Dinner in West Hollywood with my couchsurfing hosts, Pattie and Garrett
Our first stop in the U.S. leg of our trip was L.A. It was also where we had our best couchsurfing experience. We surfed with a wonderful family, Pattie, Garrett and their daughter Shea.
It was a mixed bag arriving in the U.S. It was mine and Katies’ favourite country (though now it’s a close run thing between the U.S. and Mexico) and so we decided to end our trip there, making it the last country of our trip and having a grand finale in New York, our favourite city, before flying home to the UK. However things had changed and it turned out that it wasn’t our last country but we didn’t know that when we arrived. We were excited at finally having arrived but sad, knowing, or at least at the time thinking, we would be going home soon.
We arrived on Thursday 23rd April, and Garrett and Shea picked us up from the airport but at first we couldn’t find them. A woman approached me asking for funds for domestic violence refuges, I wasn’t able to give her anything as I had no dollars and I didn’t think she would accept Thai Baht! We chatted for a while and then she offered to lend me her phone so I could phone Patti and ask where they were as it felt like we had been hanging around for ages. Although that could just have been the jet lag as we’d been in the air for seventeen hours and crossed the international dateline, but I was so appreciative of the kind gesture from this lovely lady.
The following day we went to a Korean dance show that Pattie had tickets for as she partly home schooled Shea and then we chilled out in their house and tried to recover from our jetlag while Patti and Shea went to a baby shower. We ate a gordita for lunch and a burrito for dinner; it was a quick crash course introduction to Mexican food.
On the Saturday morning we went to a friend of Patties’ to help with her yard sale, then it was back to the house for a little bit before Garrett gave me a lift into old Pasadena and I went shopping for new clothes as my Thai beachwear looked somewhat out of place in California! I stopped for lunch at a little cafe and the waiter immediately introduced himself as Ryan and told me he would be looking after me that day, he was very attentive, overly so, and freaked out my prudish British sensibility a little bit! I found the American style of customer service so personal and attentive, more so than anywhere else and I wasn’t really expecting it! But he was so refreshing and novel and fun I couldn’t help but keep smiling. I bought an Apple laptop that I had been dreaming of for months and by then it was time for everyone to come pick me up on the way to a talent show where Garrett was one of the judges. The show was organized by one of Patties’ biggest clients and it was through a national organization that had originated in NYC 25 years ago.
It was fantastic! The overall winner was a 15-year-old Latino girl who looked 17 and shocked everyone when they found out how young she really was. She had the ultimate pushy mother! There was a cute young black rapper of about 12 who was great and I met him after the show, he was totally adorable. He was wearing oversized glasses and I joked mine weren’t as cool as his and he said he loved my accent. He had the most wonderful smile in the world, he just melted me. His mother gave Garrett a CD of some of his music, all about growing up in the hood and having to deal with guns in school, it was a painful awakening of what life must be like for him, no child should have to go to school in fear of guns, weapons and gangs. I found out on the drive back that we had actually been in South Central, a place where all the guidebooks say not to go, to not even get out the car it is so dangerous, yet I never felt threatened or scared, I’d had the most fantastic afternoon.
Shortly after getting back to the house Patti got a phone call from Ernesto, her client who had organized the show inviting us out for dinner. She got Chelsea, a neighbor from over the road who had just won ‘Prom Queen’ to babysit Shea and Katie and we went out. It was so much fun, we were joined by Ernestos’ partner Jim, and Jims’ nephew who was currently working in L.A. from New Jersey.
Katie in Hollywood Market
The day after we went to Hollywood market and then split up when Garrett and Pattie took Shea and Katie roller-skating and I stayed in Hollywood and met all kinds of ‘celebrities’.
It was painful to leave L.A Pattie, Garrett and Shea gave us the best time imaginable. They were such nice, interesting and engaging people and have set a high standard to beat for all future hosts. But the days rolled by quickly and soon it was time to leave on our ‘Big American Road Trip’.
I fulfilled so many dreams in this trip and driving up Highway 1, skirting the Californian coast from L.A. to San Francisco was one of them. So it was goodbye L.A. and hello big long highways.
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Tags: couchsurfing, Hollywood, L.A., Los Angeles, USA
What are the odds of meeting a couple with the combined name “Pat Garrett”?
Ha! That is what I thought at the time too! The U.S.A. is a weird place for me, I always come across strange coincidences and quirks, it’s one of the reasons why I love it so much.