I actually had an anxiety attack before leaving for vacation. Only I would cry just hours before a well-need vacation.
Our flight was early Monday morning, which meant that my traveling actually started Sunday night. I grabbed my bags, heavy winter coat and scarf, and took a cab Downtown to spend the night with my vacation-partner-in-crime. He definitely could tell I was nervous; after knowing me for 15 years, I’ve become pretty predictable when it came to these things. Anyway.
Perhaps the 6 hour flight ahead for us was what kept us up all night because clearly, we did not sleep. It was fun to stay up all night, anticipating a fun trip across the country to some warmer weather after being in the cold NYC season for what has felt like decades now. January alone has already felt like a decade. It was now roughly 4:30 in the morning and our ride came to pick us up, driving us all the way to Jersey to depart from the Newark airport. It was times like this that I really wish we had flown out from JFK, because neither of us really knew just how far the airport was from us.
In a ride that normally would take about an hour or so, we got there within 30 minutes. Since it was pretty early on a Monday morning, the airport was actually pretty empty! We were able to go through Security in what felt like 5 minutes, and before we knew it, we were sitting at our gate, waiting for our plane to arrive so we could finally board.
On this particular day, our plane was delayed about 30 minutes which didn’t help my anxious mind whatsoever. In retrospect, 30 minutes isn’t even that long considering there are people that wait hours in an airport for their flight to depart. Although I mentally prepared myself for the longest flight I’ve had to date, nothing could compare to how long the flight actually was. In hindsight, I learned that because of the jet stream, it’s always takes longer to go west than it is to go east; on this day, it took us 7 hours to get to California. I never wanted to get off of a plane so fast in my life, I’ll tell you that.
But we landed! We hopped off our plane at LAX (yes, cue Miley Cyrus singing) and managed to grab a bite to eat before heading to our hotel. The weather when we got there was beautiful; something completely different than what it was like in NYC where it was snowing by the time we got into California. As a northeast coast resident, I am always fascinated by the sight of the palm trees; how could these trees be so skinny and tall yet feel like summer all year round? We took tons of our pictures near the palm trees because, well like I said, we are your typical northeast coast born and raised residents.
After a long day of traveling, we finally checked into our hotel and my god, it was such an amazing experience. Personally, this was my first time ever staying at a hotel for a vacation; every trip I’ve been on so far I’ve stayed with family or friends that I was visiting. I now understand why people would rather get a hotel than sleep over their friends or family’s house. For starters, the bed was enormous weighing in as a King sized bed. I sank into that bed and nearly took the longest nap of my life; 5 hours to be exact.
We got up and decided to explore the area in which we had found a dispensary within walking distance to us! Now, there are tons of dispensaries here in NYC after it became legal here, but to my surprise, only 11 of them within the five boroughs are actually licensed and legal to sell. Eleven! That’s insane considering there’s at least 11 smoke shops within the vicinity of my neighborhood and the one next to it. Anyway, this place was legit, to say the least. They had armed security at the door and upon entering, you must show your ID in order to browse the shop. Upon looking around, the various strains were in these plastic bubbles with a rubber seal that you were able to remove in order to smell them. Perhaps it’s because I’m not really a smoker, but everything smells the same to me with like a hint of different smells and such. We first decided to start off small, which actually affected me the same way that it would in NYC. Every now and then we would go downstairs to the front of the hotel and lounge by the pool and jacuzzi area to smoke; my favorite time to do so was at night. The first night, the sky was clear and the air was warm for the most part. I think this was my favorite part of the entire trip.
As someone who grew up watching The Parkers on broadcast television, one thing that Kim and Nikki Parker would always talk about was getting food at a restaurant called Sizzler. With locations now mainly in the west coast, it was only right to go and try their food. We had gotten the riblets with mashed potatoes and jumbo shrimp; man, that food was too good! The atmosphere was great and the people working there were genuinely nice, which is something you don’t typically see in chain restaurants similar to Sizzler these days.
The weather wasn’t that great towards the end of our trip, which pretty much limited our activities. For one, I was not properly dressed for a California-like winter where the warmest part of the day was from noon to 3PM each day. On our last day, we went to a little fish and chicken place not too far from where we were staying and I swear, why was all this California food so good?! For starters, the fried chicken was made close to perfection, the jumbo shrimp was so tasty and even the fries were seasoned! The highlight of that restaurant was the various fountain sodas they had. Of course, I had to get myself a black cherry soda as it’s my number one choice for any fountain soda type of drink. If we do go back to California in the future, we definitely have to make it back to this place!
Before we knew it, it was time to get ready to pack our things to head back to New York the following morning. Every morning at the hotel. We got up bright and early to make it to the free breakfast. The first morning we were there, we didn’t think much about the quality of the hotel breakfast and didn’t eat as much. By the second day, we were taking plates of food back to our room to eat breakfast in bed, watching television. That morning we were scheduled to leave for New York, we ate breakfast one last time before getting our bags together and ready for our flight. The flight back home was much smoother and only took us 4 and a half hours to land into Newark. By the time we got back, I was already missing the warmer weather of California, freezing in the little leather jacket I was wearing.
I didn’t realize just how sad I got as free coming home from vacation and getting back to normalcy living in New York. I realized a lot on this trip; I wanted to spend this new decade of my life traveling. Each and every trip I go on, I am making it a mission to go further and further so that in the future, I’m able to sit on longer flights, like to Europe and eventually to Korea! As of now, I plan to take little bus trips in the time being.
Cheers to the rest of the year being 30, and here’s to more travel diaries on the blog!
Letters From Liz. 