Sleepless in DC

I am here amidst the coldness of autumn (not in New York, but) in Washington DC. After a grueling seven hour flight that from LA to Baltimore, with a change flight in Salt Lake, a bus ride and two train hops, I finally made it here. Alive!

It's already evening and I'm here at the second floor of a backpackers hotel – like where I always stay in my personal travels – along with the company of a Korean taking his PhD in Japan, a group of Japanese teenagers, a Chinese, and an American who just arrived. Whew! Talk about the United Nations!

It’s almost midnight here and I decided not to push through with my previously conceived plan of wandering around DC to find where the White House and the Capitol is. I instead just asked the Filipina receptionist downstairs who, by the way, invited me to attend the Filipino Young Professionals’ get-together on Tuesday on how to find the world famous edifice.

Tomorrow’s another day, but I previously expected that today will be a long one…

I don’t know but my eyes are about to close and my body is feeling the pain from my heavy bag and the long walks that I had the entire day. Am I getting old or what?

It has been a long while since I last travelled on my own and did backpacking. However, this time was a different thing. For some reason, I find myself not too excited at all. It’s hard because tomorrow’s going to be a very long day, and Tuesday’s my much-anticipated day – the very purpose of my trip up here in DC.

Somehow I find solace in the company of foreigners. Albeit the inexistence of conversation with any of them. I am not even looking at any of them. In fact, if today were just any of my usual days, I could have been annoyed by the noise of these insensitive young Japanese who seemed oblivious of the presence of the four other nationals who looked very academic (than hip) in their own respective typing and surfing.

I don’t know…I may not be able to sleep at all…I don’t know…