Not having a job to return to definitely helped making the transition back to “regular life” easier and beating the jetlag (or possibly made it worse, since the argument “I don’t have much to do tomorrow anyway” made it easy to stay up until 3am and then sleep until 11am).
To be honest, I have actually quite enjoyed my new lifestyle in the last 2 months, so I have seriously considered investing my last savings in lottery tickets hoping to reach the financial independence required to keep travelling carefree around the world. For good measure I have however also started putting together a plan B where a few consulting gigs in the short term will help me bridge the gap until I hit the jackpot.
Nevertheless, I have now been home for over a week, so I think it is about time to draw a final balance of my American adventure in one last post on this blog, before it just becomes really pathetic to still be talking about my last vacation 🙂 .
When I set off on my journey across America, the main objective was to binge on art and experience a side of America that I never had the occasion or the time to see during my previous business trips. All in all, I am very happy I took the time to make this trip, and while it is always very difficult to pick favourites and make an honest balance, there are certainly a number of things that made the trip memorable.
1) The Art
As I mentioned at the beginning of the trip, I am not an art critic nor much of an expert and I have no interest in expressing a “professional” view on what I see. Quite simply, I enjoy looking at art and I am happy to share the feelings that certain combinations of colours and shape inspire in me.
From this perspective, the trip has been a smashing success, and the visit to places like the Art Institute of Chicago or the National Gallery in Washington certainly belong to the happiest moments of my life.
And while it was certainly amazing to see so many masterpieces of European superstars like Monet, Van Gogh or Picasso, what made the experience really special was getting to learn so much more about American art, which is typically under-represented in the collections of European museums. Ironically, though, as I write I am reminded that the reason I did not actually get to see the famous “American Gothic” painting in Chicago is that it is currently touring Europe with an exhibition called “American Painting in the 1930’s” which just closed in London but will open again in Paris in October.
Hopping from museum to museum in rapid succession was a great way to really get a very thorough introduction to American art, following its progression from mere variations of European originals of the early days to the development of its own voice, true expression of a country that in the same period was finding its place at the helm of the world and a mirror of the way society was developing on that side of the Atlantic.
From that perspective, the tags that usually indicate the author and title of the paintings also offered another interesting perspective on American history and society. In these times of “Mexican walls” and “selective travel bans”, I found the labels identifying a large majority of the artists as “American, born in Italy” (or Russia, Ukraine, France, Germany, China, Japan…) a particularly relevant reminder of what really made America great in the first place, the ability to make “from many, one”.
Another thing I find particularly fascinating when visiting Art museums is looking at how similar themes are being treated differently depending on the local conditions. For instance, while the near Orient with its harems and Bedouins riding in the desert was exerting its allure on European artists like Delacroix or Ingres, American artists were finding their own exotic themes in the Wild West, depicting canyons, deserts and Native American tribes (often with the same mannerist, stereotypical romanticism of their European counterparts). Similarly, many paintings I have had the chance to see in St. Petersburg and Moscow witness how Russian artists in the late XIX/ early XX century were travelling to Central Asia to find their own share of unspoiled, exotic scenes and landscapes to immortalize on canvas. And the pattern presented itself over and over again in the scenes of life in cafés, factories, cities and fields, often unique and original and yet familiar at the same time.
Finally, besides more “mainstream” masters like Sargent, Warhol or Hopper, this trip also gave me a great chance to discover many interesting African-American artists like Motley and Lawrence, as well as many talented women artists (I still can’t believe the “National Museum of Women in Art” isn’t packed all the time).
If I had to pick just a few favourites that inspired me the most among the many amazing artworks I have seen this month, these would probably be at the top of that list.
2) The train
Ok, while I do really enjoy travelling by train I still have to admit that riding a train in the US for over 2 days is not exactly the most comfortable experience in the world (granted, it still beats an average economy seat on an airplane, but one typically does not spend more than 12 hours in a row in one).
Nevertheless, I would definitely say it was still totally worth it and I am so happy I took the train. Not being much of an outdoors person (although I have had my moments), I typically like to travel comfortably and the train offered a very civilized way to experience some truly incredible places (and I think I am slowly developing a soft spot for the desert 🙂 ).
