On April 30th, 2021, I locked my apartment door for the last time. Despite spending the last two months attempting to downsize all my wordily possessions into a 5' x 7' storage unit, I still ended up scrambling that morning trying to figure out what to do with my remaining odd-ends.

My memory is a tad hazy now, but I think I ended up literally just chucking a garbage bag into the back of my storage unit. I'm scared of the day I'll have to empty it...

While I didn't end up writing as much as I thought I would while traveling, I certainly was keeping myself busy. I saw more of the US than I ever thought I would in my life! In some ways, it was a bit unexpected, since I originally imagined myself traveling the world -- not the US.

The big take-away here: the US is rather big! You can explore my almost completely uncensored location history for the entire trip below.

It was a very lonely trip -- though sort of by design. I spent a lot of time alone in the woods. Many times I was miles away from any other human being. It was nice though.

I had a lot of time to reflect on myself. Instead of having a constant myriad of emotions and situations of normal life hitting me all at once -- all while trying to make sense of it all -- I could experience and retrospect on simpler, more isolated experiences one at a time. I think it really helped me.

That's not to say I didn't meet people or even visit a few cities. I also certainly met a handful of interesting acquaintances. But, that was never the focus for me.

Oddly, even up until the very end of my trip, this state of perpetual loneliness never bothered me as much as I thought it would. Also, the lack of a known place to go back home to never really bothered me either. I sort of felt free. In all honestly, I think I struggled more with it simply for the fact that people insisted these things would bother me.

However, while it was an enjoyable six months, I now know it's not what I want for the rest of my life. It's been refreshing, to say the least, to see old friends and go out to familiar places again after so much time on the road. I'm sad I can't really do the international travel I hoped to do now, but the idea of going back to work and having a stable life again feels good to me again -- even exciting.

So, what's next? Apparently, I've been roped into an 18 day cruise -- something I never thought I'd actually be willing to do. Other than that, it's a mix of studying for interviews, getting my life in order, and relaxing a bit until I start interviewing again sometime next year. I'm hoping to make the most of my homelessness status by staying in different parts of San Francisco (and possibly the US) for month-long periods until I start full-time employment.

Anyway, it was fun. Not necessarily life changing or some magical fix to all my life's problems, but just fun. I couldn't ask for more.