Being on the Road to LA from Vegas… (9)

Speaking of coming out of the comfort zone, today was one of the toughest days of our lives. 

We didn't rent a car because of the thanksgiving weekend the prices were way too high. So we said why not, just take the bus from Vegas to Los Angeles!

It was a bus full of Gremlins: A bunch of crying kids and really loud adults. For 6 full hours they cried, sneezed, coughed, yelled, laughed and talked. When you are in the process, you feel like it is never going to end… Just like when you are having difficult days, you can't see the light. Just like that. We were suffocated. 

At the end of the 6 hours, towards the dawn of the day, it only got worse… Our bus dropped us off on one of the scariest streets of downtown LA. I say scariest, shame on me! And that scary place is their home… Streets are filled with homeless people… One of the guys walked towards me screaming and I noticed that he was drunk afterwards. He did scare the hell out of me.  

Feeling fear, helplessness, compassion, love, hunger; between wanting to cry and puke at the same time, wreck tired with a headache and we still had to be alert to find our bus towards the airport hotel. We walked 5 minutes to take the first bus and then we lost our wifi connection. 

A big "shooooot!" We didn't know which bus we were going to take, we didn't know where we were going to be dropped off. No matter how professional you are at traveling, you can always come across with things that you don't expect. At that moment on, my mind went black and I stumbled over to another dimension: Surrender.

We walked towards a chain restaurant to find a wifi connection and we did. Yes, even though streets were still a little too scary, things were turning around. We found our destination, had a cup of coffee from that chain restaurant (that I would never ever use in my daily life) and waited for the bus. We finally reached the hotel but we had not eaten for hours. Since I couldn't find anything on Yelp, I asked the girl at the reception if there was any good places to eat around. She said, "yes, but since it's a holiday, everywhere is closed by now." I thought, ok, since we are here safe and sound, I can go to bed hungry tonight. No problem. 

But walking over to the hotel, I had seen a food mart nearby. And yes, it was open and yes we were grateful gobbling down our microwaved bean and cheese burritos; which I would never touch on my daily life. Whaaaat?!? Frozen stuff?? Nooooo waaaaay! A note to self: "Arzu, you don't know what hunger is. If you are hungry, you will have to eat it. So, be humble." 

Sometimes life brings you to the edge. I'd say just surrender. 

I know that there must be someone out there to look out for me when I had enough and didn't have the energy to try harder…  And when I do that, I haven't been let down; not even once.