Another good sleep in Washington and another early wake up. Everyone got up at 6am or earlier to prepare lunch and pack our things. Our bus departure was due at 9.45am so we wanted to get there at least one hour before. This way we would have had time to look for the bus without being in a hurry.
We arrived at Union Station around 8am so I had some time to check H&M store with my brother Genzl. We had fun trying different clothes on before agreeing on buying a new swimsuit. All the ones I have really suck.
Around 8.30am we went to look for the bus deck and we were lucky enough to meet a staff member who lead us there. We were so early that there were only two people in front of us in the line.
As we waited to get on, we started to snack on the carrots. My mom had some hard times with that because she has really sensible teeth. It reminded me that it is never too early to take care of our health and our body. I am so sorry for all the health related problems that my parents are dealing with.
Unexpectedly, we all got on the bus and left on time. I forgot my travel pillow in my luggage which was stored in the lower part of the bus. No need to say that I had one of my most uncomfortable rides ever. I mean, the first three hours went by so fast. No one was sitting next to me so I had a pretty big space to figure out a sleeping position. The first hour is always easy for me to fall asleep, and then I just waited for us to stop. I was so hungry that once we stopped around lunch time I became so happy.
We ate the hot dogs we made at home the day before. Not the best meal, but at least we put some tomatoes in it to keep it healthier. It is important to have an in-take of everything and eat healthy because getting sick during a trip is the worst thing ever. If you do, you just can not enjoy the vacation that much. During our meal, my phone connected to McDonald’s public wifi, so now I know I can connect to it if needed.
The bus left exactly some seconds after we got on it because Genzl decided at the last minute to go to the washroom.
The second part of the ride was hell. I could not find a comfortable position to sleep and the Bts Run episodes I had in my phone kept me busy for just one hour. The longest three hour on a bus ever. But when we got off, I proudly told my family that we had just survived our second longest trip. The Toronto to New York trip and the Air Bnb in Cleveland were the most worrying things constantly in my mind now.
Gabe and Genzl went to explore the place to find out where I could leave my baggage since Greyhound has a service for that. Going back home and then coming back to town was too expensive, but having to stroll around my big luggage was not ideal. So we left it at the Greyhound bus station and headed on a new adventure.
We did not really have a plan so we went for the closest things in our list of places to see. Dad stopped few times to take some pictures on our way to Point State Park. We took some family pictures there too and walked around the park. The Heinz Field Arena was in sight from the park but as cool as it was, I just wanted to visit Lincoln Financial Stadium because I am an Eagles fan.
On our stroll, we met some guys dancing and practicing hip hop moves, so I asked them if they could do the floss with my brother Genzl to have some nice footage for our little video project. They agreed and it was cool even though one could not do it properly.
We skipped the Grandview Point because my mom was tired and she did not want to walk up there. The view would have been nice, but I understood that everyone was pretty tired, so we headed to the bus stop in Liberty Avenue.
A little detour to CVS came up short because everything was so expensive and there were no fresh vegetables or good food. So we took the 27 and arrived at our Air Bnb. Again the ticket machine was not working, so we did not pay our fare. So strange that they just let you use the public transportation like that. Like I mean, in Milano if something like that happens, the driver should drive the vehicle back for a change.
Whatever, we arrived at our house and our host was still cleaning. The day before I told her we would have been there after 7pm and it was 6.55pm so I could understand why it was not ready yet. To be honest it was better like that because I did not have to go through the check in process that way.
When we finally moved in, we decide on what to do for dinner. I reminded everyone that having money does not mean that we must spend that money, so we called an Uber and headed to Aldi. It is the cheaper superstore even if it has less thing than Wallmart. On our way there the driver took six minutes and a good conversation. On our way back home we actually took more than thirty minutes. Our driver was a little bit old and forgot to push the “Picked up” button on his app, so the cellphone kept leading him to Aldi, our starting point. When he finally understood that, we got lost again because he would not follow what the gps was telling him. I was honestly about to lose patience but it was less annoying than my dad’s barking and complaints.
Around 8.40pm we finally got back home and started cooking. Luckily, my dad at home is a little bit different than my dad in tourist mode. It was not always like that but now he is calmer and easier to speak to. We had broccoli, white rice, chicken and apples for dinner. Even if it was a really simple meal I felt so happy and thankful to be there with my entire family. Being there to spend the holidays together it is not a given, and even if we do not get along well every time, we still love each other. Being a family is hard, but if you can stick with it you learn so much about loving the others for who they are and being loved for who you are, both of them unconditionally.
After Genzl and I washed the dishes I fell asleep for a long time. I was supposed to take a twenty minutes super nap to restore some energy, but I was just too tired. Now it is 2am in the morning, everyone is sleeping and I am here writing my journal and looking on Google the best souvenirs I can buy for my friends. Man, I am a little bit sleepy but finally I caught up again. I wonder when I will fall behind once more.
Godyl Go! 