Country #14 – United States of America Day 2

Disneyland!

I’m working on something super exciting (and unfortunately also pretty secretive) in LA today, but it was a crazy and amazing day all around. All I can share for now is that I’m going to be on a TV show! I had a really early 5:00am wake-up call and spent my day meeting some really cool people. After finishing up work on the aforementioned secret show around noon, my day only got crazier! 

My flight out of LA was scheduled for 8:00pm, which meant that I had eight hours to now spend in the airport. However, thanks to a crazy stroke of luck one of the people I met today, Dan, works for Disney World. Which means he gets to go to Disneyland for free - and gets to take people with him to Disneyland for free! Dan is staying through the weekend in LA, which means he has a rental car already. So instead of spending eight hours sitting in LAX, along with another friend we made today, Danielle, we headed on a spur of the moment trip to Disneyland!

 Anyone who knows me knows how big of a deal this is. It took me twenty years to get to Disney World and, as this was my first trip to California, I have always wanted to visit Disneyland! It was definitely a short but sweet trip. After an hour and a half of LA traffic, we arrived with about two hours to spend. Thanks to a glitch on the FastPass machine we were able to ride the Matterhorn right away, which I really wanted to do since there is not a similar ride at Disney World. It was a great coaster! 

After the Matterhorn, I got a Dole Whip, which was possibly the best part of the day. If you would have told me when I woke up today that I would have had a Dole Whip, I never would have believed you - those things are the best! Running short on time we then walked through the California Adventure park. Cars Land was so cool, and I wish I would have had time to ride the rides! After seeing Disneyland first hand now I definitely have to go back. Thank you again to Dan! 

We left around 5:30pm and got to the airport around 7:00pm. Luckily my incoming flight was running late so I had plenty of time to grab some pizza and my favorite, Pinkberry! It was such a cool day and one that I could never have anticipated. I met some really cool people, did some pretty crazy things, and had a great day. I can’t wait to tell you all about the show that I worked on this morning!

My flight out of LA arrived in Dallas around 2:00am. My Aunt Denise picked me up from the airport and dropped me off at my Grandparents house. Due to a scheduling conflict I ended up spending a few days in the United States in Dallas, but they were much needed! I was able to get a lot of work done, get caught up on sleep, and spend some time with my family as well. I’m very excited for tomorrow though, because it is on to Mexico City, and from there Central and South America!

14 countries down, 182 to go.

Read about my first day in the United States here.

Country #14 – United States of America Day 1

16 Hours of Travel

Today was a busy travel day, that’s for sure! I woke up at 4:00am to meet my taxi driver outside of MoonRaker Beach Hotel in Barbados. She was so sweet and oddly very awake for it being only four in the morning! We talked about my trip all the way to the airport, and she was so nice and excited about it. Once we arrived at the airport we realized that she did not have any change for USD. She forgot her change purse, so I had to go exchange my cash for smaller bills while she waited. After we got that all sorted out, I checked in for my flight back to the United States. I was flying from Barbados to Miami, and then from Miami to Los Angeles.

Other than flying out of Saint Lucia, it was the most Americans that I had seen in weeks! There were no problems checking in, going through immigration, or boarding the flight. For a 6:00am flight at least it was going smoothly! The flight itself was about four hours, but being so tired I was able to get some sleep and the plane also had plenty of movie options (I watched The Edge of Seventeen).

After landing in Miami I used my Global Entry to get through customs in about five minutes. That’s after the twenty minutes of walking it takes to get there.(tip: take the Skytrain when you have to go through customs in Miami). After an easy trip through security, I picked up a bagel and headed to my new gate.

My next flight, to Los Angeles, was about four hours as well. I watched two more movies (Sing and Table 19), and before I knew it I was landing in LA. I have never been further west than Colorado, so I am definitely excited to see even the small portion of LA that I get to see over the next day.

When I landed I took an airport shuttle to my hotel. By this point I was starving, so I walked across the street to get In-N-Out, because of course there is one across the street. How much more California does it get than that? While I’m not the biggest In-N-Out fan - honestly I think the burgers taste like McDonald's and I would rather pay twice as much for the heaven on earth that is Shake Shack - it definitely satisfied my hunger.

I went to sleep soon after this. It was about 8:00pm in California when I fell asleep, but I needed all of the sleep I could get after having traveled sixteen hours today. Plus, I needed to get ready for a big day tomorrow!a

14 countries down, 182 to go.

Read about my second day in the United States here.