Week eight is ending on simultaneous high and low. Travelling alone tends to give one slightly too much time in which to become reflective. In my life at home I craved this time to be alone and reflect; I have always been a pensive person. On the road it has served me well as I’m able to find depth in each activity and interaction. This week the time for reflection also resulted in my first bout of homesickness, sure to be one of many.
The week began with my last breakfast in New York and a bus ride to Washington DC where I’d be spending the rest of the week. The bus ride was relatively short but not a highlight. On arrival in DC I met my host for the first few nights who I had arranged through Couchsurfing. We immediately left to go to a free rooftop networking event, the first of many free events for the week which are in abundance in DC.
Day two I walked from my accommodation in Mt Vernon Square down to the National Mall to check out some of the moments and museums there. DC hosts several Smithsonian museums, which are all free. I started with the Air & Space Museum and had a thoroughly geeky day absorbing all the space facts. The free entry has not diminished the quality of the museum at all and I rated it the highest I’d seen yet. After the museum I met my couchsurfing host in Dupont Circle for pizza before attending another free event. DC has excellent food across the board and a variety of cuisines to rival New York.
A model of the little dude trekking about on Mars
Day three was overcast so I thought it would take that opportunity to go to the Smithsonian Zoo. Despite the hidden sun it was unbearably hot and sadly a lot of the animals were in hiding. After some brief rain though many did come out to play and I got to see cheetahs, meerkats, mongooses, sloths, monkeys, a tiger and even a giant panda. The cheetahs were and always have been my favorite. More pizza and another rooftop with my host ended the day.
Oh hello there
‘Murica
Day four I had to move accommodation since my host was heading out of town. So I checked into a hostel nearby. I really liked the Mt Vernon area – most people walking around were really friendly and the choice of cafes and restaurants is quality. I headed down to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, but it was hard to enjoy. Friday afternoon was probably not the best timing as the crowd restricted my ability to see many of the exhibits. I never enjoyed crowds, so I didn’t stay long. The couchsurfing community in DC is thriving, so I tagged along to one of their events to watch Jazz in the Park, which happens Fridays in summer. It was a chilled out evening and a great way to end the week.
Day five was when it went downhill. No specific event caused it, but a few small things combined with how tired I was and I was feeling very homesick and very unmotivated. While the temptation was to lock myself away and sleep until the feeling passed I knew that was sure only to make it worse. I allowed myself ten minutes to feel horrible, then forced myself out onto a train, then a bus, to visit the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Centre, which forms part of the Smithsonian Air & Space museum. It’s a giant hangar storing hundreds of planes and helicopters from throughout the history of aviation, including the impressive Lockheed Martin SR-71 Blackbird. On top of that they also have the real life Discovery rocket. As if I wasn’t on enough of a high learning about the rocket earlier in the week, here it was in the flesh. I was glad on so many levels I’d been able to rationalise the way I was feeling earlier in the day to get out and enjoy it.
Jetfire!
The day ended with another couchsurfing event at a club in Dupont Circle where they host salsa classes and play latin music into the night. The people in the couchsurfing group are genuine and enthusiastic about everyone having a good time while they’re in DC. A great way to end a day that started so low.
Day six consisted of relatively little, although I did manage to visit Georgetown, recommended to me by nearly everyone as somewhere to visit in DC. It was too hot to enjoy it properly. I struggled on through the heat to visit the Lincoln and war memorials before retiring early to my hostel.
Chesapeake & Ohio Canal in Georgetown
The last day of the week was time to leave DC and fly to Alaska. This was a difficult thing to do. DC was a place where I made real connections with people I’d never met while on my own. I had real conversations about such an interesting range of topics, and enjoyed some of the best food and bars since I left home. It was the moment in which I realised that travelling is not only about the excitement of the next place, the butterflies you get thinking about the plane landing in your next amazing location. It’s also about saying goodbye time and time again. I had prepared for saying goodbye to friends and family at home, and even those I have been visiting along the way. These people are constants in my life. Saying goodbye to another new city which I liked so much in such a short space of time and the people in it was harder in its own way.
The end to the emotional week was landing in Anchorage. The last hour of the plane ride I spent looking out over mountains, glaciers, forest and the bay with my jaw hanging open in disbelief at the beauty of it. Yet another emotional experience at the realisation of a dream to visit this corner of the planet. I spend the next nearly three weeks here and I already know I’ll love it! The timing couldn’t be better as now I have the space to be at peace with the emotional journey of the last week and all that will be ahead of me.
women of the world 