Day Zero

The countdown widget on my phone reached zero and despite the long anticipation for the Supertrip, the day has finally arrived for our departure.

As excited as I am, I can't help but think how quickly these next four months will pass as we travel.

The days leading up to day zero was packed with activity. No sooner had we left Vancouver, along with its own flurry of pre departure preparations, did we scoot to Moose Jaw where I was MC for Karen and Jeremy's wedding, driving back to Red Deer to meet with several lawyers, and then visiting family. We also repacked our luggage, oriented mom to the iPad, shopped for cruise provisions and bought last minute supplied. Once again, my supposed down time, even without impeding exams, was packed with more activity than I would have liked.

But then, this morning, I donned my trusty travel clothing and ScotteVest made famous by our Vietnam trip and set off. Goodbyes this time were somewhat different, more sad, because we were leaving for a longer time and strangely, we didn't have a home of our own to return to. No rent, no mortgage, and our belongings in storage in a warehouse somewhere in Vancouver.

At the airport, I made some last minute calls to the bank cards and put our phones on vacation billing. Our check in luggage full of provisions just made the scale at 44lbs and 34lbs.

Halfway through Shannon's second in flight movie, we saw the Hollywood sign and decended to the famed LAX. That space aged building that you see in movies is actually a restaurant called The Encounter. It smelled like California: traffic and humid. Fortunately not too hot.

It was easy to get around from the airport due to two competing shuttle services that charge the same amount. $30 got us to the Ritz Carlton Marina Del Rey, as long as you didn't mind circling the airport twice before leaving.

Our hotel was beautiful, and Shannon scored quite a deal going through easyoneclicktravel dot com paying as much for this place as a motel in Santa Monica from Expedia. I felt out of place in my camping colored outfit and backpacks. Worse was our baggage. We had deliberately brought a suitcase with a broken handle and a hideous plaid wheeler so that we could leave them in Tahiti. I swear the doorman gave us a funny look.

As we changed to go out, a thick fog rolled in and our view of the marina went from beautiful to nothing in half an hour. We set off on foot to Abbot Kinney and the Main Street shops, which were just sections with eclectic shops. We were squeezed in between reservations at La Vecchia where we had delicious steaks for dinner, made all the more better as it happened to be Taste of LA.

It felt late, and we walked back to our hotel. It was actually kind of sketchy but we made it, and looking forward to checking out the beach tomorrow.