I mostly travel to surprise myself. For most people (me included), Life usually collapses, it converges on the familiar, the same Truman show, again and again, and in a moment of glitch in the matrix, the screen crackles in your view, and you notice for a second that everything is going in a loop, and that's when it is usually time to shake things up and go to a random place to get lost in it; The french has a term that captures this mode of travel accurately, "Flaneuring".
It starts with the thrill of checking your bag at the airport and watching people around you, each with a unique story, do the same, accompanied with the shared anticipation of what might happen on the trip, exciting stuff. Every city/Town has something to say to you, and knowing how to listen well is key. Traveling specifically to meet friends has its own kind of thrill.
When I first moved to the US, I had a goal of visiting a new state each month. I was able to keep the momentum going for the first two years and covered CA, TN, KY, NY, Nevada, IL, AL, OR, FL, LA, and DC (not a state).
The highlights of my US solo travels would be visiting Philadelphia, the birth place of America on the 4th of July, The World War II museum in New Orleans, The HirshHorn museum in Washington DC (especially the chinese photography section), and the flaneuring all day and night in Las Vegas (which in included one of the best roadtrips I've ever had: driving to Death Valley and back!). NYC is my favorite city to visit, been a couple of times, and cant wait to go back soon; it is just the perfect city to surprising one's self; like there are so many random places you can walk into randomly and just not know what will happen, be there. I honestly didn't care much about Portland even though I'd hyped it up in my mind beforehand by saying oh I bet all the stereotypes of portlandiers that I've seen in 'Portlandia' the show are accurate and I'm definitely gonna experience the dream of the 90s, and get pickled for a change (cz I hear they pickle everything?); I enjoyed my one week stay in Healdsburg California and met some cool people and learned a lot from them; Been to Miami twice but it is not that memorable to me as a city, although the vibe is much 80s and the art is beautiful, but the overall register is a bit above my threshold for performativeness and chasing after the material, everything is exagerated. Walking in Chicago is for some reason a very enjoyable activity, is it the clouds which seem to be perennially sitting atop the tall buildings whichever way you look?; I Love Kentucky and Alabama roadtrips, the scenery is exquisite; Nashville is loud (yes, higher than 85db) and, for my money, the friendliness is so fleeting and surface-level, and in some cases, fake, which is way worse than being true and blunt; The vibe can be summed up by let's make sure we look like we're living up to southern values. Walking on the Golden Gate Bridge immediately prompted me to start studying how bridges of that might got built.
I am still trying to visit new states and towns, but not as frequently. Next on my list: Charleston SC, Colorado in October, Plymouth MA, taking the Amtrak's coast starlight train from LA to Seattle, and Mount Rushmore.
Eventually, My goal is to cover all 50 states. The USA is so big. so much to see!
