While I was in my semester abroad in Germany, I of course talked to Germans while I was there. We would invariably end up discussing the places we had been to in each other’s countries. I had traveled quite a bit in Germany, and I had been to many German cities that quite a few other Germans had not been to. On the other hand, a lot of Germans had been to a lot of cities from the United stated that I had yet to go to. That was largely due to the fact that I had never been to the East Coast.

After I finished University, without any other plans, I had decided to move to Germany. But first, I wanted to travel within the United States a bit more. As such, I decided to spend a few months on the East Coast.

I was living in Wyoming, and I first drove to Chicago to see some friends there. One thing we did was set up a free hugs stand downtown, which was a lot of fun.

I didn’t feel like driving any further because I was afraid of my car breaking down. Additionally, I was looking to save some money, so I started hitchhiking. I went to the south side of Chicago, went to an onramp for the interstate and stuck out my thumb.

Progress was slow, and I often had to wait for a few hours before getting a ride. At one point, I was let out in Gary, Indiana, which a lot of people know to be a very dangerous city. When someone picked me up, he even told me that he normally didn’t pick up hitchhikers but didn’t want to leave me standing there.

Over the next few days, I kept hitchhiking east, occasionally sleeping in my tent behind bushes or at one time in a park that wasn’t very far from where I got dropped off at.

While standing on the side of the interstate, a police officer stopped me and told me that I was not allowed to hitchhike on the interstate. I told him that I would leave and go to the backroads, but he was very short with me and insisted that he take me far away from the interstate to a highway to ensure that I wouldn’t just get back on again when he was gone. I recall him asking if I had any weapons, and I, not wanting to lie and potentially get in further trouble, admitted that I did have a knife in my pocket. He made a huge deal about keeping his hand on his gun while he ordered to slowly pull it out and put it on the ground in front of me. He then instructed me to go way to the side, and then he picked it up before forcing me into the back of his cruiser. An uncomfortable ride later, and he pulled over in a parking lot and had me get out. I asked if I would be able to keep my knife, and despite his rudeness and assuming I was a criminal, he did let me keep it by again forcing me to step several meters away. He then put it on the ground, hopped in his car, and drove off. Peculiar.

Other than that, I didn’t have any real issues, though, but it was taking forever to get anywhere. It had already been more than a week or so and I was just barely through Ohio. After some more hitchhiking, I finally made it to Cleveland, and I decided that hitchhiking just wasn’t going to work if I were to get anywhere in a timely manner. I made my way to the Greyhound station and decided I would use the busses from then on. While waiting for the next bus to New York City, a cop spotted my knife which I had clipped to the inside of my pocket. I then had to give it to him and I never did get it back. I understand that people could use it as a weapon, but it is just a handy tool to have and also something reassuring to have when doing something risky like hitchhiking. Oh well.

After driving through the night, our bus arrived in NYC.

NYC was so expensive. I stayed in a hostel a couple nights, which was not cheap, and I managed to couchsurf for a couple other nights. I recall the prices of food to be out the roof, and at one point I got a sandwich and a slice of cheesecake, and I think it was almost $30!

In between the two building, the construction crew was lowering a crane arm, and the ground crews had to keep pulling the cables to the sides so the arm wouldn’t hit either of the buildings, but it still came worryingly close a couple times.

Ellis Island was still closed due to Hurricane Sandy, so I couldn’t go to the actual island. I hope to go another time in the future once it’s all repaired.

A friend of mine was at a military school in the NYC area, and I wanted to visit him. The school operated like I imagine the military normally would in that there were specific entrances that were watched and one needed clearance to enter along with bed checks throughout the night. I could enter during the day as a guest, and he showed me his campus. In the evening, we decided to go outside to a bar for a few drinks. He and a few of his friends came and we caught up on things. Quite a few beers in and a funny plan was forming.

My friend’s roommate wanted to hang out with his girlfriend for the night, but he would get in trouble if he wasn’t in his bed. I needed somewhere to sleep… Perfect! I would put on his sweater and walk through the security check with my friend. And it worked out fine. I crashed on the bed and we went to bed after quite a few beers.

Then the morning check happened.

Someone came into the room and started shaking my feet, telling me that I had to report for some duty or another. I tried to listen to what he said through my pounding headache, and all I managed was a mumbled yeah, sure before the guy left. I then crawled out of bed and my friend and I got up and made a hasty exit from the campus.

