Year End Solocation - Day 1

For the longest time, I've toyed with the idea of traveling solo. And for the longest time, I've come up with excuses why I should not or cannot do it. To name a few: self consciousness, fear of getting lost, my relationship, and the idea that traveling alone would be boring. This past year, I've been doing tons of soul searching and self discovery. I decided that the best way to reflect on 2010 would be to do a solocation. It was a last minute decision so I booked a tour (http://www.gotobus.com/) rather than doing a 100% solo trip.

The tour I chose was from Los Angeles, to Solvang, to Hearst Castle, to San Francisco, and Yosemite National Park. We departed from Chinatown at 6:45 am on December 29, 2010. We did  bus transfer in Monterey Park and were on our way.

On a side note, let me do a little review on the bus company. They are on time and the staff is friendly. The tour buses themselves are clean, have a bathroom, TV monitors, and overhead storage. It's sort of like the inside of an airplane. What I didn't realize was that most of the tour patrons were Chinese. It was cute (for a lack of better words), the tour guide would say the tour details in English first, then translate everything into Chinese. The people on the bus were very friendly and opted to help take photos of me cause all my self-portraits didn't look too great. Now on to day 1.

DAY 1: First Stop: SOLVANG, CA
Solvang is a small town located close to Santa Barbara, CA. What makes this a unique stop on the tour is that the architecture is Dutch. Windmills and all. The story is that many, many years ago, Dutch settlers had a dream to make this untouched land in California like their home. They wanted to incorporate the styles of architecture, language, food, and culture into the land. Today, it's a tourist spot worth a few hours of roaming the streets, having lunch, and checking out the shops. The bus dropped us off and gave us about 2 hours to tour.

This is where I also had my first solo meal. I stopped for breakfast at The Belgian Cafe. I felt a little awkward as a said to the hostess, "table for one please." I ordered a Belgian waffle and thoroughly savored my meal.

DAY 1: Second Stop: Hearst Castle, CA
Hearst Castle sits high atop a mountain. It was owned and built by newspaper tycoon Randolph Hearst. After Mr. Hearst passed away, the Hearst estate donated the castle to the government and it is now a State park. (Find More info at http://www.hearstcastle.org/). I opted to do the tour offered by the bus company. My personal feelings are that it is not actually what I had imagined a castle to be. It is more of an extravagant mansion filled with marble sculptures and ornate decorations and pieces of art. Hearst Castle was about 2 hours away from Solvang.

After Hearst Castle, the tour bus headed off for their dinner location. Dinner was also about 2 hours away. They stopped off at a Chinese Buffet located in a plaza like structure. The plaza also had a deli and Pho/Noodle restaurant. I went for the hot and warm Pho on a such a cold night. Again, I asked the host, still a bit self-conscious - "table for one."

After dinner, we headed off to the hotel. The hotel we stayed at was the Courtyard Marriott in Newark, CA. It was a nice and clean hotel located amongst several shops and plazas. Once alone in the privacy of my very own room, I jumped up and down on the beds like a 5 year old. I checked out all the amenities and then just sat in silence, amazed the I was doing this trip solo! I was simply ecstatic in my heart and mind. I felt amazingly liberated and free from everything.

We started off our next morning into San Francisco at 7:00 am. Another adventure awaited...