Chapter 1 - The Curious Case of San Francisco

After having lived two years in Davis, I had to take a decision on where I could go to maximize my chances of landing a job. The exact things going on in my mind were.. alright, so I don’t have money, I don’t have a job, I don’t have a car, I don’t have a credit score, I don’t know anybody well enough to be my guarantor… where could I possibly go in the US?

For reference, the US infrastructure is built for people with income and cars. If you don’t have either, you can’t even lease an apartment. The system basically pushes you down further.

My friend and I decided that this was the time to go to San Francisco. What could possibly go wrong? Boy, was it an adventure of a lifetime. Travel with me on my journey that only my friend and I know about.

CHALLENGE 1: Where do I sleep?

Have you tried to lease an apartment in the Bay Area without an income, bank balance, or credit score? Well, the short answer is you can’t. It took us 3 months of daily concerted effort to find a desperate landlord’s 60-day sublet.

In terms of furniture, we had none. Just a futon camping bed that lay on the floor basically. Come to me and sell me the idea of camping. No, really! I literally worked my butt off all my life to NOT camp. I have “camped” my way through life, without choice.

After struggling to find a place to sleep for just the next 60 days, our next question was.. how do I even make life work?

We didn’t quite reinvent the wheel when it came to transportation. Sticking to the basics, we chose to walk. If anybody is familiar with the San Francisco streetscape, they aren’t necessarily bike friendly and the sixty-degree slopes could render your knees useless at that point forward. This neatly tees up the next challenge.

CHALLENGE 2: Okay, I can sleep somewhere for the next 60 days. How do I make life work? I can’t afford to use public transport every day.

The nearest Trader Joe’s was 2.2 miles away. Fortunately, a gym was 0.3 miles away from the Trader Joe’s outlet. Cha-ching.

Let me paint the picture for you. We had to walk 5 miles EVERY SINGLE DAY just to maintain our sanity. Our weekly walking average was easily 5-7 miles/day. There were days when we had walked 13 miles in a day. Daily frustration had to have some sort of outlet. We chose the gym and walks.

To harden our spirits quite literally, we chose to walk the 40-50° F weather without jackets. Some days I just wore tank-tops to quite literally “feel the pain”.

Now… sell me “hiking”. I literally “hiked”, WITHOUT CHOICE, roughly 1,000 miles over a 6-month period to just make my life work.

Walking for joy? No, not really.

This definitely rung Maslow’s hierarchy of needs for me. We were at the base of the pyramid, had absolutely nothing, nobody to support (except each other), and didn’t know where we were headed.

I, personally, had never felt so alone in my entire life. There were days when I would break down inconsolably because life felt really unfair to me. I have a Master’s degree but was I really that dumb to go through all this? More importantly, did I deserve to go through all this at 30 years of age?

My emotional state was even worse as I had messed up prioritizing my relationships. My soul was devoid of purpose.

I truly had absolutely nothing in my hands - both physically and mentally. It felt like, life showed me how beautiful things can be… and then took it ALL AWAY. Words can’t do justice to express this emotion.

But, giving up was not an option. The people who know me, know this well…

I don’t ever EVER give up.

I keep trying till the very last second of my life if that is what it takes.

Intrigued? The story continues. Stay tuned.