Since my boss is currently on his way to California, sitting at home for 2 weeks is dull, especially since he didn't leave me any money or work. So, the captain decided to finally fulfill a long-held dream of traveling around America. That sounds too pretentious. It's more like cruising around nearby cities. It took 4 days just to decide on the mode of transport, destinations, and routes. In the battle for the title of "Cheapest Travel Operator," megabus.com won. Since I didn't have much money left, but wanted to visit many places and see a lot, the final route is: New York – Washington – Philadelphia – Boston – New York. The costs were: NY – Washington $21, Washington – Philadelphia $5, Philadelphia – Boston $1, Boston – NY $13. Total - $40.
It took another 2 nights to plan the routes. The biggest route is obviously Washington, since 90% of all museums and such are free there. I need to visit 21 places in one day. Philly – 7, Boston – 5.
Day 0: New York (29.08.10)
As usual, these kinds of trips start with you leaving the house loaded with bags, thinking, "Why couldn't I just stay home?" My first bus to Washington is on August 30th at 1:15 AM (an hour and a half left, so I'm sitting at Penn Station, typing while I have nothing to do). I had to leave home at 3 PM to make it to B&H for a tripod for my camera. No one is going to photograph me except myself. While riding, I was obviously thinking, "What am I going to do with a bunch of junk in Manhattan for 8 hours?" I took the tripod and headed to Times Square to sit, put the tripod in its case, and throw away the box. It's a day off, so it's crowded as usual. But then I stumbled upon an event: right next to the stairs, there was a van with a large screen installed on top, playing some clips, and speakers were set up too—basically a mini open-air cinema. So I crashed there. It was about 6 PM. While I was messing with the tripod, they started playing some short films, and I had nothing to do anyway, so I just sat and watched.
Then I realized it was some kind of film festival, and it wasn't just American short films (honestly, I couldn't even recognize the language). Between films, they kept playing ads for New York filmmakers. When the next film started, it was immediately clear it was shot in New York, and the beginning was so engaging. In the middle of the film, I realized it was a feature-length movie, the headline film of today's festival. "Listen to Your Heart." A dramatic story about a waiter who fell in love with a girl from a wealthy family who turned out to be deaf-mute; well, as usual, the girl's mother is against the relationship, and all that. At the end of the film, the girl had surgery that allowed her to hear and speak, and the guy died of cancer. It might seem like a banal plot, but the film is so well-directed and very touching. Again, halfway through the film, I noticed that all the actors were walking right next to me—it was a premiere screening. The guys got a round of applause at the end, and everyone was taking photos with them for another 10 minutes, including me)))). So the time flew by quite unnoticed, and there was an hour left until the bus. I looked at those buses—I wish we lived like that. Real tourist double-decker buses, not like ours. Oh well, we'll see.
