It's time to move

It is Summer here in America. You can tell it is Summer not by the weather, well not in San Francisco anyway where the winds are chilled and the temperature struggles to reach over 24, but by the sudden huge influx of people in the city and the subsequent price rises of the hostels.

Which for a budget conscious backpacker these are of course not ideal situations. Sigh.

But regardless of finance or population, I just kind of have this strong feeling that now is the right time to leave San Francisco and continue on. I can never quite explain these impulses, this almost psychic link where I just seem to know things, but they are always right thus are not to be ignored.

Besides, Vincent is long gone, Mardy left the other day, and Isabel came back for a few days which was awesome (and a strong reason why I decided to hang around in this city longer than I intended too also) but even she has left for home also, leaving me with no great friends here in the city anymore (which also translates into 'no compeling reason to stay here either').

I truly loved this city from the moment I first arrived, late at night with my parents as we drove over the Bay Bridge after our two day road trip from Las Vegas. I had a great feeling about this place and it truly delivered above and beyond my grandest hopes, allowing me to have some of the best times on this entire trip.

There was the hanging out with Andy in my first few days, then of course the awesome week with Vincent, the amazingly fun hostel pub crawls, becoming friends with Isabel, the Napa Valley wine tour day, living with Mardy on Treasure Island, getting a job as a co-host at the hostel pub crawls, and the hundreds of other little unblogged occurrences that all made this place just so memorable.

But, alas, it is time to leave. I told my 'boss' (from my very loosely based 'hostel pub crawl co-host' job I got the other week) that I was to be leaving, which she was cool with as she knew I was to be on the move soon anyway, and... yep, besides that there wasn't any other loose ends that needed tieing whatsoever.

The true beauty of this trip is the freedom it allows me to flow completely uninhibited, with no one to check in with or anything holding me down.

So where to next? Well during the nearly being homeless for a night or two saga the other week I met the awesome couple James and Millie who told me about a website called HelpX.net where farms, families, hostels or whatever are seeking helpers in exchange for food and accommodation. Sounds pretty cool!

After hours upon hours narrowing down my choices I finally just dove right in and emailed two potential places; one a family about 2 hours East of San Francisco in a mountain town who needs help around their house, whilst the other was a Bed and Breakfast about 4 hours North-West of San Francisco in a small coastal town.

Only the Bed and Breakfast replied (she was highly interested in my 'website building skills' which I may or may not have grossly slightly exaggerated my truthful skill level in my application... let's hope it doesn't come back to bite me!) so I guess come Monday I will be taking the two buses, 7 hour in total commute to a little coastal town in North California called Fort Bragg!

I have absolutely no idea what to expect, if it will even work out, or how long I am to be there. Yikes.

I originally came to America with the sole intention of staying in New York City for as long as I could, with Los Angeles intending to be a one-week max stop over simply to gather myself. You could say things haven't quite gone to plan, ha.

Isabel returns!

Great news! Remember my awesome friend Isabel? The one I had some of the best fun with but who left to go on a mini-trip around America a few weeks ago? Well, she has returned back to San Francisco for two days =)

As soon as she arrived we met up and were off on our first adventure immediately. Our plan? A monster 9 hours of public transport... yay.

The reason for this was because Isabel used to live for a month or so in a town called Santa Cruz, about 1.5 hour by car South of San Francisco. To lighten her carrying load she left a suitcase worth of stuff at the house, intending to pick it up again before her return home to Portugal. Well, today was to be the day that she went to pick it up again. While Santa Cruz is 1.5 hours by car... it is over 4 hours by public transport one way which is not the greatest way to spent a day but as if I could let her go all that way alone, plus I was more than happy to accompany her as I was really happy to see her again.

Two trains, a bus, and 4 and a bit hours later and we had finally arrived in Santa Cruz. It was just meant to be a short stay once there, just a quick grab of her suitcase then head back. But we couldn't leave without lunch of course, which then lead to a 'quick' look at one of Isabel's favourite stores in town, which then without realizing turned into a whole day spent wandering around, cool. Santa Cruz was awesome actually and reminded me of my home town back in Australia quite a bit, it had a very coastal feel to it.

