The first hour of a bus ride is always the easiest. I do not know how, but when I travel on a car, bus, train or airplane I fall asleep instantly. Moreover, it was night already and I had a really long day. I slept all the way to the boarder, where the bus driver made us all get down. I was honestly worried that someone could take my seat since it was a really good one with no one sitting next to me.
A few moments before getting down I took out my water bottle. I tried to open it but I put too much strength in it, so I ended up breaking it. In that moment I kind of realized how Namjoon usually feels. Since we were getting off to check our documents and belongings before entering the US territory, I was really afraid that I could have had problems because of the water. So I tried to drank the most that I could and I realized it was sparkling. I could not keep the bottle because I broke it, I could not enjoy the water because it was sparkling. What a life.
After a never ending line (I was third last), I had to answer some questions about the reason I was visiting the States. When the police officer asked me if I had agricultural goods with me, I told her that I had a peanut butter sandwich but that was okay. She asked me about the address of where I would have stayed, reasons why I was visiting and so on. Luckily I did not end to interview with the other two muscular tough guys. That would have been scary. At the end of our chat she asked me my card to pay for the entrance fee in the US, but apparently it did not work. Since they could not take Canadian dollars, she let me go without me paying anything. Luck, thanks for following around the world.
The ride continued with an hour long delay. We had different stops and the seat next to me got taken at one of them. I shared the seats with a young guy who listened to trap music for most of the trip. His music was so loud I could hear it from his earphones. From time to time he would check his Instagram and I found him looking at Fortnite gameplays so I could definitely tell he was a teenager. At one point he even fell asleep on my side shoulder and sometimes his head would fall to my side and mine to his, which was really awkward for the first to wake.
Whatever, for a long trip it did go well I guess. We had many stops at these thruways along the highway. They were all looking the same way. A big castle with the same exact concept and distribution of the spaces in the inside part of the building. Each stop was the washroom stop for most of the people on the bus. At the last one I even took my beauty case with me to refresh and clean myself. I did not notice that the t-shirt I decided to bring to change clothes was a little bit dirty though. I would have covered it with my light hoodie in New York, so it was fine as long as it was not smelly.
Getting into New York took a long time. There was an incredible amount of traffic, but we finally made it to our destination. I got off and started wandering the avenue, searching for a place where I could chill and connect to the internet. All the popular places were a no no because they had open wifi and my phone can not connect to it. So I went to Gigi cafè just across the street. I was not sure that my card would have worked since it did not at the boarder, so I tried to buy a one dollar snack. What still annoys me is that in the US the VAT is not included in the price, so you will always see a different amount to pay because of the taxes whenever you check what you have bought.
Since my card worked, I ended up my vegan career with a roast-beef sandwich. I was really tempted to have a vegan sandwich, but I did not follow my guts. I do not know why but the ones with some meat looked more appealing. Maybe I need to get rid of this visual temptation. However, with all set and done, I finally sat and connected to the wifi. I texted my family immediately but I received no reply. So I checked on the airport website if they had already landed and they just did. That meant that we would have probably missed the bus. It was a pity because it cost me just twenty-two dollars when the usual price is one hundred and twenty-five.
When they finally replied I had the certainty that we would have to get new tickets. It was cool to think that we were just about an hour far from each other. As I waited there, my ninang Laani came to the cafè to meet me. I did not know she was my ninang and at first I thought that she was the person who will host us when we will be back in New York. But I found out later that she was one of my mom’s best friends and my ninag, which is the way filipino people call the godmother.
She helped me out with calling Flixbus to have a discount for a new ticket purchase. Flixbus actually gave me a discount after I explained them that we missed the bus because of a delay with my family’s flight. I was lucky once again, even though I still had to pay a little more than one hundred dollars for the new tickets.
We all met at the bus stop just five minutes by foot from the cafè. First thing they told me was that my dad was already upset and in a bad mood. That is so typical of my dad, especially when we travel. Well, family is still family so I hugged them all. I even found out that my brother dyed his hair just to have mom not talking to him for two straight days. She made him go back to black, but his hair now is more like of a brownish color.
The bus came late and a Chinese driver did the check-in. Since we did not pay to reserve our seats, the driver told us five different seats where we could have placed ourselves. The problem is that no one of us remembered all five of them when we got on, so we created a little bit of confusion with the seats before settling down.
The trip was long and I could not wait to arrive. We had some sandwiches from Gigi cafè that my ninang bought for us. We ate a part of them at the first stop where we realized that the driver was more into talking in Chinese than in English. He would say things in a poor English once and then repeat it in Chinese several times. It was kind of frustrating, but it was okay because it was not as frustrating as my super stressful dad.
We arrived in Washington DC really late, so I suggested to take an Uber instead of using the public transportation. My family agreed, so we hopped on a really huge car and drove all the way to our Air Bnb. The driver took it slow and was not much of a chatter. But it was okay. It was night and we were tired.
Once at the place, we finally checked in. The place was super cool and cozy and our host was so kind to leave us snacks and lots of water. We finished the sandwiches, washed ourselves and went to sleep. My little brother Genzl was actually mad at me because I did not give him the wifi password. But we all agreed that a little bit of tec detox was not the worst thing for him.
My parents chose the king bed room while my brothers took the queen size one, leaving me alone in the single bed room. Genzl asked Gabe to stay with him until he would have fallen asleep, but when Gabe went to their room he was already sleeping.
Literally dying for a good sleep, I managed to squeeze in the time for a little writing and then I went to bed like everyone else. My bed was so cozy I could have cried after spending weeks with the bullfrogs and the mice.
Godyl Go! 