ESSENTIAL MOMENTS FROM JOURNEY TO LAS VEGAS

Disclaimer :

• The story that I write in this blog has nothing to do with office things, it is purely just observation from the journey that is correlated with human interaction.
• I have OCD, so I have to adjust myself often to different conditions. I strive for perfection, because it's an ambition of mine. But I also love to have fun.
• My English is not too good, but I try to write in English to practice and make it more perfect. Please forgive me if I there are errors in my writing. 

Another journey this year, with a very interesting location ; Las Vegas, also known as Sin City. This was the first time I went to the US for work matters, but this was the second time I left home as a mother, for one week! The situation was a bit of a swerve from the usual, because my kids are almost 5  and 2.5 years old, respectively. I felt confident enough to leave my husband with minimum backup ; meaning I left him to coordinate all the household-related things and holds himself responsible for it (wow). Which is different from last year, whereas I asked my parents to take care of all the things (haha). It was hard for OCD type like me, what with my love to make things work in a structured, precise, and efficient way. But this time, I try to let it go as it is.

My older son was so mature, he told me it was okay if I left for work as long as his father stayed home. Ow.. ow... I could enjoy my time in this journey, I also have stopped breastfeeding my youngest son. Now it is time for mommy to shine :P 

Okay, that's enough for the background. Let's start this journey to Las Vegas : 

Day -1 
I took 3 flights from Jakarta to Las Vegas, then stop for a bit in Tokyo for 9 hours and went out after 2 days when a big typhoon hit Japan. I've spent approximately 24 hours on the trip to Las Vegas . I had a second transit in Los Angeles, and I just so happen to get into the wrong terminal. I should've went into Terminal 4 but I went to Terminal 1 instead. I had to walk around LAX with 45 minutes left to get into the right place and check in my luggage, can you believe that? 

I took a dep breath and let it out, I told myself that I could make it on time. With a positive & relaxed attitude, I made it (yeay :D). The important lesson here is to stay positive and calm, even if you're in a difficult situation. Aha ! I've adjusted for my OCD thing in this situation.

Day-2
I have finally arrived in Las Vegas! Not gonna lie, I didn't take bath for almost more than 24 hours. The only thing on my mind was to check in the hotel and take a very, very long bath as soon as possible :D

The hotel that I booked into was very unique (Tahiti All Village). The room I choose looks like an apartment studio. It had everything you could ever need inside of it : kitchen, dining table, laundry room, etc. It felt like I never left home at all.

I spent around 2 hours in the hotel, then I went to the Strip to have dinner with a colleague in a Hard Rock Café. It had a different ambience with the Hard Rock Café  Bali, this Hard Rock Las Vegas was more cozy and I felt like I am in the movies (hahaha, lol). Good food, and excellent drinks!

I wasn't alone in this trip, therefore I also need to adjust with my companion. It was a daunting challenge ; I had hold myself back from pointing out or fixing things that would usually bother me to no end so that we could be more comfortable with each other. A daunting challenge, yes, but not impossible, so far I've managed to do just fine. Good thing I could get to take so many pictures of myself along the Strip, and I've also learned one of the most important aspects of a gentleman ; prioritizing women, a form of action that's practically almost forgotten by the Millennial generation men. So I have acquired a good benchmark for me to start developing my son as a "Gentleman" (yeay)

Some of the pictures that was taken in Vegas, if you don't mind :D
It was taken by the best photographer in the world

Day-3
I had a nice sleep for about 10 hours. I woke up feeling energized and ready to explore Las Vegas while doing work stuff and this time with nobody to escort me :D

I met a couple of good friend :
1. Taxi Driver
- First taxi driver told me about the areas that are safe for single women to walk alone at night. I was also impressed that he was originally from Japan but couldn't speak Japanese because he already spent too long in the US. It was comfortable to talk with him, since gaining more advice in how to travel alone in Las Vegas is very helpful.
- Second taxi driver was so handsome (lol). I could tell that he's a very positive person. He made me think everything was safe in Las Vegas. He offered to walk together with me to the Neon Museum and Fremont Street (awww, so sweet). Hmm, but at that time I told him I would think about it. He left his number for me but I thought... maybe next time :D

2. Single Traveler
In the High Roller (the giant wheel in Las Vegas), I tried to buy a ticket on the spot by the system wasn't working. In order to salvage my entertainment that I needed to buy online. So from this situation, I got in touch with a single traveler from Australia. We tried to order together through our smartphone, because I finished ordering first, I went through first without saying good bye. I kept thinking about her, maybe I could meet her again after this.

High Roller from the top 

Things I Learn from here : 

- It looked like it would be beneficial if buying local sim card in there, so I could call the handsome taxi driver (lol) 

- Keep in mind to bring your personal name card, in case you meet stranger then you can exchange number to keep in contact with them. Just for networking and establishing friendship around the world :D 

Day-4
It was a big day, since most of  my attention should be focused on working things. But deep down in my heart, I missed my kids so much. I used to go to sleep while cuddling them, but 4 days without them makes me feel like there's an empty hole in my life. I'm confused, sometimes I desperately wish for leisure time for myself, but when I finally got it... all I could think about was that I wanted to be with them.

Oh come on, this is getting a bit sad. Let's just move on to the interesting part, yeah? I decided to go to Cirque Du Soleil for LOVE Beatles performance. The reason is because I didn't know what to do in Las Vegas, wkwkwk.. My father love the Beatles and played their songs in the car all the time. So, I was already quite familiar with almost all the song...

The show was spectacular, at first I thought they took way too long to warm up but in the middle they started to pick up the pace and did a great job for the rest of the performance. 1.5 hours of show felt like it moved so fast, I didn't even realize that the show was almost over. I regret not buying the Blackbird Sweater on the Cirque Du Soleil Shop (lol). Now, I keep thinking about that sweater, haha...