Santa Cruz

We spent at least 2 hours in town, despite knowing there was still another 4 plus hours of public transport waiting for us to return to San Francisco. Yikes! But I was not to worry because despite the combined effort of 9 hours of sitting on trains and buses, it was still just a really awesome day and I had a lot of fun the entire time. I guess the right company makes all the difference =)

The following day we had planned to go see the Golden Gate Bridge as we had both already seen it before but didn't really have have any good, memorable photos of the area. Sounded good to me! The last time we explored the city when Isabel was last here was one of my favourite days, with this one again being no exception.

And the rest of the day was spent shopping for gifts for Isabel's family and friends back home, so that was good. The following day I forget what we did, and then all too quickly it was time for her to leave once more. Although this time was to be for good as she was flying home to Portgual.

I think I have already mentioned how much fun I have had with Isabel as company on my trip over the last few weeks, so I won't repeat myself here yet again. Although suffice to say that she will definitely be high on my list of the great people I have met on this trip, right up there with the memorable friends from Los Angeles like Julia, Lewis, Manuel, Mikael, Jon-Paul and Vanessa, and of course the more recent legends met while in San Francisco, Vincent and Mardy.

I have never thought to visit Portugal or Spain before, but now I think I have a pretty good reason to. One day perhaps =)

Thanks again for everything Isabel!

Mardy, the savior of the nearly homeless!

So as mentioned last week or so I was literally nearly homeless for a while with every hostel in San Francisco being completely booked out for the Friday and Saturday night. Thankfully my new friend Mardy came to my rescue and I have been staying at his apartment ever since. Sweet!

Mardy is from Taiwan and is a video director, originally coming to San Francisco about a month ago to shoot a film clip for a really famous Chinese female singer... cool! I can't find the link for the video, but I watched it and it was actually really impressive. After the video was finished he decided to stay in San Francisco for a while and begin a 2 month English language course.

His apartment (that he is sharing with 3 others) is literally on a tiny island that sits in the bay of San Francisco called Treasure Island. It is awesome! Even cooler simply by the fact that it is called Treasure Island ha!

San Francisco skyline as seen from Treasure Island

I spent over a week at Mardy's place, and looking at the pictures I took during that time it appears we didn't really do much? Which is strange because I remember enjoying every single day immensely. I think it was just one of those times that when you are in good company it doesn't matter what activities or adventures you get up to, it can still be counted as a great time anyway.

Although there was this memorable moment depicted in the photo below:

See that really nice looking motorcycle? Well the big red tour bus came around the corner, clipped the front wheel of the motorcycle ever so slightly... and knocked the motorcycle over! HA! It was insane. The tourists on the bus were taking pictures, the bus driver was freaking out as he tried to pick the bike back up and assess the damage, then the driver tried to drive away but the motorcycle was literally wedged tight between the side walk and the bus so he couldn't move! Hilarious.

Yeah so... other then that, not much happened. We drank beers, cooked dinners at home a lot (to save money), hung out with some new friends we made, had a great dinner and drinks with Mardy's friend Tim and his girlfriend, and yep, that's about it. But seriously, it was an awesome week, we actually are very similar and have a lot in common, plus I thoroughly enjoyed our conversations about cultural differences (he is from Taiwan).

Some market that was on Treasure Island

In return for his hospitality I showed him how to make my legendary toasted sandwhiches (which he thought were brilliant), and spent hours upon hours helping him with his English (he already speaks it well, but needs a few small tweaks here and there). By the end of our time together he was almost starting to sound Australian.

I really can't thank Mardy enough really, so I hope this post will help at least a little. Without Mardy I most likely would have ended up sleeping at the airport for a night or two, yet he was cool enough to offer his place despite the fact that we had met only once before, thus barely really even knowing me. The amount of money I saved by not paying for hostels was immense, and it was awesome to have someone cool to chill out with, especially now that all my previous San Francisco friends have now left.

