I've Just Turned On The Fasten Seatbelt Sign

Here I am folks! Hollywood!

I made it here all in one piece but boy, the trip wasn't without it's hiccups.

I woke up around 5am this morning and made sure I had everything I needed for my trip and that everything was packed away nicely blah, blah, blah... So 6:05am rolls around and I'm just getting into the car when my mother turns to me and says:

"You didn't check in."
"I can do that from the airport. My flight is at 7:30am."
"You should check in."
"Okay, fine."

So we get out of the car and my sister is sitting on the computer - she literally checks me in as I stand there and watch her. It turns out my flight is at 7:15am and by now it's already 6:15am and I live 20 minutes away from the airport.

So we grab the home printed boarding passes and hop into the car. My father is driving, I'm in the front seat - and my mother silently judges me from the back. :-) My father is booking it to the airport because I still have to go through security - which, they say you should give yourself ample time to get through - especially at peak travelling hours. I end up getting to the airport around 6:40am, thank god there wasn't any traffic. I run to the security line, which has already wound itself around the terminal. I think to myself that I might possibly miss my plane. Crap.

The line starts hustling a little bit - but there are quite a few pilots and flight attendants who are getting priority from our check point. I finally get up to the check point - he looks at my papers, looks at my ID, looks at me - stamps my papers and lets me through. Ok, so I'm almost there (it's 6:54am by this point) I get to the bin area and put my laptop in one and my shoes, bag and liquids in another. I slide my things to the conveyor belt and step through the metal detector. Oops, I forgot my cellphone was still in my pocket. I throw that into the bin and hustle through the detector again. The man at the other end stops me and says "I'm gonna have to pat you down sir. Hold on to your waistband - so that I don't pull your pants down." Um... yeah, he totes said that. So he does so and lets me go to the end of the conveyor belt. The woman sitting scanning the items stops the belt and says "Hold on." I think, oh no... I'm doomed. It turns out a woman in front of me has an ice pack and that HLS wants to hold her for questioning and they want to test it's contents. "It's just ice!" she says as they whisk her away to a separate part of the security terminal. I see my stuff coming through the conveyor belt and I'm about to reach for it when it suddenly starts to move backwards. The woman scanning the items squints at the screen - advances my items and points to them. A HLS officer rushes over and throws something over my items. It's a ziplock bag - quart sized. I used a gallon sized bag. "Quart sized sir, not gallon." They let me go.

By this time it's 7:02am. I grab my shoes and bag and transfer the liquids to the other bag and head towards the screen of departures because I didn't know where my gate was. MY LAPTOP! I run back to the security check point and grab my laptop and stuff it in my bag. I run back to the screens - Seattle to Oakland - 7:15am NOW BOARDING. B8. B8?! Where's B8!?! I check the signs around me. B gates this way. I run frantically toward the glowing sign and find that I'm at gate B1. Cool, only 7 strenuous gates to go. I hustle my self and my belongings towards the gate. I get to the gate at 7:08am. They're not boarding yet. Phew.

I get on the plane - there's a crying baby a few rows ahead of me making sure everyone knew how unhappy he was to be on the plane. We take off, and the baby cries. We reach our cruising altitude. He cries. I pull out my music and begin to mark difficult areas with a pencil. I loose myself in the music and end up falling asleep. I wake up to the flight attendant asking me what I would like to drink. I order a Dr. Pepper, she gives me one. I put my music away, downed the entire contents of my glass, ice and all and I fall back asleep. I wake up as we begin our final descent into Oakland. The baby cries. I was stuck in a seat where I couldn't really see out the windows very well... I knew we were descending but, I didn't know when we were gonna touch the ground. It scared the living crap out of me. The baby cries.

We all leave the plane in a sluggish manner. It seems that my connecting flight to LA is at gate 22... I have a leisurely 40 minutes till my plane departs though, so I'm pretty sure I can do a little blogging before I get on the next flight - nope. I literally have to run (once again) to my gate. It seems that the gate is on the opposite end of the airport. I get there in time for the pre boarding speech and they begin boarding. This flight is short - a quick hour and 20 minutes.

I arrive in LA around 11:20am. I receive a text message from Jaime.

Jaime: Are you here yet?
DDR: Just touched down. I'm afraid I'm gonna miss my 11:30 shuttle. I'll probably be there around 12:30ish?
Jaime: Ok - Keep my updated so I know when to leave for lunch.
DDR: Cool. I'm so overwhelmed right now.
Jaime: Totally, I understand. Did you find where the shuttle picks you up?
DDR: Totes. OHMAGAH I'M IN LA! HAHAHA
Jaime: Haha! Land of Dreams.

The shuttle finally comes and picks me up around 12:05pm and then proceeds to stop at every freaking terminal to pick up more people. We get out of the airport by 12:30pm and hit the road. I was supposed to meet Jaime around 12:30pm. I text her.

DDR: Looks like I'll be meeting you after work, I just got on the road now.
Jaime: I would feel bad for you to just hang around the mall for 3 hours.
DDR: Seriously, no worries. I'm a big boy - I can handle it. :-)
Jaime: Well, Here's what I'll do. I'll take a late lunch and if you get in before it's done, I'll take you home.
DDR: Ok cool. But seriously, no worries. I don't wanna take you away from break or work. I'll text you when I get close.
Jaime: It's really no problem!

So I end up getting to Union Station around 1:oopm. I run down the grand stair case - buy my ticket at the ticketing station and hop the red line up to Hollywood and Highland. I've never taken the subway before - ever. It has a distinct sound, one that strikes fear in my teeny tiny heart. It's frightening people! Anywho, I get off the subway, climb a couple escalators and end up on the Hollywood Walk of Fame right across from the El Capitan Theatre. I call Jaime and she meets me. 1:30pm - I made it. Without even getting lost... That's quite the accomplishment, since I'm perpetually lost.

Tonight I'm having dinner with Brian and Jaime and Joel and Annika. Ah, good times.

Tomorrow? DISNEYLAND with Kiki! ...i think.