Post 10: A new way of traveling

After a day of figuring out what we were gonna be doing the following next 3 weeks, my friend and I decided to leave to Key West. We both had the everglades on our lists too which is on the way down to the Keys.

Our first day of walking was mild on the level of distance. The 25 km walk took us to the coast in order for us go further down to Miami during the next few days. As we started my shoulders were killing me. The heavy backpack was not really helpful either. So I wanted a solution and there it was laying under a bench at a bus stop. We had a new shopping cart! :D we drove it all the way till the end thru the rain and without a host for that night. When we arrived at our destination we kept on sending requests. My friend made it clear he didn't want to sleep in a tent and I didn't want to pay for a hotel. So no other solution but to trust the CS community. After an hour or so finally someone accepted. He agreed on picking us up and taking us to his place 40 min back up north (meaning our walking distance didn't really have point but the beautiful views and the adventure). We stayed for 2 nights on the floor since he didn't have ANY furniture :p haha! But it was a carpet floor which made it just soft enough.

Since we lost some time due to this unexpected delay our only solution  was to hichhiking. Our host dropped us of near a highway. It was our lucky day! We made our cardboard signs with direction and it took us less than 5 minutes to catch a first ride. And oh yes it was a hospitality guy :D Ooh yes he also worked for Marriott! Haha Ritz-Carlton en plus! So we ended up talking, he gave his card and I might be able to get an internship with him! Cuz of course he was not just an employee, he was a big ass manager :D hahah! When we got out of his car he gave us 10 dollars extra for our trip. Crazy! 

The next ride was even more unbelievable. The man had 10 restaurants, a contraction company and a law firm. He took us all the way down and payed us lunch (FB). He dropped us of at around 18 km from our destination. Again a hospitality guy, I'm sensing a pattern here.. we needed 1 ride more to our destination. A good 10 min after lunch a Spanish guy stopped. He was a priest with a heart of gold. All these great people, my friend couldn't believe his eyes. "it's the power of the mind and law of attraction my friend". I'm glad I could show him how it worked. The priest dropped us right at the porch of our next host and gave another 20 dollars. This, I must admit, was a very interesting day. Again we had all the great people although Miami is really not the safest place on earth. People along the road told us we were crazy for doing this. I couldn't care less. I know I am anyways :D haha!

The new host, Andrea/Andy, felt pretty damn good! Both Simon and I had the best time with that girl. We went for Karaoke, played a few card games (cards against humanity), she took us to a shooting range and gave us a tour in the everglades! Fantastic! Her boyfriend wanted to drop us off at the beginning of the keys. After that the rides were pretty easy and fast to catch. So damn nice and awesome feeling that gave us. Our first ride (3 Polish guys) took us to a sort of port where you could feed huge fish by holding your hand above the water with same bait. The fish than grabs your hand and gets the fish. Haha! Pretty damn scary if you ask me! Hahaha I wanted one of those rediculous pictures where you pretend eating the fish yourself. Hmm the part I wasn't taking into account was that the seageals where hungry too.. so I held the fish in front of my mouth and ooooh yes. There it was. The huge monstrous bird, at least it felt like that, flew straight up my face and grabbed the fish! Hahahaha!! Man I'm very happy that action is not caught on camera! :D

Hop to our next ride! The pick up truck! :D he passed us and turned around, told us to jump in the back and bought us both a burger and beers. Oh man! So many great people, other human beings refuse to open their eyes and take note of them too :). When we got to Key West, about 200 miles from where we took off, we stayed with a girl again. After an hour or 2 she came up to me and said: "I have very bad news but you have to leave". Haha! Unbelievable! Her roommates weren't aware of us coming over and didn't want any strange people in the house. So at 11:30 PM she kicked us out. I felt pretty good actually. As the first reaction of my friend was:"where is the closest hotel",  mine was: "oh yes a night on the beach!!". So we went to beach sleeping on the tent, since we preferred seeing the stars. It was a terrible night in the way of sleeping but the most beautiful one on any other level! Just wauw!!

I found a new host before coming here so we made contact and he agreed on hosting us. After a long walk we finally got to his place. He is a 38 year old man who drove us to the supermarket while we were talking about our trip. He knew about our budget and told we should rent bikes in order to really explore key west. He ended up paying for the bikes with a huge smile on his face just because he wanted us to have a great time! This trip has been with only ups and very few downs. All of which taught me various things and I'm very grateful I had the chance to experience all this, especially at my age. Thank you all for this and thank you mother for finding it in your heart to letting me :).

