They say if you’re waking up in your own bed for far too long it’s time to go and wake up somewhere else. I don’t mind sleeping in someone else’s couch for days and see a different view each time I wake up in the morning.
To cut the long story short, I have a high school batch mate in Washington, DC and after 5 or so years I decided to have a little high school reunion with him and meet the rest of his group. Since I have a friend who also works there, Angela, a place to stay is not a problem.
I arrived an hour early in the Megabus station in West 34th West Side Manhattan. I thought I would be the earliest bird but some people were already in line. The station was near the Hudson River and most of the people in line were shivering. I felt relieved when they finally checked our tickets and gave us a red card for boarding. The bus was a double decker bus. I thought I was only going to see these kinds of buses in London and since it’s my first time riding a double decker bus I chose to ride in the top bunk.
(that’s the double decker!)
The bus left at exactly 9am. This is it! I’m leaving The Concrete Jungle for four days and three nights!
As the bus picked up its speed at Interstate 495 I put my earphones on and concentrate on the beautiful views outside. Majority of the passengers were sleeping. They didn’t know that one of the best parts of travelling is the ride. The joy of leaving one place and getting to another.
Manhattan from New Jersey was spectacular. I’ve never seen it from afar before. The buildings were small but still visible rendered black and white by the fog. Then we crossed Newark; still part of NJ, and the first major thing I noticed was the Newark Airport. Our bus was close enough to the airport runway I saw a plane in taxi getting ready for take off. It’s different when you’re inside the plane experiencing it all but when you’re outside and you see the whole process of a plane in taxi until it took off and in close up it’s amazing.
We were in Interstate 95 and outside the window was a blur of green. I never thought that I would see vast greenery, tall grasses, crops and really big trees in the continental US especially not too far from the omnipresent noise of New York. I always thought that US was all about tall buildings and all that stuff. It almost felt like home.
We stopped at Baltimore. Some of the passengers got off the bus. I’m an hour away to Washington and I’m feeling the excitement building up. We’re still at I95 speeding up and they announced that we’re a couple of minutes away from Union Station in DC.
We were driving in H Street now and the houses and establishments were small and looked like a mini castle it’s like a piece on a chessboard. It’s more quiet and li-low. I missed this kind of quietness. We reached Union Station and the bus went up to the parking lot. I retrieved my bag from the rear of the bus and followed the instructions that Angela gave me.
I have a habit of not panicking when I get lost so it’s not a problem with me I just go and go and I reached the Metro. Next thing was how to use the ticket machines? it’s not the same as the New York ones. I was standing there like a kid pressing buttons figuring out how to make it work and I did it! But the fucking machine was asking for a fucking 20 bucks for a fucking one-way ticket. It’s crazy. Finally the next guy in line noticed that I dunno what to do and offered his help. “Can I help?” this British guy said I could tell by his accent, “Yes, please” I automatically replied. Then he asked where will I go down and pressed the down switch? Button? to reduce the amount to 3 bucks. Whoever that is Thank you!
I went down to the platform and wait for a Red Line Metro train that will take me to Gallery Place. The train stations here are very different from the Subways. It has a Hogwarts vibe; it’s cleaner and more pleasing to ride.
(@ Eisenhower Ave.)
(My travel bag on the platform)
At Gallery place I waited for a Yellow Line to Pentagon City. Little did I know that there are two Pentagons. As soon as I saw Pentagon Station I got off right away and realized that Pentagon Station is different from Pentagon City. When I went out at Pentagon Station I found myself in a place called Pentagon Memorial in a bay of buses. I texted Angela that I was there. She was on her way to pick me up in a car with her officemate Moses but they got pulled by the Police because of using GPS while driving. And Moses’ license was suspended and he’s not allowed to drive in Virginia. So if his friend will not be there in 20 minutes to drive for him the police will have to tow his truck and Angela has to walk to find me. We were on the phone giving each other directions. I told her I was wearing all black and she was wearing her hotel uniform. And in a snap of a second I saw a white figure in a hotel uniform! I called my mom and told her I was already with Angela and Angela called her dad to say she’s already with me.
