The Baltimore – New York 2016 Series

Kissing my kids goodbye, I stepped into my shoes and got on the car with a nervous and heavy heart.

I tell myself to be thankful though. I tell myself, ‘Stef, this journey is meant for you. This is your gift. Step out into new land and make memories for yourself.’

I’m heading off to Baltimore, Maryland and Albany, New York in the next two weeks, this being the first time I am ever flying out of the country alone.

Check out my Trello board for the trip. I’ve included places I’d like to visit, with room for more if I get good suggestions. If you have specific stops that you think I should stop on my tracks and visit, let me know on Twitter @stefgonzaga!

I didn’t want to speak or write about it until I actually got approved for a US visa. Having read and listened to so many horror stories about people getting rejected for one reason or another, the last thing I want is to tell people I got rejected after all.

I kept silent and simply prayed hard for two things:

1. I get approved and visit the USA after 14 years.
2. I cope with the denial and move forward.

Jayson has been extremely supportive of me, even when I was unbearably frantic and anxious about the whole thing. As soon as I got approval, I called him first and told him of the good news. I’m pretty sure he let out a huge sigh of relief that morning, thinking: ‘Finally, peace and quiet.’

But now, a new anxiety lingers. It’s a good kind, and one I intend to face head-on.

To cope and retell, I’ve decided to begin my Baltimore – New York 2016 series on my blog.

There’s a lot of thinking and planning behind this decision, considering I made this a space for my creative work. But that’s for a later blog post.

The core of the series is to collate and share stories, photos, and videos of these two states, the people I meet, and the most interesting experiences.

This is the first time I’m writing this kind of content, so expect a lot of rambling, badly taken photos on my phone, and perhaps a random video or two.

It’s going to be fun.

I’m extremely excited and look forward to sharing all that happens when I get there.