There's probably gonna be 1 more post when I'm back. My last week and god it went so fast! I have absolutely no regrets and my trip has been everything I had wished for! :) wishing you all luck with a smile! Have a great week!

Greets,
Lenn

Post 9: I'm in Miami bitch!

James was willing to host me and agreed on picking me up from the airport in Fort Lauderdale. Very friendly guy that housed me for 4 nights. Together with 1 other CS we went to bars and took turns to make food every night. After my little adventure in the Caribbian I wanted to make some money. Since I had to wait for my friend to fly in from Belgium I had all the time in the world. I could use James' bike to go look for jobs but without success. On my way back to his place I wanted to try 1 more and bam! Bike stolen... haha! Jesus! They cut the chain and took off.. I felt horrible and so damn guilty! didn't know what to tell him but had plenty of time to think about that while I was walking back home for the next 2 hours, haha! :p

James took it really well! He was laughing about it and told me it ok. Such things happen here all the time, unfortunately. Give this guy a medal! I don't know about you but I don't know a lot of people that would give me that reaction. Anyways on our last night we went for a beer, or 10 :p. During my trip I was never as drunk as that night. I won big time from him playing an American game, he kept on buying me beers and I wanted to do something back. So on our way home we passed a pizza joint that seemed open. It was already 11:30 PM so on a sober day I wouldn't even have tried, but conveniently this kitchen help came out and I asked him for a pizza. They were sold out and kept on talking to the guy resulting in 2 free pizzas! Hahah!! He probably just wanted to get rid of us, but we ended up with free food.

It was time for me to leave and found a new host further down to Miami. I had to go since my friend' plane will be landing on Saturday at Miami International. Tory, the new host, I can't even begin to discribe what an incredibly warm hearted person that man is. An ex - marine with so much energy that you just cannot be grumpy around that guy. He takes you on his cloud and makes your day. I told him about my trip and from the second I was done he started cooking, hahaha! He wanted to feed me and told he was gonna take care of food for me during the rest of my stay it him. I could take whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. Damn this guy! What a great human being. I stayed with him for Thanksgiving which was also my very first one. A small detail he forgot to mention was that on thanksgiving he was the host of this CS event at his house, hosting 30 people :D haha!!! I told him about my cooking degree and helped cooking the turkeys (indeed there were 2!). The thing was that thanksgiving started between 2-4 PM, everyone started drinking and it stopped at around midnight. Speaking of a party! :D drunken people were present, even more drunken CS were but man did we have fun!!

On that same party I met 2 Polish and a German girl. The 2 Polish girls were also traveling around and on their way to South - America, whereas the German girl lived/worked in the States. We had a blast!! Thanksgiving was over and the next day was walking day for me. 20 km further south I was supposed to be staying with a CS. On my way to his place my shoulders were killing me! I has to find a solution so I did! ;D hahahaha! There was a very good looking  object pulling me towards it. It was love at first sight..  hopping together further down hand in hand my shopping cart and I reached our destination, hahaha!! Only downside was that the host stood me up. I waited for an hour and still nobody came. So I called Tory and explained what happened. Of course I could stay with him, he said! :) only it wou take him 2 hours to get there and had to keep myself busy. No problem, that was the least of my concerns. Suprisingly the German girl (Janna) popped up after 2 hours and told me I was gonna stay with her. Together with the other 2 Polish girls we stayed at her place for the next 5 days. My man.. her apartment was like a suite in a hotel. The towels were folded, shampoo and soap bottles in the bathroom, a plastic toothbrush and toothpaste.. haha I felt like a king! Her condo came with a shared pool, gym, pool table and a big lake with nice fountains. Amazing! One thing we did was visiting a neighbourhood where graffiti was legal.. just beautiful!! What a piece of art that area is (pictures on FB)

Still I needed a job.. thru a public event on CS asking if someone had some small jobs for me 1 guy replied and agreed on helping me out. I ended up painting a house and 100 dollars richer in 2 days. The last day he gave me money for the bus cuz he didn't have time to drop me back off at Janna'. There was no way I was gonna spent money on transportation! So I put the 10 dollars in my pocket and started walking. It was only a 2 hour walk anyways. Boy did I regret that decision! Haha! After 30 minutes it started pouring rain! It felt like they were pouring buckets of water over me every second! Hahaha! I had to keep going but man I have never seen that much rain! Not even in Guatemala! I was soaking wet! Haha! Actually felt amazing, I love rain! Makes you feel fresh again..

