This is the last instalment. My time in the US has come to an end. I'm currently sat in the lobby of the Miyako Hotel in Downtown LA, waiting for my shuttle to LAX, which should be arriving in little under two hours time. It doesn't seem five minutes since I was sat in the same seat 15 days ago as nervous as hell waiting for the tour to start.
A lot has happened in the past two weeks. I've met some lovely people, seen some beautiful places and learnt a lot about the American culture, past and present. But I won't bore you anymore with details of the trip, instead I'm going to tell you what I've learnt.
What I've learnt about other people:
1) don't judge people before you've at least attempted to get to know them - they will most likely completely surprise you
2) that bonds can form very quickly when you're with a group of people constantly, you almost start to forget everybody else or at least learn to live with the fact that they're not around right now
3) that not everybody will be your sort of person, but everyone will have a story to tell and you can learn from everyone whether you think you 'like them' or not
4) that people from Australia don't hop around all day like kangaroos, they're not all named Sheila and don't have BBQs every day - but they always moan about the cold!!!
What I've learnt about the world
1) that not all Americans are arse holes - it's a frequent stereotype that isn't correct
2) that America is fricking huge
3) that Americans can eat (and so can Australians for that matter)
4) that there is a lot of UK influence here in the US... and back home we feel like the Yanks are trying to take over which probably isn't true
5) that there is a lot more I want to see
6) that Americans use weird words like 'fosset' and 'trash', but not the words 'bin', 'waffle'
What I've learnt about myself:
1) that I can travel alone, but whether I want to again I'm not sure
2) that I definitely like my own space once in a while - living alone does spoil me
3) that I don't like to be on my own for too long, even just having people around makes me happy
4) that I get up stupid early in comparison to 'normal folk'
5) that I struggle to be myself in big groups, and that I felt I came out of my shell once the last lot of people left the tour in San Francisco and the group was smaller
6) that if you feel a certain way you should do something about it or at least try to, or talk to someone about how you're feeling or it will eat you up inside
7) that I get bored very quickly and a tour of this speed is probably well suited to me
8) that I'm most happy when I'm by the ocean (dolphin in a past life?)
9) that I moan and whinge an awful lot about my feet hurting
10) that I need to chill the hell out more often
11) that I definitely want to return to San Francisco, Santa Monica and San Diego again, sometime, not soon but sometime
12) that I'm an emotional mofo
And that's me done...