Baltimore, MD
I fucking moved 3,000 miles away from my hometown and I feel all types of emotions! I am extremely proud of myself for turning a dream into a goal and accomplishing my goal. It feels unreal, still.
Tuesday, November 6th 2018 at 5am my boyfriend dropped me off at the airport with my two big ass suitcases, an overweight backpack and my knockoff Celine purse. The drive there was the most silent drive we’ve ever shared together. I had a frog in my throat from the time I woke up that morning until he pulled off from the airport. Actually, I don’t think it was until I got into the TSA line that I truly broke down into a river of tears. I literally cried for about 72 hours before I got my shit together and sucked it all up.
I came here for a purpose and I’m not going back until I fulfill my purpose. Getting here was an adventure of its own honey!

Las Vegas, NV
I flew from Baltimore MD to Phoenix AR, then from Phoenix AR I went straight to Las Vegas NV. I figured I’d stay on the strip for a night just to rest my body because my bags and suitcases definitely weighed more than me. Once I got to Las Vegas I was super tired, jet legged and starving. Luckily my hotel was directly across the street from Chipotle and the lobby of my hotel had a $2 Margarita happy hour damn near all day. I was more than good.
After I ate and had a few margaritas from happy hour I googled a weed delivery service. C’mon I’m in Vegas, you now they have everything you can think of here. Surely, I found one! A few weeks prior I bought a vape pen from off the Boardwalk at Ocean City so I ordered a vape cartridge through the service. They took cash app, everything was perfect! He pulled up right at the hotel entrance so it wasn’t weird at all. I walked up as if I were picking up food delivery. I slept like a baby that night.
The next morning, I had a $4.99 ticket to catch a bus from Las Vegas NV to Barstow CA at 8:45am. Finding this bus station was a fucking work out! I was struggling all over again with my bags and suitcases, and then when I finally found the bus stop it was running a little behind. I hit the vape right before I got on the bus so that I could take a little nap. Why not! The ride from Las Vegas NV to Barstow, CA was about 2 hours. I arrived at Barstow Station and my sister picked me up. I rode back with her to her army base and she grabbed me a 30 day visitors pass. Dope.
Driving to the army base was definitely breathtaking. The views are amazing! The base about 20 minutes away from the actual city of Barstow in the middle of the dessert. The town is called Fort Irwin. Google it! I honestly was in a culture shock for 24 hours. My phone service was trash and I simply couldn’t believe I was on an army base in the middle of the dessert.
Before arriving here, I set up a meeting with a salon owner and I had also booked a new client both in LA for the following weekend so I needed to book another bus ticket from Barstow to Los Angeles as well as find myself an Airbnb to stay in. I found an affordable place right in Koreatown and my bus ticket was so damn affordable I booked everything immediately.

Los Angeles, CA
Fast-foward to Friday, I got to my bus around 10am. The bus ride from Barstow CA to Los Angeles CA is about two hours. Again, the bus was hella late! Thank God I had downloaded the App so I was receiving notifications of when the bus was predicting to arrive. I arrived in Union Station looking like a fish out of water. I was so confused on where to go, again the bus was late which ultimately made me late for my meeting. However the owner was very gracious and still met with me! Her salon was so pretty, very intimate, everything I was use too! The only problem was her salon services were by appointment only. Being as though I am new to the area, that wouldn’t work for me because at this point I only have one client here. I need to be in a salon that takes walk-ins so that I can build a new clientele. I think we created a good relationship from our meeting and I really hope to work with her in the near future.
After our meeting I called my Lyft, I actually ordered a share to save a few coins and when I got picked up I met a cool ass dancer who was also a passenger. She was telling me about her horrible Airbnb experience which instantly had me scared to even go to my Airbnb at this point. But, I was being dropped off first so! Here it goes my Airbnb story from Hell.
The Lyft driver drove passed my destination the first time, that should’ve been my first sign that this wasn’t a good idea. When we finally found the house my new homegirl was very apprehensive of me getting out of the car. She actually offered me to stay with her at her Airbnb, before I got out of the car we exchanged numbers and she told me to let her know that I was safe. OMG.
