I have been traveling the USA by car and Airbnbs for several months and plan on continuing this for at least another year. Here are the highlights of some of travel journal entries that I am sending to my secret travel email newsletter.
March 2022 – Greenville, NC
I was in Charlotte North Carolina for about a month and a half. Then I was in Raleigh North Carolina for 2 weeks. I was planning on extending it but I was hemming and hawing. I actually would have extended it, but a series of negative events in my Airbnb made the decision for me to move to my next
destination. Now, I’m in Greenville. This is a smaller City that most people haven’t heard of. I’m here because one of the top YouTubers in the world resides here and I wanted to get some inspiration by seeing how he grew up and absorbing the local atmosphere. And it’d be nice to bump into him but I doubt that will happen.
So to summarize these cities, Charlotte, as you know, has a decent amount to do, not a ton, but not a little either. I spent my weekdays in spin classes, Fitness classes, or running
club. I visited couple museums and disc golf courses. Many, not all, of the buildings and shopping centers it look brand new, probably because of the finance industry here, and There is a ton of Caucasian, young people that fill out the local bars, but not much other diversity. I think I would have liked it there for a few more months, But I was getting bored and it was the right time to go. I’m told it’s like a mini Atlanta.
Then, there’s Raleigh. There’s more diversity here. I went to a shopping mall and there were a lot more African, Indian, and Hispanic people. Some days, I had a tough time finding
stuff to do, and part of it was because I probably lived on the most suburb area on the east side. But every now and then, I found something need to do, like Fitness classes or a trip to a barbecue restaurant or and improv comedy Workshop. Some nights I couldn’t find a thing so I stayed in and cooked. That bug me, as if I’m wasting my time and not really squeezing the juice out of the area and getting a sense of it. But anyway, I was. I think the highlight of my time there was participating in a
chess club. It was mostly guys but still enjoyable. Similarly, I went to a hiking Meetup, and there was a lot of people, but similar girl guy ratio. I still had fun ,and I met two men my age who were pretty friendly and we exchanged contact info to stay in touch. Apparently, there’s a large scene there for tech, including gaming, not just finance. So there’s all sorts of Industries there and these people seem to both be in Tech. I believe one was an analyst and another worked for Google as
an engineer.
Now, you’re probably curious about the series of bad events that led to me choosing to leave my Airbnb. A lot happened, so I’m going to try and summarize it in a concise manner
below.
It started out as a fantastic experience. Then, I slowly felt more and more like I was walking on eggshells. Towards the end of my first week, the toilet downstairs clogged and spewed sewage
out of it. I got told by the host that it was rude of me not to clean up after myself. I told her it wasn’t me. Another time, she asked me why the sink water went down and not to pour grease down there. The next day, she told me it was actually a sewage clog and it wasn’t me. I wondered if she still thought it was me. I was told the toilet and sink are closed, which means I can’t wash pots and pans / use the kitchen. I was fine with that and don’t hold it against her since I eat out a lot. I had
to get my credit card replaced since it was expired so I got an expedited replacement. She was there when I picked it up, and I can tell she felt uncomfortable about my using her address. She told me never to do that again without asking. I felt bad about that, and I think she may have held that against me. I just didn’t think it through that it would be a big deal, and that was the only thing I needed mailed. I’m so sorry! A few days later, I locked myself out of the room. She told me she
didn’t have a spare key. I felt so bad and offered to pay for a lockpicker. She spent a good deal of time unpicking it until she got it. I appreciated that. I wonder if she held that against me. Then, I did my one bag of laundry towards the end of my two weeks. She messaged me saying I should’ve notified her since she charges for laundry. And that I left some grease on the stove, and I should’ve cleaned it and it should go without saying. I felt terrible. As a people pleaser, I apologized, and
offered to send laundry money. I usually wipe up after myself but must’ve missed a spot when microwaving leftover takeout. She responded by saying another thing was that I used multiple bowls to hold leftovers (three) and that wasn’t mindful of others. Luckily, she didn’t have a need and nor did the other roommate. Once again, I am sorry. I was taken aback since there are several other containers, plates, and bowls in the cabinet, but I can see where she’s coming from. I took three bowls and
maybe they were the main bowls. As requested, I promised to refrain from using any part of the kitchen for the remainder of the trip and made sure my room was spotless when I left. It caused some stress. But ultimately, I realized I can only do so much to affect how other people think of me. I didn’t mind the sewage clog. It would’ve been really great outside of the back-and-forth exchanges that caused me anxiety. I learned it’s best to communicate anything notable to her before I do
it.