We have to get back to Moses who was still stranded with the police. Moses was a black American and he told us it was okay and we should probably go because it will take time. I insisted on staying because I was feeling guilty but he said it’s okay. Angela checks on him every now and then though.
We took the Yellow Line to Pentagon City. Finally. And took the free Hilton Hotel shuttle bus to Hilton Hotel. It was a long shuttle ride and we talked like we haven’t spoken for 5 years.
At Hilton Hotel we walked to her apartment. It was also a long walk. We talked still. And I finally had the chance to observe around. There’s a lot of trees and greenery around. There are not so much people. I felt like it was a province but not completely a province.
Both of us were hungry so we ordered a to-go 20 pieces chicken nuggets at McDonalds and walked a couple of blocks more to Angela’s apartment.
Our stomachs were screaming for food when we arrived so we immediately re-heat the brown rice in the microwave and ate our stomachs out. I finished most of the nuggets, surprised how hungry I was, and Angela wolfed down her spicy chicken from Jollibee. We had dessert afterwards and watched TV.
We got ready by 7:00pm because Ishmael, Sancho’s friend which is my high school batch mate now friend, is going to pick us up to have dinner with the rest of the group at a Japanese resto called Kenji Fusion.
Ishmael arrived at exactly 7:30. We hopped on his car and Angela introduced me to him.
“So you’re the famous girl huh?” he said.
“Famous? I’m not famous.”
“Everyone’s waiting for you.”
I don’t know what to expect. Just go with the flow is my thing. And I’m really happy to meet new/old friends and Filipinos too.
We arrived in Kenji Fusion moments later and joined the rest of the group inside. I met Sancho for, probably the first time in five years, we graduated high school 2008 but were never classmates. He was part of the honors section and I, well, non-honors section. I met the rest, Brandon and Josh; they’re both Filipinos who grew up in US. Ishmael is Bolivian but with his looks he could pass for a Filipino or Asian. He’s quiet most of the time.
They’re very cool though. Josh could understand a little bit of tagalog but, probably, if one would speak tagalog very fast he wouldn’t understand it. When he speaks in Filipino it sounds different. And it’s because, he told me, he’s been living here since he was nine and he hasn’t been back since.
Brandon had a hard time understanding tagalog. He knows some words and maybe basic sentence. I think he was born and raised here.
We ordered from the menu. I forgot what I ordered but it’s like a sweet and sour chicken.
They’re very happy people and fun too! We spend the time debating who’s the best team between Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs. Angela and I favor Miami while they are all Spurs fans. Gahh. I don’t understand why they hate the Heat so much. Okay I will agree I hate Lebron too but LeBron doesn’t represent the whole Miami.
Most of the time Brandon would ask questions like which do you prefer this or that? He has his own way analyzing your answer psychologically. He asked Angela what songs she listened to and when Angela went out for a smoke with Josh he asked me the same question. I told him my favorite bands like Guns n Roses, Coldplay etc. etc. Ishmael suggested that I listen to this guy called Led Zeppellin. According to him, their music is like of those in Guns n Roses but it’s better.
After that we joined Angela and Josh outside. Sancho had to go home because of his curfew and the rest of us went to Breeze, a Korean café.
(sweets in Breeze)
Ishmael, Angela and I arrived first and we wait for the others before ordering. And to prevent the awkwardness I asked Ishmael questions about his college.
He was still quite quiet. He told me he was not actually that quiet he was just tired from work. Soon enough the others arrived. I had iced green tea, which tasted like water by the way. And Brandon continued asking his psychological questions.
(Us in Breeze)
It was drizzling when we left. I bid Josh and Brandon goodbye and Ishmael dropped us off in Angela’s apartment.
I really enjoyed this day. Travelling and meeting new people is like bread and Nutella: A good combination.
wanderlass 