“And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.”

John F. Kennedy

What led me to the United States? Mum and I declared ourselves “separated” during our trip to Thailand, paving the way for my solo adventures. I believe that my recent trip to the United States set me free and laid the framework for future solo experiences. Yes, this is what “WanderWrites” is supposed to mean: a traveler, or rather a wanderer, who is capable of capturing the essence and heart of the voyage through observations, memories, images, and, eventually, story-telling, on which the reader can dwell and reflect.

What is the primary advantage of this trip? English. It’s my natural speech. What about the disadvantages? I’m going solo for the first time. My parents are apprehensive since they have never permitted me to travel alone. You must think it is utterly silly for a young adult, correct? The young adult needs to gain independence. This is what happened throughout our trip. I can’t say I was fully free. Some days had to be spent under the close supervision of my family and Dad’s pals. But I’m grateful to them since they accelerated the process of becoming free. That is the silver lining in the story I am about to tell.

Okay, this traveler has a lot to say about his transition. Returning to the issue, let us answer the question, “Why did I choose to go to the United States?” These were the options for an impending vacation.

• Caucasus – Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia
• Central Asia – Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan
• United States
• Turkey

Caucasus and Central Asia were available because the aforementioned countries provide either an e-visa or a visa on arrival. At the time, traveling to the United States was not an option. The only issue here is the Russian language. To overcome this, I started learning Russian through literature. However, the learning process was slow, and it was insufficient for me. In those countries, English is not spoken; instead, Russian is the medium of instruction.

Mum informed me only a few days after my trip to Russia that I needed to apply for a tourist visa (B2). She compared having an American visa in my passport to “having an anabolic steroid” injected into my muscles. The biometrics collecting and visa interview procedures were established a year later. This means that the necessary conditions were met two months before the trip. I had to travel to another city for this to happen. Biometrics were a breeze. I had to prepare myself, with parental aid, to confidently respond to the consular officer’s questions. I knew that any hesitancy or blunders in this area could ruin the entire procedure.

To be honest, they asked me about myself, my job, and the trip to Russia. I was asked specifically about having a family in Russia, speaking Russian fluently, the purpose of my most recent trip, and the cities I visited. I answered the questions honestly. Finally, the official said, “Your visa application will be processed”. Okay, that is the first step toward traveling to the United States.

After a few days, I received my passport and a ten-year multiple-entry visa. However, this signals the beginning of my parents’ and my difficult conversations. If I continue with my voyage to the United States, I will be traveling alone. To be honest, such a journey will cost money. Turkey was added to the list of destinations because I could obtain an e-visa with a US visa. The issue is not the location; it is my parents’ reluctance to send me alone. My parents did not hold US visas. Mum reluctantly agreed to join me to Turkey, contradicting her commitment. When we evaluated the prices, she opted to cancel her vacation. Dad was little more progressive. At times, he would recommend that I visit the United States to gain much-needed American travel experience. At other times, he would say that flying to the United States alone is dangerous due to higher crime rates.

Mum pushed for a Central Asian or Caucasian alternative. However, I eventually became tired of the discussions because there was no clear conclusion. And at one point, I put my foot down and informed my parents that I was going to the United States. The longer the delay, the more expensive the plane tickets. Similarly, hotel room rates vary. Mum disagreed with my decision. Dad was perplexed. Ultimately, he granted my request. The second stride toward the United States.

I needed to plan an itinerary for my trip. Rough Guides to the United States and Dorling Kindersley’s US Travel Guide were also useful in this sense. My initial strategy was the following: (tentatively, May 14th through May 31st).

• May 14th – May 20th: Stay in Houston and travel to cities in Texas: San Antonio, Dallas and Austin.
• May 21st – May 23rd: Travel and stay in New Orleans.
• May 24th – May 30th: Travel and stay in Miami.
• Return back to Houston on May 31st and departure back to my country.

Mum was hunting for cheap airline tickets. She utilized Skyscanner to get cheaper flights for April 23rd. So I had to change my plans (April 23rd to May 9th). Nonetheless, the itinerary’s content remained identical. Why did I chose Texas, namely Houston? This is because my maternal aunts and cousins live there. They’ve lived there for a long time. On one specific evening, I called my aunt and told her about my plan. It startled her because she had not anticipated me to visit the United States, least alone her hometown. During the call, I got the idea that she might leave for a few days and take me to destinations on my bucket list, such as solo visits to New Orleans and Miami. I conducted research on these areas. I appeared pleased with it. Till…

Until she sent a note to my father, explaining how my unexpected announcement about coming there had caught her off guard. She had plans for the days and couldn’t cancel them. Despite her promise to let me stay in her house, she demanded that I journey to the towns of Texas alone. To be honest, this threw off our trip plans. Mum, who didn’t want me to go to the States, told me she was actively looking for flights to Almaty or Baku. Dad didn’t say much. The planned American trip appeared to fail. Until Dad told me that several of his classmates were still in New Jersey and that he could contact them for more information. He asked me to change my itinerary.