So, yeah. I’m on to Greenville. Honestly, I still see her as a friendly person who just had a high standard and a slightly warped perspective of things. Other than the hassles with her, I
honestly felt like that was one of the best quality of living places I’d stay. I loved jumping into my cozy bed, turning on the TV, and having a window that faced the sunrise.
Probably could have stayed another week in the city, caught a couple more social events, and continued to enjoy the biggest Planet Fitness I’d encountered so far. It may have given me a bit
more of a sense of the city, but signs were pointing for me to move on. I actually did meet a girl during a improv comedy event, who is eager afterwards to hang out. We did end up hanging out later on and she suggested this Hispanic ice cream place that was pretty cool. I found out that she was just trying to make friends and meet people. It was a bit tough for her.
One tough part about traveling is that I long for friendships and recurring relationships but that is very harsh when you know you’re about to go somewhere new. The good news is I try and
keep contacting phone and try and stay in touch with anyone I connect with digitally. I found a YouTuber doing the same thing. She lives in a car and she has traveled the country much more extensively than I have for much longer. She seems to be happy doing this type of nomadic lifestyle continuously. I don’t know how she does it but she is okay doing that and saying goodbye to people. I’ve learned that I’m different. I do eventually, maybe after a year or two or three, want to choose a place
and settle down to develop and build those recurring relationships. Maybe part of it is because he tends to go more out into nature and can humans where there are less people to begin with she doesn’t seem to Crave or depend on social activities for people like me.
So, now I’m in Greenville and there’s a lot and little to say about this place. Simply put, there’s really not much to do here. Plenty of days, there’s nothing I can find to do at all. At
the same time, it’s not a small town. There’s 100,000 people who live here, plenty of cars, and almost every change door or you can think of is here. It reminds me a lot of my hometown. There’s enough, but not enough for me. There’s old people, families here, plenty of shopping centers, but nothing to do after work for young person. East Carolina University this year, so there is a decent chunk of young students that I see walking around. I’m no longer a college kid and that’s well past me, so
there’s really not much to do here.
Having said that, I’ve squeezed the juice out of what I can. I visited a few local sights, nature areas, monuments, restaurants, experienced some Southern Soul Food, and visited a place that
mr. Beast filmed a video, stood in the same spots that he did, marveled at the different plants and trees I’m not used to,and did a little skit re-enacting his video for my YouTube channel. I even ordered a burger from his Burger Company mr. Beast Burger and I’m trying to see if I can volunteer for his philanthropy Beast philanthropy before I leave. I think I’ve learned some things while I’m here. One thing is that your ability to succeed on YouTube really comes down to you and your mind and
skills. This place itself doesn’t seem anything special in terms of giving you YouTube ability. It’s pouring enough that it just gives you enough boredom and a lot of time. It’s down to you to use your creativity and everything else to make something of it. Mr.beast is one of the most successful YouTubers ever oh, and I feel like he just wanted it so much and there’s so little to do and you were so bored that he just figured out a way of making it happen. The park where he filmed a video was
just like any other park in the country with standard Trails. It was a pretty small park too. I think it just goes to show you that there’s no secret sauce.
I recently filmed a few videos on my YouTube channel which document exactly what I’m talking about and everything I did in a more visual manner. Feel free to check those
out.
Mrbeast actually has a company here and they require their employees to work here. I’ve actually gotten to the first round of interviews with this company in the past. Now that I’ve
been here, I just don’t know if this is the place for me. Most likely not. I just get so bored, just like back home, after work. What would I do? It would have been close to the same stuff that I was trying to escape as I started my adventure. Now, I think plenty of people, including Mr. beast and his team, are okay with living in a place like this that’s rather slow-paced because they have friends, family, even wives. or they can just resume their career, work more on their YouTube
channel at night, play video games, go to the gym, and so forth. For me, I’ve had enough of that life and I guess still searching for that place that excites me. I don’t need to be skiing down the Swiss Alps or snowboarding across the desert. That’s not what I’m talking about. I think having days where I do nothing and stay home was great. But also days where I do have the option to walk outside and take a hike in a canyon or I usually go to a social event with plenty of young people my age
would be great. I also don’t want to fall in this trap of constantly chasing some pie in the sky city that never exist, hoping that it will be the key to my happiness. I realize I need to sometimes just turn off that analyzing portion of my brain and just experience the present moment and my journey as it comes. Generally, all the places I’ve been so far, although none are perfect, I can see myself making it by and being relatively happy in any of them. Well, some of
them.
