Travel diaries: My solo travel saga in Kansas

After my weekend's adventurous sightseeing trip around Kansas, I have come to the realization that it is not easy to go places alone, especially added when you are just 3 weeks old in the city.
But any start is a good start, ain't it?! 😃
Also as they say practice makes a man perfect!! 😜

Currently, I am in Kansas on a business trip for 4 weeks, and believe me or not it took me 2 weeks to muster up the guts to plan and go for sightseeing alone. I will be lying if I say this decision was a piece of cake - I say this since I am not much of an extrovert and really believe in keeping to myself plus things must be at my comfort zone.
It was literally an internal fight with my mind and heart saying,

"Kaunsa award milega, agar tum sab jagah dekh logi - aise main bhi yahan dekhne layak kuch nahin hai....." 😀

Well, to top it there were many other discouraging factors as well. 😉
So here is my tale, 😅 I wanted to go on this sightseeing trip the last week itself, but Sunday happened to be Father's day and there was an acute unavailability of cabs.This eventually led me to drop my plan, and it was almost like someone told me the dates of my exam had been postponed -  I was extremely ecstatic. Think about it, it was wholly and solely my plan and there was no one who was forcing me to do it - yet the relief said it all. To add to it, being the typical Indian, superstitions added to the game - I thought this was a sign, a sign that I must not attempt anything which I am not comfortable with.
Despite this battle, I am glad to have taken the leap of faith and put my right step forward. 😄
Finally eh....🙈

If I over-think, which I always do 😉 - the primary reason that pushed me, was that I would not always find people who want to do similar things as me. And living your life being dependent on others is tough - as a matter of fact, many a time I have lost out on movies, restaurants, trips or events, just because I could not find an appropriate company and I did not want endeavor all by myself.
Anyhow....
Mind it, I have traveled alone many a time as in flown or ridden, but this fear of sightseeing alone has always persisted.

It was about time, that I prove to myself "I can do it".

PLANNING & PLOTTING:

Come Friday the 23rd June, by this time I had jotted down all the places that I wanted to visit in Kansas City and Missouri. I must have read a trillion reviews available on the net and social sites, which helped me zero down the places.
Once I was sure of the destination, next action in line was to plan the route that I needed to pursue from my hotel - this would ensure I was not left wandering back and forth.

I literally took the map of Kansas and marked all the places I wanted to see - making it easier and ensuring I don't get swayed.
Maps, hahaha 😂😝, I must have used a physical copy of a map after ages, maybe last was only in the 10th grade as part of Social Science studies.

Crazy as it might sound, I know Google Maps make your life really easy - but I don't trust networks at all - hence I took separate printouts of the maps from each destination to the other - with the noted places to eat, shop and see. Some places on my list had to be walked over, and some had to be covered by taxi, some by Ride KC bus and the rest by Streetcar Tram.

The places I intended to cover were:

Mustered the courage finally

1. The Nelson-Atkins Museum
2. JC Nicholas Memorial Fountain - as they say, Kansas is a city of fountains and this is one of the beautiful of them all.
3. Country Club Plaza - intended to have lunch, browse through shops and walk through the plaza
4. Money Museum - note it is closed on weekends, hence couldn't cover this one - luckily last minute browsing gave me this information.
5. National WW1 Museum - intended to have a look from the outside itself, just to touch base
6. Crown Center - intended to have snacks, browse through shops, purchase some souvenir and watch the dancing fountain show.
7. Union Station - intended to have a look from the outside itself, just to touch base
8. Kauffman Center - intended to photograph the structure
9. Central Library - intended to see the library plus the brilliantly structured parking lot in the form of famous literary books.
10. Downtown - walk through the streets of downtown and get a glimpse of the life there
11. Sprint Center - intended to have a look from the outside itself, just to touch base.

I checked for the public transport system, cabs and kept all the numbers handy.

Things that I made sure I was ready with before my travel:

• Fully charged camera battery
• Fully charged power bank
• Munching and chocolates
• A bottle of water
• Sunglasses
• Tissues
• A scarf
• Hand Sanitizer
• Small bottle of moisturizer, a lip balm, body lotion
• Map, Printouts of the maps and directions
• Map of Kansas 
• Phone numbers of taxi, hotel handy
• Extra cover

You can read about my travel diaries in Kansas from the below links:

KANSAS DIARIES:

The Nelson-Atkins Museum visit:

https://xylo742.blogspot.com/2017/06/wanderlust-tales-nelson-atkins-museum_27.html
http://xylo742.blogspot.com/2017/06/wanderlust-tales-nelson-atkins-museum.html
https://xylo742.blogspot.com/2017/06/wanderlust-tales-nelson-atkins-museum_28.html

The JC Nicholas Memorial Fountain visit:
https://xylo742.blogspot.in/2017/06/wanderlust-tales-jc-nicholas-memorial.html

The country Plaza visit:
https://xylo742.blogspot.in/2017/07/wanderlust-tales-country-club-plaza.html
https://xylo742.blogspot.com/2017/06/food-anatomization-cheesecake-factory.html

The National WW1 Liberty Memorial visit:
http://xylo742.blogspot.com/2017/07/wanderlust-tales-national-world-war-1.html

The Crowne Plaza visit:

http://xylo742.blogspot.com/2017/07/wanderlust-tales-crowne-plaza-grand.html

The Union Station:
http://xylo742.blogspot.com/2017/07/wanderlust-tales-union-station-kansas.html

The Kauffman Center for Performing Arts:
https://xylo742.blogspot.in/2017/07/wanderlust-tales-kauffman-center-for_9.html

The Kansas City Public Library:

http://xylo742.blogspot.com/2017/07/wanderlust-tales-kansas-city-public.html

Downtown:
https://xylo742.blogspot.in/2017/07/wanderlust-tales-downtown-kansas.html

I literally ended up for sightseeing more than 12 hours - it was indeed a new experience and helped me realize that I am bad at following directions or maybe Google maps are bad at giving directions.😎 Either way...

I wouldn't say it opened up a whole new world to me, but at least it gave me the confidence that things like these are not unattainable. 

Go ahead and face your fear and bring them down.

Cheers to life!!

~Journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step! 

P.S. All the above photos have been clicked by me.