The Big Day!!!

At 4:00 am, I rolled out of bed (can't really claim I got to "wake up", since I never totally fell asleep) and made my way back to the airport. This time, I actually found my way onto the plane, with the only hitch being that since I was going standby, I was flagged for the extra special hand search of both me and my possessions; although their efforts still failed to produce my lighter that was sitting blatantly in my purse that I had forgotten to remove. I will save the diatribe on our governments’ success with creating a good system for security for another day; or perhaps just let it lie. I am, after all, the one that forgot to remove the lighter.

I arrived at LAX at about 7:30 in the morning. I got my rental car, and headed to Lindsay’s place.

Me and Ingrid! I love this girl!!

I was in Los Angeles for the day to throw a party for the Los Angeles Couchsurfing group. For those of you not familiar with Couchsurfing, it’s a great group, almost 170,000 people with the biggest hearts you’ve ever met; doctors, lawyers, relief workers, teachers, musicians… all of which say to each other that if the others make it to their part of the world, they will host them as a guest; either on their couch, in their guest room, or by making room for their tent in their backyard • whatever is needed and available. They also offer to meet up with you for coffee or a drink, take you on a tour of their city, or give you help or advice regarding their country or town. It’s a great group that has grown to mean a great deal to me. I love hosting guests from all around the world, and I love meeting new people.

She did, however, enjoy the novelty sunglasses...

My host for the weekend was a wonderful girl named Lindsay • while I was yet to meet her, she was taking me into her home for the weekend. She is a 27 year old lawyer, and is now a good friend of mine; but as the rental car rolled out of the airport, I was still nervous to meet her for the first time!!

I arrived at Lindsay’s to find my two other friends that she had agreed to host and Lindsay waiting for me; both of my other friends, Margaret (from the London Couchsurfer group) and Kristin (from the Phoenix Couchsurfer group) had arrived the night before. I gave Lindsay the hostess gifts I had brought her from Arizona, and we all headed out to breakfast at the LA Farmers Market, to meet up with 2 other members of the Phoenix CS group that were driving in for the party • Larry and Ingrid (Ingrid is actually from the Buenos Aires CS group, but is living in Phoenix for 4 months and has joined our local group for that time!)

The farmers market was as wonderful as always • see my review for details!

After breakfast, we wanted to show our two international friends (Margaret and Ingrid) a little of Hollywood Blvd; and it was a great time to do it, as it was all in preparation for the Oscars, which would be held the next day! We took them to the Chinese Theater, and the Kodak Theater, and showed them the walk of fame.

The LA Couchsurfing Group!!

By that time, it was time to prepare for the party!!

The party was held at Busbys in Santa Monica. I got there right at 7:00 pm to make sure everything was coordinated with the management staff and wait staff for our area that I had reserved, and to put up a few signs so people would know where to go.

Not long after, people started to trickle in the door, and soon, it started picking up! More and more, people were arriving, and my head began to spin • the party was ACTUALLY going to be a success! Everyone had told me it was impossible to get the LA group together; but here they were, and I was thrilled.

Many people were documenting the night, with cameras and video. I had just been cornered by someone with a videocamera (my own personal definition of HELL) when the moment I had been really excited about finally happened; Eric Bjorndahl walked through the door, sporting a big grin!!

Now, there are certain Travbuddies that I have grown to just LOVE, and count as real, true friends, and it pains me a great deal to have not had the chance to meet them in person; this is my year to fix as many of those sad mistakes as I possibly can.

Finally!!

When the party was finally over, we made it back to Lindsay’s house to laugh over the pictures, compare stories of the day, and collapse into our makeshift beds. It was the perfect "Couchsurfing" day, and I can’t think of one thing that would have made it any better.