I also think that the slow pace really gave me a chance to get the best out of this experience. And particularly after driving from DC to Chicago I understand even less the point of the “American roadtrip”: if the scenery around you is great, you will probably want to stick your nose to the window. If it’s boring, why not take a nap or read a book? Going slow in this case is not a bug, it’s a feature… Assuming obviously you choose Amtrak for the trip itself and not because you need to get to a specific destination by a certain time.
As a matter of fact, I loved it so much that while I was still sitting there I was already looking at what routes to take the next time I get a chance to do another trip like this (the Texas Eagle from Chicago to LA via San Antonio or the Sunset Limited from New Orleans to LA are two clear favourites here 🙂 ).
3) The unexpected
When it comes to travelling I am typically a very accurate planner, spending a lot of time plotting routes, finding the best hotels and flights, selecting things to see and do and where to go for food and drinks (a quality that has served me very well in my professional life 🙂 ).
While there is certainly a big chunk of borderline unhealthy FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) involved in this, to be honest I also see the planning as part of the trip, and I certainly enjoy looking at opportunities and options and anticipating what the actual experience will be once I get there.
Nevertheless, I must admit (and maybe draw a few lessons for the future) that some of the most amazing experiences of these trip were either not part of the original plan or complete spur-of-the-moment decisions.
This category includes for instance Pittsburgh and Detroit, which were added as quick, secondary, technical stops to make the drive to Cleveland and then on to Chicago more manageable, and ended up outshining the original destination of this chunk of the trip.
I also definitely include here the many cool gigs I had the chance to see on the road, and while I might have mixed feelings about Portland, its Japanese Gardens have made it solidly into my “Happy Places” list and are one of the reasons why I definitely want to go back and visit again soon.
And as far as impulsive decisions go, the ride on the Seaplane to Victoria, BC was one of the most exhilarating experiences of this trip… Not to mention that then Victoria itself was quite a nice surprise too 🙂 .
The other side of the medal…
So was it all hunky-dory then? Am I now hopelessly in love with America?
Ahem… not quite. While there are certainly many things that make this a great country, there are still a number of issues that bothered me and reinforced my conviction that while I do like to visit I have no desire to ever move here (last famous words? 😀 ).
There were small things, like having to add a tip to every check or the showers with fixed head and a single mixing valve that you need to turn all the way to get hot water.
But most importantly, there were also some pretty big things that really bothered me. One example for all, the large number of homeless people.
While this is certainly a problem we face in Europe as well, the idea that in one of the richest countries in the world people regularly end up on the street because they lost their job or got sick and could not pay their medical bills is just too absurd for me to grasp. What makes it even harder to accept is the fact that, judging from the political debate about things like minimum wage and affordable healthcare, for a sizeable portion of the population this is a perfectly acceptable occurrence and not a problem that the government should try to address.
This is obviously a much bigger and complex issue and it is not with intention to try to make a cheap political point that I bring it up here. It has however been a recurring theme in the cities I have passed and something I felt deserves a mention nevertheless.
In conclusion
When a couple of months ago I told people I was leaving .Cloud, that I did not have another job already lined up and that I was going travelling around the US by train instead, reactions varied from “you’re lying and you just don’t want to tell me you are going to work for X” to “you’re crazy”.
A low mortgage and no kids clearly helped making this decision a lot easier, and I don’t regret it one bit.
Blogging about the trip has also been an excellent way to make sure I did not simply run from one thing to see to the other. Saving time also to stop, sit down and reflect about what I saw and did ultimately helped me enjoy and experience these things at a much deeper level. It has however also been very time-consuming: each post has typically taken at least 2-3 hours of work. Some of the longer, more complex ones (like this very last one) have sucked up hour after hour stretched over several days… Clearly as I go back to a more regular life with actual work to do this pace and effort is no longer sustainable. Yet, I feel there is more “writing” left in me that will eventually have to come out.
This month away on my own has been relaxing and challenging at the same time. It definitely helped me get some perspective, but to say it with The White Stripes, “I still don’ t know what to do with myself” (at least professionally 🙂 ).
And to be honest, this does not bother me much. While I figure out what I want to do when I grow up, there are still plenty of cool projects to work on and adventures to get lost in.
Many of those that called me “crazy” admitted (with words or just with their eyes) in the very next moment that they were a bit jealous too, that they wished they could also just take off. To all of them my sincere wish is that they can find their own little share of “crazy” in their life, whatever that might be.