If you have read our first blog post "First Stop: Coronavirus" (and I highly recommend that you do) you would know that Nolan and I had every single intention to take off out of SFO on July 23 to our future home of Mandalay, Myanmar. With those plans came the excitement, the *wanderlust* you could say for the new experiences and that were awaiting us in Southeast Asia. As college came to a close and I moved back home, I became so ready for new experiences. And then, for obvious reasons, we could not get on that plane. So, Nolan and I came up with the only plan that made sense so that we could be together without imposing on either of our parents. We would spend two weeks in Woodside with my parents, and then two weeks in Santa Barbara with Nolan's parents, and then do that again and again and again until the country decides to open up and let us in.
Now, we could not be more grateful that our parents have given us the opportunity to live at home, rent free, while we wait for our opening. But with this schedule, comes a lot of the same things. We drive to one of our homes, unpack, work for two weeks, pack back up, and drive to the other. We live in the walls we have lived in, we eat the foods we grew up on, and are surrounded by the same (very incredible) people. This, mixed in with the pent-up travel energy we had going in to the school year, did not make for the most fun mind space for me. At the end of it all, I felt very stuck. So, I tried to find a solution. With our schedules and Southeast Asian salary, jumping on a plane to the other side of the only country we are allowed to be in right now isn't really an option. Any travel satiation had to be done with a "9-5" job and post-college finances. Within these restrictions, I have found a few strategies for feeling like I am on an adventure, right here from good ole California.
1. Food
Eating good and exciting food is without a single doubt one of my favorite things to do. Although most of my family and friends have labeled me as a picky eater (fruit is not my friend) trying different types of cuisine from all around the world could not be more exciting for me. This was one of the major reasons Southeast Asia originally drew me in. The street food culture is one of the things that makes my head swirl at just a single thought. We will have the opportunity to try some of the most varied and eccentric foods for, most of the time, under two or three dollars, all the time. I dream of wandering down a random side street and finding the most incredible bowl of two dollar Shan noodles that I have ever tasted.
The only problem? I am currently not in Mandalay so wandering down a random side street looking for two dollar Shan noodles doesn't seem like a profitable expenditure of my time. So instead I've got two options for you. 1. Learn to cook, or 2. look for the most authentic least expensive restaurants you can.
Option 1:
I love to cook. And in the past few months, whenever one of our parents gives me the space in the kitchen, I am known to look for the most fun, doable Southeast Asian recipes I can find. So far, I've cooked up some Shan noodles, Northern-Thai style red curry soup, a random noodle curry I found posted on Instagram, and Tikka Masala stir fry. Now some were better than others (surprisingly, the Instagram random noodle curry was pretty incredible) but each time it felt like is was dipping my toe into the waters of Southeast Asia, and that small dip was incredibly relieving.
Option 2: Post-college and in to the first taste of "real world" life, the last thing you want to do is blow all of this new and exciting income on fancy expensive restaurants.
Or, thats what everyones been telling me, but I get way too excited about food and inevitably want to grab some take out anyway. Usually, Nolan is strong enough to hold me back and push me toward cooking something new and fun, but every once in a while, I just want to try the real deal. Obviously, Americanized Myanmar food is not "the real deal" but I tend to think its closer than anything I could make. However, smaller cities such as Santa Barbara or Redwood City don't really have a big clientele for off-the-beaten-path cuisines. (Rangoon Ruby in Palo Alto is pretty tasty but definitely does not fit into the post-college budget that I am going for). So, Nolan and I decided to make the venture into San Francisco where a handful of "Burmese" restaurants reside. We made the stop at Burma Superstar and grabbed some take out to be eaten in Golden Gate park. And let me tell you, it was awesome. It was unique and savory and oh-so exciting to get a taste of what was awaiting us.
2. Follow intentional media
Every since March there has been a constant media storm that never seems to waver. I have found myself for hours at a time scrolling through articles and thinking about everything under the sun, 99.9% of which I have zero control over. This constant stream of information has turned out to be incredibly stressful for me and almost everyone else I know. Now, keeping up with what is going on in the world is always a positive thing, but more recently I have attempted to keep it down to a manageable amount of time and then move on to something that will keep my spirits higher. Of course, I have this unquenchable travel bug, and so does almost every single other travel lover out there. But, good thing for us, people have traveled the world before, and documented it in almost every way possible. Some of the media outlets that I have subscribed myself to are the Netflix docu-series Street Food, Ugly Delicious, and of course, Zac Efron's new series Down to Earth. These shows give me insights into other parts of the world, and also absolutely feed into my obsession with worldly cuisines. However the last media outlet that has been a blessing recently are the two travel bloggers Kara and Nate. They are two young people who had the dream to travel the world and just decided to make it a reality. After four years of travel, they finally finished their goal of traveling to 100 countries by the start of 2020 (great timing honestly). They run a blog and a YouTube channel, where they have documented every single part of their adventure. Their posts and videos are authentic, funny, and relieving to those of us who are itching to get out but just can't right now. (They were also huge inspirations in starting this blog, so I guess I have them to thank for this, too.)
3. Go on an adventure
This feels like simultaneously the most obvious and most ridiculous thing I could add to this blog post, but one that has fed that space in my heart most directly. No matter where you are stuck in the world right now, I promise there are restaurants that you haven't been to, parks you've never visited, or hikes you've never been on. In a world of uncertainty, it is so easy to fulfill your happiness with comfort. There's not much that can't be fixed by a burrito from Freebird's or Celia's, but the comfort that you get from that burrito is only going to go so far. After all, this is the 8th week in a row that you've had one so how much long-term happiness is it really bringing to you. But, last week, Nolan and I decided to go Disc-Golfing in Golden Gate park after visiting the aforementioned Burma Superstar, and ended the day in Ghirardelli Square. The whole day, we couldn't stop talking about how much fun it was to just go do something. And, each of these things were easily accomplished with a to-go order, masks when necessary, eating outside, and generally keeping ourselves away from those around us. Aka, it was a coronavirus approved outing. Although I have spent my entire life going on trips to San Francisco, I had
never eaten at this restaurant, or gone disc golfing at this park. To be fair, I have absolutely gone to Ghirardelli square for sundaes before, but Nolan even pushed me to get the Mint Chip sundae instead of my tried and true Hot Fudge Brownie Sundae (but he got one of those, and then we shared both).
Right now, truly may be the worst time to be stuck with a travel bug (or any bug for that matter). Good thing for me, creativity has always been one of my strong suits so these small indulgences into an adventure have been incredibly useful to broadening my experiences away from the mundane. And at the end, having a new experience is what travel is really about anyway. My San Francisco noodle curry may not have been found in an alley way for two dollars, but it was something I had never tried, and so, it was a fun adventure. I hope all of you are able to find some new experiences right now, too! Let me know if you have and how, I am definitely not stopping here.
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