California Doomed: I'm On A Boat Y'all. For 8 Effing Hours...

[EDIT: To clairfy - we WERE on the water for 8 hours due to the weather conditions... I'm not just really bad at adding 3.5 + 3.5!]


So... for our trip we decided to do something romantical-ish and touristy, so Feyoncé suggested a trip to Catalina Island, in California. We'd take a ferry from the Balboa Island/Newport Landing area, and see Catalina Island for a few hours.

My understanding was that this was a LARGE FERRY.

Cue "I'm on a boat y'all":
(Be warned - heeee-larious, but explicit, NSFW lyrics)
(p.s. Are you living under a rock if you haven't seen this before?!? Andy Samberg cracks me up)



So, yeah. (I love this song for it's ridiculouness and the voice modifier thingie, just FYI).

There was definite risk involved, as you may know I experience debilitating nausea for at least some part of my day, typically every day.

I thought that with some extra nausea medicine, a large stable-ish boat, and the distraction of adorable water creatures (you know, dolphins, whales, T-Pain, the Little Mermaid, Sebastian, Flounder, etc.) that I might make it out okay, as I typically don't experience sea-sickness (ironic, in a way).

Ariel & crew. I assumed we would probably spot them while   whale watching   dolphin watching   looking at the water inevitably not see them because we are curled up in the fetal position on a metal bench trying to desperately retain body heat.

The description on the website is as follows:

3.5 hours on a boat y'all. One way. To Catalina Island. *crickets*.   Inside tourist tip: The sundeck is only sunny if the sun is out.

But I only briefly looked at it. I thought Feyoncé said 2 to 2.5 hours each way. I totally wasn't paying attention, because he did indeed tell me 3.5 hours. It's right there on the website. I think I got it mixed up in my head with a different speedboat option that was shorter. Who the fuck hell knows with me, anyhow.

Well, along with Oilfield Trash's 10% rule, anyone who knows me knows that randomly odd/weird/bad/awkward shit happens to me all the time.

This place keeps count of how many dolphins and whales are spotted on the tour. The board had big claims for the previous days:

Me and my motherffing shitty luck.... Hmm, no dolphin count for our Catalina Island  nightmare "journey".

Yay! I thought. The sun is out! I smiled. "It's turned out to be a gorgeous day!" I told Feyoncé.

This all held true. For approximately 20 minutes.

Oh HAI dock! Lovely day! Surely the clouds will burn off like they always do, says Feyoncé! Yay! Um... clouds? CLOUDS?

Then it turned cold. The sun disappeared. The 20° C weather dropped. The wind picked-up as the boat chugged along. At a snail's pace. To allow us to see the dolphins and whales.

I had bare feet and flats on. I lost feeling in my toes. I had on a t-shirt, a wool sweater, a wool cardigan, and a gore-tex windbreaker with a hood. I was still cold.

Oh wait! A dolphin! Yay! Look guys! Here is the best photo I got of ALL of the hundreds  thousands  dozens  tens   8 dolphins we spotted!



The best part?






I captured the whale we got to see in the same shot!






This was actually really awesome...





Please don't steal and re-use this photo, I know it is neat, but it is mine.





Okay.






Here goes.







Ready?

You may or may not notice that there are no dolphins on this Catalina Boat Tour photo. I have also included all of the zero whales we saw. Gorgeous, yes?

Yup.



But, I did get this:





And that summarizes what turned out to be 8 HOURS ON A MOTHER-EFFING BOAT Y'ALL.


We were so cold on the way back that I was literally curled into a human-turtle on the metal seat I had (backless, of course). My guy did his best to try to shield the wind and help me keep warm. He even gave me his socks on the way back, so my feet wouldn't be as icy.

The dock and Express boat at Catalina Island.

Interesting aside - I didn't feel great throughout (that's standard for me), but once I went into the enclosed bathroom area, it was like total vertigo. I was so violently nauseous and ill I had to keep staring at the skyline, and I couldn't let anything touch me or I knew I would start intensely heaving.

Pretty water... once feet were firmly planted on Catalina Island.

On the plus side:

• Got to spend time with my guy
• The water looked pretty, once we were firmly on land.
• The boat left late, leaving us with just over an hour to see Catalina Island. (p.s. There is nothing to see there, and the restaurant smells like a bouquet of mould).
• One spot on the hill did have a lovely view.
• It made for a... story, I suppose.
• The sun was mostly out for the time on the island, and part of the boat ride. (A small, cold part).
• Neither of us puked.
• Neither of us had to stand the entire time like some people did (there aren't enough seats on the boat).
• I had a Charleston Chew chocolate/candy bar and a banana for lunch so I wouldn't puke anything heavy. The cashier at the local store at the beach had no idea what I was asking her until I stopped saying "chocolate bar" and corrected myself to say "candy bar".

Catalina Island boat ride from hell?

So, don't go to Catalina Island, man.

They claim to have seen hundreds and thousands of dolphins and a few whales almost every other voyage.  They gave us a free 2.5 hour whale watching card once we docked. Safe to say I will not be redeeming that.

____

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California Doomed: Horrors Behind Closed Doors?

Continued below (warning: I change tenses a bit, deal with my inconsistency accordingly):

So, as in my last post, I had recently, sweatily (What, so what if it isn't a word, I just made it one!) got through airport security, U.S. Customs, and I am alone.

In some countries like Cuba, you get screamed/shouted at if you don't continue moving after you pass through their security or customs area. So I try to walk really slowly around the edge of security.

I don't know if I will be yelled at or forced to move on.

I see the sign for the fancy schmancy Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge to my right, but realize I have no access without Feyoncé.

