January 20, 2020
Day P4: The Covid Suitcase
I didn't realize it when I arrived in LA that it was Martin Luther King Day. It seems that with such an early Chinese New Year this time round, I had been early enough to catch this holiday in the US which almost never happens. So it basically meant the bank I wanted to deal with was closed. No worries, I'd take care of it in Vegas later on.
For now I needed to do something to get over the jet lag so another group fitness class was the order of the day. It sure sucked not to be biking, so I needed some other way to burn 600-800 calories and these classes were the way to do it. They involve high-intensity training in group classes on the treadmills, rowing machines, and weight floor exercises. It just so happened that today was an especially hard partner workout called 'capture the flag', that resulted in almost 900 calories burned which is almost as much as a short day of biking.
Since it was over a 3 mile walk to the group fitness studio, I would have wanted an Uber. But my credit card no longer worked which is strange as it was fine earlier. Not wanting to bother solving it, I just said screw this luggage and asked the people at the Airbnb to look after it. Most likely I won't be able to pick it up for another 6 months but there's nothing valuable in that luggage anyway.
[Update April 2024]: Re-editing this journal and reading this entry blows my mind. There is a clear chain of cause and effect with the suitcase but the covid black swan event made all these prior details become absolutely wild. The "simple" effect of a credit card not working made transport difficult which made me not want to carry a suitcase on foot. After wanting to store it temporarily, it would take over 3 years to retrieve it again. Even so it was a good decision to leave it there because the wheels would surely have fallen off. On a more philosophical note, this journal is like a choose your own adventure store gone totally wrong.
The only reason for bringing the suitcase to Pasadena was to give the appearance at LA immigration that I was a normal traveler with a reasonable amount of luggage and not some guy traveling around the world with just a backpack and no bicycle.
[Update November 2022] I had completely forgotten about that luggage. With the upcoming post-covid trip, I want to at least try and retrieve it since we'll be in that area again anyway. The pandemic in that part of the world ended ages ago and they've probably forgotten me. Also, who knows if the Airbnb hosts even still run the place or have the luggage. Thanks to updating this blast from the past, it's a good reminder to at least give it a try.
[Update April 2024]: It was a complete success to retrieve it. Friends tried their best to understand the reasons why all of this happened and one even said "Was it necessary to bring that suitcase? Why would immigration even care?" Who even knows. What happened is what happened.
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