A Birthday Vacation in LA

My birthday, March 9th, was an intense, chaotic and hectic day. It was an emotional rollercoaster: calls from friends in London, transitions and drama with my 3 part time jobs, friend's emergencies, car problems, planning events, making decisions and having little flexibility to get things done. I rarely get stressed out, largely because I manage things and adapt well but that whole week, all the way up to walking on the plane Thursday night to LA I was admittedly stressed. It was a foreign feeling, and it took a while to name it but when I let out a sigh on the plane, I realized I was ready for a holiday. And there is no one better I know to help me enjoy life than my brother Nate.

He has been in LA for four years now and calls it home. We had a loose schedule. I mainly wanted to relax, see his friends, explore the city a little and go surfing at least once. After arriving, I spent the next 2.5 hrs in LA traffic; not the best start. He works at a college supervising students, which he does well at but at 25 he is ready to move out of the college scene. After being a nomad myself, it was nice to be around someone who has known me so long-he is my triplet after all! We went to his friend's house in Beverly Hills and I had a few glasses of the best wine I've ever tasted:) His friend greeted me with a sentence I would hear often that week"So you're Ben, Nate has told me so much about you". I wasn't sure whether to feel honored or worried by that introduction...thankfully I have a good brother who doesn't make me look bad in order to make himself look better.

We went to Six Flags! It had been over a decade since I had been at a theme park and I felt like a little kid again excited to go on rollercoasters and feel a strange attraction to testing my fears. Exchange students joined us from the university who were from Germany and Hungary, so their stories kept us entertained while waiting in the lines. The rollercoasters made me feel like a child's toy-i remember as a kid making all sorts of rides and courses for my lego men and spinning them around and around different directions. I definitely felt a rush at times!

The next morning we woke up early, walked out the door, grabbed our boards and walked down to the water. As I strapped my leash and ran into the water I realized it had been years since I was surfing. I call myself a paddler, not a surfer because I am a beginner and spend more time paddling than actually riding the waves. I'd rather be honest about my inexperience-at least it decreases the humiliation of missing a wave. The breaks were only 2-3 ft but it was enough to get up on my longboard. It was a joy to see dolphins only 15 feet from me. They are large animals and I felt kind of helpless on my little board floating waiting for a wave. It was a perfect day, and I was soaking in the morning sunshine. I stayed out in the water until I literally could not paddle anymore because my hands were too cold to close my fingers together.

My last night there we went to West Hollywood and ate at Dan Tana's Restaurant on Santa Monica Blvd. I quickly saw that it was a Hollywood hangout and when I heard it opened in the 60s, I knew the food must be amazing. I savoured their mozzarella marinara and linguini clams over the next hour with glasses of wine. I felt spoiled!

My last day I enjoyed having a slow morning, making coffee and going for a walk in the sunshine. I had to fight off the thoughts of all that i'd need to do when I returned that night. I was slipping away from the "holiday zone"! Jumping in the pool, playing basketball and lifting weights the next few hours kept those thoughts at bay. On my flight home, I was grateful for the silence, to soak in the final hours of my holiday. My birthday vacation was over, and it could not have come at a better time.