#19: Cut down on travel for work

As much as I miss Scott and Gizmo, and dread leaving every time I have to, the fact is this: I have to travel for my job. That being the case, I need to start taking advantage of the opportunity and exploring more terrain of the cities I visit. Rather than ordering room service and movie in whatever hotel happens to be home for the night.

Case in point: I'm in LA. I flew across the country for a 1-hour meeting. Depsite 3 hours of sleep last night, a 7am 5-hour flight, and a full day West Coast time (translation: 5am eastern to 8pm eastern work day) I decided to do a driving tour of places I had never seen in the flesh. And I'm super glad I did.

LA is a sprawling city--and with traffic, it's difficult to get too far despite 4 hours of travel time. I went from Pasadena to downtown to Beverly Hills, through Hollywood and back. A few observations:

1) Rodeo drive looks a lot bigger on TV
2) ...as does the Chinese theater
3) Hollywood is cheezy, but lots of fun
4) LA has really bad road (maybe because they are all carved through mountains?)

I REALLY wanted to explore the hills: think Laurel Canyon Rd, Mulholland Drive, etc. But I am a chicken-shit, and deathly afraid of heights. I might have had a panic attack and lose my ability to drive. Scott needs to be with me on THAT trip.

And he will, someday. We discussed exploring all of Californ-i-a. I'm looking forward to it.

For now, it's time for room service and movie. See, I can have the best of both worlds.