I had originally planned to stay at his apartment for at least two weeks or more as Mardy was to be staying in San Francisco for another month until his English language course had finished, and he enjoyed having me around. But alas, plans change, and out of no where Mardy got a call from a TV producer in China offering him a really great work opportunity (remember Mardy is a video director). The next day or two were a whirlwind of activity as Mardy tried to finalize the work contract with the producer and book tickets to fly to China immediately. Two days later he was all packed to leave San Fancisco, and I was back to staying in hostels in the city once more. Yikes.

We had an awesome last day. I showed Mardy the computer game Age of Empires 2, a game he enjoyed immensely, so we played that for about 6 hours straight, followed by some final beers in the city. As we were saying goodbye we got talking about the fact that Mardy will be back home in Taiwan in July, 2013, thus I have promised I will visit around that time because he really did make Taiwan sound to awesome to miss out on really.

To mark that exact moment in time I took a photo so I won't forget easily our promise and plans made. A promise I fully intend to fulfill when the time comes!

To-Do: Visit Mardy in Taiwan in July, 2013

He was an awesome friend to have made, easily one of the best on this trip so far, and despite my wish that it didn't have to end so soon I guess it seemed rather fitting to end in this way. San Francisco is becoming far too hectic for my liking actually, hostel prices and the population in the city have skyrocketed over the last week and a bit as America enters their high-season, and with Mardy leaving it essentially leaves me with no good friends in the city now. Plus not to mention the fact that I have now been in this city for 6 weeks! So with all that combined I feel there is a big push from the Universe telling me that it is time for me to move on also. A message that I couldn't agree with more!

Where to next? No idea!

And I will leave you with this hilarious quote from Mardy in where I think he tried to say, in his Taiwanese English, that he was glad that we had met:

"I err... I just wanted to say... like. Umm... you being my friend, it makes me feel really good that you are my friend. Oh man... I don't know how to say that in a cool way. That sounded so awkward... I'm going outside for a smoke"

Haha!

Goodluck, thanks for everything, and I'll see you next year buddy! =D

Mardy and Me in what was meant to be a cool shot of the San Francisco skyline behind us... but the Chinese man who took the photo was terrible ha...

Got my dream job!.. kind of!

So after the ordeal over the last few days where I was literally nearly homeless for a day or two, my new awesome friend Mardy came to my rescue and said I am welcome to stay at his house for a couple of days... win! What a relief that was... to think I nearly ended up sleeping at the airport. Ha!

Come Monday, some good news came my way. So... remember those epic hostel pub crawls that I enjoy so much (here and here)? The ones that I've had an absolutely amazing time at both of them, and where they host a Paper-Scissors-Rock tournament? Well I made friends with the host during my times there, and I am excited to announce that:

I got a job co-hosting the pub crawl!

Basically I'd lead groups of people from one pub to the next, help out, and judge the Paper-Scissors-Rock games, while drinking and talking to people from all over the world! To get paid at the end!

Dream. Come. True!

I was extremely pumped up for my first 'shift'! Even better was Mardy was to be coming also, and I messaged my friend Phil to come too but he never replied.

The night started at 8pm where I met up with the people from my hostel and after making my introductions we were off to the first pub to meet with people from the other hostels. I handled myself confidently and enthusiastically, having no worries or fears about talking to strangers or groups of people, so that kind of rocked. We arrived at the first pub and I met up with the main host of the night, Jackie, who gave me a little hole-punch tool to mark the Paper-Scissor-Rock cards the players were carrying (so we can mark who won and lost). Sweet.

Being the judge of the Paper-Scissor-Rock games, everyone playing obviously had to come talk to me to get their cards stamped after every game (to mark if they lost or won), so with a beer in one hand and the hole-punch in the other I chatted to every single person there, becoming great friends with them all in no time at all. So. Much. Fun! Chatting to people from all over the world was so ridiculously awesome.

Working hard! Cards can't punch holes in themself you know =P

After an hour or so at the first pub it was time to lead everyone to the second. Jackie left the first pub and lead about 25 people to the second pub, but there was about 6 people still finishing drinks so I stayed behind until they finished. Once they had I said for them to follow me, and I started leading them to the next pub... the problem however was that I ... err. I didn't actually know where the next pub was... Ha!

