The summer of 2012. My journey through the U.S. National Parks honed my intuition as a traveler.
Back in 2012, I was living my dream. I had been working in the music industry and had worked with the world-famous pop stars and bands. Working in music, especially for my favorite artists and new artists, felt like I was really lucky since it had been my childhood dream.
However, I knew I needed to take a break from my career, even though I really loved my job.
The reason?
It’s a long story, but let’s just say it was the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami changed my perspective for life.
After I made my decision to leave my job, I had dinner with my friend and her boss, who ran an indie record label in Japan. I had been helping them occasionally as a graphic and web designer.
When I told them I will quit my job, they invited me to join them at Warped Tour* in California. *The largest punk rock festival in the U.S., held annually from 1995 to 2019.
As a person who often trusts my intuition, I immediately said “Yes!”, and started looking for flight tickets when I got home.
I thought, “Since I’m going to California, I might want to explore the Grand Circle (U.S. national parks in Arizona and Utah), too!”
A few days later, I booked my flights, and chose the return flight for one week after from the original date, even though I didn’t have any concrete plans yet.
I’ve visited 36 states now, so I’m a bit familiar with the U.S., but back then I had never visited the U.S. mainland. My only “American” experiences were in Hawaii and Guam. So basically, I didn’t know anything about the U.S. at the time.
My driver’s license was only used as an ID. Who needs to drive a car in Tokyo? We have the best public transportation in the world! (Yep, self-defense mode is on.)
If you’ve never driven in your country, how are you supposed to drive in the U.S.?
Impossible.
Today, you can find many resources for travel research using social media, Google, or even AI. However, back in 2012, the situation was a bit different. You had to call or write an email to contact businesses through their websites, which were often 20 years old and never updated. You also had to wonder if the businesses were still in business.
I did my research and sent emails to some local travel agencies and shuttle services in my poor English.
“Hello, I’d like to travel around the Grand Circle alone, but I can’t drive. I’m wondering if I can use your shuttle service or hire a driver for a week, and how much it would cost. Thank you.”
Within a few days, I received responses from five companies.
Three of them said “Unfortunately, we can’t help you with your request.” The other two offered me expensive estimates that were not realistic for me.
I thought, “Okay… I guess my idea was unfeasible. Maybe I’ll just stay in LA for the rest of the week.”
A week later, I attended a party with a friend. When we arrived at the venue, there were over 50 people there, and it was so crowded that we could barely walk around.
We finally made it to the bar counter, and grabbed a drink, and started talking to someone next to us.
The person said, “I’m traveling to the U.S. next month for my summer vacation! Have you ever been to the U.S.? Have you heard of the Grand Circle?”
I was surprised and said, “Wait, did you say next month? When exactly?” and explained that plans which I had almost given up.
Then, the person explained their plans, which they had been planning for months.
The plans sounded great because they covered all the places I wanted to visit. Surprisingly, the dates were almost the same as mine, too.
I was shocked and speechless. I was like, “What is going on here?”.
Then the person said, “I’ve already booked the rental car and hotels. If you’re interested, would you like to join me? I’ll drive, so you can relax and enjoy the view. It would also help me out, since we can split the travel costs!”
My intuition told me to say “Yes!”, but I just met the person and had talked only 10 minutes. I knew nothing about them.
They were a complete stranger, and I was a complete stranger to them. We were just two strangers who wanted to travel to the same place at the same time, and happened to meet at a random party which I even don’t know why I was there to be honest.
Usually I trust my intuition, but I couldn’t decide on that day.
A few days later, I had lunch with the person, and we got to know each other better. We revealed our backgrounds, and we decided to do the Grand Circle trip together for a week.
We were from different countries, races, and genders. We were complete strangers, but we were now travel buddies.
We had one shared purpose: to explore the Grand Circle. Besides that, we seemed to have almost nothing in common.
I though “It will be a journey… but it could also be an exciting one. Let’s do it!”
To be continued…
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