It is also then that I realize that HOLY-SHIT-WHERE-THE-HELL-IS-HE, HE'S-BEEN-GONE-FOR-A-WHILE-AND-I-DON'T-KNOW-WHERE-HE-WILL-END-UP-WHEN-HE-IS-DONE.

I am standing alone, without a watch, without a clue as to where he is or how long he will be.

So I put on my big girl pants and wait. 5 minutes. It feels like a long time. Until I still see nothing for the next 3 minutes... 5 more..

5 more...

and 5 more.

I finally approach someone official-looking and ask if Feyoncé will end up in the same place as me once he is done his "random check". The gentlemen assures me that if my guy is travelling to the U.S. that he will, indeed, have to come through the same security area.

He offers that I go to the lounge to wait for him. Or try calling him.

(While it would have been a helpful addition to this post to add photographs of all of the NO CELL PHONE signs posted throughout the security area, I feel that whipping out my cell or camera to document said signs probably wouldn't have gone over very well).

SO THANKS, official-looking-guy. Pretty sure I can't call him, and sure as hell HE CAN'T answer his own phone if he is in interrogation/being searched rectally.

So after twenty minutes have passed, I can feel whatever semblance of big-girl-pant-ed-ness I had crumbling under the weight of the terror that I will never see Feyoncé again/I will miss the flight/ I will die just beyond the border of the security area.

I mean, totally rational, right? Probably the most likely area to die. Or not.

So I start CRYING people.

CRYING at the motherfucking airport, at 31 years of age.

Crying at the airport.... Who? ME?? Nooooo.

After 35 minutes of anxiety and confusion, I finally see him making his way through the hundreds of feet of security aisle.

I cannot express the relief I felt.

I can see, too, that he is at least happy to communicate to me that although he has been violated in ways no man should ever (nor will ever) discuss publicly, that he knows that I NOW KNOW that he is alive and will be coming with me.

We head to the lounge together, STAT, because I need a mother-effing drink more than you can say "overreact".

SO... turns out there was a long line-up in the random screening section. That was it.



Yup, just a line-up. And a friendly search person who apologized for the delay to him. And some questions about pocket contents.

Jaysus.

Also? I think that the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge at Pearson Airport waters down their liquor because I downed two triple vodka and iced teas in about 15 minutes and didn't feel it.

So that was the start to my first (and only?) trip to California.

Calm, cool, and collected.

Good thing I brought my big girl pants, eh?

______

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California Doomed: Customs & Cavity Searches

So it was kind of novel, having my laptop present with me while on the plane.

I am capable of killing hours at a time with laptop in lap (along with Puppaaaay! who was renamed officially to Ella a few weeks ago), accomplishing nothing, sometimes spending money, sometimes not.

The interwebs are a miraculous and terrifying black hole where time and space (and money) can disappear in (what seems like) an instant.

Anyway, so me and Feyoncé were scheduled for this trip to L.A..... (do you punctuate after a short form period? Jeez, I don't know these things, stop staring at me!).

I wasn't planning on doing much, since I still don't feel well (mind you, I had no idea a hospital stay was in my future).

We have this nifty little thing called a Nexus pass that allows you (slightly) easier (sort of) access into the U.S., if you aren't an asshole and you don't have a criminal record or anything.

Nexus: "Don't faahck mess with us"

You have to pass an interview and have your fingerprints taken (Feyoncé noted that we would be totally screwed CSI-style if we ever decided to rob a bank in the future, since we are "on file" now... not that we ever WOULD, but you know, if we ever WANTED to in the future).

They scan your eyeballs, too. The machine scans your mother-effing RETINAS, people.

It's kind of cool.

Unless they still decide that your travelling partner should be subjected to a full scan/further random investigation.

Okay. No problem. I'm cool. My form says something different. I'll just CALMLY proceed ahead to the baggage drop and security. NO problem. Cool. No problem.

I see Feyoncé meander away to the room that you cannot see for his (full-body cavity search and interrogation with two cruel government agents under a solitary swinging lightbulb) random check.

Full body scan - always better than a full cavity search. Imagine this is me, but with less boob. Oh, and less gun in the arse, too.

I start to weave through the thousand-foot long security aisle and get shouted at for going the wrong way. I wince and panic. (Keep in mind I am travelling with about the mental capacity of a 5-year old. An immature 5 year old).

I can feel the panic-rash starting and feel like all the security is looking at me like I am a freakish security threat with my borrowed backpack and stylin' boots over jeans look.

I am then told I am being randomly selected for trace substances on my hands. Some guy with (terrifying) blue rubber gloves wands over my hands to see if I am a criminal of sorts.

I also wonder, for a moment, if I have washed my hands recently and panic about that, too.

What's that Mr. Security Man? No, nope, been up to nothing. Sparkling clean hands. See for yourself. I loathe dirt. Didn't you see the liquid hand sanitizer in my bag?

I then REMEMBER, FOR ONCE, to take my damn belt off BEFORE setting off alarms and whatnot. I also remember to take out my laptop first, so as not to seriously PISS-THE-EFF-OFF the security folk like I did the last time I travelled with my computer.

I make it through, looking and feeling guilty as hell (of nothing at all) and make it to the other side of the joys known as U.S. Customs and security.

I even remembered to put all my "liquids" into a small zipper bag. (You know, the dangers of stay-on lipstick, lip gloss, chap stick, and a tiny pen-dispenser of hand sanitizer. World be damned, I am a dangerous bitch on a plane).

I pass through... but there is no Feyoncé. Anywhere.
ANYWHERE.

I am on my fucking own, watchless, vaguely aware of my surroundings, all disheveled from my check in experience...


Where will he come out? What if he went to the fancy pants Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge without me somehow? What if he enters into a completely different security area? What is taking so long? Why did they scan my hands and yell at me? Where IS HE?

And then FULL ON panic sets in.


To be continued...

____________

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