I can’t stop looking at all the pictures we took in our trip. I am working on my first book and all of sudden I feel the nostalgia of a perfect moment. A moment from the trip pops up in my mind randomly and it’s never the same twice; for now, at least. I miss walking on the streets of New York, playing Maca, speaking to Sonia, smiling at the boyfriend, hanging out all five of us while looking at water, be them lakes or the Ocean. I can’t but divide the trip in different sections and write about it all. It’s all been so great.
It all started in Bucharest, at 4 am when we woke up. I love seeing the boyfriend at this hour in the morning, as it is so, so rare. We haven’t actually slept much the night before, as least some of us [that is me] who were way to excited to sleep. Let’s just say that we haven’t slept for 24 hours when we reached Sammamish, WA. I felt so incredibly happy to see my friends after about 15 months. And, also, a bit conscious of not taking a shower in the last day. But there I was, hugging everybody. We went to bed right after we showered, ate and spoke on the terrace. To be quite honest, I mostly remember trying hard to pay attention to correctly pronouncing each and every word. For some reason, while speaking, I thought that people who drink too much and want to hide it make a tremendous effort.
The next day, to my surprise we didn’t sleep as much as expected. We woke up just before the family went to work and day care, so we ate breakfast, drank coffee, hang out on the terrace and started to getting used with feeling at home. That took about two hours. Up we were and ready to familiarise with the town as well. We sat on the couch, looking on my phone at the map of Sammamish in the attempt to identify the best thing to do. I, as usually, came up with a simple plan to walk to the lake. There’s the street, there’s the lake, here we go. We’ve got an OK from Sonia who was kind enough to underline that the lake is not at a walking distance, but hei, we live in Bucharest and walk so much, it will be fine.
Two hours and thirty minutes later we reached the lake. It would have been a good idea to actually use the get directions function of the map: we would have not got lost for a minute there and, most probably, we would have taken the bus. But the beach, the lake and the view had made it all worth it. We stayed on the beach, took pictures and searched for a restaurant because we were completely thirsty and super hungry. It turned out we were more thirsty than hungry when the big portions of food were brought to us. We both loved the food offer and especially the food we selected, but we were even more thrilled by the amount of coffee received, the diet Pepsi and the water.
On the way back we took the second bus home, after learning we need exact change to pay the fare and the first bus driver couldn’t help with that. It’s so exciting to be in a foreign place, with less stores than expected and learn you need to find a solution to change one 50 dollars bill in more bills [big fun]. We were lucky to find a Costco nearby and there was a fast food right at the entrance where we bought frozen yogurt. Solution found. Solution implemented. Problem solved.
After being the first to arrive home, we learned that our friends were driving in a search for us, knowing we intended to walk all the way back back home. What needs to be known is that while boyfriend had phone signal, but an incredible high price when connecting to mobile data, I had none. So, we were basically dependent on free wireless. Any decisions made outside wi-fi areas weren’t communicated. But we met home and, at our friends’ proposal, we went to visit a waterfall in a park nearby and walked for half an hour on a trail, enjoying the nature.
There are options to be wired when in the States. We could have bought mobile data and service, but we [by which I mean mostly me] wanted some time unplugged: no e-mail, less social media and no phone calls home. Because where’s the fun in being plugged all the time, right?
I must however admit that while I enjoy the prospect and it becomes less difficult with time, there were still moments when I felt anxious for not being able to connect. Just for a minutes there and I was able to shake it off really fast, but still, there were these moments. So, what can I say?! The ups and downs of living at the beginning of the 20th century.
Getting back home meant dinner, shower and going to bed in preparation for the trip to Seattle planned for the next day. Aquarium, here I come.
I can’t imagine better first two days. We really made them count.