LA Trip 2018: Day 1 of a two-day trip to Los Angeles, California, to be a guest at the Fred Claire Celebrity Golf Classic, an event to raise money for cancer research for City of Hope.

Okay, here’s the beginning of my trip.

We can call this “Sleepless at YVR”… Lots of other people were at the Vancouver International Airport overnight, like myself, for their early flights on Monday morning, August 20th.

But while most of them were able to nap peacefully, I was unable to fall asleep. So, Sleepless at YVR it is…

Vancouver International Airport (YVR), around 3:30 a.m. Sleepless…

My flight was for 6 a.m., and going through the line for your bags to be inspected was a pain in the ass. Those people were rude (more so than the ones I encountered in LA). Plain rude. But it is what it is. I guess those people were just annoying. Fortunately, that was a very small part of the journey and did not define it.

7:05 a.m. Instead of watching a movie during the three-hour flight, I decided to have the following on my screen during the entire time:

8:19 a.m. In flight… less than an hour before the plane was to land!

The 9:00 a.m. hour in Los Angeles, California. While the “estimated arrival time” shown on the screen said 8:30-ish, the plane was actually scheduled to land in Los Angeles at 9:05 a.m. … and it did. Unfortunately, according to the announcement by the pilot, there was plane congestion because of other planes not moving out of the way. That meant we were stuck on that plane for nearly an extra hour before we could get off. Surprisingly, nobody made a fuss.

10:05 a.m. Ahhhh… it was 10 a.m. and I was outside LAX. The best part about travelling (for me, anyway, on this particular trip) is you’re not in any rush to get anywhere. Sure, you have to get to the airport early to ensure you don’t miss your flight, etc., but it’s a Monday, a workday, a workday morning, everyone’s rushing to go someplace… but not me.

I did want to arrive at the Oakmont Country Club in Glendale, CA, as early as I could… but I mean, it was only 10 a.m. and I was in no rush. Even if I arrived at noon, it would be okay. I mean, I could get used to this type of leisurely schedule!

The 10:00 a.m. hour. Getting from LAX to my hotel in Glendale… now, going from the airport to the hotel was a long trip, but at least the place I was staying at was minutes away from the country club. Yes, I know I could have taken a flight to the Bob Hope Airport, but none of those flights worked out for me time-wise.

Anyway, getting to Glendale meant riding through downtown LA, and on the way I saw Staples Center, the LA Coliseum, the convention center, etc. Plus, what looked like the ABC-TV building, neat-looking buildings, and some other views…

Since I was in LA for only two days – there’s something called “work” that I had to get back to by Wednesday, as I wasn’t allowed to take more days off – it wasn’t a sight-seeing visit. So, there weren’t a lot of photos for sight-seeing or views.

11:43 a.m. After checking into the hotel (Days Inn Glendale), I took a shower, etc., and then headed out to the country club. It took nearly an hour by car.

Reception gave me the directions to find the participants for the Fred Claire Celebrity Golf Classic, and within minutes I was out there watching the golfers do their thing to help raise money for cancer research for the City of Hope.

12:00 p.m. LA TV/radio personality Fred Roggin and former NFL quarterback Rodney Peete on location (along with their producer and staff) to get set up for – and ready to begin – their 12-2pm show on AM570…

12:45 p.m. DodgersNation, along with West Coast Multimedia, was on hand too for the event…

A banner showing Fred Claire and Tommy Lasorda with their World Series trophy…

To be continued…