Yesterday evening I refused the bus driver’s “invitation” of
staying at airport hotel (240 Yuan for one night) and decided to stick to the
original plan, sleeping at the waiting hall. I didn't have a nice, sweet sleep.
Sleeping at the wide hall makes me more sensitive. I even could hear someone
was talking 100 meter away. Despite the grueling day, I woke up at 5 am as
usual. After long and grueling waiting and flying, I finally arrived in L.A.
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| Best choice for budget traveler |
About 1 month ago, I contacted one of my college
professors I haven’t seen for a long time. I’ve told my professor about my plan
twice. She told me I must tell her when I go to L.A, she will let me stay at
her place and show me around. So I keep my words. But she told me she will be
in Taiwan teaching when I arrive in L.A in October or November. So we decided
to meet at the airport while I am waiting for airplane.
She bought me hand-made sushi, sandwich, chicken
and gave me a red envelop with 100 dollars. The Only thing I could give back
was a talisman my friend took from temple for me.
After we say goodbye, I sat at the waiting
room and wait the airplane to take off. Had been waiting and flying for 43
hours, tiredness had defeated me. I was so exhausted that I fell asleep as soon
as I get on plane; even I sat next to a coupe with two kids.
When I was traveling in Japan and China, I
only stayed at somebody’s home twice. There were 2 reasons why I was reluctant
to stay at home of someone who I don’t know very well. One is my personality. I
used to call myself “an uncompleted-socialized individual”. I feel a little
anxious when meet someone who is new to me. I think most of people(except for
those extremely outgoing) feel what I feel, but I just didn’t bother to do
something about it since I can live quite well even I was living in a remote
mountain area reading and growing vegetables.
After reading the theory about helping
behavior in social psychology and the idea of “a new way of life” introduced in
“How to win friends and influence people” written by Dale Carnage, I decided to
change the way I travel and try to find someone willing to let me stay at their
place.(Budget and the story that Jeremy Lin slept on his friend’s sofa are also the
reasons though).
I found a website called Warm Shower, which
is mainly for cycling traveler, and sent 4 messages to 4 people every day each to
ask if they are willing to host me. 3 of them replied, 2 of them are able to
host me and even willing to pick me up from airport in midnight!! But 1 of them
replied 3 days after I sent him message, and I just thought It might be a
polite rejection. So I just had to write a mail to apologize as polite as
possible.
The man who is willing to accept me is
called David. He is a professor and has been accepting traveler from all over
the world for a while. When I arrived at Anchorage international airport and got
my luggage back, a big man looked at my luggage and said: “you must be Sean.” It
was 12 o’clock, so we just shook hands and went straight back to David’s home immediately,
and the torture, which had been lasting for almost 50 hours finally ended.
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| 4US$, you must be kidding. |
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| I asked a place where I can lie down, and he offer me a private room. |
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