Waiting for the shuttle bus

Yeay, just move like the Beatles 

Day-5
The fifth day was really interesting, because I realize I began to like every taxi driver that I met. They're just so friendly! it's like they this common agreement that every passenger that enters their taxi must be happy and comfortable, and that's why they interact with the passengers as much as possible.

Now I want to tell you about George (taxi driver). He made me laugh a lot. The conversation started when he mentioned Lady Gaga was in town for a show. I couldn't hold myself back from behaving "norak" by mentioning "Whaaaaaat?! I was in the same city as Lady Gaga, that's so cool!!!" wkwkwkkk...

He also gave me insight that for all American will think that every Asian person they met must be from China. He once had a passenger that felt so insulted when he asked if they are from China. That passenger exclaimed "No, I am Korean!!" with a hard tone. Aha! So that was the reason the waiter at Hard Rock Café greeted me with "Ni Hao"

Since Terminator 3 was on the cinema, George tried to talk about Terminator 3 since it was the recent trending cinema topic. He pointed out a parking guy in Mandalay Bay that wore sun glasses and directed car with Terminator 3 movement. I wished I could record that guy, it was so funny. George said "Hey Disa... I made your day :D"

Now I have another phone number from another taxi driver hehee.... He told me to call him after I finished my trip from the Mandalay Bay so I didn't need to wait in a long line for a taxi.

I didn't have chance to call him since I was so nervous with all the comprehensive test that I got during that day (wkwkwk). Oh George, I hope I could meet you again... Maybe next time

As it was the end of the exhibition, it also means the end of my journey with a figure that I felt like my father (a 15 years younger version of him). At first, I was very confused on what to talk about but I had a good time even with the considerably big age gap. I learned so much, especially on how to face certain situations where and when I couldn't control my OCD condition
Definitely need to keep learning on improving my adapting skill. It is skill to survive yow...



Day-6
I decided to go to the place that gave me a broken heart just a few weeks before I touch down in Las Vegas; Coca Cola. My main motivation to go here is because the International Tray on Coca Cola creation, they offered drinks from 16 different countries in the world, including Indonesia (Fresh Tea). I took a very nice picture here. But unfortunately it was with a different photographer :)

Next, I went to the M&M stores, I admit as a woman, the only thing in my head for the majority of the visit was just full of chocolate. It was a chocolate heaven yow... I bought customized M&M's and some souvenirs for my friend and my kids. If my kids were with me, they would be very happy in this store. Huhu,,,,

Lastly, I went to the Fabulous Las Vegas Welcome Sign. I also met the lady from high roller! It was good to meet again, since I kept thinking about her and how we haven't properly introduced each other. Hopefully, we could keep in touch and meet again in the future.

Day-7
I had a flight back in the morning, I was so sleepy but the view from the plane was breathtaking. I would say the beautiful Las Vegas will be etched into my memory and would not be forgotten anytime soon. Especially since I could walk down through all the casinos without any worries; feeling secure and relax.

Touchdown in Los Angeles at 8.00 in the morning, then I started feeling hungry because I haven't had breakfast yet. I waited for the restaurants to open and ate like a person who has been starving for days, haha... Then I move to the flight from LA to Tokyo, I sat down next to a young man who looks like he's still in college. But he's definitely the same age as me. I just felt like making conversation because I saw him playing  a video game to kill time and I got curious because my husband also loves playing games. But in the end I ended up talking about my family and myself more instead of asking questions about him. It feels refreshing to talk with a stranger who don't anything about you, I could talk just about everything. It certainly helps me to keep balance :D

When I arrived in Indonesia, my husband came picked me up at the airport (awww, so romantic) and my kids looked so mature. They were so calm and acted so independent. They didn't even ask about me, oh man... I felt so sad and the saying to hold and spent time with my kids as long as I can was so right, because they're just little kids then blink and you'll miss it somehow they ended up as adults with their own jobs and maybe their own family, not a baby any longer.

I hadn't mentioned all in the story, but I could say in this journey I felt : 

1. I felt uncomfortable to visit Disneyland, since I will see many families with their own kids. Before I had kids I would've been fine entering by myself, but now I might just cry in there because I miss my kids so much. 

2. I miss my father so much, I just wish he is 15 years younger so I can travel with him everywhere. At first I wanted to go to the Grand Canyon, but I decided not to since this journey is making me think about my father. Exploring natural site such as Grand Canyon was a dream of his, I'm afraid I would cry if I go... huhu... too many sensitive memories.

3. Don't judge a book by its cover, so don't judge a person from their appearance. They might look scary and frown a lot, but they actually have a warm and good heart.

4. Having OCD is not so bad as long as it can be controlled, being flexible is also good because it helps me relax. I had mentioned this in several statements that I've shared on my daily journey.  Sometimes letting go of some condition will be better rather than trying to control everything.

5. Being a mother is wonderful, you have kids surrounding you. Sometime it'll exhaust you to some point, but by having a solo journey will make you realize that it wasn't so bad. So, in a way, you can regain your balance again. 

6. Love what you do, so your life will be happier. In this case, I put the example of my story with the taxi drivers. They love their job and want the passengers to be happy :)

7. I want another baby within the next 3 years, I don't want to feel lonely when I reach my fifties. Be prepareeeed hubbyyyyy.... 

Thank you for reading....

Perhaps you will think of it as a kind of diary. Yes it is, it's a confession from SuperMom that has OCD and keep tries very hard to adjust, so believe that everything happens for reason and good things will come to those who persevere. 

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