Slhoka
Smash Lord
Link to original post: [drupal=4440]A French's trip in California - July 9 - The Longest Day[/drupal]
I regret it so much.
It’s 5 am, and I’m so tired. I really chose a bad day to be stupid : sure, I got to wake up at 5 am with only 3 hours of sleep. But my day will end in California, which means my day will last 9 more hours. I’m likely to arrive at my host’s place around 9 pm, Pacific Time, which means 6 am for my biological clock.
Oh well. I check if I haven’t forgotten anything important, and I’m off to the airport. I played it safe, so I arrive quite early to take my first flight, which will lead me to Francfort. I give my luggage, which I managed to do light enough to be under the limitation, and they tell me it’s gonna go directly to LA. Then, I board for the first part of the flight. It goes fine, but the ending was another story.
During the descent to land, the plane starts to oscillate from left to right, with a pretty wide amplitude. Then there are those moments, when you have the feeling you are falling. Well, they were legion at this moment.
Flying never scared me, but I must say that at this very moment, I wasn’t feeling too relaxed. And looking to the other people around me didn’t help, as they seemed to be feeling even worse. The actual landing ends up being quite shaky, with a few people hurting the seat in front of them with their head during the final breaking.
My first plane landed a bit late, and it wasn’t a big deal, because I would wait less at the airport. Well, because of a sudden lack of brain, it turns out I had right the time to arrive at the gate : for some reason, I kept going at the wrong hall even though I knew from which one my plane was departing.
The Francfort airport did bring some memories though : ever since I left Berlin, I had forgotten how hard to was to resists to food stands in Germany, because of the smell everywhere. I didn’t have much time, but otherwise I think I would have been able to resists.
The second flight was an 11-hour flight, with the Lufthansa. I was really disappointed beafore boarding it : I hadn’t been able to secure a seat near a window. However, I was in for a good surprise where I arrived to my place : my seat was located between two German guys, who happened to be colleagues and asked me if I wanted to change seats with them so they could sit next to each other. I ended up getting the window, and boy, it sure made the trip much better. The place’s intinerary was to go north, then south, flying over Norway, Island, Greenland, the northern territories of Canada, BC, ND, SD, NV and finally California. For the first part of the trip, I couldn’t see that much of the landscape. But when we arrived over Greenland... what a stunning view ! The weather was as clear as possible, and from our altitude of 11 km (34 000 feets), the view was perfect ! Snowy mountains, with extremely dark ground, making a fantastic black and white scenery, crackling ice sheet, gigantic icebergs... it was absolutely fascinating. Additionally, it was quite funny for me to see that, as three days before, at work, I had to put online news featuring a view of Greenland’s ice **** seen by the satellite Envisat. And then, I got to see this remarkable landcape with my own eyes. It was truly fascinating.
But it wasn’t the only amazing view. Flying over Canada’s northern territories was fantastic as well. Same goes with Nevada and California. Flying over Reno was really impressive as well : the city is lying in the desert, and yet, there are snowy mountains right next to it.
The rest of the flights was long, even though I was able to pratice my German by talking to my co-travellers. So I was quite happy to finally land in LAX. My only worry was that to go through the passport control because even if I had no reason to be worried, entering the US isn’t the fastest thing to do. It goes fine, though, and it start waiting for my luggage near a carousel. Then suddenly, an announcement catches my attention. I somewhat understand that I had to listen to it, but I didn’t understand. I listen as they repeat, and yes, I recognized my name being pronounced the english way. I’m supposed to go the the information desk.
«Your luggage won’t arrive before tomorrow.» Damn ! As if I needed that. The Lufhansa staff members tells me (in a absolutely flawless French) that I have to fill a report so my luggagegets delivered where I’ll stay.
****. I’m not sure about Brendan’s (The Greater Leon) adress, and forgot to write his phone number befory my laptop’s battery ran out. Panic attack incoming. I try to call Oscar (Lovage), who was supposed to pick me up in LA and bring me to Brendan’s place. No answer. My only hope is to ask my French friends, but it 3 in the morning at this moment. Fortunately, I know the guy who’ll be available at this hour : my teammate Cyril (Cyr) usually arrives totally wasted at tournaments because he hardly ever goes to sleep before 5 in the morning. I text him to go on Smashboards and get Brendan’s phone number, and I cross my fingers. Luckily, he was indeed awake, and manages to send it back to me. Great ! I’m safe ! Well... no.
