This post is part of a series about our trip to LA for an expo for Steven’s work!

In January Steven and I were in a “we need to book a vacation and get out of here mood” and be brought up that he was interested in going to Natural Products Expo West in Los Angeles in March. He didn’t have to mention it twice! We booked an almost weeklong trip with a couple of days to go to the expo, and a few days to sightsee.

As with every trip, I couldn’t get to my full excitement level until we were on our way to the airport. I just stress too much with packing and getting the house ready to get super pumped. It’s annoying, but it’s how I am.

Our flight left Chicago ORD at 6:15 Monday night, and we booked first class! What an absolute treat that was! I felt comfortable for the whole flight and was able to stretch my legs (I’m supposed to because of my blood clots) without leaving my seat.  We didn’t realize our seats were angled away from each other, so we didn’t talk much the whole flight, but booked the closer together seats for the flight home (although I have a feeling I will be working on blog posts on my computer if the internet works… or sleeping).

I watched Lightyear (cute, but made me sad!) and a Rita Ora Life Show in Paris, then paid for internet that did not work well, so then I read. We also didn’t realize we’d get a meal, and had already eaten in the airport, oops. They didn’t have a vegan meal for me and offered a snack box instead.

Steven’s meal

We got into LAX around 8:30 local time, but it felt like 10:30 for us. While we were waiting for our bags, we saw David Koechner (Champ from Anchorman) at our bag check! He must have been on our flight! I was starstruck and wanted to say hi, but a couple of fans were talking to him the whole time, and I did not want to interrupt. He seemed like a nice guy, and was really tall.

We got to Hertz to pick a car around 9:30 and picked a Ford Expedition. We had a hard time choosing because we didn’t want an all electric, and the midsize hatchback we found felt really used inside. The Ford was almost brand new and still smelled like it. Woo hoo!

We made our way to our Airbnb in Cypress and had the blessing of easy traffic on the highway. We stopped to get water, and finally got in around 10:30.

This is the Airbnb we had to switch to after the other person canceled on us. I’m glad we did. It was a cute little place, the communication was excellent, and it turned out our host owns a vegan sushi place!

I felt kind of wound up and had a hard time falling asleep, but finally did after midnight… which was close to 2:00 am my time!