After being home for four months, a record for me since high school, I was becoming restless and was eager to travel again. I wanted something cheap, as I’m headed back to school in January and after the seemingly endless Canadian winter, somewhere warm.
My friend Natalie from my Korean hometown of Uiseong invited me to come to Florida and I didn’t have to be asked twice. Orlando became my starting point and from there I settled on Miami, Austin, San Francisco and Vancouver.
I left in a snowstorm at the end of April via bus to the Buffalo airport to avoid the expensive airport taxes in Toronto. However, crossing the Canadian United States border by bus is a terrifying experience. The customs officer grilled me incessantly about who I was visiting, what they do for a living, where they live and how I met them. But most importantly, if I plan to leave the States; which is a no-brainer, I enjoy my free health care, thanks.
After 2.5 hours on a bus, 2 hours at customs, 5 hours at the airport and a 2.5 hour flight, I was met with the hot muggy air of Orlando, Florida.
I celebrated my 20 something birthday (okay, my 25th) in Orlando. The festivities began with banana chocolate chip pancakes that could have fed a small country. We barely made a dent in them before calling it quits. We spent the day at Aquatica, Sea World’s water park, something I haven’t done since I was a child. Orlando definitely makes you feel like a kid again. We capped off the night with Tex Mex and Margarita’s the size of my head, in which I proceeded to pass out at 8 pm, apparently this is what being 25 brings.
Bright and early Monday morning, I headed to Miami via bus. I have taken the same bus company frequently from Toronto to Montreal. But in the States an interesting array of people take the bus, to point where I wish I had my pepper spray.
Miami is exactly as I imagined, filled with bright colours, modernist architecture and fit tan people with flashy clothes and cars. However, step outside of the tourist areas and you are met with extreme poverty and a plethora of homeless people.
After two days in Miami, I was ready to move on to Texas. I pictured Texas as a place filled with large, gun-toting, whiskey-drinking people. Either Austin is very different or I have a problem with stereotyping places. I spent my first night at the Firehouse Hostel, before staying with Kiki, my former roommate from my study abroad in Australia.
The woman at the front desk gave me an amazing map of the city and was appalled when I spotted the State Capitol building and stupidly said, “Austin’s not the capital of Texas.” After being reprimanded for my lack of Texas knowledge, I quickly put in, “I’m from Canada.” This seemed to lessen her concern, slightly.
One of the coolest places in Austin was the Baylor Street Art Wall, an abandoned building site that has been transformed into a graffiti art gallery to promote expressionism and publicize street art. Not to mention the views are spectacular.
Much to my delight and surprise, Austin has tons of great outdoor spaces and I spent the majority of my time outside. I explored Zilker Park, ran the boardwalk trail at Lady Bird Lake, experienced the 360 degree view of Lake Austin and took an icy dip at the Barton Creek Greenbelt.
I was eager to indulge in Texan food and it did not disappoint. I ate spicy Buffalo wings, a burger with a donut bun and breakfast burritos at the popular Juan in a Million. But my favourite meal was Rudy’s BBQ. Located beside a gas station, as all good BBQ places are, I was able to try all of the delectable meats as a first time customer and was semi-forced to try creamed corn, which looked just as it tasted, revolting.
After a night spent on the infamous 6th Street in Austin, my early morning flight to San Francisco was not appreciated. I met my mom at the airport and we headed to our first experience with airbnb. The apartment was on the dirty side and not what we expected, but luckily it was a great location and we’re not high-maintenance.
We rode across the iconic Golden Gate Bridge that offered sweeping views of the city and Alcatraz Island, to explore the swanky neighbourhood of Sausalito. San Francisco has the steepest hills I have ever experienced and trying to bike up some of them was near impossible. The craziest street is Lombard Street, a crooked street filled with shrubs and flowers and plenty of tourists taking pictures as cars attempt to navigate down the narrow, curved street.
In order to preserve the beautification of the city, San Francisco has a limited amount of high-rise buildings. As a result, we walked a lot in order to absorb the incredible architecture but also so we could eat massive amounts of ice cream and Ghirardelli chocolate.
The first cable car in San Francisco ran in 1873 and to this day you are able to ride the cable car for a mere six dollars. In order to get our money’s worth we picked up the Powell and Hyde cable car at the starting point and hung out the side, like in the movies, as we chugged up and down the hills.
Another highlight of San Francisco was our journey to Alcatraz Island that served as a legendary prison from 1933 until its closure in 1963. The tour through the penitentiary was fascinating with stories of failed escape attempts, what life was like at Alcatraz and the prisoner’s backstories.
Our last stop before heading back to Canada was Muir Woods, where giant redwood trees are housed. Our bus driver and tour guide was adamant we came back to the bus on time otherwise he would leave without us. True to his word, three women were late and we drove away without them.
For the last few days of my trip, my mom and I headed to Vancouver and Whistler to visit my brother. In Vancouver we made a beeline to Chocolate Arts that has the best chocolate in the world, and I’ve been to Belgium and Switzerland.
Unfortunately, I developed a painful eye infection and had to spend a day with my eyes closed in a dark room. I managed to make it to my parent’s wedding anniversary dinner at Araxi and indulge in truffle fries, seafood and an incredible chocolate fondant lava cake. However, due to my eye infection, my eyes were sensitive to light and I had to keep my sunglasses on throughout dinner, which made me feel and look like a celebrity.
As evident from my adventures in Korea and Nepal I love to hike. I have never been to Whistler outside of the winter months and I wanted to take advantage of the hiking trails. Additionally, I was determined to see a bear (from a far distance) as I have never seen one except in a zoo and I feel that makes me a bad Canadian. We trekked the Ancient Cedar trail for a Mother’s Day picnic, walked an easy fifteen minutes for an epic view of the Brandy Wine falls and explored a graffiti-covered train wreck. Despite all of this, I failed to see a bear.
Wandering the World 
