Due to an unfortunate miscalculation of how fucked up money grubbing drivers can be, my colleagues and I were left stranded in downtown Los Angeles.
Our hotel is in Torrance.
If anyone should know anything about LA, is that everyone drives. Public transportation is practically unheard of, except for local bus services. There’s no subway, cabs are hard to hail if you’re walking on the streets randomly.
So there we are, royally fucked. No car, no driver.
But thankfully, I met some of the nicest strangers I have ever came across in my life.
The nice lady (I think she’s Japanese) working at guest services in Beverly Center, gave us a detailed printout of the buses we have to take, the bus stop we have to take it at, what time the bus arrives and reaches its destination and the cost of it. She worked out our transfer time and pointed us to where we should take the first bus. All i was expecting was a verbal instructions.
She gave me a printout, highlighting the name of the bus and the time.
We headed out to look for the bus stop, it is not like Singapore where there’s a definite indication that the place you’re standing at is a bus stop. Sometimes it’s just a bench, with an obscure sign saying “bus stop” hanging off somewhere and it’s the size of an A4 folder.
There were these ladies who were trying to help us locate the exact stop to go to, and when they cldn’t, directed us to Sofitel where there’s definitely a Concierge who can help us.
The receptionist at Sofitel went to get a map for us even though we weren’t even the guests at the hotel. And even brought us out of the hotel and pointed us to the direction we should be headed to.
The bus driver, whom despite her bad day at work probably, told us when our stop is near.
I am extremely grateful to these strangers I’ve met today and all in a span of a few hours, I am blessed and overwhelmed.
Thank you very much.
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