Transit day to California because all the routes to Maui got changed an hour earlier, so all connecting flights from Cabo to Maui now include an overnight somewhere. Thankfully, I have some friends in LA that I was able to crash with overnight.
Chill Morning
Didn’t do much in the morning, and even though I had the chance to walk back to the marina, I was feeling pretty tired from all the early morning activities (the dilemmas of a night owl). Ended up just relaxing for a bit before just heading to the airport a little earlier than I needed to, figuring there was no need to be in a rush.
Grabbed an Uber and the ride to the airport was surprisingly long. Took about an hour, and apparently it’s because they do all their construction during the day and they were doing some construction in a major roundabout which backed EVERYONE up for quite awhile.
Airport Amenities
Finally got to the airport, and was amused to find that the food options were all the regular chains. I ended up grabbing a seat over for some tacos, cause I figured…why not get some tacos. The horchata was most excellent, as were all the tacos, but the ribeye taco in particular was SO GOOD.
Sat there for a bit, editing and paring down the whale photos from yesterday. Eventually, I made it over to the gate and got on the plane to get to LA.
Flight to LA
Got an upgraded seat to comfort+, and found that the plane was only half full. Super empty and we all got to spread out and got as much room as we wanted. Pretty nice, but also…I just ended up using my superpower to pass out pretty much right away. Quick, easy flight, and got to LA pretty easily.
Walked right through Global Entry and basically didn’t have to stop, and easily still the best money I’ve spent in quite a while a couple years ago.
Errands
Had to take care of a couple errands that didn’t really go quite according to plan. First stop was at Best Buy to get my phone fixed / replaced, and even though I had called and repeatedly asked the customer service line to make absolutely sure they had everything they needed there to fix my phone (as I had only one day in LA), they didn’t have anything there.
Instead they want to mail me a phone to my home address (which I won’t see until September). After some finagling, we settled on a potential fix (more to come on that later…fingers crossed….and if you’re the praying type…prayers are appreciated!). So still no phone (well, I have a half functioning phone, just can’t really use the inside screen without looking like a lunatic).
Then walked over to the next couple stores to the amazon locker to get my new stock of photo paper for my little printer. Definitely came in multiple boxes / shipments, so now I had to juggle multiple packages in addition to my suitcase and camera equipment (like a lunatic).
Meeting Up with Friends
After finishing errands, I took the long uber to go meet up from friends for the night. I quickly remembered why I hate big cities (and LA traffic in particular), as we ended up being stuck in traffic for and hour and a half to go 20 miles. The uber driver was….let’s say…aggressive with the pedals, and I was definitely starting to feel a little woozy after the drive, but eventually made it.
It was REALLY good to catch up with old college friends, and just enjoy some company. As much of an introvert as I am, few people in small doses just really hits the spot.
We also grabbed Korean BBQ, which always hits the spot. Between the 4 adults (and additional 2 young ones), we consumed 20+ plates of meat….delicious.
Ended up chatting for quite a bit afterwards while multitasking and getting all the whale photos finished up. Final count was 1200 photos taken, and 91 kept. Lots of pics directly into the sky, water or side of the boat as we moved with the waves. Awesome night with friends though.
Vibe Check
4 parts joy – friends and meat…what more can you ask for?
1 part sadness – for my poor phone
Feedback
Leave a comment or question if you have any thoughts! Anything you want to know about as we go around the world? Any things you want to share as feedback, or any images that particularly spoke to you. I’ll try to read all of them as time permits!
Matti 
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