January 24, 2020
Days P8-13: What Happens in Vegas
I won lots at the casinos and proposed to my girlfiend who's now my fiancee. We didn't get married in a Vegas chapel, but the opportunity to propose had to be taken advantage of because I really love this girl and it was either ask the question now or never.
Let's back up a bit. I woke up nice and late at the Culver City Airbnb and then took a backup fitness class at a nearby location and burned well over 800 calories. Next I retrieved my stuff from the Airbnb and made tracks for LAX. Everything went smoothly for check in. Well, TSA gave me a hard time but what else is new. As long as I was on the plane to Vegas I could care less.
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The plane touched down into the bright lights and my girlfriend Sophia would be meeting me at the Starbucks near the baggage claim. Of course I had to gamble some money at the slots and amazingly came ahead $20 right there. We met up right away and embraced, then swapped tales of arriving. She had come directly from Shanghai and the nasty coronavirus had just gotten going overthere. Everyone was required to wear masks when traveling and have temperatures taken, etc.
She was actually very lucky to have gotten out of China *before* the US started banning entry to all foreign nationals coming from from the mainland.
Come to think of it I had just escaped by the skin of my teeth as well. My flight to LA was only a week or so before hers and it was astonishing how quickly this coronavirus was wrecking havoc on travel plans. Many of the airlines canceled all the flights from China already.
We caught a taxi to the Airbnb that was in a quiet neighborhood away from the main strip, and all the painstaking amount of research I had done to pick this place paid off. Sophia felt right at home, and indeed the hosts really took a liking to us and we were treated just like family. The hosts were originally from Iran.
We kept up with the news on a daily, almost hourly basis, and both of us were astonished at how quickly things were developing, not to mention the draconian measures in response. One day I'd wake up and and Sophia would say, "Oh by the way, there are no more taxis or ride shares in Shanghai" followed up by "This airline canceled flights to mainland China" along with "Singapore is banning entry to any foreign nationals who have been in China" which was soon followed by the US. On and on it went. I tried to tell her many times "Don't worry about this virus, let's just enjoy the trip" but it was impossible to really think otherwise by that point.
We did spend time attending one fitness class after another, in fact that's where we met in the first place in Shanghai. Needless to say this main common hobby formed the strongest bond in our relationship. Aside from that of course we gambled, went to some good parties on the strip, checked out a bunch of shows, and some business. I also helped her open an account and we met another friend who was familiar with property in Vegas in case we ever decide to go that route.
Unfortunately the time went much too quickly and it was soon time to leave. With no considerable amount of sadness, we'd be leaving on different flights. I was the first one to go on a domestic flight to Bellingham (near the Canadian border), and Sophia saw me off at the security but not before I won another $35.
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