I have been on these pub crawls twice before, but each time I have been drunk and haven't paid any attention at all at where in the city these pubs actually are as I always simply followed the crowd!

The people behind me happily followed along, laughing away, completely obviously to me walking with the map out in front of me trying to figure out where the hell we are meant to be going. I called Jackie and she told me the address... I was at least on one of the roads I needed so that was good. We keep walking, but I just could not find the cross-street I was after... this is bad. I honestly contemplated purposely losing the people who were following me by silently slipping away in a large crowd so I didn't have to turn to them and say "err... yeah... I kind of don't know where we are meant to be going".

As we were standing at yet another set of lights waiting to cross the road with still no hope of finding the next pub in sight, I decided that yep... I have to ditch these people.

There was a large crowd just on the other side of the road that looked perfect for me to silently slip away in without the group following me noticing where I had gone. This wasn't one of my most proudest moments I admit, but it was better than admiting to them that I was lost!

The lights turn green... the group is laughing and chatting away and barely even notice that we are free to walk. Good, with them destracted it will help my escape. I quicken my walking pace to gain some distance away from them... I am just about standing next to the crowd of people I hope to blend in with when suddenly... I bump into my friend Phil!

"Phil! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!? Man am I glad to see you! Do you know where the second pub on the pub crawl is!?" I scream in his face in the space of 0.3 seconds.

"Yeah man that's where I am heading now, I seen your message on Facebook so was going to meet you up with you guys. It's just here."

How relieved I was!

It turns out that I was literally standing on the cross-street I needed and simply needed to turn my head left about 3 stores along and I would have seen where we were meant to go... I was about to walk straight past it without noticing! I followed Phil, and my group behind me followed us both, and we all arrived at the second pub. Phew! Jackie gave me a big thumbs up and a "thank you" for leading the stragglers for her, with everyone (including Jackie and the group of people following me) completely obviously to the fact that I literally just tried to escape them to leave them to their own ha!

The rest of the night was an absolute blast! People bought me beers, I continued to meet some really cool people, and I chatted to Mardy and Phil when I had some free time. Great stuff. I got pretty hammered by the end but did somehow continue to do my job, so that rocked. At my suggestion I even got the crowds to chant to Jackie "Aaron is doing a really awesome job and deserves to work every week!" haha!

At the last club I helped out with the Paper-Scissor-Rock finals, then grabbed some late night pizza with Mardy, and at 2am the club closed its doors and it was time to go home.

Now that was an absolutely legendary night!

And at the end of it all? I got paid! I had just had one of the most fun nights in my entire trip and had actually made money doing it... that's the dream!

Definitely a highlight of the trip for sure.

The accommodation saga - Part two

The story continues from yesterday where after initially thinking I was to be staying at Phil's house for the whole week I suddenly find my plans completely in shambles and was struggling to find accommodation at the San Francisco hostels for Friday and Saturday night. There still appears to be absolutely no rooms available in any hostel.

I awoke this morning to faltering faith on what this day will bring. We begin 9.30am Friday.

In an effort to save money I decided to wake up early so I could take advantage of my hostels free pancakes in the morning. I pulled myself out of bed and stumbled my way to the kitchen... it was packed... and they ran out of pancake mixture before my turn came up. Today was not starting well.

A cursor for how the rest of the day may go perhaps?

James, Millie and I checked out of our current hostel. They had another hostel booked that they were to be staying at for the next few days, and I obviously still had no where to go so I just hung around the hostel, using their Wi-Fi. I gave a (hopefully) heartfelt thank you to James and Millie as they left, without them my previous night would have been miserable. They said they were spending the day at a sports bar to watch the Euro Cup 2012 (soccer) and said if I sort my accommodation out in time, I should go meet them there at midday.

We shall see...

I spent the next hour debating with myself on what the hell should be my next move to sort this situation out. As of this moment I am literally stranded with no accomodation for the following two night.

