step one: LA, accomplished

[rivendellrose]

Turns out that, while not exactly easy, it is actually possible to get a moderate night’s sleep in an airport. Admittedly, it does help if it’s the middle of the night and the terminal is pretty much completely empty, and also if you don’t mind looking like a complete imbecile while you’re at it. My method turned out to be curling up on one of the annoying bench-chairs, legs over my backpack and upper body around my purse, with my hood pulled up, sleep-mask on, and my wool coat wrapped all the way around myself (or as much as possible in whatever contorted position I ended up in).

Why the coat, you might ask? Well, partly to keep out sound and light, but mostly because it turns out that it’s freaking freezing in airports at night. I’m sure SeaTac would probably have the same problem (large space, no people filling it with their body heat, lots of windows, etc), but still. Cold.

As it is, I’m sitting here with my hoodie zipped up and my wool coat on, wide awake and wondering a) why the hell it’s so cold in here, b) where the hell this airport keeps all its reader boards and electrical outlets (Jack’s fine, but I’d like to charge up before getting on the plane), and why it is, exactly, that their Starbucks is not open yet. Maybe it’s just because I’m spoiled by SeaTac (or maybe just really naive - I realize I’ve never been in SeaTac at this hour before), but I truly expected that whenever I woke up, the Starbucks would be open. Especially given how damned cold it is in here. Bleh.

Still - 6.5 hours of sleep, not half bad all things considered. Definitely better than I expected to do, given the circumstances. If it hadn’t been for some maintenance guy setting off an annoying beeping alarm, I might even have done more, but the terminal’s getting more populated, so I suppose being awake at this point isn’t a bad thing.

A little over 5 hours til my plane boards. Oh, and look - it seems the Starbucks is now open.

Comments

[shadawyn.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's a long lay-over O_O

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Yeeeeeeahhhhh. That's part of the whole "hahaha, my airfare was really cheap, but there's a price for it!" thing. Or, rather, the whole of it. But hey, most of the way done. Still up in the air whether I would have preferred hauling myself to SeaTac at oh-god-thirty in the morning, the avoidance of which was why I chose this flight. *Shrugs*

[bluerosefairy.livejournal.com]

I have five hours in Tokyo to kill when I go home in two months, I know your pain. I'm glad you figured out how to sleep (learned that trick on my layover in O'Haire when I came out here last year) - I also suggest exploring the terminal, and chilling out wherever's open. The people who work there are usually desperate for company. I befriended the girl at Dave and Buster's at Philly International on more than one occasion, since it's open all hours but very few people want drinks/food at 6 am.

Keep us updated and have fun!

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I'll definitely be doing some wandering later, if only so I can find some coffee and a reader-board to figure out which terminal I'm supposed to be at for my next flight. Unfortunately, LAX seems not to have a lot of stuff going on in terms of shops and restaurants... but I suppose my bag's heavy enough that I won't be too sorry about that. :P

[narsilion.livejournal.com]

Barb works the International flights at Starbucks at Sea-Tac. She gets to work at 3:00, and has all her start up stuff. I think they actually open at like 3:30-4:00.
I'm glad you were able to get some sleep,
it's hard enough trying to sleep in a public
place let alone when you have to keep an eye
(leg, arm) on your things. Have a safe 2nd half of your trip, and have a wonderful time.
Love ya!

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I thought as much. Apparently here they don't open until after 5am.

Oh well. I have tea, now, and I even found a place to charge up. So, all set to go, I guess. :)