Janna was more than happy to house me until my friend comes over. So I'll be staying here until Monday. What we will do next is still a mystery but I'm sure it's gonna be great!

Have fun on your journeys the next week and you know it, whish me luck with a smile (thanks Gee!!) ;)

Greets,
Lenn

Post 8: part 2

Well.. what a week :)

In order to fly to Sint Maarten I had to go back up North. Skyler was a friend of Zizi's and lived in Baltimore. She agreed on hosting me for 2 nights since I had to catch my plane in Baltimore that Saturday. Boy what a great time I spent with that girl and her family. It was like a family reunion and we didn't see each other for 10 years. She showed me around, took me for breakfast, we had a local beer and at night I cooked dinner for her mom and sister (Skyler had to work). Haha what a woman! :D she was born and raised in the US but had Italian roots.. hahah man, from the second I got in a car with her there was no doubt you was Italian! The typical driving, swearing and yelling at everyone.. haha what an experience that was!

At 6 in the morning Skyler was so kind to drop me off at the airport. Ready for my new plan. Happy, a little scared but in a good way and hoping everything would go as planned. It didn't :). From the moment I set foot in Sint Maarten I knew something was wrong. I had Internet and called the guy (Maca, the friend of my friend) but he didn't pick up. After a while he replied by saying that he was too far out and couldn't pick me up (you literally cross the island in 30 minutes but anyways). I did not have money for a hotel so was pretty pissed and realised I had nowhere to go.

I calmed down and started thinking about my options. I started talking to this girl and explained my situation. She was Columbian, illegal on the island but decided to help me out. Then all of a sudden Maca texted me again and said he found a friend to come get me. Eventually he did, we went to a friend of his and told me not to have found  a house for me yet and that I could sleep with this guy for 1 night. Ok no problem. We all went out for a drink after, Maca left, and one of his friends started complaining. He said whatever the lady brings for drinks, you're gonna pay. I said no! Why would I do that.. well, he replied, you come to this island without warning us, wanting to stay here for free and without any money. It clicked.. that's why he couldn't give me an address or anything, he just didn't have one...

I explained the situation to his friend, he told me Maca did not even have a job himself so how in the hell would he be able to find me one.. man.. what a feeling :P. I could stay with him for 1 night and from there on I was on my own, said. The next day I called Maca, asked him what was going on and he said we would meet up at noon. Fine! I asked his friend to drop me off at the beach. I knew there had to be hotels with Wifi so I could start looking for solutions. I had to find a job and a place to stay so what better way for me then starting in a hotel! Doing what I do best. I refused to give up!

I explained the receptionist what happened and she felt sorry. She started calling a bunch of people, just wauw, but nobody wanted to take the risk of employing me since I did not have a permit. After a few hours the maintenance guy (Pablo) took me apart and said: I know how you feel. I was in the same situation with no money and no connections. It's a world with a lot a crazy people and therefore would like to hear your story and will decide to help you or not. This man. Boy.. a heart of gold does not even cover it. He took me in, gave me food and promised me "we" are gonna find you a job ;).

He kept his word. The next day he gave me some nice clothes and a watch, "cause you have to look professional my man", and drove me to every restaurant along the beach. Ending up with 3 interviews. He explained that the reason for that was because I was white. If he would even try and do the same before even opening his mouth, people would look at him like dude what are you doing here, just because of his color (he is from the Dominican Republic).. Incredible really.. oh yeah by the way, still hadn't heard anything from Maca..

Pablo took me all over the island. He worked as a maintenance guy during the day and fixed A/C, fridges, ... at night. I helped him of course and man we had a blast! We laughed our ass off every day..

The interviews did not go as expected and it made me realise there was nothing left for me to do there. I spent half a week there, by now it was already Wednesday and sure I had a lot of fun with Pablo, but I wasn't happy. After all it was my adventurous trip and I didn't want it to continue like this for another month. I checked my ticket and all of sudden the price for adapting the dates was dropped from 250 to 85 dollars. Hmm.. how convenient. Took the opportunity and changed it for that Saturday. So I spent 1 week in total in Sint Maarten, learned a lot of lessons and can now say for sure that living on an island would be nothing for me :). Going back to Fort Lauderdale (Miami) was my next plan. No clue what I was gonna do there.