Suddenly, I envision my first plan!

The airport...

If I have no where to stay, I was going to sleep at the airport. It isn't great, but it will do.

Let's call that... Plan G, and try and think of better alternatives before it gets to that stage. My options that I could think of were, in order of preference:

Plan A: Keep checking the hostel booking website and see if something comes up
Plan B: Hopefully get a reply from one of the very many couch surfing requests I sent out
Plan C: Send messages out to all my new San Francisco friend's who have their own accomodation (there is only about... 2 or 3 of them...)
Plan D: Walk around to each hostel and ask them if they have room (that often works I am told)
Plan E: Don't have one, but I refuse to have 'the airport' as my number 5 preference...
Plan F: See Plan E
Plan G: The airport. Seriously if I end up here, it will be a new low for this trip... ha!

I had already initiated Plan A, B and C, and had nothing left to do but wait and hope for them. Plan D I should probably do immediately if I have any chance of it working. Time was of the essence! I spent about an hour in limbo, waiting for something to happen, wondering what I should do.

James and Millie's words ring through my head "we are going to be in a pub having a beer"...

Hmm... walk around to each hostel asking if they have rooms, potential solving this dilema... or go have some beers in the middle of the day with two new friends and risk missing a window of opportunity to get a room for the night and end up stranded?..

...

...

...

...

10 minutes later I find James and Millie at the pub =D

First round is on me guys!

I am an extremely optimistic guy. It is a huge fault of mine but also one of my greatest qualities. Something was bound to come up, I just knew it, so I happily sat with James and Millie and enjoyed a few beers while watching the soccer. These two rocked and we had an awesome time. An hour went by and still nothing, and I am wondering where the hell has Phil got to? I messaged him explaining my situation, but I haven't heard anything from him at all. I thought we were friends...

Ah well, all good, something is bound to present itself I'm sure of it.

Another hour went by and it was nearing 2.30pm by this stage. If I wanted Plan D to work I'd better get a move on, but I was having too much fun so I figured I'd do it later. Despite keeping a brave face in front of James and Millie, I admit I was getting slightly worried by this stage. The airport was starting to look pretty likely...

Suddenly, I get a call... it's Mardy! Remember Mardy? Probably not! He is some guy I meet in my hostel room who I invited to come to the hostel pub crawl last week with Isabel and I. I barely knew the guy to be honest but when you are in a bind then any help you can get is welcomed. What's this? He says he would be happy to have me stay at his appartment! ARE YOU KIDDING ME! How does this luck happen!?

Problem solved!

The luck involved in all of this is unreal, what if I hadn't met Mardy (highly likely), or if I hadn't invited him to the pub crawl as it was only on a whim that I did (and that is where we first talked the most... well enough to warrant a Facebook friend request that is), or what if Mardy hadn't gone and got this apartment (also extremely likely, he only got it because he made friends with the owner by chance).

And the best part? His apartment is literally on a tiny island in the bay of San Francisco... called Teasure Island! Ha!

Absolute life saver!

With all the pressure off it was time to enjoy the day. With James and Millie we explored the city a little, James and I won a t-shirt in a golf putting competition, and we had some cake. I really wish I had met them much sooner, for they were to be leaving for Las Vegas the following day. Ah well, again I am reminded of the curse of travel.

Thanks guys! You couldn't have entered my life at any more of an opprtune moment then you did =)

So out of no where, despite all despair, a solution presented itself. I am going to enjoy my time on Teasure Island and really just take it one day at a time.

The accommodation saga - Part one

With Phil, Mitch and Isabel now gone I was pretty bummed that last week had ended, and kind of refrained from talking to anyone and simply enjoyed my own company for a while at the same time too. Eventually after four days of complete solitude I decided it was time to emerge from my catacomb of despair and get moving again. Awesomely Phil offered that I could stay at his house for a couple of days, something I was highly appreciative of. For one it would be fantastic to hang out with Phil and Mitch again, and secondly the amount of money I would save would be substantial.

This is going to be great!

