Yet another strange story

Welcome to Greenville, Ohio... the hometown of American legend of Annie Oakley and the setting of this latest bizarre travel story.

I arrived in Ohio from Connecticut late at night after a delayed flight, still somewhat jet lagged from my vacation in Norway. So I checked into the hotel and headed up to Room 320 to pass out for a few hours before headed to work very early in the morning.

The night begins as usual.. I ride the elevator up to the third floor, key in the door, green light on, open the door, peer into my room, but oddly, I notice a watch and ring on the dresser, and then look up to find a man standing in his boxers staring at me. We stare at each other for a moment, and at first I think that maybe I was so tired that I walked into the wrong room, but once I realize that this is definitely not a possibility, I politely excuse myself and go back downstairs to the front desk to ask for my own room from the lady at the front desk (who was more mortified by this incident than the man or I was).

The Sleeping Arrangements from my Norwegian Adventure

Our home in Spiterstulen

Our breakfast nook in Stigen

Our home in Stigen

Our home in Stigen

Stigen

Our home in Draego

Our home in Draego

Camping in the fjords

Camping in the fjords

Viking Hotel in Gudvangen

Viking Hotel in Gudvangen

Our Hotel in Bergen

Kidding, we didn't actually sleep here

Someone is taking us in!!

So Jillian and I are leaving for our Norwegian adventure on Friday!!! All but one of the nights that we are there we have accommodations taken care of for us because we are part of an adventure group. (http://www.rei.com/adventures/trips/europe/nor.html#sec4)


Anyways, our last night there we didn’t have anywhere to go, and we didn’t want to just waste the time away in a hotel somewhere. When we travel, we prefer to get to know local culture rather than stay in the Hilton. What better way to do it than to stay with local people? So we decided to become part of the couch surfing network to see if we could find a free place to stay (www.couchsurfing.org). Since we are both new members (never hosted, never surfed), it was becoming very difficult for us to find anyone that would take us in. For a long time it wasn’t looking promising, and we were investigating hostels to stay in our final night, but a few days ago I received an email from Jillian that this family would love to host us! They have an extra bedroom above the attic, and well.. we’re going to give couchsurfing our first try!

Oh Connecticut, when are we going to become friends?

This weekend I decided to try staying in Connecticut (stop laughing). My stuff had been all set up in the hotel from the week, I knew I was going to have a late night at the office on Friday and some work to do over the weekend. Plus I made plans for a training session at the gym Saturday and brunch with the girls on Sunday, and all flights out anywhere that I wanted to go were over $500.. so I decided to stay.

I’m always complaining that I never have time to relax, so I thought that I’d take this opportunity to give it a try. Well, turns out I’m really bad at relaxing and really bad at being alone. I desperately tried to fill up the time and call everyone I know in CT to make plans... mostly unsuccessfully.

I ended up going to REI garage sale, working, having brunch, and exploring the trails around CT. Over the weekend I think I ended up hiking around 15 miles.. (which will be a nice warm up for our upcoming trip to Norway!)


I really shouldn't say that it was a bad weekend by any means, it just was a clear reminder to me why I decided to become homeless.. So I could have the freedom to go anywhere and wouldn’t ever have to find myself wandering around CT wondering how to pass the weekend.