After a long time texting a bunch of CS to host me I found 1. What a relieve. I lost my goals and I felt like I messed up. It was like my plans where gone. But it was ok. I was going to figure something out. I've always found a solution so no reason to think that now would be any different.

I must admit the last week I felt horrible. I'm not gonna lie about it. But I don't regret it. Man this had taught me a LOT!

New plan! :D haha! I will go to Key West (check it out on Google, it's beautiful) and will see from there. A friend is coming over in December, he decided to join me on my adventure and why not :). My budget is now cut in half to $ 5 dollars a day. But I don't care :) I'll survive!

I am feeling happy, and all of this just made me grow. Haha man what a story I'm gonna tell my kids one day! :D haha! I had 2 options. Feel sorry for myself or suck it up. I choose option 2 and will enjoy every second I have left in the States.  And remember,
because you can,
because you will,
and because you're gonna :)

Thanks for all your support!! Really great to see all your requests for updating my blog.

Wish me luck with a smile! ;)

Greets,
Lenn

Post 7: Plan B - C or D

Well it's been a while :) Thank you all for keep on asking me to update, it's really cool to have followers :D haha!

Well here we go..

I did not take the ride. I thanked Graham for the opportunity but let him go. It took me a while to get to that point I must admit :). Why? Hmm good question. I can't really tell you or give you 1 reason. The only thing I can tell you is that I followed my feeling. Every small detail, hidden in the stupidest things pointed me in the "do not take the ride" direction. Et voila..

So after an exhausting week I felt like taking off.. Zizi (host in Williamsburg) traded her new mountainbike for my Mary Poppins one. This bike did have gears and brakes :D a big improvement. But I didn't.. I didn't want to leave. I was sitting on my bike, ready to go, and got back off. I said "no! I do not want to leave this place yet". I called Zizi to ask whether it would be OK to stay a few more nights. She wanted me to and started smiling :) gave me a nice feeling. These 4 witches (Zizi + friends) are like family. I simply can't discribe it better. I know I am going way to much in detail now but I don't care. This connection, Wauw!

While I was thinking about what I would want to do once I get back to Belgium, I started talking to an old friend I did my internship with. Cassandra guided me in the direction of the Carribian. Her husbands cousin lives there and would be able to get me a job + accommodation.  Great but want to look up more options, was my first feeling.

That same night I went to my first pumpkin cutting party :D haha! I felt as happy like a baby :D at the party my friend introduced me to these great people. I immediately felt a great connection with one of them and am pretty sure it's not the last time we would be talking to each other. Incredibly beautiful human being.

Williamsburg is a town I will never forget. I have learned so much about myself here. Met a lot of wise people and saw the most beautiful sunsets (pictures on FB).

Zizi hooked me up with a friend of hers who had a small job for me. I had to take care of the falling leaves on his lawn. Haha! Easy money.. Steve is a 69 year old guy who took me to a college bar the next night and explained (finally) the rules of American football or at least tried. Frankly, I still don't have a clue what is going on, haha!
But the night was young and we took it to he next level! He started talking about a submarine drink (or whatever you wanna call it). Drop a shot of tequila in your pint of beer and drink it. Man that stuff is strong! Also the first time I had a disgusting jello shot made from blueberry juice and wodka. In fact it was that bad they made me drink 3 :D haha! They said the 2 first ones are bad, the 3rd one is.. Man! Believe me.. worse :D haha!

Very nice evening. Never would have guessed that going to a college club with a 69 year old was that amusing.. you have no clue of what these experienced dogs can teach a young puppy like me :D hahaha! Even my grandma and her gang could never compete with him..

Anyway my friends, I have to tell you something. As Cassandra and I were talking about this opportunity in the Carribian I started getting really excited. I had this urge to "start my life" ever since I saw my 4 witches living together. She had put me in contact with this guy in Saint Martin and he could indeed fix me a job and a house. I would make 50/ day by working in construction, sales, tourism, ... The next day I booked my flight to Saint Martin and this Saturday (14th) I will leave the USA to go check it out. I do not need a visa either which made everything very easy.

Why? Hmm again fair question. Why stopping this and accepting another challenge? Hm again a very good question. Impulsive as I am, I followed the opportunity. It's cheaper to go from the states, if I like it I might apply for a job on another Island in a hotel (I don't know). Just saying that it is a great chance and I really did not want to let it slip away. I will miss this adventure, since it was a lot of fun but I am sure that the fun will continue no matter where I go.

