#30DaysByRail

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Running Out Of Time. Running Out Of Resources.

Time leaves us so quickly during times of fun, fear and excitement. This trip has flown by with all of the time talking with new people, learning a new area, navigating the transit systems, figuring out the next destination, blogging, reaching out to people, experiencing all that a place has t ok offer and more. Today it feels as though things are just beginning although they are beginning to come to a close.

The second time where I have taken time off of work that was completely non work related. The first time with extended time off. The time off will have totaled more than 30 days. Taking 38 days off from running Concord Martial Arts and 30 days from my other job with Duprey Service Companies.

As frugal as you can be traveling, at some point you have to return to work. The last few days have been interesting as my resources continue to dwindle. For a first time experience, it feels like a success. To make it for that amount of time without having a regular schedule is pretty weird. The question crosses your mind often while on the road, what skill sets do I have where I could work remotely and make travel a constant lifestyle.

All aboard!

[mcashion-blog]

Diversity. HI NYC Hostel. Central Park.

Walking outside of Penn Station was a cool feeling. It was like running into a wall of excitement. People were everywhere. Movement all over. Somewhere to go. Fun to be had. Culture all over. Every person was rocking their own style. There is such a wide range of diversity.

This is something that much of NH has little if any at all. From different languages to different interests to different dress and interests. I could have sat in front of Penn Station for hours just taking it all in, watching people, listening to conversations and randomly talking with people as they walked by. Awesome.

Now it was time to figure out where to stay and how to get there before it got too late. That was part of the reason for skipping the trip to Washington, DC. With it being the day after one of the biggest holidays in NY, it was not going to be easy or cheap to find a place to stay. Couch surfing was out of the question because it was too last minute.

On the train I searched local Marriott Hotels to see if I could use my employee discount there for a decent deal... That was a joke. Non of the 10+ Marriott Hotels in the city gave a decent enough rate. The employee rate couldnt even beat the rates that Hotel Tonight was offering for basic, hip and lux hotels. Then it was on to search for local hostels. My favorite hostels overall have been the chain of hostels under the name Hostel International. They have great ammenities and are consistently nice places to stay for realy cheep or reasonable money.

When I got off the train, I headed to the subway to get off at 103 W Street. It was a tiny bit confusing at first. But then I asked someone if I was going in the right direction and they educated me on "uptown" meaning increasing street number and "downtown" meaning decreasing street number. Now all was good in the world.

Before I knew if, I was walking out of the subway, took a left and there was a massive hostel with blinking lights along the railings leading inside. Hopeful that they had space, I walked in. The woman at the front desk was 100% wonderful. They didnt really have enough space for me, which was fine. There are always other options but this was where I really wanted to crash for the night. She jumped through hoops and found me a room. I am so grateful!

This hostel was top notch. They had nice rooms, nice staff, cool location, a fully stocked cafe, comfortable places to chill, close proximity to central park and the metro and etc. Finally a full night of rest. When I am back in the area to visit, I will be crashing here again if I dont end up couchsurfing.

An evening walk near central park and then a long walk through the park the following day, wow. Central Park is just absolutely beautiful. People have a large appreciation for the open space here in this dense city. A sense of appreciation that we dont have in NH. Since they have so little open green space, they value it. In NH we have so much of it that we take it for granted.

People from all walks of life use the park to relax, play, walk, run, cycle and enjoy. It is amazing how many people spend time in this park. Time flys by quickly in Central Park as the land area is really large. The park is so clean and well maintained for the amount of usage that it gets. New Yorkers really care about this space and it is easy to see.

All of my time spent in NY to this point has been enjoyable and at no point have I not felt safe. There are so many people around. Everyone is focusing on what they are doing. Trouble doesnt seem to find you unless you are looking for it. That might just be in the areas that I have been in so far. What a place!

There is no doubt in my mind that I will be back to NYC sometime soon for a visit.

[mcashion-blog]

Trying not to do work. Returning to reality. Comfortable in our own skin.

