#AYCJ : Portland – Day 1

My original plan was to go to Austin, TX for a night, fly back to LA, then to Portland. I had so much fun in Chicago, that I realized that 1 day isn’t enough to enjoy a city, plus it would be a little stressful for me to keep heading back and forth to different airports, so I canceled my Austin trip, and extended Portland another day. The night before the trip, I came down with a pretty bad case of food poisoning. I don’t like to call out certain restaurants because it could or could not have been the case (I learned from my sister who is a nurse, that some bacteria from bad foods could be instant, or even have a 12 hour delay), but I was throwing up all night and was lacking major sleep before my flight. I even wanted to just skip out on it and just rest at home. I already had a hotel booked, plus if I missed a flight, Jetblue would have charged me $100, so I fought through it.

One of the fascinating things about the whole #AYCJ experience is that most of them are on Twitter (hence, the hashtag #AYCJ (All You Can Jet), and follow each other’s experiences through that. We follow #AYCJ’ers and ask each other on twitter, “What’s your next destination?” in hopes of possibly crossing paths. When I was at the Long Beach Airport, I came across the first #AYCJ’er, @dannybloomfield.

dannybloomfield: @sketch678 sitting by the window by the planes. Only one here w orange hair. Reading thoreau. U here?

After I saw that, I looked around, and he was a couple rows down. He came over, and exchanged our #AYCJ adventures so far. He told me about his experiences in Austin where he stayed with a CouchSurfer who was part of a 22 person commune, and about how he plans to Urban Backpack all across america even after the #AYCJ time period. Amazing! He said he was pretty tired of the suited life back in Manhattan, so there he was exploring what’s out there, just like I am. Super friendly guy and I’m glad we crossed paths. We both asked ourselves the same question when we were deciding to buy the pass, “Why not?” Of course, I told him about my Chicago adventures, and we were both trippin out how successful our trips have been, and not only for us, but to ALL the passholders so far. He’s met several people already, and one was even going to pick him up in Portland to go hiking and camping! On the plane, the stewardess asked everyone who was an #AYCJ passholder, and there were 12 people! I sat next to Karen from NY, who was also #AYCJ, visiting Portland on a whim as well. We exchanged stories, and I gave her the low down on Los Angeles restaurants, nightlife, and sights, because she plans on staying in L.A. for a few days after a S.D. one. All this fun, and we haven’t even touched down in Portland yet! The plane ride itself was the worst though, crying babieS (yes, more than one) infront of me, and my chair didn’t recline because I was the row infront of the exit. Good thing the ride was only 2 hours.

When we arrived in Portland, I parted with Danny and passed on the hike and camping he invited me to, because I was not prepared for such an adventure. I dunno if Vans, jeans, and T-shirts would go, especially, when I felt a fever coming on, and wasn’t 100% from the food poisoning. We’ll re-connect later, and he even said he will call up his friends in NY and Philly, so I can have a place (couch) to stay when I’m there next week. Man! I’m just so amazed how things are working out just smoothly, all by chance! Departing the airport, I rode with a grumpy taxi driver, who ended up dropping me off at the WRONG hotel. He was 2 blocks off, so I wasn’t too upset about it.

I checked in at the Hotel Fifty. When I got to the room, my fever or whatever I had got a little worse, so I took a nap in bad, which ended up being 6 hours of my day! I was a little bummed that I had to rest, but I played it safe because I still have a few weeks of adventures ahead of me. Woke up energized and about 95%. I also woke up to another #AYCJ’er Twitter reply me with a twitpic of what I missed on the Portland hike while I slept (see the photo on the right – beautiful!). I had to at least make my first day worth it, so I headed off to the local bars around 9pm. The music scene is alive in Portland, where the majority of the bars have some pretty good Indie Rock bands playing. Everyone had that indie grunge style look. I also went to the famous Voodoo Doughnuts, featured in Travel Channel. I ordered the Bacon Maple Bar, Chocolate Peanut Butter Rice Krispy, and the Oreo (which was free because there was a Scion booth giving away free tickets for doughnuts). All were deliciously unique, but very, very sweet. I could only handle a few bites of each, then saved it.

It was also recommended by my friend Mary, to check out this Karaoke Strip Club. What?!? So I looked it up online, and the place is called Devil’s Point. Maybe I should have researched a little more because when I went, there was no karaoke (it’s actually only on Sundays), it was just a dive looking bar with some pretty hot strippers, who looked like Suicide Girls. Oh darn! Ain’t going to complain there. What’s also different is that it’s fully nude, AND they have a full bar. Best of both worlds! Sorry no pics!