USA

Thursday 1st September 2016 – We were woken from our slumber on the floor of Honolulu Airport by security at 3.30am. For some reason our flight didn’t appear on any of the departure boards and we wondered if we had somehow made a mistake with the booking or turned up on the wrong day. There were no Delta staff at the desk yet but our minds were put at rest a little when we found some other holiday makers booked onto the same flight as us. We arrived early afternoon in LA and after a short taxi ride reached the Manhattan Beach Marriott Hotel which Dunc had kindly paid for. Our stay came with all the perks of high loyalty status including free wifi and access to the hospitality lounge which we made the most of by stuffing ourselves with free food. Like kids with too many Easter eggs we rather overdid it; drowsy from over consumption we rolled into bed, found a reality show on TV and let our eyes glaze over.

Friday 2nd September 2016 – Dunc was in LA for the Call of Duty 2016 World Championships, the biggest console tournament in the calendar. Professional gamers compete for over $1,000,000 in prize money and gaming fans pay handsomely to watch them battling it out on giant screens in a 5,000 seat arena. The action is live streamed on the internet with commentary from professional web casters. This is big business; a lot of these kids make more money than their parents and some are minor celebrities. Scuf had a promotional stall at the event and was a sponsor for many of the teams. Dunc offered to get me into the event and I eagerly accepted. We met at 9am and took a taxi to the venue where I was furnished with a VIP wristband and given a pro-gamers jacket- just about the coolest thing you could possibly wear at an event like this! The place was already busy. Outside there were two zip lines, a paintball battlefield, a zombie themed laser quest marquee and various corporate stalls. The Scuf stall had a display of some of its products, an area where you could test out the latest controllers and a cut out scene you and a mate could put your head through and when you took a photo one of you looked like a zombie. We tried the various activities but the real interest was in the main arena. I don’t play Call of Duty so didn’t have a clue what was going on. Nevertheless it was fascinating and after several hours of watching the big screens with webcast commentary I began to appreciate how skilful these players were. Alysa, meanwhile had spent a blissful day pampering herself at the hotel- zombies and first person shooters aren’t really her thing.

Saturday 3rd September 2016 – We had a good lay in and then took the metro to Santa Monica. It was Labour Day weekend and the pier was packed. Below us stretched a beautiful, wide beach, studded with lifeguard stations. We walked in the direction of Venice Beach (of Baywatch fame). On the way we passed the Bohemian area of Ocean Front Walk. There were sand sculptures, trendy bars, clinics for prescribing marijuana, long hair and a dog in sunglasses. Even the beggars were kind of cool. One had a placard saying, ‘Fuck Trump- give me a dollar’. I gave him a dollar. At the end of the stretch was Muscle Beach, a huge concrete dumbbell sits above a small outdoor gym behind which is a small arena built around a bodybuilding podium. Surprisingly the place was devoid of steroid suffused Neanderthals in posing pouches-instead the only person using the gym was a rather frail looking chap in his fifties. After sunset we started to make our way back to the hotel. Saturday night on the metro going through Compton isn’t a particularly pleasant experience; we felt very out of place and were glad to get back to the hotel safely.

Sunday 4th September 2016 – Today we had planned to visit Beverly Hills and Hollywood. However, just after breakfast we got a text from Dunc asking if we were ok to fly back to Atlanta that afternoon- expect the unexpected with Dunc! We quickly packed our bags and took the metro to the airport where Dunc met us a bit later. He took us to the VIP lounge- another opportunity to stuff our faces with free food. We were all booked in business class but as the flight was full Dunc had been upgraded to first class. Dunc wanted to sit with us and we chuckled when he asked the passenger in his seat, who had already been upgraded to business class if he would mind moving to first class instead. We played Spelltower the whole flight and before we knew it had touched down in Atlanta. Kee met us at the airport and drove us home. We took up residence in the basement and slept soundly till morning.