Entry #1: Escaping the Everyday

 

There isn’t much in my life that I do strictly for me. I work 40 hours a week, I work hard in school, and I have many social and familial responsibilities to take care of as well. Honestly, even a good majority of the media I consume is for the sake of being able to talk about it with my friends. So, what is it that I do solely for me? Socializing, sure, I do love spending time with and talking to others, but that isn’t much of a hobby, now is it? The next best option then is traveling.

Although many of my trips have been to go see people who’ve moved away, or with a friend, I still make the intention of my trips to be that I go for the sake of me, to go have fun somewhere and escape my everyday life here in Arizona. In fact, I prefer to go on trips with friends, as it gives me the ability to fall back on someone else’s suggestions and opinions if I find myself not knowing what to do next.

My first solo trip: September 2022. I had recently gotten back in contact with an old friend who had moved away to Los Angeles, and we were talking everyday for about several months. One night, on a call together, she said to me: “Would you want to go to a concert with me? There’s-” and without letting her finish her sentence I butted in excitedly squealing that I’d love to. She laughs and asks, “You don’t wanna know who’s performing?” And, honestly, I didn’t care. I knew she had good music taste so it wouldn’t be something lame like Weezer or Radiohead, but I don’t think I cared much about if it was them anyways. And, without ever having been a fan of Drain Gang, I agreed to go see them live in another state later that year. I planned an entire trip around it. And it changed my life. I soon began aiming to plan my own trips once or twice a year, making sure I made them a priority as I needed that escape from daily life.

Escaping the everyday-life is extremely important, and I encourage everyone else to try and do the same! Planning to travel can be scary, but there are many ways around every fear someone might have.

The most common fear is the method of transportation. Some people are afraid of flying, others of driving long distances, and some are afraid of both. One option many people may not be aware of is the Greyhound bus, a long distance bus that is not only cheaper than a flight, but is also usually cheaper than the price of gas would be to drive somewhere yourself. For example, if I were to schedule a trip right now to Los Angeles from Phoenix, the price one-way would be cheaper than a single gas tank fill-up.

Screenshot taken from the Greyhound official website 

The only downside, as seen in the image above, is that the time it takes to get there is a bit longer, but in my opinion it is a good option for new travelers who are scared to take the first step.

Another option for new travelers, if they don’t have local friends in the area they want to go, is to look for travel guides near wherever you choose to stay. For example, I was headed to a concert at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles. So I looked for what to do in that area and within a range of about an hour or two travel time away. Using the online guide Discover Los Angeles, I found information about not only the immediate area of Los Angeles but nearby locations as well. One such location being Santa Monica Pier, as described by them in their guide as “a full service amusement park, combined with plenty of restaurants, bars, and souvenir shops, as well as an entertaining arcade with more than 200 games” (Discover LA). Without knowing the area, I may have never realized such an option was so close, let alone worth going to see.

Image on the Discover Los Angeles page about Santa Monica Pier

In the end, no one is going to plan your trip for you, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t resources available to take that step! It’s important to get away from the everyday life that binds you to your responsibilities every once in a while, so I encourage anyone who hasn’t yet to take that first step, even if it’s somewhere close like a city or state away, it’s still very much so worth doing. And if you have, don’t stop after just one trip. Where would you go? Where would you go after that? The world is a big place, so get out there and explore it!