Usually once every few weeks, a new location filter pops up on my Snapchat story. My friends know that it's no secret - I love to travel. I could end up anywhere from 45 minutes away to 20 hours away. I can't even count how many times I've been back and forth to Texas since graduating, or my last minute flights to the east coast.
After moving home, I had one idea on my mind.... to get the hell out of Kansas City. But once Christmas rolled around, then New Years, then my bday (all of 3 weeks lmao), I got too content. I was working, but I was not saving. I started blowing my money shopping, traveling, and going to happy hours every other day. I blame my friends for that.
I planned a trip to New York after the summer program that I worked for concluded. I was supposed to be handling responsible-adult-like things such as looking at NYU's campus & grad programs, looking at housing for a potential living arrangement, scheduling meetings, and familiarizing myself with the city, or borough...whichever one I eventually decide to live in. So I booked a ticket. I know you're expecting me to say I turned up every night or the trip didn't go as planned; no, I enjoyed every single second of being there, but I did not do a single thing on my "To-do while in NY" list. My main reason was that it was simply too hot, and once I was there, I felt at home just enough to be lazy and carefree for a few days.
I was looking forward to this trip allllll summer, and the day I got to the airport, every Southwest Airlines flight in the country was delayed. Remind you, I had just got off work and rushed to the airport, so I was tired. My family barbecue happened to be in Delaware the next day, so I was anxious af. There was nothing I could do once my bags were checked and I hear that my flight was delayed another hour and a half, meaning I'd miss my connecting flight. So there I am, looking clueless, standing at the gate as if the flight attendant had just stole my lunch money. If I missed my family cookout, I would've just asked for a refund and stayed in Kansas City. But my solution was simple, I simply asked her to find the next flight to any major city in the Northeast and I will find a cousin to pick me up. Eight hours later (at midnight), I ended up in New Jersey; just hours before my family cookout.
Trying not to make this an essay, but this is where everything comes together. I had an epiphany on the E train headed home from a cancelled concert in Manhattan.... It was like a scene in a movie. I was soaking wet from running thru Central Park during a damn thunderstorm. I still made it to a Happy Hour, my phone was dead. Remind you I had been using my phone all day to use the transit app to know which train to get on and to listen to music as I sat on the train. So yeah, my phone died and I didn't feel lost at all, even though I didn't know where the hell I was, just underground, in an NYC subway, going 50mph with about 140 strangers. I just knew whatever exit I was supposed to get off, I had better not miss it. So I used the next thirty minutes on this train to think.... is New York really where I see myself living within the next few months?