We Took On America: PART ONE - LA

If it wasn't already extremely obvious, Jacinta and I travelled to the other side of the world and had the adventure of a lifetime. We spent two weeks jet setting through North America and visited Los Angeles, San Fransisco and New York City. In this weeks post I'm going to delve into everything that happened in LA.

I've thought a lot about how I was going to write this post. But, like anything, I have to be completely honest. So be prepared for some brutally honest confessions and the reality of flying across the globe.

Let's rewind to Sunday the 11th of June. As I woke up I thought the day would feel different, like I would be jumping out of my skin to get to the airport and start our big overseas extravaganza. Instead I was still in denial and the day played out like any other. I thought once we were at the airport something would have clicked but even checking in and waving goodbye to our luggage had limited affect. As we said our goodbyes to Mum and Dad I still didn't feel anything miraculous.

The first challenge was the initial security screening. It might have been the subtle nervous of flying overseas, but I was so awkward. I felt so much pressure to sort out my carry on and held up the people behind me for a good three minutes. It was torture. At one point a staff member asked if I needed assistance and in that moment it became super obvious I was the most inexperienced traveller in the whole airport. We managed to make it through relatively okay although Cint forgot to drop off her Outgoing Passenger Card. Rookie mistake number two.

As we found our gate number it happened. The reality of leaving our parents for the first time and flying 14 hours to the other side of the world actually sunk in. At first it was just the normal butterflies but then a wave of anxiety hit me. To be honest, I was worried my anxiety would somehow affect this holiday. I recently experienced the first attack in years and I was worried pushing myself so far out of my comfort zone might bring up those stagnant emotions. Well, it did. After a quick phone call to Mum and a few early tears I set myself straight and managed to enjoy the flight. Although there wasn't too much sleeping I throughly enjoyed the aeroplane food.

I was a little worried about LAX given the stories I had been told from some fellow Aussie travellers. Although customs took forever and the staff didn't crack too many smiles the whole process was fairly okay. My anxiety was at bay and I was determined to get into the country and make it to the hotel. We managed to find our transfer shuttle bus fairly easily and I thought the hardest part was over. Then came the 2 hour drive from LAX to Hollywood without a seat. Turns out only 10 people fit in those shuttles and I was magical number 11. Safe to say I sat on a suitcase for the first part of that journey, welcome to the USA.

We made it to the Best Western Hollywood Plaza Inn late Sunday night LA time and were both absolutely exhausted. Knowing we had such a big day on Monday made it all a little worse. After not much sleep and failing to wake up for our 6:30am alarms my anxiety took another hit. I was worried we weren't going to make our tour bus so it was a rush to get out of the hotel, make it to Starbucks and walk to the tour. We made it in time and actually met some fellow Aussies. That automatically put me at ease, knowing there were plenty of other lost Australians in LA.

During that first day we drove out to the Santa Monica Pier, saw all of Downtown LA on our double decker tour bus, walked the Hollywood Walk of Fame and visited the Madame Tussauds Museum. Not only were we suffering a little jet lag but managed to get super sunburnt, such a great start.

On Tuesday we spent the morning shopping at the Hollywood and Highland Plaza and experienced Sephora for the first time. Cint and I were very well behaved as we knew New York would be the shopping capital. In the afternoon we took our first Uber to the Hollywood Sign and checked out the Griffith Observatory. That evening we had our first American pizza and my anxiety had really settled down by this point.

All in all LA was not as glamorous as I had imagined. For it's movie making status and being a heartland for celebrities I was expecting something more beautiful. Don't get be wrong I appreciated the drive out to Santa Monica but seeing so many homeless people on each street and battling the tourists on the Walk of Fame was quite the turn off.

LA was hard for me. My anxiety was bad and I started to think it would never leave. Although we still did everything we planned having that constant uneasy feeling was difficult to cope with. In those early days I really appreciated my beautiful sister. She had to step up for me emotionally and did it with ease. I know it must have been hard to deal with an emotionally fuelled anxious big sister. One thing I took away from that whole issue was the close bond Jacinta and I share as well as my strength to get over my mental illness. Yes, it was super challenging but I managed to do it and refused to let it severely damage our big adventure.

Stay tuned for next weeks post about our time in the beautiful San Fransisco.

#ashleighdwan #beyondthestory #journalism #america #anxiety