Ha ha ha ... so today I was supposed to head to the airport at 5AM, take a layover flight to Chicago, and then arrive in SF by noon. I was going to meet up w/ Alan (my Twitch friend), he was going to lend me his sim card, and then we'd drop everything off at my Airbnb and start exploring!
The day before, I actually had a really funny dream about meeting Alan. Okay, the thing with online friends is sometimes you only know them by their username (especially if they're from Twitch/YouTube), but you don't how they actually look like LOL. So I had this dream that I met Alan in SF even though I had zero clue what he looked like. My brain just formed some random image of an Asian guy with long hair (tbh looked like the streamer sushi dragon LMAOO). Anyway, the next morning, I messaged Alan about my dream and we laughed about it, then he finally sent me a picture of himself hahah.
OKAY LONG STORY SHORT:
I decided not to go to SF anymore. My mom (and Larry) were wayy too worried about me that I started to feel this heavy weight on me. I could see how stressed they were, and it didn't make me feel good about traveling anymore. When I told them the news about how I would cancel my trip, my mom actually did a happy dance and hugged me LOL. She was superrr happy and Larry was also really happy too. Seeing them relieved made me feel relived and happy too.
It was kind of funny though because as soon as I told my mom the "good news" about me not going to SF anymore, she was in YAYY mode... but then I said, "I'm still going to Europe though" and her face dropped LOL. Okay, it's not really funny cuz I probably stressed her out again (she was telling me how she got white hair and couldn't sleep cuz of me going lol).. but YEAH uhm.. I have to figure out what I'm going to do with that. I planned Europe from March 25 - April 8 (London, Venice, Rome, Paris), but I know Italy has 3000+ cases of COVID-19 and 100+ deaths. I read some articles on Venice being a ghost town... AND an hour ago, I legit just got an email saying my flight from London to Venice got cancelled... so I have to deal with this situation soon. I messaged Vanessa and we'll figure out how to work around this chaos. She has to go to France for sure (flying out this Saturday) to teach for three weeks (as part of her school practicum), and we were going to spend the last week together.
I'm not sure if I'll still go to Europe. Ideally, I want to make it work. I think the best we can do is maybe try to eliminate Italy and travel to safer places. I'll keep you guys updated.
My thoughts on not going to SF:
As you guys read in my previous entries, traveling is a huge part of my life and one of my strongest passions. This trip was especially important to me because it was an opportunity for me to meet up with a lot of my online friends who I'd finally have the chance to see in person. I felt bad if I were to cancel, especially if they booked off work to chill. Derp, anyway I was able to talk it out with everyone and they reassured me that it was okay :') (Shout-out to my Twitch mod, Joe, for allowing me to bounce off some thoughts and make me feel better about the situation haha). I really appreciated everyone's understanding and knowing that my SF friends will always be there the next time I decide to visit too. Even though it sucks that it could've happened sooner, I'm sure there will be more opportunities in the future!
How did I decide to cancel?
Okay, aside from my family being worried & the pressure of canceling on my SF friends.. ofc money is definitely a factor to canceling a trip too (not out here ballin' lmao). My flights were okay, but my Airbnb costed $800 and the host only agreed to refund 50% despite the virus outbreak. I contacted Airbnb support, and they said if I could get the host to agree on a full refund, they could help process it on my behalf. So I messaged my host again, but she said no LOL. I proposed if it was possible to get 50% refund, but have the other 50% stored as credit for the next time I visited her home. She agreed to that (which was one of the main reasons I decided to cancel my trip too - cuz I do want to travel to SF one day still)... but then when I asked about an expiration period, she said only until March-May this year LMAO =___=" ... I shouldn't have asked LOL jk but I highly doubt I'll get the other 50% back if she sticks with that since I don't think I'll be making a trip there that soon.
Welp, at the end of the day... money is money and can always be made back. Health and safety are always #1 (*cough* okay I know I have trouble putting that as a priority sometimes cuz I like to take risks and I'm a workaholic...), but I think I made the right decision for this situation haha.
What will you do now that your trip is canceled?
I'll just be spending the next week catching up on work and editing more videos. My plan is to release a few more Japan vlogs, so I'll still have a great time being productive LOL. Working makes me happy too, so staying at home really isn't so bad hahah.
Aside from working, spending more time with loved ones and figuring out what I'm going to do about my upcoming Europe trip. Oh! It's also going to be my birthday on March 19th. I have nothing planned at all for it though. What do people even do to celebrate their birthdays anymore? Lol it feels so weird when you get older. I think just spending it with family is enough tbh haha, no more big birthday parties. Too many different friend groups and also just don't know who I would even invite anymore LMAO ok that's a different problem hahah.
Anyway, thank you guys so much for reading and caring about my safety haha. I still find it really interesting how it was almost 50/50 on my IG poll. I had a friend attempt to convince me not to go by saying they'll buy me bubble tea with unlimited toppings LOL & another friend was like, "don't go, so we can have another lunch together" (assuming I'll just die if I go to SF lol). My friends are too funny haha, but it's really cute and heartwarming to see everyone's reactions.
Even my mom was like, "we can go to a spa and massage if you don't go." Larry was saying how he was gonna take my passport away too haha, but when I asked what will we do if I don't go to SF? He just said we can watch a movie LMAOO. After I told him what my mom suggested, he was like, "Okay fine. I'll plan a date for Sunday. Once in a lifetime opportunity" LOOOL cuz Larry barely plans anything lmfaoOOo. But then he said he has a dentist appointment on Sunday and asked if I wanted to come with him.. and I called him a scammer haha -_- xD. This whole travel situation has ofc been a bit stressful, but at the end of the day, seeing how much my loved ones care for my safety has been really cute haha.
I also appreciate the people who supported me in taking the chance to go too - understanding how much I love traveling and knowing how much fun it would be - as long as I be extra cautious and safe about that. Thank you!
Yeah, I think I just want to say thank you to everyone LOL regardless of which side you were on, I really appreciate you and am thankful for your care and thoughts. Hope you all continue to stay safe and healthy too!
Until next time,
Mel
P.S. I vlogged my planning process, Larry trying to convince me to cancel, and my mom's reactions (before and after my decision was made) LOL. It was actually very entertaining, but I'm not sure what to do with the footage anymore.
I was thinking of maybe just editing & dumping it into a different spam/vlog YouTube channel. I haven't decided yet, but here are links to my other YouTube channels if you'd like to subscribe and be notified of future videos!
