I have twelve more days in Oregon and then I’m on a plane to Lithuania! So you can imagine that I’m spending every spare second either working, planning my trip and sister’s bridal shower, or meeting up with friends for coffee. Needless to say, there’s still lots more to be done.
Two weeks ago, I headed down to Los Angeles to turn in all my paperwork at the Lithuanian Consulate so I could get my visa processed in order to live abroad. I was hoping to make it a fun trip with a friend or two, but when each friend I’d asked said that they either had work or school or just merely couldn’t manage a day trip to LAX from PDX (because, let’s be honest, who wants to spend that much money to hardly see any of the city?), I accepted my fate of going by myself to get ‘er done. Luckily, my sister, Anna, connected me with an old friend of her’s so I could at least have lunch with a familiar face; however, the rest of the day I was on my own.
After an early morning flight with mainly business people jetting down for meetings, I got a ride to the Consulate. Now, I scheduled my appointment for 10AM when my flight landed at 9AM. Bad idea. When people would talk about LA traffic and how horrendous it was, I just thought it’d be mildly worse than Portland.
Nope, nope, nope.
It took us well over an hour when Google Maps said twenty minutes. Even in the carpool lane, traffic moved slowly. But eventually, I made it to my appointment and rushed in, sorry to be late and keep anybody waiting, but when I entered an empty sitting area, I remembered that Lithuania is probably not as high on the longterm tourist destination as, let’s just say, Brazil. I was seen immediately and was only needed to sign a few more lines and get my fingerprints taken. My visa was then printed off in five minutes and I was on my way. Needless to say, I couldn’t believe that I had to fly down to LA for a twenty minute appointment.
But may as well make the most of it! I then took off for lunch at the Rose Café with my friend, Jill. The food was excellent and the atmosphere adorable, I just found it hilarious how it was roughly 65ºF and all the Los Angelenos had sweaters and restaurants had pulled out space heaters. After lunch, Jill drove me to the Venice Beach Canals which were adorable (and apparently waaayyyyy out of any sane budget)!
Then it was off to Santa Monica Pier for shopping and a stroll on the beach before I had to get a ride back to the airport for my evening flight.
And that was that! I was back in Portland by 10PM and back to work in the morning.
Since then, it has been nothing but work and more planning. I still have phones and banking to figure out, not to mention the actual task of packing for six months. While I’m beyond excited to be on a plane again to a distant place, the actual getting there is a lot more work than originally anticipated.
But we’re almost there! Twelve more days and, yes, I absolutely have a countdown on my phone.
Anyway, I better get back to figuring out how to rent a car in the UK.
Until I’m on a plane,
Kate
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