I do not have any security that his guy is trustable. That he actually can give me a job + house. I have his phone number and his word. The only thing I do have and at the same time I need is: trust. I trust my path and have faith in myself. It just all feels so incredibly fantastic! :)

Wish me luck with a smile, have fun, lot's of sex (oops) and talk to you all very soon!

Greets,
Lenn

Post 6: Fredericksburg - Richmond - Williamsburg

I only wanted to do 1 more thing in DC: party!! :) so on Saturday during the day I started asking some girls what the hotpots were in the city. After asking 3 this very simpel question I ended up with a phone number, an invite and a phrase: Sorry I already have a boyfriend! :p haha! Eventually I had some addresses/streets and decided just to go. Along he walk I saw some girls sitting outside on a terrace and I asked them a bit nervously whether it would OK to join.. haha..  and they said yes.. apparently Americans love European accents. I can assure you they do since they took me from the one place into the other all around the city. Awesome! :)

Left DC with a great feeling and had found a host in Fredericksburg. She was a 63 year old woman (Danielle) who first declined my request but eventually felt too guilty and took me in anyway :p haha! God bless she did that! What an unbelievably wise human being! She told me so many stories about the travels she made, the things she has been thru,... very special.. In the end she took me for dinner cause she had earned a coupon of $100 which she wanted to share with me. So a 100 dollar dinner it was (picture on FB) with even better stories. She showed me around to the most beautiful places (river with rocks) I must admit, I felt a little sad to leave :).

Richmond was my next stop. The rides are getting a bit harder since my shoulders are tired of carrying my bag. Stopping every 2 hours to relax a few minutes was the best idea I've had since I initiated his trip :p. BUT the views! Oh god just wauw! Too bad I was not able to take more pictures since the nice places are between a hill and a downhill, and believe me you do not want to stop on a one - gear bike before climbing a hill! :p Anyway Richmond had let me down a little bit.. it's the capital of Virginia  (pretty big) but I had higher hopes. It wasn't like people had discribed it as this most amazing city that I would get to say. Which was the case in my next stop: Williamsburg

Here a Bulgarian girl accepted my invite on couchsurfing and told me to meet her at the restaurant where she cooks. So I did, she gave me her keys so I could drop off my bags and walk around a little bit.. hahaha! OOH God! :p as I had gotten to the car, I opened the trunk, picked some new clothes out of my bag and decided to change on the backseat of the car. Closed the trunk and there I was on the sight of the road with my pants in my hand completely locked out of the car! :D haha!  Forgot to take the keys and couldn't open any doors.. so no wallet --> money, ID,... just my phone and pants.. haha! Called this girl again, met her at the restaurant where she bought me a burger (since I didn't have any money) and ended up talking to Graham (71 year old eating his burger and sitting right next to me).

Now Graham is the a game changer on this trip. He is moving to Naples (170 km from Miami) on Tuesday and is willing to give me a ride. He is willing to stop in a few places so that I don't miss the pretty towns and ride me all the way up to his place. I am planning on taking his proposal and start continuing my trip as from there. The direction: I have no idea. Or I go to the West or I go further down and do all the Islands of the Caribbean.. BUT I will have to leave my bike in Williamsburg and so my travels will continue on foot. This desicion was not easy but I get to see more places in the States and I am sure that this opportunity was meant to happen. I do not have to pay him for the ride nor any accommodation, so my initial plan is still intact. I will arrive in Miami next week without paying for transportation or accommodation. I wish I could inform you with my plan on where to go next. But only time will be give me that answer. :)

This is a very strange feeling, although I never really had a full plan just a destination, yet now my destination is unknown. How I will get back to Miami will again only time be the answer. I trust myself and have complete faith that something/someone will cross my path to give me that answer/solution while I again traveling to: nowhere :).

Thank you all so much for your support until now. This trip is definitely not over yet so wish me luck with a smile :)

Greetings,
Lenn

Post 5: Baltimore - DC

Philly was kind of the real big start. From hereon of my biking/hiking trip really stared. I sold my ticket to the first lady I offert it to and started my long ride to a  host I found in Newark (between Philadelphia and Baltimore). She was Belgian and was very exited to host me. As was I since our county is already rediculously small and still I bumped into to another Belgian.

