Once I was back in Vancouver, I got tacos with Nigel and went backpack shopping at MEC. I needed something to use as a carryon so that I wouldn’t be charged for an overweight suitcase again, and Nigel helped me find the perfect one :) Though I mostly picked it because it was a pretty turquoise colour, if I’m being honest.
So after repacking my suitcase and enjoying a cup of tea on Nigels balcony, it was time to hit the road again. This little nomad was L.A. bound. Being that I was still feeling a bit nasal-y, the landing was less than enjoyable. It felt like my eyes were going to pop out of my head, and it took about 2-3 hours after landing before my ears adjusted.
After collecting my luggage though, I headed to the shuttle area to get my rental car. I ended up going with Sixt for whatever reason but I lied about a couple things. According to the policies, you have to have your license for at lease a year before you can rent a car, also, if you’re under 25, which I am, you have to pay an additional daily fee. Well I guess they didn’t cross check my application and the info on my driver’s license because none of that stuff came up! A quick call to my mom in Toronto for insurance info, at what would have been like 1am her time, and I was in business. The keys to a black Toyota Camry were all mine!
Now it was time to figure out where I was sleeping that night :/ this is where “flying by the seat of my pants” comes to bite me in the ass. Thankfully I know a lot of people in L.A. (lies) so I messaged my dear friend Cory to see if I could crash on his couch, turns out that was not an option, so I called an old friend that I’d met at TIFF a couple years previously and luckily he was awake an had a couch for me to crash on. I seriously debated booking a hotel, but I was too scared to stay at a sketchy motel alone as a female, and the hotels I recognized were HELLA expensive. The whole being a girl, alone, in a strange city, at night, also produced enough fear for me to rule out sleeping in my car.