Boston, the perfect bookend to my first 30 days
Zoë Hart laughing at Pier Point Park in Boston, Massachusetts
My restlessness resumed the night before my 4 am wake-up time. I couldn’t get my head around optimizing my life. Before I got into rim sleep, it was time to prepare for my Boston excursion.
This was the first trip that Jonathan and I would go on that required a plane ticket. We didn’t have the best track record with travel, but sometimes you have to try again as we all grow. The funny thing was that I made him promise not to get mad at me; if he was, I didn’t want to know. These were the ground rules, and luckily there were no issues all day.
The day started as most trips as of late, with breakfast in the Delta Sky Club and our upgrade to first class. Both always make travel so much easier.
Oh, the first magical miracle that happened was that I knew the person sitting across the aisle from me on my row. I first met her when she was the co-founder of Goodr, and now I randomly see her at tech events. She joked with me about me living the ‘spa life’ now. I never thought of it that way, but I can see how it seems that way to the outside eye. We talked about the odds of this happening, and I remarked that it’s higher than we think since this happens often. Internally I thought about how the law of attraction often transcends math to make things happen. So this means that something in our ecosystem is on the same frequency.
One difference between NYC and Boston was that it was so easy to leave the airport and get to the main parts of the city. We had our car rental and were at Pier’s Park within 30 minutes. At first, I thought I had overdressed since I wore my winter running pants, a wool dress, and my heavy jacket. So, I decided to walk along the waterfront in Boston in the winter without a coat. As you imagine, once the cold breeze hit me after coming off the water, I questioned my entire decision ability.
After this, we debated about if we should eat now or later as neither of us was hungry since we had been fed that big breakfast on the flight. I ate that breakfast on the flight after I nibbled in the Sky Club and drank my spinach smoothie before leaving my house. Eventually, we agreed that it was better to go there now and not rush than to be delayed for food. What we didn’t know was that this decision saved us.
On the flight, we overheard the guy ahead of us recommending Neptune Oyster for lobster rolls. Jonathan decided that we would follow the recommendation by eavesdropping and head to the restaurant in the North End of Boston. We knew it was meant to be as when we arrived at the restaurant; a car pulled out of a sparking spot mere feet away from the front door. Then, we walked in; we were seated at the last available table. A line quickly formed outside, and many waited an entire hour to get seated.
As having this meal was the entire reason that I wanted to go to Boston, I went in on my order. I ordered a dozen east coast oysters, the black bass crudo (my favorite item from my order), and the buttered lobster roll. My eyes were just stuck rolled backways for the entire meal since the food was so good. Also, we ended up chatting with the two guys sitting next to us. They recommended and eventually shared their scallops. These were definitely the best scallops that I had ever had in my life. I think if I can back, i would not eat before hand and add that to the menu. Jonathan ordered rockfish and clams, but had the same conclusion about the best items on the menu.
Jonathan and Zoë happily full after the amazing food at Neptune Oyster.
Per the recommendation of the guys sitting next to us around the raw bar, we ended up walking around the North End. There were several historical sites from the Freedom Trail, and the neighborhood was rich in culture. They were so right. I definitely liked this area way more than our previous destination and enjoyed getting my steps in. Plus, there were so many international people in Boston, which was refreshing. We discussed how rare it is to hear people speaking other languages in Atlanta and the fact that we heard so many languages while walking, made us feel like we were in an entirely different place.
Zoë Hart in North End, Boston.
After spending two hours of free parking in this neighborhood, we decided it was time to explore. We tried to go to another waterfront destination but couldn’t find parking, so we just moved on. We decided to drive to Harvard Square since we were so close. Shockingly, there was bumper-to-bumper traffic in the neighborhood, and we were over it before we even got out of the car.
Next, it was up to me to make a decision since I was just along for the ride for most of the day. I decided that I wanted to go to Beacon Hill since it seemed familiar to me. We drove around neighborhoods filled with beautiful mansions, and I thought that this would be the perfect place to live if a person was to live in this city. It was fantastic.
Miracles and Wonders
We were seated at the last available table at Neptune Oyster
I was seated in first class next to someone that I met years before in Atlanta
During our walk through Commons, we figured out that we were in the same place as the MLK Monument
Both flights were on time
The entire day was easy
Zoë Hart sitting in Public Garden, Boston.
As we were leaving this neighborhood, I saw this beautiful tree and asked Jonathan to find a parking space. I told him that we were supposed to walk around this area and he needed to get over three lanes and park. After a few honks, and road rage from other drivers, he was able to navigate to the parking side of the street. Once again, a car pulled out of the space right when we arrived and we were able to park close to the park, which eventually I saw was named Public Garden.
Walking around the park made me so happy and feel so grounded. I found out later that this place was on the list of Boston destinations. We just didn’t know before we arrived that this was true.
Directly across the street from the park, I saw a monument of Paul Revere on a hill. I asked Jonathan if we could walk over there before we walked back to the car. He agreed. While there, I said, “wouldn’t it be crazy to be in Boston and not see the MLK Monument?” He said that he thought that it was far away in a place called Boston Commons. I told him that i felt that it was close by as I saw a sign with that name somewhere. So we looked it up and google and we were already in the Boston Commons park. In fact, we were less than a 5 minute walk from the monument.
Zoë Hart standing in front of the MLK Monument in Boston Commons.
After we left the monument, we felt our trip was complete. I think that the walk in the park stimulated so many sources of happiness for us. Plus, we were exhausted and wanted to take a nap, lol. At this point, we had been in Boston for almost 6 hours and were ready for a break.
After this and the day trip to NYC, I thought it might be nice to try 24 hours overnight and compare it to the day trip. A few perks of the day trip are that you don’t have to pay for a hotel, and you get to sleep in your own bed at the end of the day. To me, my bed is heaven.
Today showed me a lot about friendship, perspective, and company. Everyone in our lives is a reflection of us and fills the gap we need. I like traveling with planners and researchers who take the lead in transportation. I’ll get us to the destination, but I need to let go after that. So this trip was more leisurely for me since I knew I didn’t need to take care of all the details. Overall, it was a perfect day, and I cannot wait to go on the next day-long adventure.