Day 4 and Day 5

Day 4

Summary: Today was just a packing and travel day.  I met some pretty cool people while waiting for my Amtrak train to Minneapolis.  I got to the station in Milwaukee at about noon for a train that was supposed to leave at 3:55.  It didn't leave Milwaukee until about 8:30.  I got into Minneapolis at 3:00 am and took a taxi to the house I am staying at and arrived at about 3:30 am.

Highlights:
1) Being told by a passenger that I have the gift of healing, and I am doing God's work after he overheard me tell the story of when I hugged someone in Chicago and her cramps went away.
2) Meeting some amazing awesome travelers both waiting for and on the train.
3) Getting to Minneapolis.

Lowlights:
1) Long delays and tiredness.

Learned:
Amtrak trains can sometimes be unpredictable.  I should be more prepared for next time.

Day 4 Hugs: 12

Day 5

Summary: I slept in today until about 11am.  At noon I decided to go out and do some exploring of Minneapolis in the downtown area.  My first order of business was to get a 'go to' card (allowing me to use the public transportation of Minneapolis and St. Paul.  The problem was finding a place to get the go to card.  I decided to go on a 2 hour hike to downtown, I got my go to card and did some exploring of the downtown area and attempted to give away some hugs.  I was not very successful and I realized that I needed to have a better plan to make sure I have the most impact while in the Twin Cities.

I got back to the house I am staying at about 5 and worked on sending some emails.  My hosts then had a couple of relatives over for dinner and invited me to join them.  I accepted and it was a fantastically amazing dinner of fish, salad and vegetables.  We all got to know a little bit more about each other and we went to get ice cream and I got a couple of hugs from a couple who saw my free hugs shirt.  All in all a tiring yet delightful day.

Highlights:
1) Making a couple of people's day, even if it is not as many as I would have hoped.
2) Dinner with my hosts and their relatives.
3) My hosts amazingness at being awesome.
4) Strawberry ice cream.
5) Beautiful view of Lake Harriet as the sun went down.

Lowlights:
1) Not as many hugs as I was expecting.
2) Tiring and couldn't find a good place to hug.

Learned:
1) Need to be better prepared and informed before I go to each city with public transit options.
2) Should have extra one dollar bills on me to pay for transit fare with exact change
3) I should start working on creating a Free Hugging network in order to build up the Free Hugs Movement again.
4) Organization is a key concept that I really need to work on.
5) I should probably go to bed and get some sleep.

Till next time:
Hugs,
David Melia
Professional Free Hugger