Around the World Part II
Most Travel Blogs Suck
I had a rough day yesterday. First off, layovers in China are not recommended. They are real sticklers for paperwork, tend to have very long lines for everything, and don’t seem to get the concepts of transfers or eticketing. Several times I was told to wait in one hour-long line, only to get to the front and be told to go to a different long line to get a visa… and then be told by that line, eventually, that I need a boarding pass to get a visa. Back to the original line to tell me that I couldn’t go to check in to get a (physical) boarding pass without a visa. Sigh…
Anyway, I made it, after a delightful time on Kenya Airway’s seemingly ‘lost’ flight from Goungzhou to Bangkok where I positively devoured a chicken sandwich and watched Wakanda Forever. Bangkok customs by contrast, consisted of about a five minute wait and a glance at my passport with a hearty “sawatdeekaa”.
No, what kind of got me down is reading this other travel blogger who is doing the same SAS challenge. It was exactly the kind of blog I don’t like. It was hyper-specific, full of information that will probably be outdated in days, more than a little whiny, and not entertaining at all. The author wrote like flying around the world was as boring as doing his taxes, had nothing to say about the places he was going, and was seemingly fixated on plane bodies and fare categories. Ugh. Why lose sleep for a month and cram yourself into a 11inch seat to fly across the Pacific ocean if you’re not going to try new things and have a little fun?
But I digress, where did we leave off last time? Ah yes, leaving Mexico City for Los Angeles. Now, LA had never been my favorite city, too spread out and too much celebrity-striving. But one of my best friends lives there and it was the perfect spot to cross Delta off the airline list while connecting with Korean Air.
I got in late, in the cold and rain, two things I thought never happened in LA, but I was dressed for Korea so I was fine. My Lyft driver was deaf, which Lyft notified me about with helpful ASL tips. He was friendly enough and didn’t get in an accident, but he did seem to want to chit chat via text while driving which was definitely not necessary!
In LA the next day, I went to Marina del Rey to look at a beautiful sailboat that I’m thinking of acquiring for my next adventure. Then my buddy and I went to a rooftop place in Hollywood and caught up. The next few days are a blur of Hollywood parties, swimming in my friend’s pool, watching Starship Troopers, and explaining the million-mile challenge to friendly and amused movie stars whom I rarely recognized but were all incredibly gracious and kind.
In the end, it was a lovely way to spend Thanksgiving and to soak up on Americana and sun before setting off for northern Asia. For Korean Air from LAX to Incheon, I wore basically nice jammies, noise-cancelling over-the-ear headphones, a neck pillow you can strap to the seat, and a warm jacket. Slept like a coma patient for 8 hours, woke up and watched the Avengers Endgame and I was in Korea! Just in time for a failed coup!