It was very clear to me why she moved to this enormous property (4 soccer fields big in size) 15 years ago. It was "cheap" ( 300 k), absolutely beautiful, nice and quiet.. A place to come to peace. She lives there with an American 26 year old guy that could be the twin brother of Chris McCandless (Into the wild). Both for the looks as well as for his personality. Together they want to start a commune, have a sustainable garden farm and some animals.

Anyways these nice people hosted me for 3 nights, showed me around and gave me a small job where I made 30 dollars just for 2 hours of work. Also did "Chris" taught me how to dumpster dive. So there  we went to a supermarket at night and just opened their dumpster. INCREDIBLE how much food they throw away. We found 40 energy bars of Kellogs, 10 cases of tomatoes, lots of other vegetables that were not bad at all, sealed popcornbags and so on.. Crazy!  We had free food for a week! You would have paid at least over 100 euros for these groceries this supermarket threw away just like that.

A bag full of bars, a new bike (I traded with them for my old one) with a wooden basket attached to the front of my bike,  very big and better tires and a lot of wisedom from "Chris" was the result of staying with them. Thanks again guys! ;)

Further down to Baltimore (the city everyone I talked to feared as hell) was not so bad at all.. I felt safer here then in Philly to be honest. Sure you've got areas but just don't be stupid :) don't go out at 2 in the morning going for a nice bike ride, I mean to me that is just comon sense right? In Baltimore I stayed 1 night on the  couch of a few college students. I can confirm, any movie you have ever seen about college and what happens in their houses is very much reality :p haha! No details, feel free to use your imagination ;)

The trip to DC was hell! Newark - Baltimore was 108 km (in 6th gear since I only have 1 gear) and Baltimore - DC 77 km the next day, I must admit it was tough. 1 suggestion: go to Pizzahut 30-45 min after the buffet is closed and ask for a pizza of 5 dollars. In my case the manager just let me eat the rest of the pizzas on the buffet for free! Haha damn was I a happy man! Anyway I made it to DC and stayed (currently still am) with a friend of Jordyn's (NY host). That guy is Sheldon! :D I swear to God it's his brother :p haha! As in the series 'The big bang theory' they play this game Dungeons and Dragons. Well he goes out to play it with his friends :p he even is the dungeon master! Haha so funny.. He has an enormous collection of comic books, fantasy games on his Xbox and Wii and he goes to a shop to play board games. But don't get me wrong, he is a very nice guy with a heart of gold. I am not trying to make fun of him, but you must admit it is a bit funny..

I will be staying in DC until Sunday. Plenty of stuff to do here so I decided to be a tourist and go visit museums. Haha! Oh god did I make a fool out of myself. For starters, everyone was wearing shorts while I was wearing pants (I was sweating like a pig) on the first day. The second day I was wearing shorts while everyone was wearing pants and man that wind was cold :p. Guess my weather app wasn't really working with me. As if this was not enough I tried something new and went into an art museum. Nothing really fancy but than I saw this really nice object on the wall. I was looking for the name of the designer and had almost asked a guide. Hahaha until I realised it was not part of the art :D it was the stupid heating system!!! Hahahahaha thank God I didn't ask..

Ok guys wish me luck with a smile, next stops are Fredericksburg and Richmond.

Talk to you soon!

Greets,
Lenn

Post 4: Philadelphia

Cause one of my great friends asked me today about the next post (which gave me an absolute boost to keep on going), here you go man ;)

When I was about to leave NY, Jordyn was persistent on buying me a ticket to Philadelphia. He said it was way to dangerous to go there on foot and with the hurricane coming, he literally said: you are not gonna die on my watch. So he bought me a ticket to Philadelphia and ask me what my next location was. I replied DC.. He immediately bought me a second ticket to DC since it was even more dangerous to pass thru Delaware on foot he explained.. I wouldn't have expected this when I started this trip. Really nice!

So I took the bus to Philly. Upon my arrival I already had found a couchsurfing address (Norristown) that was 28km on foot from the city. So I knew what to do.. I must admit that Philadelphia is actually a really nice city..  with nice big buildings and a huge hospital.. that was pretty noticeable since you see one white coat after the other.. :)

Eventually I found a grocery that was kinda like an Exki. All organic BUT really cheap (in contrary to exki :p). I bought some pitta bread for 2 dollars that could still my hunger for the next two days or so plus some cream cheese with leek. DISGUSTING!! But I was hungry so no other option but eat it all up..

