Day T7B: Ridiculous But Successful Suitcase Retrieval

February 11, 2023

Landing at LAX was just the start of another massive headache without much of a recovery from the previous one.

I had booked a room at the Hilton but I didn't know there were three of them near LAX. Lucky me, I would be getting a tour of all three. The airport shuttle pickup took me to the first one which wasn't the correct hotel. So the clerk told me the address of the correct one and I typed that into my Uber. Getting the Uber was a huge headache, because the area in front of the hotel was busy and drivers behind were honking for my driver to hurry up and load the luggage into the car. Unfortunately it was a small car and here we were trying to get a folding bike into it. The driver was extremely agitated and stressed and told me he never had an experience like that in his career. I apologized and he said it wasn't my fault, just the drivers here are in such a hurry.

I then said to him, "I don't understand. What's the rush? The guy honking at you was driving a nice luxury car and probably some rich fuck. Where was he going anyway? He looked like he wanted his car valet parked at the hotel."

The driver said, "I don't know bro. Everyone is in such a hurry these days. That guy was such an asshole for honking and then driving so close to you while he tried to squeeze by."

I then said, "I really don't understand what's the rush around here. He was all up in arms over saving maybe a minute."

The driver said, "Well in America everything is fast, fast, fast. Even with the food it's all fast food, and people rush in and scarf their food down. They get upset if the service is too slow at McDonald's. You see I'm from Germany and we like to take our time eating meals, sit down, order some wine, talk for hours, you know this sort of thing."

I knew 100% what he was on about and began to miss Thailand all the more. I said "It's the exact same thing in Canada where I'm from, and nobody sits down to enjoy a meal. It's all a fucking rush. Even with family dinners, people scarf the food down fast and the conversations are all superficial so the whole thing is meaningless."

The conversation was super interesting, but in the midst of it my Uber driver dropped me off at the wrong Hilton. #2 was also not where my reservation was at, and that was a one mile walk away. I tried another Uber but no driver would take me, likely because there was no profit to be made on such a short trip. So I hauled all that luggage on foot including the shrinkwrapped bike and was dripping in sweat on arrival. The clerk laughed and said I got my workout in. Yes, well, what she didn't know was all that happened earlier. Including a 90-minute intense Orange Theory class in Austin where I burned 1100 calories. Hauling the bike like this was the easy part.

Everything looked good but one major problem. I had used a Chinese app (ctrip) to book the hotel because they took my wechat pay and I didn't want the hassle of not having a credit card. But there was no escaping the clutches of the credit card. She wanted one for a $100 deposit hold. I told her the dilemma including the fact that none of my debit cards work in US-based POS terminals and she also wouldn't take cash. So in the end I had to call my wife for help yet again and use her credit card. She is always there for me and I love her no matter what, but I really hate bothering her like this when she has her own business to deal with too. The paperwork got all sorted out for that.

Meawhile, this was all eating up precious time and I had a key errand to run which was the whole point of this LA stopover. I was going back to Pasadena to the Airbnb I stayed before covid and retrieve that suitcase. I left all the luggage at the hotel and the clerk said, "Be safe out there!" To be honest I was scared shitless about what I was about to attempt but it had to be done.

I took one metro line to a transfer station around 9pm already and it felt super sketchy. The characters on the LA metro were shady, you could smell weed and piss all over the metro, they were sleeping on the seats, people hadn't washed in weeks, etc.. it was total filth. To say I was scared for my safety was the understatement of the century. But I had to take the LA metro to Pasadena to save money because there wasn't enough Uber cash left in my gift card for many more trips. In the end I got there 2 hours later and it was super late. The host meanwhile was incredibly helpful, she told me the correct address and the PIN code to get into the house that I had surely forgotten after 3 years with the covid pandemic.

Not exactly a safe feeling here. The LA metro transfer station was also right underneath a freeway.

Inside Union Station, again some of the characters here. Wowsers.

I then got an Uber from the Pasadena metro to the Airbnb and the driver was Chinese. He said, "No English!" I then asked him if he understood Chinese and he was surprised, even moreso when I told him I worked in Shanghai and was going back there next week. He said in Chinese, "Sorry my English is crap." I said to him, "No worries bro, you're doing great."

Arriving at the Airbnb it was a total pre-covid flashback. For some reason it felt like nothing had changed in 3 years. I even knew exactly how to get into the place and the appearance wasn't much different. I also knew exactly where the luggage was and retrieved it successfully. I was greatly appreciated to my host for all that and offered her a nice tip on Paypal for all this trouble.

This was the most surreal feeling ever. It was the Airbnb I stayed while flying in from Hong Kong before covid, and also before the Vegas portion of that epic trip. Now back here it was like I was transported in a time machine.

By then it was already super late, after 11pm, so I was able to use the rest of my Uber cash to get one to the metro line about 3 stops from my hotel, as that was the closest I could do. The train arrived a few minutes later and I checked everything into the hotel. But by now I was starving because I had barely eaten 1000 calories all day including all the workouts etc... there just wasn't any time. So I hoofed it on foot to Walgreens and just bought whatever food I could find there.

What an absolutely insane madhouse of a day.

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	0
Comment on this entry	Comment	0