Maggie’s movie star moments on trek through America

There are no formal manuals for coming of age, but there are Hollywood movies. I’ve unknowingly based a lot of life’s big stuff – like friendships, relationships, career choices and life goals – on what I’ve seen on the big screen or read in paperbacks.

For the majority of my adolescence living in [Melbourne’s south-east], my life was an endless triangle of school, retail jobs and homework; I felt like I was in a holding pattern, waiting for life to kick in.

Then came the middle of 2019, when I went on my first overseas trip with a friend from primary school. Natalie and I spent three weeks traversing the West Coast of the United States during their summer. Until that point, my travel experience had been limited to two pre-teen family trips to China, going from relatives’ living room to living room.

For the first time ever, the itinerary, packing list, transportation and accommodation were up to me (with the help of a travel agent based out of my university campus). We decided on Seattle, the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Yosemite and Los Angeles. And if I’m being honest, our route was heavily influenced by Buzzfeed’s YouTube series Worth It, where the two hosts try foods and restaurants at three prices: affordable, middle-tier and luxury.

Maggie Zhou during her US adventure.Credit: Sydney Morning Herald

We sampled ice-cream flights, snuck in a couple of underage drinks, ate clam chowder from bread bowls, and stuffed ourselves on $1 tacos. We stayed in LA’s Koreatown, a few minutes walk from a $US8 ($12) pasta joint featured on Worth It, and experienced San Fran’s Mission Pie just before it closed for the best pie of my life. Institutions like In-N-Out and Shake Shack converted from distant pop culture references to delectable food in my very own mouth.

Maggie Zhou and her travelling companion, Natalie.

I was in a country where residents’ minimal knowledge of Australia was largely informed by Steve Irwin. I was earnestly asked about pet kangaroos and was questioned whether I was Canadian on multiple occasions. It made my life feel big and small at the same time.

In Yosemite, reading Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer no less, I felt like I was on the cusp of my own momentous journey (albeit without throwing away all my cash and cutting off everyone I’d ever known, like Chris McCandless). I was in awe of how vast the world was and how endless my own possibilities seemed. It was frightening and exhilarating. I drank it up like adrenaline. In short, I felt like every optimistic and self-absorbed young person before me.

My trip to the US was incredibly fun and left me with stories to share and a camera roll full of VSCO-filtered, saturated photos. Nothing out-of-the-box happened (if you dismiss my on-stage hypnotism in Vegas); it was what you’d expect from someone’s first overseas trip with a friend.

Gen Z’s proclivity for “main character energy” – a buzzy term for when people act like they’re the protagonist of a film – is often unnecessarily mocked. But being able to romanticise even the most mundane situation, like an overnight Greyhound bus trip, is a useful skill. Travelling to America while embracing this mindset marked the first time I felt like an adult in charge of my own life.

Back on home soil I was freshly reinvigorated, my worldview having been expanded. I was excited for the next year ahead. 2020 was going to be my year, right?

Maggie Zhou is a freelance writer and the co-host of the Culture Club podcast.

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