Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose?

I've been in Beijing for a week, and today I took my sister to the airport for her flight back to LA. After seeing her off, I boarded the express bus back to my cousin's neighborhood. It was pretty much empty, and when I got on, the bus driver was sprawled across the front row, fast asleep. The overhead luggage racks were blocked off by two steel bars, and as I struggled with the idea of decorative luggage racks, the driver's cell phone went off. Ringtone: "Oh, Susanna!", midi remix.

He answered: "Oh, it's you. Yeah I was sleeping, my head still hurts."

"Uh oh?" I thought.

Him: "Yeah, I already took my medication. I guess I'll take it again after I finish napping."

Me: "Severe illness or hangover?"

Him: "The route's not bad, only have two shifts today. Problem is, I've never driven it before, and I have no idea how to get to the station."

Me: "What?"

Him: "No. Why would I ask him? I know the general direction. I'll figure it out. No one's in a hurry anyway."

Me: "What?"

Him: "I wouldn't have even taken this Saturday morning shift, 'cept they fired me last Wednesday and I'm doing this as a favor."

Me: "Maybe I'll take the train...."

I considered whether my fear of this possibly terminally-ill, heavily-medicated, inexperienced, recently-unemployed bus driver outweighed my laziness, but before I could talk myself into getting off the bus, the driver turned around and grunted in my direction.

"Kid," he said.

"Yes?"

"Have you taken this bus before?"

"No, I'm new to this area."

"So you don't know how to get to the Tongzhou station?"

"Sorry..."

"Shit."

Then he put on his sunglasses, reclined his seat, and went back to sleep. I decided to stay.

I like to consider this the beginning of my adventures. Recently, I wandered Beijing with someone who's been backpacking around the world for the past eleven months. He gave me a reference on couchsurfing.org and said that I know exactly what I like and what I dislike. I'm not quite sure what to make of this, but such self-awareness doesn't seem to be a trait that's conducive to the type of traveling that I want to do. In fact, I'm not even sure if this is the type of person I want to be. When I bought my tickets to China and France, I had "wanderlust" in mind. I don't know what this term means exactly, but it feels like the type of loafing Larry Darrell wanted to do--life, liberty, and the embrace of happiness. How did I get from there to having all my likes and dislikes figured out?

I've got a lot to learn, especially from the crazy bus driver.