This doesnt seem to be the case for everyone. Some find it difficult not to work during down time, away time, vacation time and/or etc. I have struggled not to work on things for the dojo, for professional development, for organizations I volunteer with and etc. One thing I did to deter myself from consuming all of this sabatical with normal day-to-day stuff has been to shut off push email on my phone and to let phone calls go to voicemail.

Even with trying to keep the desire at base, the addiction is tough to fight. Our culture really pushes the idea of being in a constant state of work. It feels like you are a total slacker if you are not working. So I have replaced that work time with hand writing journal entries, working on blog posts and making it a point to explore new places each day.

The idea of returning to the daily grind is exciting and sad at the same time. I am excited to see my students, excited for a regular full schedule that I have more control over, excited to reconnect with friends and the community, excited to share the experiences/stories and to have my own personal space again. With all of these exciting things, accompany the sadness that I will not be surrounded by large amounts of new young people each day, new places to explore, learning how to navigate a new place, the new connections to completely new people, the constant challenge, the changing environment, the mass amounts of art and creativity, the access, large number of options that each city has available and the great transit infrastructures.

Everyone(both young & old) I have spoken with over the course of this journey has expressed some concern about not being happy in their own skin or life. Some people really do struggle and have valid reasons but why is it that all of us are unhappy with ourselves… From body weight, career progress, salary amount, facial features, physical fitness, education, location, relationships, travel experiences, company and etc. Be the person you want to be and be happy with it. If not, change.

This is a weird topic that came up while talking with the person sitting next to me on the train. We talked for over two hours. For some reason, we swapped stories and I opened up a bit. After listening for a bit, he was wondering why I wasnt happy with myself. His comment kind of took me by surprise… But I just let it sink in for a while.

Does it really matter what your accomplishments, awards and recognitions are, if you arent happy in your own skin?

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Time is running out. Decisions. Where to with these last days.

The time off is quickly coming to an end. It feels like I just got started. Maybe it is that I am just getting comfortable with train travel, planning, packing, exploring and couchsurfing. Since leaving Denver we have been on the train 24 hours. Plenty of that time has been spent evaluating where to go with these last few days.

Initially the plan was to be in Washinton, DC tomorrow then go to Philadelphia then to New York before finishing the journey back in Boston on Monday or Tuesday. With 5+ hours of delays, my mind is wandering to a warm climate and a flight back to Boston…

As we get closer to Chicago, the Amtrak Crew have been talking of different options for use who missed our connection… They have talked of rerouting me to New York then to Washington, DC with a really late evening or early morning arrival on Friday. Both of which are not ideal for me. Both for safety reasons and for the respect of my hosts in the area. They have also mentioned Amtrak providing a hotel room and then rerouting in the morning to Washington, DC…

Miami is sounding pretty good right now… Unfortunately there really arent much for options tonight… Hopefully they set me up with a room for the night and then to Washington tomorrow. The Amtrak Crew has been really great to work with today. I am hopeful that Amtrak Guest Services is also really great to work with.

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California Zephyr. Talking with Mom, Brother & Sister. All I want for Christmas is a shower. This train ride has been the best train ride since I left Boston. The views from Sacramento to Denver are very beautiful. The train goes through sunny California, into the mountains, around Lake Tahoe, through snow capped mountains, into the desert, and everything in between. It is a gorgeous view the whole way. It is very tranquil. The funny thing is, myself and many others have flown over these areas a number of times and never really took in how beautiful it really is. Yesterday I was lucky enough to quickly see mom, Wade and Ashley on a google Hangout. Afterwards we talked over the phone before losing service. It never ceases to amaze me how we all can sense someone elses smile on the other end of the phone. There is no refusing the smile, it will cause you to smile. My Christmas gift was just hearing their voices and all of the excitement in the background. With the Christmas Holiday being yesterday, I started singing in my head, all I want for Christmas is a shower. Long distance travel by train is comfortable but the one thing that I really miss on these long train rides is a shower. This trip from Portland to Denver is a 52 hour journey. Train layovers are not like a layover at SFO or ATL ariports where you can pay for a shower or lounge visit with shower and spa services. During the layover at the Sacramento Amtrak Station I researched local gyms around the Sacramento area. There are many, but none that were open on Christmas. So grabbing a workout and a shower was not going to happen. This is definitely a "First World Problem". Before this trip, I did not appreciate the fact that I can shower whenever I want at home. I have ample amounts of clean water to clean myself with. I have a clean area to clean up in. I have space.

