the moral of the story

Sometimes I just need a break.

I need to sit back and be able to view the world in a beautiful way, the way it’s supposed to be lived and observed, rather than as a stressful and a never ending routine.

A couple weeks ago I took that break a couple states away in sunny California. It wasn’t all too sunny since we actually found ourselves on this last minute trip in northern California, in San Francisco. Since this trip was so last minute, the Airbnb be found did not get that much research before the booking. Soon we realized that maybe that wasn’t the best idea. As we arrived and an Uber driver picked us up he was quick to acknowledge the neighborhood we were staying in and why we picked that area. We immediately got a little worried, but nevertheless we made it to the house and the neighborhood and realized the drivers concern. The sketchy 7/11 on the corner, the homeless people sleeping on the ground across the street. We made our way inside and decided to not let it affect us yet.

So we got dressed up and made our way to the train station to head to a sushi place for dinner. We stuck out like a sore thumb in our skirt and dress as everyone around us was clearly staring with confused looks, probably wondering why these 2 girls were alone in this area.

We make our way to town and find the restaurant. It was about an hour train ride, which was basically how long it took us to get in and out of town every day. We immediately realized how much more we “fit in” with the people around us as we were more in the main city.

We went to dinner and to the store and found ourselves, in the dark, back at the train station. This is when the conductor of a train pulls up and tells us that we were not going to get on a train that night and to call an Uber. As we talked to him further he told is to never ride the train to where our stay was at night. More fear found us as we hurried onto the app and got a driver to take us back. That night we looked for other hotels, and with no luck we just decided to pray for a safe trip and accept the fact that 2 girls probably shouldn’t be staying in this part of town, but they were and they were going to make the most out of it.

The next day we got up, got ready, and happily went to our sketchy 7/11 for Dr. Peppers and walked to our sketchy train station where people looked at us confusingly. We made our way across town and had the funnest day of shopping, laughing, memory making, and even made our way to a baseball game that night. Afterwards it was dark so we ditched the train and got an Uber, and without fail he asked us why we were staying there and we just laughed. Of course we were still scared, but we weren’t going to stop that from making our trip fun. We continued to laugh and talk to the Uber driver and as he dropped us off he said, “Now if you get hungry don’t walk anywhere, order UberEats.”

The next day, without talking about it together, I think we both realized that this trip would have not been as fun if we weren’t in this part of town, which sounds weird and scary and worrisome, but every 7/11 trip for snacks, drinks, tampons, and advil turned into more laughs and memories.

The next day and a half were not a disappointment as we went to all the touristy spots in town on our train and were even able to give directions to confused travelers after we figured out how to make our way around. We made sure to get home during the day if we were taking the train and we made sure to not acknowledge the guy who was trying to show us his abs at the train station.

The moral of the story is NOT to purposely pick a sketchy part of town to stay in on your trips, but instead to not let, let’s say, unwanted situations to ruin your time.

The moral of the story is to make the most of it. Whether you’re on a trip or you’re just sitting at home with nothing to do, make the most of it.