It was a funny and exciting adventure, and I was surprised that it worked out as smoothly as it did. I just hope that my friend’s roommate, who obviously didn’t end up reporting to whatever he was supposed to, didn’t get into too much trouble.

I then went to the Museum of Natural History.

I really liked this sign because the numbers were cutouts that could be replaced. I can only assume that they think the museum will still be around in a billion years when they need to update those 13s to 14s.

For quite a few months, I knew that a friend was going to have a wedding in Vermont at about the time I was traveling. To make sure that I would be able to show up with some style, I had carried around a nice shirt and vest with me the entire time in my backpack. Otherwise my clothes were some ratty t-shirts that wouldn’t be nice to wear.

I made my way to Vermont and hung out for a few days before and after the wedding.

After that, I went to Boston for the day.

Going on the brewery tour is a cool experience, but I got the most garbage sticker I have ever received. I like to collect stickers and put them on my water bottle, and I have gotten free stickers that lasted longer than the one I had to pay for from there. I’m still salty about that for some reason.

After Boston, I took a bus up to Portland, Maine.

I loved the city. I also slept in a parking garage almost the entire time. I would just walk around with my backpack all day and then set up my sleeping bag on the ground on the top story in the evenings.

I only got caught sleeping in the parking garage on the last night, and the guy who found me in the morning just told me to get out of there, which I did.

I then met up with a couple friends who were visiting, and with their car, we camped a bit outside the town. Together, we went to some bars and got fresh lobster from the ocean. Since I was sleeping in the parking garage before, I had to carry my backpack with me all the time. Now that I was with my friends who had a car which enabled us to camp, I didn’t need to carry my backpack around with me all day, which was a relief. The three of us went out to get lobsters at one point. One of my friends I was there with was struggling with her lobster. I only caught it out of the corner of my eye, but as she was attempting to crack it, a bit to much force was used and lobster just went everywhere. I am not even sure how it happened, but it was like a little grenade went off and I saw some chunks go well past her plate and our table. It took me quite a while to stop laughing.

After that, I went with my friends to where they live in the Adirondacks in upstate New York where we spent some time just hiking and boating around. The Adirondacks are very beautiful, and I honestly didn’t quite expect to see such pristine forests on the East Coast. O somehow just imagined the East Coast to be swarming with people—if you ever look at picture of light pollution of Earth and see all the lights of Earth, the East Coast is just a huge blob of light. This was a most pleasant surprise, and we hiked around and camped quite a bit. It did rain a bit, but we didn’t let that stop us. I stayed there for a good few days, actually, and we also went to some local bars and tried their beers, which were pretty tasty.

The nature was refreshing and good for the soul, but it was time to continue my journey toward Washington, D.C.

The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum was awesome.

I have some family in D.C., and they’re who I stayed with while I was there. It was nice to be able to celebrate the fourth of July with them.

I wanted to go farther south, but I was just kind of running out of time, as I wanted to get to Germany before the summer was over. I particularly wanted to visit Savannah, Georgia, and Miami, Florida, but I guess that will have to wait for another trip.

I took the bus back to Chicago and hung out with my friends a bit more. I even went to a renaissance festival.

After that, I drove back to Wyoming and hung out with my friends one last time before heading to Las Vegas.

In Vegas, I met up with the same friend that I was hanging out with in Portland and the Adirondacks. We had a good time hanging out in the casinos and drinking free beer.

I even won money! I have been to Vegas twice now, and both times I have managed to win money! This time I came out with almost $200 more than I went in with, despite being served margaritas left and right.

After that, my friend and I went to the Grand Canyon.

At this point in my life, my immediate family was living in Phoenix. I wanted to see them before I left for Europe, so the plan was to go to Phoenix, my friend would fly back from there, I would see my family, and then I would fly out. The thing was my family wasn’t there!

Since I was trying to surprise them, we hadn’t really talked too much, and I didn’t know that they were going to be in a different state for a few weeks. It was too late by the time I found out. I had already purchased my plane ticket, and I was already in Phoenix. Luckily, I have other family members who live in Phoenix, so I caught up with them, and I managed to get the keys to my absent family’s house, so I just chilled in the place and had the house to myself for a while.

A couple of stifling weeks in the oppressive Phoenix heat, and it was time for me to fly off to Germany.

I arrived in Germany and I started looking for a job. I ultimately did find one, but the process of looking for one and then particularly the process of getting a visa for it was such a nightmare. Ein Albtraum! I’ll post about that soon because what a bureaucratic process that was (and still is to this day)!