Headed West
On my 29th birthday, I decided to write a list of all the things I wanted to accomplish before 30. One goal I didn’t complete, was to take a train ride across America. It has been something on my bucket list for a while. I just hadn’t found the time. Well two years later, on my 31st birthday I was able to accomplish this goal.
One of the most common, recurring questions I got when I told people about my plans or even as I was on the train was, “why?”
Why do I want to spend 3 days on a train when I can get there in 5 hours by plane? Why would I spend so much extra money to take a train rather than fly? Why was I choosing this route from Chicago to Emeryville?
And honestly, I found it hard to put into words so I decided to write about it.
Reserved ‘me’ time
Hanging out with myself, undisturbed for 3 days is sort of an introvert’s dream… or at least this introvert’s dream. There’s something very appealing about having nowhere to go, nothing to do, but chill and think and muse.
Why now?
After a very busy year — heck a very busy decade, I wanted to reset my clock. I wanted to slow down. I had been going, running, growing, developing, adjusting nonstop and I needed something extreme to force myself off of this treadmill. I hadn’t read a book since the summer, because I was restless and too tired after work. I hadn’t meditated in months. There was always other stuff to do…clean, organize, run errands, decide on decor, build a preso, send an email. I needed to slow down. I needed a place and time with no distractions and no alternative options.
Across America
I wanted to experience the enormity of this continent. Especially since the presidential election, I’ve been feeling like I live in a bubble and really don’t understand the place and people I share this country with. Not only is America humongous in size, but it’s also culturally very different wherever you go. I had this urge to go out and SEE it.
And, honestly, I don’t think I saw enough of it. I barely saw any treeless plains or cornfields (because we rode through them at night ☹️).
Explorers and risk takers
Not only did I want to travel across America, I wanted to travel west across America. I liked the idea of following in our great explorer’s footpaths. Traveling west like so many for the past hundreds of years, not knowing what lay ahead, only knowing it was an adventure and a promise of something better.
Remember ‘Grapes of Wrath’? Yeah, me neither. Not the details anyway. But I do remember how it made me feel and while it sounded depressing and miserable most of the time, it still left me with a sense of possibility. Will you strike it rich by mining for gold? Or will you start a small business? Will you stand for what you believe in?
Traveling to the unknown
Sounds romantic, right? The concept of leaving it all behind to start something new. When you’ve just turned 30 and you’ve spent the past decade building your life, it does sometimes seem appealing to leave it all behind and explore something new…
Maybe it appeals to me because I’ve done it before. When I was 11, my family and I moved from Germany to California, starting at a brand new school, in a different language, knowing no one. When I was in college, I spent a summer working in Italy, learning new skills, knowing no one. When I graduated from college, I moved to the Bay Area, starting a new job, knowing no one in my little town. And, each new experience, the scarier it was, the more rewarding it was.
The Journey
So now that you know why, let me share my train ride wonders. Here are some pics from my window:
My Entertainment Line-Up
When I told people of my plans, the most common response outside of asking why was: Won’t you be bored? My initial response was: you’re not getting it. But, after the 5th response like that, I did make sure I had PLENTY of entertainment lined up. Of course, being the over-prepared person I am, that lead me to have too many things to do and accomplish. Here was my line-up that I recommend oh so much:
📚Michelle Obama’s Becoming
📺 Mrs. Maisel Season 2
🎙Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations
🎙John Legend’s A Legendary Christmas
✏️ Sketching
Spent some time with my notebook trying new things. Some successful, some not so much.
Unexpected Outcomes
On a 3-day train ride, you pretty much have no other choice but to relax and slow down. And, it definitely took time to get to that pace. I don’t think I really achieved peak ‘chilled outness’ until day 3. But, that day I was so relaxed I even stopped myself from doing something relatively productive: writing. I was like, “No!— train is for utter relaxation, I will sit and listen to music, and look out the window for rest of what’s left to completely soak up all this me time.”
Looking out the window was strangely satisfying and almost a kind of meditation. It brought out many different emotions.
One of my best friends joined me halfway through the journey and made it all the more fun — we stared out windows together, talked about relationships, and drank wine. Adding a different kind of mediation to the experience. 😉
Unexpected Encounters
When we first got on the train, our attendant started talking on the intercom, giving a slew of instructions and information. Where the dining cart is, where the viewing cart is, when breakfast, lunch and dinner are served, how to make dinner reservations, the stop schedule, and when we can get off, when we CANNOT get off…
“If you get off, we’ll leave you” …
“Smoking is strictly forbidden on the train at all times” … “if you try to smoke in the bathroom, everyone will know, because the air is circulated, and we will kick you out” …
“fresh coffee brews at 6 am”
and lastly, she proceeded with a speech about the dining cart and shared spaces.
“The train is the great social experiment of our time. You won’t have WIFI, and sometimes no signal. Spend your time having conversations with the people around you. If you are one or two people, you will be sharing a dining table with other guests. Meet each other.”
And while quite commanding in tone, she had a point and I decided to follow her instructions wholeheartedly. I had every meal in the dining cart and met many people.
People who like trains, aka. ‘train-ies’
People who’ve accomplished a lot aka. law degrees from multiple countries
People who are funny, aka. an SNL writer
People who are romantic
People who are lonely
People running away
People running towards
People searching
People like me.
