Last September I decided to organise a trip alone to the US. It was something that had been crossing my mind already for some time. I wanted to go far away for a bit, have an adventure. We live in a world saturated with American culture, besides, I had crossed paths with several American people who for one reason or another had an important impact on my life. Last but not least, I read a couple of American books that resonated with my feelings of restlessness and thirst for exploration, like Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin and Anywhere but Here by Mona Simpson. For all these reasons I was curious to finally visit this huge country, full of open spaces and contradictions. 

I decided to go by myself, partly because I don’t really like travelling with other people unless they share my love for unplanned and flexible adventures, and partly because I was hopeful to meet someone along the way like I did many other times in the past when I was travelling. Also, I kind of organised everything at the last minute and it would have been hard to match with someone else.

What I pictured in my mind was me in a cowboy shirt driving on a highway surrounded by the desert. I wanted to see nature and feel strong emotions. I wanted to go to Big Bend National Park in Texas because a student of mine spoke about it and showed me some pictures. It looked amazing. 

Of course, things didn’t go as I pictured. But it was still an amazing, unexpected trip. Let’s see what happened.

• New York

I flew to New York because it was the cheapest option from Milan. Also, New York is one of these places that you’re kind of expected to visit at least once in your life, like Paris or London. When you tell an Italian that you’re going to the US they’ll probably just imagine New York or California, everything in the middle simply doesn’t spark their imagination. 

I was definetely curious about New York, but I’m at a moment in my life where I’m more attracted to open spaces than to crowded and expensive cities. 

I took a cab from JFK to what I thought was a hostel in Brooklyn where I had a reservation. I just wanted to chill and look out of the window, not caring about how expensive that car trip would be.

$70! Plus tip. For those who were wondering about it. Once in front of the location, I couldn’t find any hostel, only a cafè. After some time chatting with the “hostel” manager, I found out it was on the last floor of that building, even if it wasn’t visible from the outside. After a steel flight of stairs, I found myself in what clearly was an apartment turned into a hostel, or, as a guy I met on the terrace said, a crash pad. I barely met other people in the three days I spent there, the manager was a proactive and creative Chinese girl, but I forgot her name though, and the terrace was a lovely spot where I could admire the city skyline and take some sun.

I found some crazy October weather, some days it was as hot as summer, others, it was cold and rainy. Still on jetlag and stressed for my life, I took those days to adjust myself to the new rhythm and disconnect. I didn’t do much, I walked around Brooklyn and Manhattan, went to the Natural History Museum, and went out to eat with the son of a friend of my fake aunt (my family is a bit special), a very nice guy called Mike who invited me for lunch and showed me around the city. We also went for a hike to New Jersey one day and probably that was my favourite day in New York. 

I cannot say that New York isn’t a city full of charm and things to do, but probably it was not what I needed at that moment. I’d like to go again one day with someone who knows the city and wants to show me around. 

• New Orleans

My second step and the first place I really wanted to go to was New Orleans. I flew from Newark Airport and landed in New Orleans on a sunny and hot day. I didn’t know much about this city apart from the fact that it is the US culinary and jazz capital. Another reason why I decided to come was that my initial plan for this trip was to visit only Texas and Louisiana and New Orleans seemed like a good starting point. Also, I had an ex-roommate/colleague of mine who lived here.

I had a reservation for Madame Isabelle’s Guesthouse, a pink wooden house converted into a hostel.

It was a hot, sunny day. I arrived there by taxi and was welcomed by Kyle, the receptionist, a laidback guy from Wisconsin. On the other side of the house, there was a wooden patio with trees and a hot tub. It didn’t feel like being in a city, instead, every time I was chilling there, it felt like being on a tropical island far from everything.

I loved the atmosphere of this hostel because it looked like an actual home, it gave me the feeling that someone had lived there before. Besides, the guests had mixed ages and came from different contexts, which is something I really appreciate in a hostel. I was definitely in a quiet mood during my stay there, so it was nice being able either to go out for a drink and listen to music or simply chill on the terrace with a cup of tea.

I also loved the city, or at least, what I saw of it. Being without a car I didn’t have the chance to explore too much outside the centre. 

New Orleans is a colourful and vibrant place, just walking in the streets I was amazed by its architecture, I could feel the mix of cultures that passed from there. Another aspect I loved was all the magic and voodoo atmosphere and since I was there in mid-late October, everything was adorned with Halloween decorations, which gave the city a special vibe.

Even if I’m Italian, I’m not a picky eater and I’m always curious to try new flavours, New Orleans, with its rich food culture didn’t disappoint me. My favourites dishes among the ones I tried were gumbo and chargrilled oysters (with butter and cheese) and the place I went to more often was Today’s Cajun Food, a cheap and definitely not touristy cafeteria, where, for only a couple of dollars I could get a big and tasty meal, served in a “fancy” styrofoam bowl. I can’t really tell about the quality of the food, but I really liked it because it reminded me of these cheap diners you see in 90’s movies, like the one in the last scene of Pulp Fiction.

Gumbo is a traditional creole thick soup made with rice, vegetables, sausage and/or shrimps, okra, and cajun seasoning. It was delicious! As a souvenir I also bought a small package of cajun seasoning to make it at home.

My initial plan was to only stay in New Orleans for about a week, but I ended up staying there for more than two weeks. Partly because I messed up with my bank card, since my debit card wasn’t accepted anywhere and my credit card had a pretty low limit, so I had to install Revolut and wait for the physical card to be delivered. And partly, because the motto of this trip was “do what feels safe” and this hostel and the city in general just felt so comfortable I kind of didn’t want to leave. 

One of the first days I was there I decided to do a swamp tour with a girl I met in the hostel. The day was grey and muggy, the perfect weather to go to a swamp! I usually don’t like doing activities for tourists but I loved to explore the swamp just sitting on a boat and listening to the story the guide was telling us. The other people were very excited to see alligators, but for me, the real surprise was to finally meet some raccoons, since I had never seen one before.

New Orleans was a good surprise not only for raccoons but also for my human encounters. First, it was really good to meet with an ex-colleague/roommate of mine after about 7 years. Having moved so many times, I felt lonely pretty often when I was in a new city, so it’s always sweet to find again people I know and shared something with. It makes you feel like the world isn’t that big after all and it’s your home wherever you go.

Completely unexpectedly I also ran into someone who used to work in my same coworking in Barcelona. We were both very surprised about this random encounter and decided to go for a drink together. He was more an acquaintance than a friend for me, but I was astounded to notice how close you feel to a person when you run into them in a random place where you both feel a bit lonely. 

Also in the hostel, I met a lot of interesting people and I especially loved having a drink (most of the time it was a cup of tea for me) in the late evening or a super long breakfast and just talking about life. I remember especially one morning when an Irish guy showed us his self-made deck of tarots and we started to play with them. It was so interesting to see how all the cards that we picked made sense with our own story and questions. We discovered so much of each other that morning just by making our interpretation of these tarots. Sometime later I actually asked this Irish guy to send me the template to design my own deck, one day I will feel introspective and spiritual, I definitely want to make them.

These were the cards I picked:

When I finally received my Revolut card, I decided to explore more and went west toward Texas with a Greyhound bus. I will talk about my adventure in Texas in the next article.

My final thoughts on New Orleans are undoubtedly positive. It’s a place where I could live, even if from what I heard it’s not a particularly safe place. I liked the food, the vibe, the colourful architecture, and, last but not least, the accent! Maybe one day I’ll go back again and, if not, I’ll always keep fond memories of it.