Travel Refreshes Your Perspective
As I sit here, staring out at the setting sun across the San Fransisco skyline, my inspiration is renewed. There's something about being entrenched in the hustle of a place like San Fransisco. And while I've only been here for about eight hours, and seen little more than the view from my hotel window, the local ABC station and a very fancy French restaurant, I like it here. I wish I could have taken a picture of my meal tonight, as it was perfect in every way that you could hope for, however, I wasn't in a setting which Instagramming your food seemed appropriate.
Maybe it's the fact I've been awake now since 3AM, and according to my internal clock, we're quickly approaching midnight and I'm delusional. Maybe it's the Mumford and Son's I'm currently humming along to, but there's nothing I would quite change about this scenario. The shower had a fancy head, huge fluffy white towels greeted me upon my exit, and I have my choice between two equally soft white beds. But this is feeling like a dream.
A really wonderful, hopeful dream. I don't travel alone ever, or travel often. So the mix of traveling with coworkers and the autonomy I must demonstrate, I'm starting to feel more empowered than normal. I can travel cross country alone, held an intelligent conversation over a $40 dinner and tucked myself into bed at a reasonable hour. Plus, everyone in San Fransisco is chasing their own dreams, and happily talking about it. The Uber driver today wants to run an imports and exports business. The man I Uber-ed with runs his own high-tech marketing firm. The lady across the table from me at dinner has stayed at the same company for over 16 years.
However you define personal success, it exists in San Fransisco. I love Richmond with my whole heart, but leaving the city I love to come to a bigger beast is opening up my perspective again. There's so much world out there beyond my little corner. There's so much to try, taste, see, feel and blog about. And it's just day one of our press tour. I'm strapping in to come back to Richmond with a reignited passion -- and hopefully a bit of a tan.