Rain in Southern California

Cloudy, later followed by storm and rain at about 7°C. So Los Angeles wasn't quite what I imagined. There I stood, with REM in my ear, 'Leaving New York is not easy'.

The departure was quite chaotic. My flight was at 7am, which meant leaving at 4am...or so the plan went. In the end, I fell asleep on the couch and woke up at 4:10am. Panic moment. Grabbed my things, swiped a banana from the communal kitchen, off to the subway, 7 minutes of nervous waiting, leaning forward to look for the train, when my phone's charger fell out of my pocket, onto the tracks and then onto the street below. I had 50% battery left on my phone, which contained my flight ticket, transportation connections for LA and NYC, as well as confirmations for car rental and accommodation. At the same time, my train arrived.

I arrived at the airport at 5:45am, the lady at the check-in counter assured me I had plenty of time. Phew! Security check without shoes, quite undignified. I was able to charge my phone on the plane, everything was fine!!

In Los Angeles, I had reserved a rental car. Public transportation was strongly discouraged, and a road trip without a car made little sense. Thankfully, the car rental company provided a GPS since I didn't have data roaming.

I arrived at my hotel in Whittier, east of LA, by taking detours.

In the evening, I took a stroll through the small town, which served as a filming location for various Hollywood productions, including 'Masters of the Universe', 'Back to the Future', and the TV series 'The Wonder Years'.