Of the record, I am sitting in a McDonald's in the city while I am writing this and a guy just came to me and offered me a pizza.. Wauw! Instead of giving people burgers, now I am the one who gets to experience the other side of the deal. Guess 'you get back what you give' is really in place here. Awesome!!

Anyway, on my way to Norristown I crossed a really bad neighbourhood.. it started off from one street into the other which was a bit weird cause all of sudden the nice buildings and houses were gone.. replaced by old and left alone stone made things. You can't even call it buildings cause the only things left were walls.. I felt my stomach getting worse and worse while I was walking.. just a strange feeling. But I had to pass thru. I was walking for an hour and it only kept on getting wurse.. it was what we Belgians would call a getto (as it is not really since there are even worse places).. I also asked to some people if it was getting any  better the further I walked, but it seemed that they were all stuck in time and just wondering around without realizing a thing of what they are really doing.. not easy to discribe so I'm trying my best here :p.

Every time I saw a cop car I tried to hichehike but even they wouldn't stop.. Mom I don't want to scare you here ok, just trying to explain what I saw ;). After an hour of walking I was past the bad nabourhood. The same way as I entered, all of a sudden the houses were pretty again.. so so so weird.. BUT a must see I would say.. A lot of people would finally open there eyes and realise in what kind of luxury we are ALL living in.

After a 6 hour walk I finally arrived in Norristown. I tried ringing the door but nobody was there... I rang the neighbour' bell to ask whether she had some more contact info or maybe call them to see where they were.. Again a stunning exemple of how you welcome people you don't even know. You offert me tea and a blanked, and to be honest with you I STANK LIKE HELL! So she probably had to wash that one after :p.

Withing the next 30 minutes the people got home and I have to say I was a bit suprised. Really cool and funky veggie people, with an extremely warm hart. I could do whatever I wanted. They had a shared fridge with all kinds of vegetables they had harvested themselves in there big garden farm. Also beer and other food was in the fridge, I could take and eat whatever I wanted. Or I could go take it myself in the garden. Incredible! I don't know a lot of people willing to do that
Notting but good words come to mind when it comes to discribing them. Just Wauw.  I told this guy named Tom (husband of one of the housemates) that I might work along the road. He just said, you're hired. Hahaha. I'm like, what? :p yeah you can earn some money tomorrow, I got a small job for you... so the next day I helped moving a guy out for 3 hours and made 60 dollars.. unbelievable..

It just kept on going better and better
I helped out on there farm, which was the least I could do in my opinion, and you could just feel how much they appriciated it.. Also did Tom trust me enough to let me help him out in his house he's rebuilding. I really don't know the name of what I was doing, not even in dutch, but I was kinda fixing he wall with cement. As a way of saying thanks for helping him out he took his wife and me to this awesome Mexican restaurant. The food reminded me so much of Guatemala. God that vacation back then gave me such great memories..

As if this was not enough Tom took me for breakfast the next morning too.. it just kept on surprising me how kind all of these people are.. than while I was preparing myself to go, they gave me a bike. :O just like that.. here you go, take this bike it will make your life easier.. besides the bike, Caleb (the house owner) offert me his camping stove which I have to send him by post when I'm done using it. Crazy how much trust these people have no? Ok I hear you thinking, it's a stupid stove, but really that's not the point... ;). The only thing missing was a chain to lock my bike with. So they gave me an address to go buy one. I asked the owner how much it costed and he replied 12 dollars. Hmm, as I explained him what my plans were I asked him if there would be a way of earning that chain instead of paying for it. He talked to the manager and after an hour of wiping the floor he gave me the lock.. haha so cool!

So new plan right? Tomorrow  I'll sell my busticket and start my cycling tour down to Miami :). Again thank you so much Tom, Caleb, Anja and Amie for your exquisite hospitality and your advise and tips for the rest of trip. it helped me a lot to get a little more secure and gave me strenght to just keep on going and stay really positive ;)

Talk to you all soon!

Greets,
Lenn

Post 3: NY

First stop: New York!

As I arrived at the Airport I met up with Jordyn (my host). We where heading all the way up north to the bronx which is about a 2 hour drive in total using public transportation.

During this long trip to his place we were discussing what I could be visiting, his experiences and so on.. Really cool since he was the one who kept on suggesting a bunch of places to visit..

