08.06.05 - 2nd Annual West Coast Kenpo Confederation
These are general notes of my trip to Long Beach, California to attend the 2nd Annual West Coast Kenpo Confederation which took place at the Sea Port Marina Hotel on August 6, 2005.
Getting to California
I drove my S10 over to Bill's place and parked it in the parking lot. Walt did the same thing and Phyl gave us all a ride to RDU. Our flight was scheduled to depart at 7:04am and Bill wanted to be there plenty early to circumvent any problems that may arise. Our plane took off on-time from RDU to Dallas/Fort Worth where we had a brief layover. We went and had something to eat and came back to our gate thinking we had plenty of time, only to discover that the plane had been boarding for 15 minutes already and we were the last ones left to board! After hustling on and getting seated, the plane took off a few minutes late but we arrived on-time at LAX just the same.
We had discussed prior to departing for the trip whether or not to take advantage of a shuttle service to get to the hotel from the airport or to just rent a car. Walt and I were of the same mind and preferred to rent a car, looking for some extra freedom should time allow. We jumped on a Hertz bus that took us from LAX to their rental car facility and we went into the main office. We must have had a stunned look on our face because a man at a customer service desk simply said “aaaaaaalllll the way back” and pointed in the direction of a large mass of people. Without exaggerating there were probably 100-150 people in line to rent a car. I don’t think we even broke stride again as we walked straight out the door and caught a shuttle back to the airport, where we jumped on the “Super Shuttle” that took us to Long Beach.
The shuttle ride itself was interesting. It was a van with 2 bench seats and a single front seat for passengers. The van was filled to capacity with 6 regular sized people and one very overweight woman who had to be at least 400 lbs. This large woman had difficulties at first getting into the van as the seat available to her was the front seat. Basically, she couldn’t fit into the door. After several minutes of trying and almost falling out, we adjusted our seating so that she could sit in the back. Finally, we were on our way through the airport, onto the freeway, and heading for Long Beach – where every single passenger on the bus was let off before we were. But we eventually made it.
Getting to California
I drove my S10 over to Bill's place and parked it in the parking lot. Walt did the same thing and Phyl gave us all a ride to RDU. Our flight was scheduled to depart at 7:04am and Bill wanted to be there plenty early to circumvent any problems that may arise. Our plane took off on-time from RDU to Dallas/Fort Worth where we had a brief layover. We went and had something to eat and came back to our gate thinking we had plenty of time, only to discover that the plane had been boarding for 15 minutes already and we were the last ones left to board! After hustling on and getting seated, the plane took off a few minutes late but we arrived on-time at LAX just the same.
We had discussed prior to departing for the trip whether or not to take advantage of a shuttle service to get to the hotel from the airport or to just rent a car. Walt and I were of the same mind and preferred to rent a car, looking for some extra freedom should time allow. We jumped on a Hertz bus that took us from LAX to their rental car facility and we went into the main office. We must have had a stunned look on our face because a man at a customer service desk simply said “aaaaaaalllll the way back” and pointed in the direction of a large mass of people. Without exaggerating there were probably 100-150 people in line to rent a car. I don’t think we even broke stride again as we walked straight out the door and caught a shuttle back to the airport, where we jumped on the “Super Shuttle” that took us to Long Beach.
The shuttle ride itself was interesting. It was a van with 2 bench seats and a single front seat for passengers. The van was filled to capacity with 6 regular sized people and one very overweight woman who had to be at least 400 lbs. This large woman had difficulties at first getting into the van as the seat available to her was the front seat. Basically, she couldn’t fit into the door. After several minutes of trying and almost falling out, we adjusted our seating so that she could sit in the back. Finally, we were on our way through the airport, onto the freeway, and heading for Long Beach – where every single passenger on the bus was let off before we were. But we eventually made it.
posted by Bonzai at 8/06/2005 11:00:00 AM
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