So I get out of the car, walk up to the door and theres a keypad. I pull up my welcome email because I was never given a code so I’m looking for the host contact number. After standing there for about 6 minutes a lady opened the gate and ask me if I were there for my Airbnb stay. I say yes and ask if she was the host (because I remembered my email was from someone named Anthony) she said yes, she was one of the host. Sketchy but ok I’ll go with it for now. She then leads me into a gate that is protecting two doors. I immediately assumed one was for her and Anthony and the other door was the Apt I would be renting out for the weekend right? Ok she opened the door and it’s actually a house. As soon as she closed the door all I saw was a room full of men, all ages, sizes and race all looking my way. She asked me to sit in the living room while she grabbed some things. I said sure, but in the back of my mind I was thinking about how I could hurry the fuck up out of this place and find somewhere to stay before the sun went down. At this point I knew either I booked the wrong type of place to stay, or the post on Airbnb was simply misleading. Also, my phone was on 8%. I walked into the living room and literally men started complimenting me left and right, “I like your hoops!”, “I like your glasses!”, back to back. I’m going the fuck off in my head but I’m playing it cool on the outside. She then comes back to me and says, “let me show you where your bed is!” The only reason I’m even entertaining her at this point was because I needed to find an outlet to charge my phone before I left. I immediately text my homegirl like “I feel like if I stay here I’m going to get gang raped, for sure!” then I started to search for another Airbnb. She points to a bed and then says “You can have this one, I’m making a new list of persons per bed.” Then I hear the bathroom door open and a man walks out and comes into the room me and the host were standing in. She asked him what bed was his and this man pointed to the bed I was sitting on. I immediately grabbed my bags, walked down the stairs and walked straight out of the door. I spotted a McDonalds across the street so I headed there thinking that there would be outlets there. There wasn’t one outlet in sight. Also this had to be one of the most ratchet McDonalds in LA. Kids were running all over the place, the lines were all long and busy, homeless men were sleeping at the door entrance. My phone was now on 4% and I was scared to book anything else on Airbnb so I downloaded the HotelTonight App to find something affordable. Mind you, there was a wildfire nearby so most of the hotels were booked already. FML.
Phone now on 2%, I booked a one night stay at a near by Ramada Inn and ordered a Lyft. I remembered the tag number and car type just in case my phone died. As I was standing outside of the McDonalds waiting for my Lyft to pull up, I spotted a Liquor store directly across the street. My nerves were so damn shot that I physically needed a shot! Hennessy to be exact. As I was waiting for the light to change to cross the street, I saw the host again! She was waving across the street with one hand and in her other hand she was holding a phone to her ear. I immediately thought she was looking at me! I turned around and spotted a young girl on the phone trying to locate that damn Halfway House! She started to run across the street so happy that she found the host, I felt so bad for her. She didn’t know what she was about to walk herself into. I know for sure that if I would have stayed in that shared space that I would’ve gotten raped. For sure. The energy was so thick, my intuition told me to GTF!
God was watching over me this night. I swear. My phone stayed on 1% until I safely checked into my hotel, got into my room and locked the door behind me. The first thing I did was text my new homegirl from the Lyft ride to let her know I had made it safe to the hotel, then I texted a friend I knew from back home to tell her what the fuck just happened to me and I asked her to pick me up at check out in the morning. The last thing I did was call my boyfriend in a complete panic. How the hell did I just end up in such a crazy, scary, life threatening situation like this bad?? What am I doing out here??
Kim picked me up the next morning and I felt safe again. The first spot she took me to was a dispensary, I definitely needed to get my mind right. Then we chilled at her place for a little while. I then treated her to lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings, a thank you for saving my life. The rest of my time with her was amazing! She took me to a friend of hers house warming/birthday party and I connected with some amazing girls. I am so thankful for Kim.
I ended my first weekend living in Cali with my client on a Sunday morning. She introduced me to The Potter’s House of One LA. I’ve been tuning in every Sunday since, Bedside Baptist! I can’t wait until I grab a new car so that I can actually physically attend a service. Yesterday was my third Sunday here in California and I still feel like I’ve just arrived. I have so much to do. I need to find a new salon home, I need to find a place to live. I feel overwhelmed some days and I cry just to remove that unwanted energy from my body. Most days I’m confidently working towards making a name for myself out here. This is literally only the beginning.