I think Greenville is out as a long-term place to settle down, for now.. And that’s okay. Luckily, no one is forcing me to stay here, and I’m lucky enough to have gotten a taste. I seriously
was considering it with the whole mrbeast job interview thing. But even then, I saw it as a temporary multi-year learning experience rather than a forever deal. I think the company was looking for people who were fine staying here forever. I suppose it’s just different strokes for different folks. There’s plenty of people here, including people my age who seem to enjoy it here and do just fine. But not me, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Greenville is also like Charlotte in terms of
diversity. Every now and then, I’ll see an Asian person, but it often happens after a few hundred white people.
I even had some trouble finding any adult dance classes or improv comedy classes in the area. So I feel like this would be a subpar place to meet people and I probably go crazy from working
remotely in the day and then not finding a consistent Outlet to socialize afterwards. I think one of the things they do have is one CrossFit gym, which I will check out. You’d think by the way I’m describing it that this place is a super small town but it’s really not. Check my Youtube footage for more context, but there are some areas that seem like a town and some areas that seem like a city since they’re lined with change doors you would recognize. And then plenty of those change doors are
just as big as some of the biggest ones I’ve ever seen. Their Barnes & Noble is pretty Decked Out and huge, as is there Targets and Walmart. I would describe it as a good place to leave if you don’t have that much outside of your house that you want to do but you also want a relatively quiet place with access to all the American brands you would need cold in JCPenney, Krispy Kreme, Chipotle, AMC, EXXON, Five Guys, Best Buy, Walmart, Target, and so
forth.
In these last few weeks, I’ve been listening to an audiobook by Tucker Max as my “reality TV” to relax my mind. Many of Tucker’s stories and Adventures are in North Carolina. He’s
basically a terrible person who goes on these crazy adventures and tells real stories about going through them, often involving getting very drunk, Yelling at people, and hooking up a lot. I don’t drink to give you some counterbalance. Anyhow, he’s books were big about 10 years ago and I’m finally getting around to reading them. They’ve been on my list for a while. I found that even though he’s good with women, he has his off days. He’s traveled all across the country due to his work and
success with his book, Yeah he’s often very honest about when things suck, and sometimes they do suck. He goes to towns with terrible bars, and nothing to do or find himself in situations where he screwed up, pooped in his pants, made a fool out of himself. I find his writing to be very honest, depicting scenes when he isn’t seen as the hero in the story, but the butt of the joke.
May 2022 – Atlanta
Here’s what I can say concisely:
-Asheville, NC was great. Lots of mountains and beautiful views, but you usually have to drive far away to see the good sites. It’s probably the closest city/town to live to those views though. Very hilly terrain while driving. Some people love it here. I think I’d get bored fairly quickly given it’s a moderate sized / small city. The nature was great though.
-Nashville, TN – Wish I could’ve stayed here another week but it’s expensive. The Airbnb choices were limited and pricy. I got the gist of it and hit up a few tourist spots. It’s actually a more developed city than I thought. While more slower paced than I would’ve liked, it was great. The night scene, bar scene, and live music scene are huge, especially in the tourist part of the city but that’s not really my vibe (and it cost money and traffic to find parking there). I liked the latin dance scene there. And I was surprised to find some interesting, good meetups that I didn’t even find in NYC, like a Stoic meetup and FIRE meetup.
-Atlanta – I’ve been slowly exploring and liking it. I’m far away from the bulk of the activities where I’m living so some days have been slow but I got to see some nice hiking trails, went to a bachata class, attended a sword training, and walked the Beltline. The traffic sucks but I’ve experienced worse, and more people do mean more activities and meetups. I have been able to cook and spend some time at home, which is nice.
One of my readers, Zach, said he enjoyed seeing my journey and how I am pursuing a happier, better life. He wants me to continue to pursue that. I wanted to give him a shoutout because I truly appreciate the positivity and support. It’s nice to have a little community of positivity supporting eachother. The internet can be a mean place with random negative comments, so it’s nice to know there’s people supporting eachother. To a degree, I have been able to find happiness and contentment from within regardless of the external world, but I also feel like this journey has been so enriching for me so far, and it’s not over yet by any means, so I am optimistic that it will lead me to a better city to live in long-term, which lead to a more enriching and happy life in the long term with more opportunities.
