So these past few days have been very hectic but completely worth it. I graduated on Friday, so my parents came out to celebrate with me, along with all three of my grandparents. I feel bad for my mom and dad because this was their vacation and they barely got to rest at all! They flew in to Phoenix last Tuesday to meet up with my mom’s mom, then drove six hours the next day to San Diego to meet up with my dad’s parents. Then all five of them took the two hour drive up to Los Angeles on Thursday, stayed the night, watched me graduate, and then drove back down to San Diego on Friday, which took over four hours due to all the graduation traffic. I feel really badly that they had to sit in that!
I had plans on Saturday that got canceled, so instead of driving down with them on Friday, I ended up taking the Amtrak Pacific Surf-liner down from Los Angeles to San Diego. The train ride is always a pleasure, and it’s nice to let go of control for once and just enjoy the ride. The past two years I have mostly driven down to San Diego to see my grandparents, which has taken me anywhere from an hour and fifteen minutes (speeding the entire way, in the car pool lane) to three hours (beach traffic on a Saturday). The usual driving time is about two hours. I highly recommend going on the train at least once though. Between the café car, and the absolutely breath-taking views of the beach and ocean (especially around sunset), it is completely worth it. Sometimes, I have even met and talked to some interesting people. This time around, I ended up talking to an older Australian man who had never been to America before, who asked me what there was to do in San Diego. There is so much! I would probably make a really good travel agent, because I get so excited about everything that has to do with traveling and exploring.
One time, about two years ago, I was on the train and it was packed, so instead of sitting alone, I sat with these two guys who looked to be about my age. They made fun of me because I guess they thought they looked menacing and I just sat right down next to them and started chatting away. I ended up finding out that they had just gotten out of jail (for burglary)! Oops! But they were really nice anyway, so it didn’t matter much to me. See? Random adventures on the train!
Most of the time though, I sit alone and listen to the conversations around me or people watch out the windows. This last time on the train, there was this group of four girls and two mothers, and the two mothers sat across the aisle from me, and the little girls sat in front of me, and they were so loud but exceedingly adorable! It reminded me of the time I was on the train sometime back and it was a really quiet train ride (you never know how it’s going to end up), and I was on the phone with one of my friends from home, and the lady behind me asked me to be quieter, so I lowered my voice, and then, apparently I wasn’t quiet enough, and she complained to the conductor about me! Excuse me, but there are no quiet-ride trains, and when you ride the train, there is a chance people will be loud. I know I sound like I was really rude, but honestly, I tried to be quieter and the conversation was really important. She ended up moving seats and giving me a really nasty look in the process. Dude, chill.
Anyway, so I have obviously had many train-ride adventures, but that is not where this weekend ended. So I took the train down to San Diego on Saturday, and then we left my dad’s parents, and my mom, dad, mom’s mom and I all departed for Phoenix on Sunday, with a stop in Yuma to see my little cousin, Alex. It was a three hour ride to Yuma, and I slept most of the way, except when we were passing the border fence that separates Mexico and the US. It was very surreal to see something so… so… so dividing. Dividing is not the right word, but it will work. I know that I am simplifying this, but the US is a country built on immigration, the salad bowl or melting pot or whatever you choose to call it, and it just seems so extreme to have such a clear definition of who “counts”. I know it is a lot more complicated than I am making it, but this is just how I see it. I guess it has a lot to do with the fact that while I was in Nicaragua, the group I was with listened to a guy give his story of trying to (illegally) immigrate to the US, with all his hardship and risk of death sitting on top of trains through Central America, only to be caught as soon as he crossed the border. He then spent months in jail. It is just so saddening to hear something like that and then see the proof.
So when we got to Yuma, I realized that there really isn’t much to do there. There is a mall and that is about it. It is very spread out, very desert-y, and very much a place I would never like to live in. It was nice to go out to lunch with my cousin, but then we were back on our way to Phoenix. Again, I slept most of the way, until we picked up my grandmother’s dog about half an hour outside of Phoenix. Getting to Phoenix was nice because it meant the end of traveling for at least a day. Monday was nice and relaxing, we drank some wine and helped my mom’s cousins plan out a trip to New York City. I’m sad I’m going to be in Los Angeles when they are in the City because my mom’s cousin’s son is turning 21, and my parents are going to visit them in the city, so it seems like it will be a good time. But at least I’m going home for my brother’s graduation, and that is all that really matters, right?
And now today, Tuesday. My parents spent the last 5 of their 7 “vacation” days traveling, and now we are all flying, albeit in different directions. My mom and dad are flying home to New Jersey, but they are in a different terminal, so we had to separate. I’m flying back to Los Angeles to start my last ever class at USC. Yes, I graduated, but since I had two majors and a minor, I kind of forgot to fulfill my language requirement, which has actually worked out fine for me because my Peace Corps recruiter got very, very excited when I told her I was taking French, telling me that I may just be able to leaving in January of next year, instead of somewhere between April and June, which would be awesome. My poor parents, their flight got delayed by an hour due to storms in NJ. My brother is going to pick them up, and he has never made this drive by himself. He’s a good kid, I just hope he doesn’t get lost. Newark Airport is not in the best place possible.
So now I’m sitting in the airport, waiting for my flight to start boarding. We got to the airport around 9:30 am, because my parents’ flight was supposed to leave at 11:15am, but of course got delayed. My flight doesn’t leave until 1pm. I didn’t have anyone to pick me up until one of my sorority sisters said she could. I love my house! So now all my worries are gone and I just have to get on the plane. I’m flying Southwest, which I like but also don’t like. I love that there are no baggage fees, but I do with they had assigned seats, but I guess that is what makes people fly them, because as long as you check in early enough, you can get the seat you want. At this point, since this flight is only an hour and twenty minutes long, I just want to take the closest seat to the front as possible. Usually I try for a window, but right now, I just want to get back to my house.
I will probably post this after I get back to LA because the airport here at Sky Harbor does have internet, but it is excruciatingly slow. Have a great week everyone!
PS – I didn’t have to go through the body scanner this time! Last time I flew through PHX, they tried to make me, but I opted out. I refuse to go through them. It made me so angry because after me, they closed it and then had people just go through the regular metal detector, as if to tease me. UGH! But, at least they were very professional and quick about it. I have heard horror stories where they make it very apparent that a person has opted out and just basically make it hell. That is the one thing I loved about Sky Harbor, they are super professional.
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