Additionally, airline tickets to and from Houston were bought through Emirates. Did I mention that I needed to change my itinerary? His peers responded by offering to invite me into their houses. They wanted me to create a different itinerary. As a result, Miami and New Orleans were considered outmoded. My guidebook included sections on “2-day trips to Washington, 2-day trips to New York…” in the DK’s USA. This sparked the notion of traveling to the United States in stages, beginning with the Mid-Atlantic. Using a pen and paper, I created a basic agenda that included:

• April 23rd: Departure to Houston
• April 24th – April 28th: Stay in Houston and move around the city and its surroundings, including a day trip to Austin.
• April 29th: Arrive at New York.
• April 30th – May 2nd: Stay in Washington.
• May 3rd – May 5th: Go to New York from their homes, which takes approximately an hour.
• May 6th – May 7th: A detour to Niagara Falls.
• May 8th: Come back to Houston.
• May 9th: Departure back to my country.

They were satisfied with the concept, but requested that I depart from New York rather than Houston. With my aunt’s weird attitude, I decided to reschedule my return trip to New York instead. And I planned to cut short my trip to Houston, departing on April 27th. As a result, my journey will focus on the main areas in the Mid-Atlantic region. I had to pay extra to alter my destination to Emirates. The second stage involved booking hotel rooms at the Holiday Inn in Washington, D.C. (on Rhode Avenue, between the National Mall and the White House) and the Comfort Inn in Niagara Falls. We reserved this using booking.com. Additional changes to the plan were required since expenditures, notably at the Holiday Inn, were excessively expensive on certain dates.

My peers recommended that I take a tour package that included New York, Washington, Niagara Falls, and Boston. Although it appeared inexpensive (we looked to the Viator, Klook, and tours4fun websites), I was apprehensive that the 7-day package would be rushed. They looked to pander to Chinese tourists, thus there would be Chinese-speaking guides with minimal English skills. That will not suffice for me, much to Dad’s heated disapproval. Mum discovered an alternative: Cosmos Travels. It was a little pricy, but we had to pass it up because the vacation also included a trip to Niagara Falls on the Canadian side (Ontario), which required a hotel reservation.

I requested the official for the option of arranging a hotel room for myself on the American side, but it was denied. We picked the airplane option for our Niagara vacation because my nationality requires me to obtain a separate Canadian visa (which we did not have time to do). We booked flights to Buffalo (the closest city to Niagara Falls, NY) on JetBlue from John F. Kennedy Airport and to Newark, NJ on United from Houston Intercontinental George Bush Airport. (Newark Liberty International Airport is closer to their home than JFK).

Unlike other visits, this one required a great deal of planning and discussion on my behalf. I purchased a foreign exchange card (commonly known as a “forex” card) for dollar transactions, as well as a few more t-shirts and coats. With my initial research, I purchased tickets for the cruise to the Statue of Liberty, tickets for a show called “Shear Madness” at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., Mount Vernon, and a couple of other sightseeing spots in New York City, particularly the Empire State Building, OneWorld Observatory at the World Trade Center, tours at the United Nations, tickets to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and free timed-entry tickets to the Smithsonian Museum. I planned to get a rush ticket to a Broadway musical (I had “Book of Mormon” in mind, but other options included “The Lion King,” “Hamilton,” and “Chicago”; I was able to track ticket pricing using the TodayTix app) and a sporting event at Yankee Stadium. One of Dad’s classmates purchased a LycaMobile SIM card for me. Everything seemed to run smoothly. Did it happen?

Another event threatened to halt the American journey. Floods in Dubai. I wondered if it was Fate’s decision not to visit the United States as a solo tourist. Many flights were canceled. However, I was fortunate in that the heavy rain lasted around three days, with further showers forecast over the next few days. These showers may not cancel our flights on April 23rd, but it is probable that backlogged passengers will cause the plane to Houston to be nearly full, as I had anticipated. We needed to check the status of our flight using the Emirates smartphone app.

Ahoy! The American trip has been fully planned.

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