Planning the Vacation
Last summer a friend invited me to a beach volleyball doubles tournament. Our schedules and skill level didn't align. We didn't end up entering the tournament, but the experience of playing on sand verse indoor left me wanting more.
Many games later, I entered and lost two tournaments. I then decided it was time for some coaching. 1x1 coaching helped a lot, which also lead to watching a ton of Youtube videos of pros playing. One of those videos offered a week-long training camp in California.
I also learned about the AVP tournaments, the association of volleyball professionals. These tournaments are only in the USA, they have another abbreviation for international tournaments. I haven't fully grasped how the point system works to qualify to play in them just yet.
Nonetheless, they were hosting various tournaments and three of them were going to be in the same area that the camp is hosted. After looking at various dates, setting a serious budget, the trip was planned for late August. I was going to fly in a day earlier to watch the 2nd to last day of the tournament.
Not my first time in LA
LA area to me is boring. Some of the nearby beaches are nice, but nothing is as beautiful as Hermosa. It's a smoke-free beach, with lots of local boutiques and restaurants, which are much cheaper than the restaurants and boutiques in Florida. My hostel was above a restaurant with my window facing the beach. Waking up to the ocean and watching the Sunset will forever be missed.
California is known for its terrible traffic and heaven like weather. One is not worth the other unless on vacation then one enjoys it all and calls it part of the experience. Much to my surprise, homes in California aren't installed with AC units. Most leave their windows open for the breeze and close them at night because of the cold. This is amazing and must be experienced! There is no humidity. The heat is dry, but not a killer. It is truly heaven weather that keeps many living longer. Since you can be active and outside all year long, everyone is very active.
I live on the East coast of the USA and traveling West means no more AC units, no more humidity, and no more eastern time zone. For the next week, I would be playing an interesting game of,
what time is it here and what time is it back home?
The flight was five hours, but I would arrive two hours after leaving.
That was fun explaining. It did also give me more time to explore when I did finally arrive. Exploring was fun and most of my walking was done on the first day.
After that, I woke up around the same time every day and headed down to the beach for training.
I woke up usually 3 to 5 five hours before training each day. Unable to adjust to the time zone.
Which was great because I took most of my phone interviews in the morning with coffee while sitting at the beach.
I was living the dream. Stay tuned for part two and many many more pictures...