So Thursday I started my day at 9 going to central park. First thing I see is a Wafels and dinges truck selling Belgian stuff.. I remembered this truck from a TV show my ante and I watched when I was in Guatemala. So I went and asked: Hey man, so cool to see a Belgian selling waffles and so.. (in dutch) he looks at me like what is this idiot trying to proof.. so I switched to Inglish and asked if he was the owner :p. To which he kindly replied: dude, if I would be the owner of a thing like this would you honestly think I would be selling this myself. Plus don't I look black to you, next time I suggest you use your brain before insulting me in a rediculous language that sounds like you're choking when you speak it, OK?
Euhm sure man :p

After this friendly conversation I had with this even more friendly guy, I walked around at central park. Just beautiful!! The smell when entering is just perfectly what I imagined it would be.. generally the smell of NY is a perfect match of what I thought it would smell like.

After central park I followed the plan Jordyn wrote down for me with the directions of how to get to certain places on foot.. just gigantic is what I would call it. Everything is just huge.. The weather was terrible but it didn't stop me from doing everything on foot. I just needed to see everything and everyone, inhale the air of the city ad enjoy every single second of it. And I did :) until I arrived at Times Square..

IT WAS CRAZY! You just don't know where to look first, there is so much going on at the same time that you just need to stop walking and look around for a while. Then I saw stairs so I thought it might be better to sit over there instead of blocking the road (explains the police officer horning and screaming at me for a few seconds :p) but I just didn't care. Sat down and let it all come to me. Sucked it in and couldn't stop for the following 2 hours...

Now as I was sitting on the stairs this girl comes towards me with a go pro. She ask kindly, hey man would you be interested in being in my commercial? I was like: what?? :p so yeah there I was with 20 other people on those stairs in a commercial that was going to pop up the next day on one of the boards at times square. Crazy!

My first time in the States, in NY very first day and I already had a very friendly conversation with a waffle guy, got yelled at by a cop and was part of a commercial that was about to be played on one of the boards of Time Square.. as if it was not enough I had to get used to the typical behaviour and so Jordyn kept on laughing cause I was being too polite.. exemple: we went to buy stuff to eat, wishing the cashier a good day, she replied and yelled: NEXT.. Hahaha!

So yeah good start of the trip! :)

Talk to you soon!

Greets,
Lenn

Post 2: Preparing this insanity

Lots of people comment in various different ways when you tell them you're about to do a trip like this by yourself. first thing they ask, when they have calmed down a bit after freaking out like an elephant who had just seen a mouse, was how I prepared myself.

To be completely honest, I didn't prepare too much. Intentionally cause I feel like it would take the adventure out of it a bit. It's like having a plan for every small detail, which is kind of what I want to avoid.

The only thing I really wanted to have was a place to stay in NY. Not only because it is really convenient having a roof over your head in such a huge city, but it made me feel more comfortable starting like this :D. So it happens I found someone thanks to a friend of mine (Leyla) who had contacts. 

Furthermore I did not want to have the feeling after that I missed out on a lot of stuff or did not visit something cause I was not aware of its existence. Resulting in an evening of pleasure reading other road trippers' blogs and comments on TripAdviser a.s. which did not provided me with a lot of new info. After some good laughs about the stories I've read my conclusion was to just go from NY to Philadelphia, further down to Washington. Hoping for some good refferences from locals while I am going my way down is my game plan.

Wish me luck with a smile :)

Greets,

Lenn

Post 1: Starting the trip

Starting a trip is easy. Let's see if I can confirm this statement after 3 months.

I have a list. A list that I created after seeing the film: 'The bucket list' (great one!). Same idea as the 2 old men do but still slidly different, I made one with all countries I ever want to visit during the period of this great adventure I call 'Life'. Ever since I was a kid I fell in love with NY. Never been there, only by watching and reading so much about it made me want to go. So I just did. Well I will in a small week. Just booked a flight return ticket for the maximum amount of time the States allow to go with a Tourist Visa, 90 days.

As if this was not enough, a combination of my very impulsive and adventurous side cooperated and wanted to make things more interesting. So I decided (after the fligh was booked for about 30 min) to go to Miami (2 500 km) without paying for accomodation nor transportation. So there I was booking 2 flights in 1 hour. After all who would want to go back and walk the same  2500 km all over again ;). Walking this journey would be the overall idea, lifting and asking for rides will be the outcome.

I'll keep you posted :)

See you all soon.

Greets,
Lenn