Saturday is a great day. After a few hours at the M Street coffee place the weather clears up and it gets nice and sunny outside. On the map I saw a park nearby where I can go for a hike.
Travel
Driving 200 miles for a sandwich and a change of plans
It’s Friday morning and I wake up nice and early in my car parked at the usual place in Hollywood. I know what I’d like to do this morning, hike to Griffith Observatory. It’s a nice climb up the mountain through the park.
Another day in LA & Hollywood
It is Thursday today and I’ve been almost a week in America. It’s been only seven days, but it feels way longer ago that I’ve left the Netherlands. Probably because I’ve been doing a lot and already had so many great experiences.
Friends, work and coffee
After I’ve visited the movie studios I drive to my friend Matt. I’m feeling a bit sad to leave Hollywood, but it’ll be fun to meet him again. The traffic is very busy and it turns out to be good that I left the movie studios on time. All five lanes of the interstate are packed with cars and it takes me a few hours to get to Matt’s house in Orange County.
It’s roadtrip time
It’s Monday morning, time to leave the hostel and pick up my car. After I’ve packed all my bags and done a bit of work, I take the bus to the center. A bit early I arrive at Hertz where I’m greeted enthusiastically by Melisa, the manager. We catch up for a bit and then she hands me the keys to a minivan.
Fun day with friends
On Saturday morning I walk to the grocery store around the corner of the hostel. I don’t know if it’s because of inflation or that it’s a local supermarket, but I notice that prices seem a lot higher than last year. I’m glad that the dollar is so low compared to the euro at the moment, that compensates it again.
I get the usual things for breakfast and walk back to the hostel. After breakfast I look up where some good coffee places are nearby and I find Bird Rock Coffee and Moniker nearby. Bird Rock doesn’t have much place to sit, so I walk further to Moniker. It’s a nice hip coffee place and I decide to sit down for a while.
Enjoying a vacation day
It’s around 4.30am and I’m in the shower at the hostel where I’m staying the coming days. The shower head reaches just over my shoulder, so I have to bend a bit to get water on my head. Just a detail, but it makes me realize again how good things are back home. Simple things like a good shower are easy to take for granted until you’re in a place where you don’t have it.
The first day of travel
It’s just after 5am and I’m in the kitchen making sandwiches to take with me and having breakfast. For the so maniest time I’m asking myself: are you sure you want to go? Wouldn’t it be way more comfortable and easy to just stay home? The nice thing is that the answer to both questions is yes. Yes, it would be easier to just stay home, but also yes I want to go traveling and have an adventure.
Booked
A few week I had been doubting if I should travel again. Work is busier than ever before and life is very comfortable most of the time. And it’s exactly that second point that motivated me to start looking at flights again. Being in the comfort zone is nice, it’s easy. You know what to expect mostly from the days and weeks to come. The routine makes it relatively predictable. And how much I enjoy that, part of me longs for adventure.
Back in California
It’s Wednesday afternoon. I drove about 700 miles yesterday and another 250 miles this morning. By now I’m a bit tired, but also glad I made it back to California. A few more days until my flight home, so it’s nice that I can relax a bit before that.