One major facet of travel is that it removes you from home. That may sound a tad axiomatic, because obviously in the physical sense this is true, but it also tends to transplant you outside of your individual circumstances and situation..both geographically and mentally. In that sense you are very much looking back in from the outside which facilitates objective thought and appraisal. It enables you to transcend your day to day life and break from the constraints and rigmarole which tend to condition us all. For a short period of time you can transcend your familiar existence which opens possibilities and encourages introspection. You feel free, as though you have escaped transcended and been liberated from all attachment obligation and responsibility that binds you to a place. This is why travel is a truly liberating experience - it encourages new experiences and suggestion, and is why so many insist that it broadens the mind. In reality you are temporarily compartmentalised in a bubble floating out of the real world, and when the bubble bursts unless you are of a highly parochial nature it feels deflating - like you come down with a bump when you eventually return home. Driving to Heathrow the day before a warning light on my dash was persistently blinking at me. This has been the case for weeks, an although I rifled through the manual in a forlorn attempt to ascertain what this means (unwilling to shell out for a plug in diagnostic), I hadn't yet fully understood what was causing it nor had I attempted to eradicate the problem - most likely a dodgy lambda sensor which is a common fault on my make of car. during the last few months I have come to regard it as a metaphor. All of us would like to cruise along through life without a problem, but that little warning light always pops up at some stage. You can carry on driving and choose to ignore it as a trivial distraction hoping it will go away...indeed it may amount to nothing but the possibility that something can or will go wrong is always there. I guess it depends on an individuals relative sense of optimism. But for now that light was extinguished and irrelevant, I was removed from my problems and my world back home was seemingly on pause.
Having left the airport I was soon spirited away by the shuttle bus to my nearby hotel, elementary error number three...another Holiday Inn. It wasn't great, but it was adequate. Having freshened up, I resolved to get online again to check my emails and to message Jum (my phone is not configured to work abroad). I paid for the online facility only to discover that as in London, it too didn't work. I immediately got a refund, and told them that I really needed to get online, whereupon the duty manager apologised profusely and without hesitation directed me to guess what...........the concierge desk!!! For the second time in a little over twenty four hours I found myself in between the various tasks I had to do online, meeting and greeting guests on behalf of Holiday Inn Hotels. I directed one family to Redondo Beach, and told another the best route to The Greek Theatre - and even drew them a map. I have no idea what was on, if anything, I didn't ask...it wasn't my business, I was simply manning the hospitality desk. My career as a hotelier was abruptly over as soon as it began when the real concierge emerged from the rear of the building having finished a cigarette and looked somewhat put out at the presence of this impostor in his seat. Felling like Leonardo DeCaprio in 'Catch Me if You Can' I thanked the manager and skulked off to my room having been rumbled and because by this time it was something like three in the morning GMT and I felt as though I was standing on the deck of a small boat anchored broadside to a large swell - you know that giddy feeling that jet lag leaves you with. Actually I have never found going west a particular problem because you can bank time - it is due east that eats up the hours and is the real killer.
Another thing about travel is the tendency to be afflicted with constipation. I believe this to be symptomatic of jet lag, but despite my longing for some action on the bowl - nothing was forthcoming. By God was I to rue this desire within a few days!!!
Next morning I awoke very early and decided to stroll the few blocks from my hotel up to Century Boulevard to retrieve my hire car. It wasn't supposed to be picked up until 11.00a.m. and I sauntered nonchalantly in at 6.45a.m, but this wasn't a problem in the slightest. I have found that you don't tend to encounter anywhere near the frequency of jobsworth's that you do in the U.K. where they are ubiquitous. Sure they can be sticklers for rules, regulations and absurd legislation but if you go with the flow - I find it is easier to get things done than in Britain. The office was empty at that time and they seemed very pleased to see me, within ten minutes I was offered the keys to a Nissan or a Chevy. Damn, I was Stateside - it had to be the Chevy! Elementary error number 4....never hire a vehicle without first having an inkling of what it looks like. I collected my luggage from the hotel and briefly went online over the road at an internet cafe, and then shot off up Highway 10 chuckling behind the wheel of my newfound comedy car as I cruised towards Jumkie's.
12715:SAM_0032.JPG]