Homeless and Possessionless in Hollywood

I forgot to also mention “Brainless”, but we’ll get to that. It wouldn’t be a trip for my family if everything didn’t go wrong.

So we normally celebrate Thanksgiving with Adam’s family. That has its own issues since I love them but it also makes me think a great deal of Adam (obviously). Well this year I’d worked through those issues and was ready to celebrate the holidays with them…when they apologized and said they were going away for the holiday. Long story short….we decided to fly out and visit my sister in San Jose.

We decided to fly into LA, have some LA fun that we missed when we were here a few months ago, and drive up to see her. Things have not gone as I planned….

Day 1

The airline lost our luggage. I had already warned my kids that it happens to everyone and you should always keep things you can’t live without in your purse but…they weren’t happy.

We went to Universal Studios right after the airport (we only had 3 hours – it was buy one day get a second free) and it’s was $30 more for tickets than if you bought online (but if you bought online you had to have a specific date). But it was fun.

We then tried to get to the place we booked. It was “like” an Airbnb so it was a house. There was no where to park. All the street parking was taken and the parking in the property was taken. We drove around and around for more than an hour. We even went behind the property where there was clearly a lot of homeless people living. I couldn’t tell which property was which and nothing was marked so I didn’t feel comfortable parking back there.

We finally parked a block away and when I got out, a homeless man started yelling profanities at me. I left and called Expedia. They said they’d contact the property for a refund and we went to another place.

We waited at the front desk for ten minutes while some shady characters came in and out of the motel. No one came to help us even though it said it was a twenty-four hour front desk. There was no bell. We even called and no one answered. We finally had to go somewhere else.

We made it to another place and all was well… but then Expedia got back to me and said the original property refused to give me back any of my money. At least we were at a place that made us feel happy and safe.

Day 2

We went to Universal the next day and when we arrived I realized I’d forgotten the tickets! So we spent a good chunk of time having them try to find the purchase I’d made the previous day. While they did that I checked my phone if there was any evidence of the purchase. No, just evidence of ANOTHER purchase where I’d already pre-bought tickets to Universal and FORGOTTEN about. So I basically double purchased tickets, but the ones we used were $30 extra dollars per ticket. Remember when I said I was brainless…

So we went in and I talked with the customer service desk. We finally got it all squared away except I used a credit card I didn’t have with me! So now I have to call them back with that info when I have the card for my refund.

So we “did” Universal, we got a couple of fast passes for my inconvenience, however only to the rides with no lines, although during the last hour they were open came in handy. We also got trapped on a ride – but that’s par for the course right?

Day 3

Bumped into a friend at breakfast at our motel which was a fun surprise and then went souvenir shopping in Hollywood Blvd. We FINALLY made it to the beach. Stayed for the sunset.

Day 4

Went to the famous “Hillsong LA” church. We had to pay for parking and go through metal detectors, but in the end, Church is always Church.

We went to the beach again and played for a few hours.

Then we went to “the best AMC” in the area to watch “Frozen 2” (Caleb was jealous – not because of the movie, but the theater. He’s obsessed with anything film related and was unable to come on the trip with us – we missed him terribly, especially when I needed a co-pilot while driving)

Day 5

We drove through Sequoia and Kings Canyon National parks to arrive at Yosemite. It was freezing and I got lost three times so it took us ten hours to drive six and I didn’t even have the RV with me!

Day 6

Went to Yosemite, got lost some more. Everything was dead and the waterfalls were frozen (but not in a good way). Probably not the best time of year to go. When we were finished, I got into someone else’s car……and they were still in it.

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And then we went on to San Jose to see my sister and have a lovely Thanksgiving after which it rained, was cold, and my sister was sick.

Blessings:

• I was able to go on this trip
• Although everything seemed to go wrong, I didn’t freak out about any it for once. Have a I learned flexibility? How to go with the flow? My anxiety has been under control this whole trip.
• I bumped into a friend and saw my sister (my only living close relative besides my kids).
• Everything worked out, except that now I’m broke – but that’ll work out, too!
• Many more blessings

Harmonie’s Corner

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