Zelma’s Trip

I woke up after a very cold night’s sleep as the heater didn’t work in my room, and headed out on the shuttle bus towards the airport.  I got a local bus with a surprisingly helpful and friendly driver, which was in stark contrast to those I had met in Miami.  I was enjoying listening to the conversations on the bus until someone asked me a question and then got excited about the whole English accent thing.  This led to the inevitable, “Wow, you’re beautiful and British”, type comments.  Fortunately the conversation allowed me to make inquiries about shopping centres and I was directed where to get off to get another bus.  On the second bus there was an equally friendly woman who I chatted to prior to arriving at the mall.  When I got off the bus a guy asked where I got my Ugg boots from and then seemed slightly disappointed when I told him they were from Australia.

In the mall I managed to get stopped by every stall person with them straightening my hair, polishing my nails and the like.  After a long while I finally managed to find a jacket I liked which was the reason for me being there in the first place.  I decided to head back to the hostel and walked back to the bus stop.  At the bus stop there was a slightly crazy guy standing near me.  He was doing basketball moves and saying things like, “Damn man, you aint gonna get nowhere near that hoop wi’out some kinda mountain”.  After listening to his comedy monologue I realised that I was the only one within about twenty feet of the guy, but then I thought that the other onlookers were missing out on his comedy genius so decided not to move.  The bus arrived and I headed back to the transit centre where I got a free transfer bus to the airport.  When the hostel shuttle arrived the driver seemed slightly amused at the fact that I seemed to be spending the majority of my time in L.A. at the airport.

Once back at the hostel I checked my email and was pleased to hear that Chuck had finally arrived in the city.  I called his friend Brad, as directed, and arranged for Chuck to pick me up the following morning from the hostel.  The guy at reception seemed to think that the whole situation was hilarious and made helpful comments about dodgy American men and their many women!  In the evening I got my free “Champagne” that you are given a voucher for when you check in and had a few drinks with a guy who had leant me his laptop to use the free wifi.  Later we played pool and, having been watching us, another guy challenged me to a game.  I won, much to his apparent disgust as he muttered something and stormed off.