Brendan’s not answering. But the Lufthansa staff member (an amazing German woman I met again later on the shuttle leaving the airport) tells me I can call them later. Good. So now, I only have to go to North Hollywood using the public transportation system so that Oscar can pick me up. Easy, right ?
Well... once again, no. I get the shuttle to the rail station quite easily. Once I arrive there, I try to get a ticket : it’s $1.50, and I try to insert my $20 note. It keeps coming out and won’t work. I try the other note. Doesn’t work. I renember I have a little bag of low-value coins from my previous stay, so I try to gather enough money. So I’m there, in a pretty ghetto place, getting all my stuff out of my bag in order to find my money, and then, counting if I have enough coins. Not the best feeling ever. I find out that I’ve got exactly the right amount, and I try entering it in the machine. It won’t accept the $1 coin. Fuuuuuuuuuu, I’m totally stuck there with no money. Then, after a while, I try again the note, without any hope... And it works ! What the **** ! I feel like I’ve been trolled by my banknotes and coins.
Anyway, I’m finally off to take the metro line, and I get out to take a bus line which will make me go to Union Station, from where I’ll be able to take another line to the rendezvous point with Oscar. After a while, I notice that past 7pm, the bus only comes every hour. It’s 7:05. ****. I’m back in the metro line, to reach another line. Everything goes fine, and because it’s getting late, Oscar gives me a closer location to pick me up. And then, as I was starting to relax a bit (despite the metro line still looking ghetto), the metro stops : there’s work being done on the line, I have to take a shuttle bus to reach my destination. ****.
Eventually, things start to go as planned, and after some time, I finally meet Oscar in North Hollywod. But it wasn’t over. At some point, we reach a ridiculous congestion on the freeway. Because of an accident, only one lane is available, and causes us to lose more than and hour. But at least, that was the last of the problems, and after a quick stop at Oscar’s place (he has the best dog ever !), we finally reach Brendan’s house.
It might be 12:30pm (9h30am for me), but tiredness simply goes away when I get to see Brendan and Derek (Plan 9) for the first time since Genesis, two years ago. Two other friends are there : Kilo, and Gage. We spend some time doing **** in a nearby park, and I finally call it a (29-hour) day while the other ones start playing LOL.
I regret it so much.
It’s 5 am, and I’m so tired. I really chose a bad day to be stupid : sure, I got to wake up at 5 am with only 3 hours of sleep. But my day will end in California, which means my day will last 9 more hours. I’m likely to arrive at my host’s place around 9 pm, Pacific Time, which means 6 am for my biological clock.
Oh well. I check if I haven’t forgotten anything important, and I’m off to the airport. I played it safe, so I arrive quite early to take my first flight, which will lead me to Francfort. I give my luggage, which I managed to do light enough to be under the limitation, and they tell me it’s gonna go directly to LA. Then, I board for the first part of the flight. It goes fine, but the ending was another story.
During the descent to land, the plane starts to oscillate from left to right, with a pretty wide amplitude. Then there are those moments, when you have the feeling you are falling. Well, they were legion at this moment.
Flying never scared me, but I must say that at this very moment, I wasn’t feeling too relaxed. And looking to the other people around me didn’t help, as they seemed to be feeling even worse. The actual landing ends up being quite shaky, with a few people hurting the seat in front of them with their head during the final breaking.
My first plane landed a bit late, and it wasn’t a big deal, because I would wait less at the airport. Well, because of a sudden lack of brain, it turns out I had right the time to arrive at the gate : for some reason, I kept going at the wrong hall even though I knew from which one my plane was departing.
The Francfort airport did bring some memories though : ever since I left Berlin, I had forgotten how hard to was to resists to food stands in Germany, because of the smell everywhere. I didn’t have much time, but otherwise I think I would have been able to resists.
The second flight was an 11-hour flight, with the Lufthansa. I was really disappointed beafore boarding it : I hadn’t been able to secure a seat near a window. However, I was in for a good surprise where I arrived to my place : my seat was located between two German guys, who happened to be colleagues and asked me if I wanted to change seats with them so they could sit next to each other. I ended up getting the window, and boy, it sure made the trip much better. The place’s intinerary was to go north, then south, flying over Norway, Island, Greenland, the northern territories of Canada, BC, ND, SD, NV and finally California. For the first part of the trip, I couldn’t see that much of the landscape. But when we arrived over Greenland... what a stunning view ! The weather was as clear as possible, and from our altitude of 11 km (34 000 feets), the view was perfect ! Snowy mountains, with extremely dark ground, making a fantastic black and white scenery, crackling ice sheet, gigantic icebergs... it was absolutely fascinating. Additionally, it was quite funny for me to see that, as three days before, at work, I had to put online news featuring a view of Greenland’s ice **** seen by the satellite Envisat. And then, I got to see this remarkable landcape with my own eyes. It was truly fascinating.
