Finally about the trip. Day 1
The trip was 90% awesome!!! I’m really glad I went. It was such an eye-opener. LA, San Diego (CA), Las Vegas (Nevada), Grand Canyon, London Bridge (Arizona), then back to LA and back! This is gonna be such a long journal. Italic = feeling/emotion/thoughts.
Day 1:
7:30, Saturday, Dec 22nd, the Virgin America A262 I was on flew off from Dulles Airport to Los Angeles, CA. I loved the airbus. The plane was really clean and neat looking. Light purple and pink light, everything else was pretty much white. (Cushions of seats were black.) There was this media thingie in front of every seat. I mainly played with it to play music. Mom watched a bit of TV. We sat next to this DJ, Charles Feelgood. He was such a gentleman, helped my mom and I with putting up our luggage. We didn’t talk that much, but he was really nice.
I took quite a few pictures on the plane; it was bright and gorgeous out. We were literally in between two thick layers of clouds. The sun was a bit behind me. I was SO beyond HAPPY on the plane. It’s hard to pin down how exactly I felt. I just felt so freed. Looking outside and knowing that I’m so high above, in the sky, was so strangely satisfying. I guess I was just so excited because I haven’t flown since 04 when I came here, and the last time I flew was such a depressing 13 hours because I kept crying and falling asleep when I got tired of crying - I loathed the idea of leaving my dad, grandma and all those friends at the time. It was a change of my “flying history”, and the feeling of flying, I suppose. It was just so uplifting. After all these times that I’ve stayed home, getting used to life in America, finally fitting in somewhat, staying home, having school, I finally get out of this box of “stable” life and out in the sky again. Knowing that I’m finally taking a serious vacation, away from all the stress and boredom staying at home “resting”, and actually going to enjoy myself. It was like being freed from oppression of normal daily life, if that makes any sense. I hope this will be a good bonding time with mom too. Communication between us became so hard over the years; it’s terrifying sometimes when I think about it. This is probably the last time for a long time that I can spend so much time with her.
I didn’t sleep at all. With my uplifted soul mom and I arrived in LA at around 12:40. I became a little bit cooled down when we had to wait for the car that was suppose to pick us up for 20 minutes. The driver was … interesting. He never really answered the questions my mom and I asked him about LA, such as “What are some places that are close to our hotel besides Disney, Universal Studio, in LA?” He never answered that question. Instead, he went on ranting about random stuff. Or it would take him 10 minutes of ranting until he finally got to our question. Out hotel was … ghetto. Not that I’m not okay with living in a plain hotel, I don’t mind that. It was just … Okay, it had an ancient computer, same breakfast everyday that’s wayyyy too little for everyone to eat, and weird management people. The travel agency was definitely way too disorganized. It took about 30 minutes every day to get people on the buses and stuff.
Anyway, luckily my mom has colleagues in LA. One of them came and drove us around LA. We went to eat first; the place was SWAMPED with people. It was this tiny little restaurant that made food of my mom’s hometown. I LOVED IT. It was SO original and good. After I came here, I had never eaten such original, actual Hunan food around Arlington/D.C. The three dishes served to be more than enough. I thought about hometown. Thought about grandma: Her weak body, with asthma, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, not-so-well-managed diet… She doesn’t take care of herself as I’d like she would. I thought about 2nd uncle too. He just LEFT. Like that. Without giving me a chance to come back to see him; without letting me to say a few last words to him; without giving me a chance to comfort him in my own awkward ways; without saying bye. Last time I saw him and talked to him was years back. I HATE that I never saw him before he had to leave this world. It’s almost 2 years since he left me, left us, and in a corner of me, I still can’t let go. Last, absolute last thing I’d want to happen, is not being able to hold grandma when she’s in her last days of going to another world.
A bit too sad for the occasion, I pulled myself back to the food. The colleague took us around downtown LA for a tour, to the Kodak Theatre and about, Beverly Hills, LA downtown traffic, and etc. The day ended with mom and I showering and falling asleep as soon as we hit the bed.
To be continued… obviously