It was a welcome sight to see these two guys, Phil was great and made me feel at home. That night we were all going to go to see a baseball game, cool.

Watching the SF Giants versus... some other team

I still didn't think it was any more fun than the last time I went to a game... but it was fun with the right company.

That night things took a turn for the worse. It was Tuesday night and Phil had said I was welcome to stay in his apartment for a week so that's what I figured I'd be doing for the week. This however was only possible because Phil was of the understanding that his yet to arrive housemate wasn't due for another two weeks. Yeah... we found out later that night that she was to now be arriving the following day, yikes! Sigh... time to leave already.

Finding hostels at the last minute can be tricky so first thing Wednesday morning Mitch and I were busy trying to book hostels. Found places for Wednesday and Thursday but could not for the life of me find a place for Friday or Saturday night. Hmm... this will be interesting. Phil said he would talk to this new roommate once she arrived and see if it would be alright if I come stay just Friday and Saturday night at least.

Cool, that sounds positive.

Thursday arrived and I was fairly confident that Phil would message me any moment to let me know that me staying Friday and Saturday night would be fine (I wouldn't think me sleeping on the couch for a night or two would be a big deal). Strangely during the day I had a huge epiphany as I suddenly realized that I don't have to stay in San Francisco whatsoever and am literally free to move elsewhere whenever I please if I either don't like it here anymore or if things get too tough. It was very refreshing, almost as if I had forgotten that I am not bound to San Francisco in any way. It got me thinking, maybe it is time to move on? We shall see.

Yeah... Thursday night Phil sends me a message saying "sorry, but you can't stay over"

Whyyyyy....

I now didn't have any accommodation booked for the following two nights, with the hostel booking website telling me that every hostel in San Francisco is completely booked out... sigh. This was easily one of the worst holes I have dug myself into on this entire trip.

And to top all of this off? My self cooked dinner turned into easily one of the worst things I have ever cooked in my entire life. It was ridiculous. How anyone manages to stuff up throwing together egg noodles with capsicum, onions and tomato is beyond me, but somehow I managed. The noodles tasted like glue and they stuck together like glue too... and I for some reason boiled enough noodles for I think the entire hostel.

Now I was stressed and hungry!

I decided to sign up for CouchSurfing.org because I was running out of options, sending out literally about 15 requests for housing. And I sent another message to Phil saying basically I am stuck and if he could somehow reconsider his previous refusal then that would be great. Nay, not great, but life-saving! Then after all that I re-checked the hostel booking website incase something had opened up... something had! But it was $50 for the night... sigh, that will be Plan B.

Hang on... how is that Plan B? I don't even have a Plan A!

As I was typing up this very post actually, two new people walked into my hostel room... oh great, I was enjoying being alone where I am free to yell and curse at my computer as much as I please.

It is a couple... they say hi.

"Hey..." I mumble back in reply. Not in a rude way, but not in a conversation inviting way either.

The girl doesn't get the hint and tries to keep talking anyway, asking me a bunch of questions. I answer them without much thought... it was the same set of questions I have been asked literally hundreds of times by now "Where are you from?" "What brings you to America?".

Sigh...

I was obliged to ask questions in return. They answer, making me laugh a little with their replies, cool. Actually, no, not cool. This is no time for laughing! This is a serious time reserved for sitting at my laptop in a foul mood, sending CouchSurfing requests and stalking the hostel booking website!

The guy goes to the bathroom and the girl starts her question asking again. I answer them and turn back to my computer, eager to return to my grumbling ways. But I paused to think for a moment and I realized something... "these guys are way friendlier then the usual traveler". I had decided they were awesome.

Me to her "Ha, I have to say, you guys are much friendlier then most of the people I meet"

She laughs. "Oh, are people in San Francisco not nice or something?"

Me: "No no, everyone I meet are usually great, but you two just seem more friendly then most. Especially despite my less than jovial mood."

