7/11/2016: Trip Preparation

Joshberu@gmail.com

7/12 Update:

After the first day of the trip, I’m realizing that attempting to nail down a concrete schedule for this trip will just lead to frustration and stress.  This trip will pose many new challenges which I haven’t dealt with before, which are due to the many unknowns, the many flexible, constantly changing details, and the details that I don’t have too much control over.  The unknown/changing parts are as follows:

  • Inconvenience of Public transportation System and Urban Sprawl
    • Seattle is much more sprawled out than I was expecting.  The bus ride from Pike Market to Discovery Park was about 30 minutes and the route from Space Needle to where I’m staying  (near Northgate Mall) required almost an hour of public transportation and walking.
    • The National Parks are each a minimum of 3 hours away by car, which makes public transportation extremely inconvenient
    • Unlike San Francisco, the Seattle area is very spread out.
  • Lodging
    • During this trip, I’m relying on AirBNBs, Couchsurfing, and camping.  All three of these options (especially Couchsurfing) can lead to last-minute decisions and much uncertainty.  This uncertainty means that the entire trip can completely be changed because of a lodging option or lack of a lodging option
  • Weather
    • Due to my plans of spending many days in National Parks and wilderness, I need to be prepared for at least a few rainy/snowy days which will lead to delays or cancellations of my plans
  • Work
    • Depending on how things are going with work, I may decide that it’s important for me to have cell phone access, rather than go on a hike or visit a National Park.  This decision could lead to delays in my plans
  • Meetup Events/Backpacking Trips
    • I’m heavily relying on Meetup events for outdoor activities and transportation.  My dependence on Meetup makes it so that I may need to modify my schedule to work around the Meetup events
  • Couchsurfing social interactions
    • I’m hoping to use Couchsurfer events to arrange outdoor activities and meet like-minded travelers.  My dependence on Couchsurfers makes it so that I may need to modify my schedule to work around events, activities, or other people’s schedules

Given the above factors, I’ve decided to expect major changes in my schedule throughout the trip.  In fact, the best way to prepare (which would allow me to not be stressed and to focus on the moment) would probably be to only focus on planning the current day and the next day.  Looking further than that into the future isn’t be productive.  As part of my daily blog posts, I’ll start including a rough schedule for the following day.

Seattle (Nights of July 12th and July 14th (Staying in AirBnb – “Flower Room near University”)

 

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