Day 29: Off to Montreal

📍 Location: Albany, New York, USA

(Bus stop somewhere in between New York and Montreal)

Here we go. The road trip has now officially begun. Next stop: Montreal, Canada! I’m writing this while sitting in the Greyhound-bus, where I’ll be for the next 9 hours. Departure time: 8:30 AM, arrival time: 6 PM. But it’s not too bad, because so far it’s comfortable. I have a window seat, I can charge my phone and I’m sitting next to a guy who’s bingwatching Riverdale right now and has no need to ask me weird questions or to play Truth or Dare (unlike the airplane guy). Now just wait and see if he might snore in his sleep, but otherwise he is completely approved. Fingers crossed.

And a miracle happened, because I arrived on time. Even ten minutes early. Quite an achievement. What helped is that I’d packed all my stuff yesterday already. Because it was pretty clear that my suitcase was not going to close if I’d put everything inside - I probably have doubled the amount of clothes that I brought during my stay in New York (#ThreatYoSelf) - I had to say goodbye to some old clothes. I couldn’t just put them in the trashcan, so I’m going to ship those back home. I also didn’t want to take the risk to buy some breakfast / lunch along the way from my house to the bus station (close to Central Park). So now I have to live for the coming 9 hours on a cucumber and water. But at least I made it!

By the way: often people ask me why I’ve decided that I want to do this trip by myself and not together with a friend for example. Well, of course it would be so much fun to travel with someone. You’ll make amazing memories together and have a blast for sure. And sometimes I do miss it. But I know that that’s not the only thing what I’m looking for right now. I want to achieve more with this trip than just making fun and having a laugh.

I want to travel alone because I want to develop and get to know myself. I want to challenge myself. Can I manage to travel for three months alone on the other side of the world? Totally independent and with a great responsibility. I want to know how I will react in certain situations. Will I feel lonely very fast if I’m not surrounded by people all the time? I also don’t want to have to adjust myself to other people. Just following my own plan, visiting the places where I want to go to and hanging out with people that I like.

Simply said: a big part of this trip is about me getting to know myself. It may all sound very serious, but I think that’s one of the most important things in life. Because after all you’re on your own. So make sure you know with whom you’re dealing with.

So yeah, when I’ll arrive in Montreal, I’ll enter a party right away because my host is throwing a Halloween party! Very exciting. So I have about 6 hours more to get some sleep.