As we finish the first phase of our footloose experiment, and prepare to takeoff for a three-month trip to Asia, it is worthwhile looking back at our experience thus far.
We have, in the past sixty-six days, stayed at thirteen places. Two of these were hotels (in Carmel-by-the-sea and Santa Cruz) and three Airbnbs (Paso Robles, Highland Park (LA), and Echo Park (LA)). The rest were homes of our family members and friends.
We have managed to live out of suitcases without any problems. However, let me add a couple of caveats. Since we had our car most of the times, we could carry more than our two suitcases and my backpack. Also, my sister’s place---the “base camp”---has many more suitcases than the two we hope to live out off. We could replenish our supplies whenever we went there.
Overall, however, we did not miss having more stuff than what we had any specific day. Yes, it meant wearing the same clothes again and again, and doing laundry frequently. For me, at least, that was not a major change in life style ;-)
Our family and friends have treated us very well. As my sister said, “Mi casa es su casa.” She lived up to that and so did our children, Meera’s siblings, my cousin, and my IIT friends. They made our lives pleasant and allowed us to carry on our experimental living without many difficulties.
Now the challenges…mostly hilarious.
The most difficult problem was figuring out how to use the TV in each of the thirteen places we stayed in. Not a single TV came with one remote. There were at least two, and most case three or four. Even to get our regular TV channel, NBC for instance, was a challenge. By the time we learned to use the system in one place, we moved to the next.
Making coffee in the morning---my daily ritual---was also a challenge. First, I get up early, before the host would, and second, most Indian households are geared toward making tea, not coffee. So, before I went to bed, I asked the host about where the ingredients for coffee resided and how to use their specific brand of coffee maker (if they had one).
Finding the guest bathroom at night was another problem. Often, we would get up not sure where we were. To trace the footsteps of when we had last visited the bathroom was a test of our memory. We didn’t want to wake up our hosts. Or collide into things.
Before we left any place, we had to make sure all that the chargers of our multiple devices were accounted for. We dreaded forgetting any of them and the battery running out. One time, the charging cable of my laptop broke and so I had to conserve my use until we were close to an Apple store and buy a new one. Such hardship ;-)
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