la Airport
the whimsical ways of LAX
Infamously, LAX is one of the worst airports in all of existence.1 Before even arriving on the premises of the airport, the drive there is almost always congested for unknown reasons, and the drive back is equally as depressing and stressful.
Then you have the airport itself. A big ugly horseshoe that gets more clogged than 200 year old plumbing. In fact, 200 year old plumbing likely holds up better.
This airport was built back when air travel was for the ultra rich and luxurious. Not for flying to SF for 3 hours in lieu of spending 5 hours driving. Nowadays, the tiny infrastructure of LAX is absolutely shaking under the pressure of thousands of travelers passing through every hour. It’s not all the airport’s fault, but it does suck. So much.
Going to LAX sucks. Traveling sucks. There’s a kid version of me out there that’s gasping in shock.
I used to love going to the airport. I loved packing and rearranging my suitcase and planning my ‘itinerary’ (even though my parents did all of the planning). It was all part of that kiddie excitement to grow up and be an ‘adult.’
Back in the suburbs of Dallas, the mall I used to go to when I was a kid got a new store, way after I left for college. But coming home and going back to that mall, I was appalled to see that the new store was one of those immersive ‘kid-installations.’ You know, the kind where you can let your kid pretend to be an adult in a kid sized world? They can shop at a grocery store or work in a news room, but everything is made for kids. Just me?2
So, this new spot in the mall was one of these kinds of places (and I’m sure you’re wondering why I’m going on this extremely long tangent), but the kicker is that the front of it is this enormous (albeit kid-sized) version of DFW airport.
I remember thinking to myself, who would possibly look at an airport lounge and think ‘yeah that’s where I want to take my kids for the afternoon.’
But I suppose that’s the thing about kids. They love the idea of being an adult. I love the idea of being an adult too, but the practicality of it sucks. Much like going to the airport.
There are a couple of ways to get to LAX: rideshare, the Flyaway bus, and now the newly opened subway terminal.
Unfortunately, each options comes with it’s own downsides, which introduces the infamous balancing act of time, money, and convenience.
With rideshare, you have the fastest, most frictionless option. In doing so, however, you sacrifice a whole lot of money. And if you’re me, the uber driver starts calling his friend very loudly in the middle of your hour long ride and you’re too awkward to say anything about it. Save time and convenience, lose out on money and aura points.
Then there’s the LAX Flyaway bus, which happens to be my most used way of getting to the airport. It’s much cheaper than taking an uber, only 12 something bucks, and takes around the same amount of time. The only real inconvenience is getting to the bus stop in the first place. Usually I just uber, but the combined price of the uber and the bus ticket is waaaay less than uber-ing all the way to the airport, especially at peak times. Other downsides include that the bus is very crowded most of the time and it’s subject to the whimsy of LA traffic.
And of course we have the newly unveiled3 LAX/Metro Transit Center. It connects to the C and K lines and provides the airport commute solution of the Future! Or so they say. I’ve yet to take it myself, and there are many many reasons for this. If we’re looking at our time, money, and convenience chart, taking the train sure does save you a good bit of money. It’s only a few dollars at most. But, in saving that money, you’re subjecting yourself to over an hour’s worth of LA’s finest public transit4 and that’s if you’re actually lucky enough to live close to a Metro station. Otherwise you’re probably taking the bus to it or uber-ing. In which case, you might as well just go to the LAX Flyaway bus anyway. Not only that, but once you get to the LAX stop, you still need to take a shuttle from that station to the terminals. Because they haven’t built the people movers yet.
I foresee this being an amazing option to get to LAX in roughly 10 years. Give or take a decade.
Ah, and I can tell you are all thinking “wait a sec, you forgot one of the most basic ways of getting to LAX!” No I didn’t.
Lastly, we have the all important, life changing, favors-exchanging, gas-guzzling, patience-weary-ing, symbol-of-the-depths-of-care-and-appreciation-and-friendship-one-person-can-have-for-another option of finding the long and winding road that leads to LAX: getting a ride from a friend.
You might be thinking one of two things: either “what’s the big deal giving (or asking for) a ride to the airport? I do that all the time!” or “see, that’s why I never ask for a ride. It’s too much work for too little reward.”
And yes, I can see both sides to this story. On the one hand you do have the sentiment of, “well if I am sending you to the airport, then you better send me eventually too.” I deeply understand the sentiment, but my own stands more in line with the second. “Real friends wouldn’t think thrice5 about this. This is Nothing. I would do ANYTHING for my friends and family.6 #friendsandfamily5ever”
In the store I work in, we have a little card that says “If you drive them to the airport it means love.” I think that is the perfect summation of this entire thing I’m writing here. I always like to say that my love language is acts of service, and that goes both ways. I feel the most loved when people do things for me, selflessly, and that’s why I try my best to do things for other as well. That’s why I always pick up my people from the airport. That’s why, even though I complain, and I really really hate it, I’ll still tough out the long, depressing drive to LAX. I relish in the company I have one way, and languish in the loneliness the other way. To some, that might sound a little like breaking even, but I think it’s a solid glass half full.
Traveling is fun. It’s exciting, it’s getting to see the world while you’re young and everything is life changing, it’s getting to live a different life for a little while and then return to the comfort of the regular every day, it’s getting to go home and see family.
I might not be as romantic about traveling as I was when I was a kid. I’m not as excited to stand in long lines and take off my shoes and feel the plane take off. Ideal travel is a (hopefully) sterile and uneventful necessity nowadays, and combining this with LAX is like going to Seattle and hoping for sun. You’ll be lucky if everything goes your way.
I’ll likely never like going to LAX. I’ll always be more excited for the destination than the journey. But, at the end of the day, I still appreciate whatever company I can find on the way there.
I get so cheesy when I travel, lol. Merry Christmas Eve everyone! I’ve got to go catch my flight7.
I didn’t do any research, but that is a fact.
I have some really cute pictures of my sister and I as kids at one of these places. It’s called KidZania, if you want to search it up.
I’m realizing that it’s not actually that new anymore. Maybe about 6 months old at this point?
This is like talking about the brightest hole in the ground.
I was going to say twice, but I think some thinking is allowed when having to brave the trek to the airport. Just because I think to myself “ugh LAX?” doesn’t disqualify me from being in the “yes of course I’m going to send you to the airport, duh” club.
I may be exaggerating slightly.
14 hours of contemplation coming my way!