[mcashion-blog]

Where are you. Public spaces. Recharge.

Yesterday my new friend Mike showed me how to see where I have been over the last 30 days with Google Maps. I knew that Google, Swarm/Foursquare and the other million apps that I use track my location but did not know how to pull up the information. You can see a few of the screen shots of a 1 day, 3 days, 7 days and 30 days. There are many data points for every change of location where my phone was connected. It is really cool to see that data points from riding the train, light rail, cycling and walking.

Every place that we visit has open public space that we seem to find enjoyment in. This also reminds us of the open public spaces that we have in our home city or town. We take these spaces for granted when we are going through our usual day to day activities. Either we just walk by without stopping for some quiet enjoyment or we ignore them because we see them as a "homeless hot spot". They open public spaces are community spaces and are going to be diverse. Take some time and enjoy these spaces at home and away. As much I as really enjoyed Pioneer Square in Portland, it makes me miss Eagle Square and Bicentennial Square in Concord. Maybe someday there will be a light rail stop and a more diverse population in Concord like Portland(One can dream).

Exploring all day is really cool but my smartphone gets heavy use and the battery does not last. My body also appreciates a few restroom breaks throughout the day. This can be problematic when you are trying to be really cheep. This is because every place that offers a restroom and outlets for use, only allows for use if you are a customer. My days are mapped out around two visits to Starbucks. They have locations all over and my starbucks rewards card makes it well worth it. In a way I am sad to say that I haven't been hitting up more local places for coffee but this is the only dependable restroom stop and battery recharge station everywhere. They are also easy to find.

Are public restrooms a myth?

[mcashion-blog]

Holiday Travel. Slept In. Everything Works Out. To be completely honest, when deciding to take the month off, purchase a 30 day rail pass and travel I didnt factor in holiday travel. Maybe I was being foolish in thinking that not many people take the train versus fly or drive to get to their holiday destination. Well I certainly have learned a lesson. Over the weekend I began looking for a ticket to my next destination and most everything was sold out(for days) except for a ticket that would send me backwards to my second destination. If I dont jump a train soon my love of Seattle is going to continue to escalate and I will never go home :-) After a 15 minute strategy session with an Amtrak Ticket Agent, we decided I would take the train to Portland and then directly to Chicago where I could grab a train to Denver. We booked the ticket for this morning at 7:30 AM. Last night in the hostel. Everything is packed. I have a plan. Well that changed... As many of us know from our dorm room experiences in college we are at the mercy of our fellow room mates. My room mates for the night were not anywhere near ready to call it a night. The gentleman on the bottom bunk was chatting with me about how he would be up early making noise. He would be rising at 3 AM to catch his flight to SFO. That was fine with me because I needed to get up early to catch the train. It took a while to get to sleep as everyone was awake with the lights on after 11 PM. Then it was 3 AM and my fellow traveler from France got up to get ready. I heard him and new that I should also get up and get ready for the train.... You know what happened next. I fell back asleep and missed my train to Chicago... :-( Over breakfast, I was reflecting on my lack of planning once again. Somewhat agravated with myself for missing the train. skimming my social media and thinking about what to do for the day or next three since I wasnt sure what to do. Then I noticed an introduction that my friend Tori made following my post "Does anyone know anyone that wouldnt mind having a visitor crash on their couch in Portland, OR?" Before I knew it, I had a place to stay in the Portland area with a wonderful family. My network of friends is beyond awesome and continues to expand every day. I guess it is off to Portland for a couple of days. Life is good. Onward :-)