A Sunny Day In Southern California
Out there in the Twittersphere, I’ve become friends with several fellow travel bloggers and, occasionally, have even met a few of them.
This could be via monthly mixers at Travel Massive – “oh so you’re @LaurenByLauren” – or, in the case of @CharlesMcCool and @FunInFairfax, they just showed up one day at PubClub.com World Headquarters in Hermosa Beach, CA. Sunset was approaching and naturally I made the house drink, the PubClub rum and juice cocktail. Kiera of @Planes, Trains, F1 lives a few blocks from me.
So when @Always5Star who always has the website Always5Star.com sent me a message and said “let’s do lunch” I immediately accepted her invitation.
She picked a perfect place, The Boathouse, a restaurant and bar with a big deck overlooking the boats of Alamitos Bay in Long Beach, CA. We met on a Saturday.
Pam was already there waiting for me when I arrived. She had a glass of champagne on the table, as is her 5-star style. Pam just doesn’t act the part of her blog and social media presence, she lives it!
I was a tad late due to a miscalculation in my navigation; I had somehow forgotten Long Beach has a festival every summer weekend and made the mistake of getting on Shoreline Drive. I knew better, too!
Don’t you just hate it when you know something in travel and then make the same mistake as rookies?
Oh well, slight delay.
When I did arrive, I immediately stopped in my tracks as if a freight train was bearing down on me. At the entrance to The Boathouse were two cute-as-can-be blonde hostesses. I just had to stop and say something to them.
“My friend is already here,” I said as I leaned into them, “but when I see two cute girls like you, I could not help but pause and say hi.”
They gave me an appreciative “awww,” and one – whose name turned out to be Sunny – led me over to Pam’s table.
And what a fun day. Travel bloggers are part of a certain community of like-minded people. We’re all a bit different, but also a lot of the same, too. We talked about Twitter, “oh I have to introduce you to so-and-so” and so forth. Next thing I knew, 2 1/2 hours had passed and it was time for both of us to move onto other destinations. (For me, this meant going to a bar, of course, for a friend was DJ’n 80s music.)
Pam is a very pleasant, fun person to be around and I had one of the most enjoyable afternoons I’ve had in quite some time.
Not only that, but the blackened fish sandwich I ordered was sensational. When I’m in a restaurant for the firs time, I like to ask the server for recommendations and about 85% of the time, this is an effective – and tasty – strategy.
On my way out, I stopped to say goodbye to Sunny. Her goal in life is to own a coffee shop. Pam laughed at all this, amused at how I was enjoying my Sunny day.
Hey, is that a freight train I hear?
Cheers!
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