon at 3am, …
- FIOS, damn that was fast Internet. I could download or upload movies faster than I could watch them.
- unlimited interned on my iPhone. I still have to pay for US access (thank you AT&T) but internationally I’ll be limited to 20mb per month (0.66 mb per DAY!) at $25 extra a month. Yikes.
- At least one “holy shit” moment every day.
- I’ll learn a little bit of a few languages. Definitely not enough nor quick enough, but a life worth of language challenges doesn’t change over night.
- The iPhone and the many available apps will prove invaluable.
- NYC will change while I am away:
- a new mayor perhaps…
- 311 will get a website where you can access or even enter tickets.
- some major club will close (ok, that one was easy..)
- the bank of america tower will finally have the windows that blew out in 2008 replaced.
- FIOS will be available in some apartments I’d want to live in.
- I’m going to miss you all…
Time for bed. Day 1 starts in about 5 hours.