From L A with ♥ pt. 1: Departure

Okay, I know that Elda already posted the stories on her blog. But I feel like posting the whole experience from my point of view, and especially I have promised y'all readers to post it today. So here we go!

Two of my friends (Aymee and Elda) and I chose to go to SoCal - Los Angeles to be exact - to spend our spring break, which would come to its end just tomorrow :(. Sad right? Anyway, it was funny how we first initiated the idea to take off to LA. Aymee talked to me about her plan to see Pasadena Art Center, her preferred university to transfer to – which is near LA – in Arts class.

Apparently, I took her word seriously and suggested we should also spend our holiday in LA whilst looking up to some universities. Apparently she agreed and then Aymee and I told Elda. Turns out Elda was also interested in looking up to UCLA and Caltech, both are in LA area.

The whole real planning started three weeks prior to our departure. I know we should have planned it at least a month before our departure, but everything seemed to be in a rush so we had to plan things super quick (especially before the prices rose rapidly).
Basically we planned all of our accommodation, where to stay, where to go, and which plane to take. Aymee luckily found a discount package including plane ticket and hotel.

DAY 1: MARCH 26, 2011

On March 30, I got up at 5.00 am and I was super sleepy (how the heck I keep saying this 'super' word? I'm blaming Kimberly Duncan of Terminator 2: 3D for this). The shuttle was scheduled to pick us up at 5.30-ish. I only got to sleep for two hours since I needed to pack because I had no time to do so days before. Finals kept me busy. Plus, I chatted with Aymee on MSN up until 2.30-ish.

She hadn't packed yet either and all of her clothes she was about to bring to LA were in her apartment's laundry room. To make matters worse, the laundry room was locked before she could even retrieve her clothes. It would be open in 5.00 am. She told me “I'm a fast packer. I can pack things in 15 minutes literally.” Oh well XD

It was drizzling that morning and the sky was still dark. Aymee was already at the lobby, playing around with her umbrella. Elda and I caught up with her soon, although Elda was suddenly in a panic state because she forgot to bring her passport along. She hurriedly reentered the apartment to obtain it. After the shuttle came, we took off to San Jose airport.

Nothing much happened until we reached the check-in counter. When three of us put out our tickets and boarding passes from our colorful folders that Elda had organized for Aymee and I, the guy went “You guys are so organized!” or so I thought he said.
The credit goes to Elda though. Kudos!

Then we went through the scanning process. Aymee and I passed smoothly without any of our items getting distrained. But then Elda came up with a pout on her face. Apparently the officers distrained three of her important items (which apparently contained liquid) and Elda was mourning for the loss of her shampoo, body lotion, and conditioner. Aww...

It turns out we arrived super early in the gate, approximately 2 hours before the boarding time. But there's no word for bored for us since we decided to kill time by taking loads of picture...of narcissism.

Elda managed to keep all important documents inside each of these colorful folders and gave each of them to Aymee and I.

Intimidation of the not-so-tall person *points at self*

Although not in its perfect proportion, I like how we actually attempted to do our very first self-timer picture.

FAIL XD

Time flew fast as we kept on taking pictures and talking. At around 7.50 am, we were to board the plane.

See you in five days, San Jose!

Part 2 >>