During this summer I went somewhere I’ve never gone to before: Richmond, Virginia and North Carolina. I visited these two states so that I can spend time with my girlfriend Felisha and meet some of her friends, as well as experience more of the tourist spots on the east coast. On June 17, I managed to catch an early flight to Richmond from Texas, which took almost three hours, but it was worth it. After getting our stuff packed for the beach trip, we took the hour-long road trip to Newport News, Virginia to spend the night at Crystal’s house and to meet some of Felisha’s other middle school friends. After a long, fun night, Samantha, Casey, Bobby, Felisha and I were on the road, ready and heavily packed for our road trip to Rodanthe, a popular beach spot off of Nags Head, NC, to spend the whole weekend camping out on the beach. Meanwhile, three of Felisha’s other friends, Llangston, Ed, and Holly, were a few hours late to come to Rodanthe so that Llangston would be able to finish his college class that Friday afternoon.
After three hours of non-stop driving, we finally made it to Camp Hatteras Resort & RV Park; however, due to a misunderstanding and a disagreement between Samantha and the owner of the site, the owner cancelled our reservation and made us leave the park. Stressed and panicked, we made it next door to KOA, another campsite, where the customer service was outstanding and they made us feel welcome, despite the circumstances. This place was not only less expensive than the other, but it had more activities, more space and better land to camp at. Unfortunately, what should have been a three hour delay became a seven hour delay for our other friends, which meant that while they were absent, my group was obligated to set up camp – everything from the tents to the food preparation, in the hot sun and beach air. This was the end of day one, where I got to meet the people I would be spending the next three days and two nights with.
For the majority of the trip, Felisha and I spent time with Llangston at the beach and Dairy Queen, which was not even 500 feet away from KOA, and eventually Ed and Holly too, which was fun with no conflict. Although the entire trip was meant to be relaxing and stress-relieving, usually the opposite happened because of misunderstandings, a lack of communication and melodramatic scenes that could have been easily resulted, had everyone worked as a team; this did not work at all. A few things that worked were: most of the fun time we had was spent in different groups, so that people were not obliged to waste time doing an activity they did not want to do, meeting new people and changing the group leader from Samantha to Felisha, which made things flow more easily.
After three eventful days at Rodanthe, we made an extra hour trip to Okracoke Island, NC for something Samantha wanted, rather than listening to Felisha to leave early; so what would have been a three hour trip became a nine hour trip due to tunnel traffic going back to Newport News. Overall, I have learned that through meaningless aggression, nothing will be accomplished as a leader; however, with careful planning and reason, far more can be achieved. At least we made it out with eight jellyfish stings (Felisha), a near-shark attack (Ed), and sunburn (everybody). If anything, these few hectic days were what jumpstarted my summer.
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