Birthday in L.A.

For my birthday, I went out to L.A.  to spend it with one of my best friends from high school, Julie.  This was my first time out in California and the West Coast in general.

Julie took me to the NBC studio where she works and gave me a quick tour.  We had dinner at a sushi restaurant called “Katsu-Ya.”  We had to wait about 40 mins since it was a Friday night and we didn’t make reservations.  I got a tuna sashimi platter, which was awesome!  Julie got a creamy salmon roll that was just as good.

Saturday, we got up early and made our way to Hollywood Blvd.  I thought Hollywood Blvd. was going to be a lot more interesting.  It turns out there are just a bunch of stars in the ground, the Kodak Theatre, and the Chinese Theatre.  We ended up making out way over to Santa Monica to go check out the pier and the beach.  The view of the Pacific Ocean and the mountains was amazing.  

We decided to do a tandem bike ride along the beach.  We were told that we could reach Venice Beach within in an hour.  That was our goal.  I did realize that tandem biking was a bit tough, and I was scared for my life a few times.  Once we got into a groove, we were good….except for this hairpin turn that we took waaayyy too fast.  We ended up in the sand.  I was laying on the bike chain, trying to save my camera from the sand.  It was no use, my camera had been submerged in sand :’( and I had a bike chain mark across my bum.  It was only 11am too.  So, we never made it to Venice Beach.  Oh well.

We spent the rest of the day shopping in Santa Monica on the 3rd Street Promenade.  I did feel kind of weird walking into nice shops and having a bike chain mark on my backside.  We had lunch at a Thai restaurant.  I don’t remember the name of it, but the food was decent.  I definitely have had better Thai food.

Saturday night, we met up with some of Julie’s friends and went to the 740 Club.  Somebody from Danity Kane was supposedly hosting a party there and Julie and her friends knew the band that was performing there.  It was an ok club.  I do think that my Grey Goose and tonic I ordered there was a lower quality vodka and tonic.

Sunday, we met up with a few of Julie’s friends again, and we all went out for pho.  I think the restaurant was called Pho 999.  That restaurant had some good pho.  It reminded me of the pho I’m used to getting back home in MA.  I think after pho, we went to Beverly Hills.  We went to The Grove, a little, outdoor shopping area.  From there, we made our way to Rodeo Dr.  That area around Rodeo just says “Money.”

The big thrill of the night was accidentally driving into a Beverly Hills neighborhood and seeing an Aston Martin being accompanied by about 10 cars.  There definitely had to be a celebrity in that car being followed by paparazzi.

Monday, was my actual birthday.  We went hiking in Runyon Canyon.  Runyon Canyon gives you a great view of L.A. and Hollywood.  We definitely were not prepared for this hike…more like out of shape.  After the hike, we met up with another of Julie’s friends and went to the taping of the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.  After the show, we waited by the main gate for Jay to drive through.  He even stopped and said hi to us  When we were walking back towards our car, we saw John Stamos getting into his limo.  He waved and said hi to me  Those were my only celebrity encounters in L.A.

After Jay Leno, we all went for some drinks at McCormick & Schmick’s.  We got there just in time for happy hour.  The seafood cakes and fried zucchini were delish.  We parted ways with Julie’s friend and went off to dinner at Morel’s in Beverly Hills.  It was a nice steakhouse, pretty fancy.  I got beef shortribs with root veggies and Julie got seafood and pasta.  Both of our dishes were very good.

And that was my last night in Cali.  Tuesday was a day full of flying, which is very tiring.  I left Cali at about 10a EST and didn’t get back to Tally until about 9p EST.  And I found out a new rule for Delta Airlines.  If you change your flight, your bags don’t go with you.  They go with the original flight.  STUPID!

Conclusion:  I really, really like Cali, the food is aweome there, the weather is great, and flying all day sucks.

Pictures are coming for this post and the previous post

 

[Currently Listening to Leona Lewis - Run]

The Best Part of Flying

It is 1051 a.m. I am sitting in the Tallahassee airport, waiting for my flight to depart. However, I have been here since 8 a.m.

Originally, my flight to Tampa was to depart at 9 a.m. After I checked in, I saw on the monitor that my flight was delayed an hour. How could this be, five seconds ago I was at the ticketing kiosk and it said my flight was on time. I checked back in with the ticketing agent and we had an argument as to which was correct: her computer, that said the flight was ontime and in the air, or the departure monitors. We settled on her computers, but I was skeptical. You have to be skeptical flying out of Tallahassee airport. It is rare that your flight is on-time.

While in the gate area I discovered that the flight was delayed two hours now. I finally called Delta (P.S. I cannot stand Delta’s Customer service -future post). The lady I spoke with did not help at all. She just re-enforced that my flight was delayed and that I should just wait for my delayed flight.

I finally decided to stand in this incredibly long line of other Tampa passengers looking to rebook. I overheard a woman in front of me say that she had gotten on a 10 o’clock flight to Boston going through ATL. So I decided to call and try to rebook over the phone, and hopefully deal with another representative. This representative told me that he could get me on a 12 o’clock flight to BOS through ATL. That’s great! He transferred me to another person. And from there, I got lost and was never booked anywhere.

Still in line, I was left with being able to deal with someone who spoke English without any funny Asian accents. I was second in line now, I could see the finish line. Oh, no, the gate agent has to load his planes and get them off the ground–more delays. To top it off, there was this old Spanish woman behind me that kept stepping up to the counter to inquire about her Miami flight. The agent told her three times that it was leaving from this gate. Finally it was my turn, out jumps that lady. She was acting all stupid and lost her papers and blahblahblah, monopolizing my time. The agent then tells me that the lady at the other counter is actually rebooking Tampa passengers. Great, more queueing.

When I got to the other counter, the woman printed me out my boarding passes for my 12 o’clock flight to ATL. When I had spoke to the second phone representative, I was told that all flights to BOS out of ATL were booked. I am just glad to be on a flight out that gets into BOS before 10 p.m.

Now, hopefully my flights will not be delayed any further.