Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Christmas with family in LA



For many past Christmas and New Year that I have spent here in the States, I have spent it alone or with some friends.  My mom has only spent one Holiday with me for the past 20 years that I lived here.  So you can see, it can get nostalgic and lonely.  This year, I decided to spend it with my family in Los Angeles.  I even decided to fly to Burbank Airport to make it easier for airport pick up.  Of course it cost more and travel time was doubled but I thought I should at least try it once.    The travel entailed a flight to San Francisco and then a connecting flight to Burbank Airport.  The Chicago-San Francisco flight was fairly uneventful.  I sat next to a kid who seemed to need to go to the bathroom 5x thus waking me up from my slumber.  Then behind me was a young family with an infant.  The baby did not cry so much.  It would have been worst if he did.   And his two older brothers were pretty behaved.  They just kept themselves busy with their video games. 
Upon landing at SFO, chaos started.  First it was not clear how to go to my gate.  I have to take a shuttle to a domestic terminal.  It was very chaotic in that terminal.  Lots of people running back and forth.  The gate assignment of my connecting flight was changed but the electronic board did not reflect that.  I have to move to another gate only to find out that my flight was delayed for one hour.  So I tried to find a sucket to plug my computer only to discover that most were blocked off.  Finally found a working sucket and I was at least able to work on my computer and do some online activity.  That made the time pass better.  We finally boarded our small plane and the 45 minute flight to Burbank was pretty uneventful.  
Upon landing, we went to Target to buy gifts for my little Godchildren.  It was crowded and the toy selection was not great.  After Target we had dinner with the rest of the family.  That was fun enough.  I was starved but at least the food was good.   It was also fun to play with my little Godchildren.  
I was exhausted at the end of the day but it was worth it.  The vexation of the airport experience and flight delay were erased by spending Christmas with family.
Happy Christmas!

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