

Ask HN: Advice for a short travel to the USA to refresh my mind - latinguy2010

Hi all,<p>I broke up with my very loved (and unique) long term girlfriend. It was a relationship of 9 years. I left my last employer because he run out of money, with a two month delay of payments. Currently I'm unemployed and sometimes I feel like depressed, almost burned out. I live with my parents and my sister, and I support them financially. I would like to have a break of the current things.<p>Reading the "Lost" story of sivers was very enlightening. My state is not so bad, but I would like to change a lot of things on my life. And the first thing occurred to me was to ask to the HN Crowd for advice to recover myself. Life is too short and I would like to make more significant things, I feel the need to expand my horizons.<p>I'm computer systems engineer. I'm 26. I'd been an enthusiast and passionate developer all my life. Currently I don't care for the money, that's is pretty well covered right now and for the next couple years.<p>I was thinking of doing a short travel to the USA (for a couple of months),  to change my perspective, to refresh my aging geek mind, to learn new and interesting things, and maybe to make some friends. Not to work, given the restrictions of my tourist visa, just I thought it could be a great idea to refresh my viewpoints.<p>Surely, I expect to afford that, but my issue is how to get the most out of this situation. I'm from South America, previously I traveled abroad participating in conferences and stuff like that so a little longer travel shouldn't be a problem.<p>The thing is I also am a sort of shy guy, I have ZERO close friends and that's why I'm asking for advice here.<p>I don't want await for doing visa paperwork to any other place, so the USA is my only really far option. I really want to do that in the most immediate possible way.<p>Any suggestions? Should I look for something specific to where I can travel? What else can I do?<p>Thank you very much.<p>(this is throwaway account, I have been a long time hn user)
======
gojomo
That you sent this on the evening of a major USA holiday, about when people
were most likely to be away from computers, may account for the dearth of
upvotes/responses. I don't think it would be wrong to repost in the middle of
a work-week.

As it seems at least part of the inspiration you seek is professional in the
computer industry, it seems the SF bay area should be a definite stop on your
trip. (Though, if you do have any connections in other cities, I wouldn't rule
anyplace out.)

There's always something happening around the SF bay area, but you might want
to make sure your time overlaps with some conference or event of special
interest. Using event-scheduling sites like Upcoming/Eventful/Meetup, centered
on the city where you want to travel, may reveal best times to visit.
Business/conference/product-launch activity picks up September-November, the
time after summer and before winter holidays.

Once your timing is a little more firm, another post asking about things to do
and people to meet in a specific city, and specific timeframe, is likely to
get a larger response. Lots of prior threads of the form, "I'll be in city X
in a few weeks, what tech/startup/hacker things could I do, who could I meet,
where should I stay?" have gotten good responses.