The guy returns, I decide to stop being an ass and make an effort to chat to them. My assumption was correct, these two rocked =D

Their names were James and Millie, a young couple from England whom have already traveled to Australia and New Zealand and were now on their American leg of their trip, very cool! They were indeed two of the nicest people I have yet to meet on my entire trip and talking to them was just so casual and down to earth, it was extremely refreshing and the perfect distraction from my predicament.

Not for one moment did I think that this day was going to end on even remotely a high.

During our talks they told me of a website called HelpX where farms, motels, and even families who require your help will offer accommodation and food in exchange. It was just earlier this very day too that I had had the thought that maybe it is time to move on from San Francisco... maybe this is my next move? The place I am meant to be?

It was now well past midnight and I knew that there was to be a tough day ahead for me with still no accommodation lined up, so it was time to sleep.

Will see what happens in the morning I guess... the story continues here.

Avoiding the world, looking for jobs

Our wine tour of Napa Valley yesterday was ridiculously amazing and really capped off an absolutely incredible week here in San Francisco, with Isabel being there for all the best moments. After all the fun I've had over the week with her however, it is time for her to leave. Sigh. She isn't going home just yet at least and will be instead traveling around America for a few weeks before returning back to San Francisco temporarily before flying back home to Portugal. Still, it sucks regardless. We hung out on her last day, having lunch with some friends of hers who were visiting the city, followed by a surprisingly fun time while doing laundry in the evening.

All too soon it was suddenly 5pm. I helped carry her bags to where the bus was to be picking her up, said my goodbyes, forgot all the stuff that I wanted to say like I always do when I say goodbye to people, wished her all the best, gave her a very big hug, and walked away.

And that was that. The days ahead already feeling darker.

I will see her again in a few weeks at least which is something to look forward to. Granted if I am to still be here by then, who knows? With her gone it does change my position here in San Francisco somewhat, because in addition to Isabel leaving there is Phil who is now living in his apartment across the bay in Berkeley, with Mitch staying with him for the week too, thus it seems I am back to being on my own once more.

It has been quite some time since I was last on my own actually, it somehow never ever seems to last long. When my parents left me (over a month ago now... wow, I've been here a month!) I traveled into downtown San Francisco and met Brendan and Andy within my first two days. Both of whom I ended up having a great few days with. Then amazingly the very night that Andy was to leave and I was to be alone again is when I met Vincent, and we all know how awesomely that turned out. Then almost like clockwork just as Vincent was about to leave is when I met Isabel, Phil and Mitch, resulting in one of the best weeks of my entire trip.

Three weeks of constant amazing company with irreplaceable memories and experiences. It truly was a whirlwind of adventure.

But with all those people now gone I am back to being on my own, although this time it is by choice. I haven't exactly been all smiles and great conversations the last few days since Isabel left, instead opting to keep my head and voice down while in the common areas and spending hours sitting on my laptop either in the confines of my room or at my day time hideaway; the Starbucks around the corner that has Wi-Fi. To, you know... look for jobs like I am meant to be doing.

I know something will come up any moment, as it always seems to do almost magically this entire trip, but for now I am happy to continue to keep my head and voice down and simply enjoy my own company.

I've mentioned this countless times before, although I think I summed it up best in this post here, but it truly has been, and always will be, the people I meet that make my time spent on this trip worthwhile. Kings Canyon, the Grand Canyon, atop the Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles, were all absolutely amazing places and an experience in their own right of course, yet it has always been because of the people around me that makes this trip so memorable. All the funny jokes, the great stories of peoples' interests and experiences in life, the rounds of beer at the pub, the exploring of city streets, the countless happenings that go on behind the scenes.

It wouldn't be so bad if I myself was on the move, but with me staying in the one place for so long (San Francisco for the time being) it makes it appear worse. A revolving door of people walking into your life, changing it, then walking out again as freely as the wind.

But with all that said, I would like to say a big thank you to Isabel for becoming one of the greatest additions to my San Francisco adventure. I very much look forward to her return in a few weeks time, although I honestly have no idea what I will be doing, or where I will be by then, or even if I will even still be in the city. I can't even tell you what I will be doing in three days time to be honest.
This trip is an adventure and is truly an experience of the unknown, and I must treat it as such.