But it wasn’t the only amazing view. Flying over Canada’s northern territories was fantastic as well. Same goes with Nevada and California. Flying over Reno was really impressive as well : the city is lying in the desert, and yet, there are snowy mountains right next to it.
The rest of the flights was long, even though I was able to pratice my German by talking to my co-travellers. So I was quite happy to finally land in LAX. My only worry was that to go through the passport control because even if I had no reason to be worried, entering the US isn’t the fastest thing to do. It goes fine, though, and it start waiting for my luggage near a carousel. Then suddenly, an announcement catches my attention. I somewhat understand that I had to listen to it, but I didn’t understand. I listen as they repeat, and yes, I recognized my name being pronounced the english way. I’m supposed to go the the information desk.
«Your luggage won’t arrive before tomorrow.» Damn ! As if I needed that. The Lufhansa staff members tells me (in a absolutely flawless French) that I have to fill a report so my luggagegets delivered where I’ll stay.
****. I’m not sure about Brendan’s (The Greater Leon) adress, and forgot to write his phone number befory my laptop’s battery ran out. Panic attack incoming. I try to call Oscar (Lovage), who was supposed to pick me up in LA and bring me to Brendan’s place. No answer. My only hope is to ask my French friends, but it 3 in the morning at this moment. Fortunately, I know the guy who’ll be available at this hour : my teammate Cyril (Cyr) usually arrives totally wasted at tournaments because he hardly ever goes to sleep before 5 in the morning. I text him to go on Smashboards and get Brendan’s phone number, and I cross my fingers. Luckily, he was indeed awake, and manages to send it back to me. Great ! I’m safe ! Well... no.
Brendan’s not answering. But the Lufthansa staff member (an amazing German woman I met again later on the shuttle leaving the airport) tells me I can call them later. Good. So now, I only have to go to North Hollywood using the public transportation system so that Oscar can pick me up. Easy, right ?
Well... once again, no. I get the shuttle to the rail station quite easily. Once I arrive there, I try to get a ticket : it’s $1.50, and I try to insert my $20 note. It keeps coming out and won’t work. I try the other note. Doesn’t work. I renember I have a little bag of low-value coins from my previous stay, so I try to gather enough money. So I’m there, in a pretty ghetto place, getting all my stuff out of my bag in order to find my money, and then, counting if I have enough coins. Not the best feeling ever. I find out that I’ve got exactly the right amount, and I try entering it in the machine. It won’t accept the $1 coin. Fuuuuuuuuuu, I’m totally stuck there with no money. Then, after a while, I try again the note, without any hope... And it works ! What the **** ! I feel like I’ve been trolled by my banknotes and coins.
Anyway, I’m finally off to take the metro line, and I get out to take a bus line which will make me go to Union Station, from where I’ll be able to take another line to the rendezvous point with Oscar. After a while, I notice that past 7pm, the bus only comes every hour. It’s 7:05. ****. I’m back in the metro line, to reach another line. Everything goes fine, and because it’s getting late, Oscar gives me a closer location to pick me up. And then, as I was starting to relax a bit (despite the metro line still looking ghetto), the metro stops : there’s work being done on the line, I have to take a shuttle bus to reach my destination. ****.
Eventually, things start to go as planned, and after some time, I finally meet Oscar in North Hollywod. But it wasn’t over. At some point, we reach a ridiculous congestion on the freeway. Because of an accident, only one lane is available, and causes us to lose more than and hour. But at least, that was the last of the problems, and after a quick stop at Oscar’s place (he has the best dog ever !), we finally reach Brendan’s house.
It might be 12:30pm (9h30am for me), but tiredness simply goes away when I get to see Brendan and Derek (Plan 9) for the first time since Genesis, two years ago. Two other friends are there : Kilo, and Gage. We spend some time doing **** in a nearby park, and I finally call it a (29-hour) day while the other ones start playing LOL.
