Toronto Pearson Airport

Please read Day 1 before reading this. Today, I met up with Limit for lunch! He said he was going to pick me up from my hotel. I didn’t realize he was actually going to pick me up with a car. Haha. After all, it is extremely expensive to drive in Singapore. I was told that in order to get a car, you would need a piece of paper to bid, and that paper alone would cost nearly six figures already. The car itself is probably another $50k. To make matters worse, you would only get the car for 10 years (I forget what happens afterwards). Oh, and gas is super expensive too.

So, unless your family is rich (or you are), you probably wouldn’t be driving. Singapore has a super amazing subway system anyway, so you don’t even need to drive. It’s AMAZING. To prove my point, here’s a picture:

Hence, when people tell me that they will pick me up, I would automatically assume that they’re coming over via public transportation and then walking to where I am.

So, I was very stunned when Limit actually drove over. Now, before you think I’m insane for going inside a stranger’s car, Cosy has met Limit before, and Cosy’s brother is Limit’s classmate (or schoolmate? I forget).

Anyhow, it was nice to meet Limit! Limit is one of the twenty translators I had hired back in the summer of 2019 for Wuxiaworld. At the time, I had chosen the top 20 applicants out of the 300+ we had received. Successful applicants had to pass both the novel test as well as the manhua (comic) test. I had chosen ten for novels, and ten for manhua. Limit was one of the people I had chosen for manhua.

I had only briefly worked with Limit because I wasn’t in charge of managing the manhua translators at the time. So, there were probably two years or so that we didn’t chat. It wasn’t until last year that he started editing a Korean novel for us that we talked from time to time.

I recalled he seemed quite chill and friendly, and I figured we should meet up in Singapore since he was a Singaporean! I wanted to go to a 2D café and also an escape room, and invited him to join me, Coca, Corliss, and Blip.

Limit wanted to have lunch first though, so I said, “Sure, let’s go eat somewhere! But could we meet near Bugis because that’s where we’re going to meet the others later?”

Limit was fine with it, and said he’d come to get me at my hotel and we could go together. I thought we were going to take the subway, but it was nice to get a ride.

When we were in the car, we asked for each other’s age. I asked him to guess mine, and he said, “Twenty five.” But for some reason, “twenty” sounded like “thirty” to me in the Singaporean accent, and I nearly shrieked. “YOU THINK I AM 35? DO I LOOK THAT OLD?”

And Limit quickly clarified and exclaimed, “I said 25! 25!” LOLOL

I was like, “Oh. Ok!” I smiled and calmly replied, “I’m actually 34…” And then I was super sad about how old I was. Sigh.

I think he was a bit surprised, but Limit was focusing on driving, so he wasn’t looking at me. Then, he told me he was 26 or 27. I was like, “Ohhhh.”

Honestly, it’s quite hard to tell with Asians. We don’t look too different in our 20s-30s, so it could be a wide range.

Limit mentioned he usually doesn’t drive during the weekdays, because parking would cost $50-$60 downtown if he were to drive to his office and stay there all day. I don’t remember how much parking was during the weekend, but it was cheaper.

But I guess, if you have a car, you might as well use it. If you’re not going to drive it, it’d be a waste of money!! However, I do feel that if guys/girls were going on a date, they should be careful and probably not drive too soon; just in case the person is after their money instead.

Anyway, we arrived to Bugis, and Limit asked me what I wanted to eat. I muttered, “I just want somewhere with A/C.” It was SO HOT!!!

We parked underground in a mall, and then went upstairs and walked outside and quickly found a restaurant. It was a Japanese restaurant where you grill your own meat. I do not remember the name (Sorry, I’m really bad at remembering the names of food or places).

I checked the time, and it was around 12:15pm. I was a bit worried we wouldn’t have enough time to eat because I had booked the escape room for 1pm. Luckily, the food arrived by 12:26pm!

By the way, Limit is EXTREMELY tall. I think he said he was 187cm. I giggled, “Limit, your name is Limit because your height has no limit!”

Limit just stared at me. “…” Hahaha. I guess he didn’t think I was funny.

Me and Limit chatted about his work, and how he was going to quit and vacation in Japan before starting his new job. He seemed to enjoy travelling a lot, and so do I. I felt like he’s been to a lot more places than I have though. I think he likes Japan the most. I have never been, but I’d like to go one day!

I also told him to come out on Sept 15^th, since that’s the night where I had invited a bunch of WW translators + volare people to go karaoke. I got Cosy to help me book a party room that could fit 30!

Limit said he would be coming right after work, and would be dressed in his work clothes. I replied, “It’s fine. No one is going to judge you based on what you’re wearing!!” (Actually, I was judged when I had arrived at the airport but that’s beside the point) Continue reading “Day 2: Sept 10th”

Several months ago, my boss decided that it would be a great idea to have a staff meet-up with the five of us in LA after the San Diego Comic Con. My boss has been residing in China for the past couple of years, and I had never actually met him or my colleagues since we all work remote.

We had a booth in San Diego, and my boss had flown J over from the UK to help out. The event was supposed to last until the 24^th, and then we’d meet in LA from July 25^th to the 31^st.

I was extremely excited and slightly anxious since I hadn’t travelled in over five years. However, my boss was covering for the flight and the accommodation in LA, so I was like, “Hell yeah!”

I decided to head to San Diego to meet some of my discord friends prior to LA. On the morning of July 23^rd, I arrived at the Toronto Pearson Airport four hours before my flight because I had received multiple notices that the lines were terribly long, and I should arrive more than three hours in advance.

I had already checked in online, and I was also NOT checking in a bag, so I didn’t think it could be that bad. But when I had arrived at the airport, the situation was insane. There were at least thousands of people waiting to enter Gate F at 4am, where we needed to go through security check.

I got into the line immediately, but after ten to fifteen minutes, I was told to show my ticket and was told that I was TOO EARLY, and I had to go all the way back to 15 (I don’t know what they’re called, but it’s the number 15) and wait until it was later before I could get in line. The airport representative said that I should not be in the line unless my flight was 6:30am or earlier (at the time, it was 4:15am or so, and my flight was at 8am).

I mentioned about the email, but was basically told, “Too bad.”

Why are they telling me to come so early if they’re not even going to let me get in line? UGHHHHH.

Anyway, by around 5am, I was finally able to get in line without getting sent back for the 4^th time. After an hour of waiting, I thought I was nearly there, but it turned out that there were even MORE lines inside Gate F. And the security check was so hardcore. I needed to use 6 boxes: one for my laptop and electronics, one for my jacket, one for my backpack, one for my carry-on, one for my shoes, and one for liquids.

After passing by security, I foolishly thought I would be close. But nope. There were still several more hundred people ahead of me to go through customs.

In the end, it took me over THREE hours to actually get to my gate. And my flight was also delayed for another TWO hours. Holy moly. What a pain.

Anyhow, I arrived to LA and knew I had to go to the Union Station and then take the train to San Diego. My friend, T, was going to pick me up from the station.

However, I had never been to LA before, and even though I knew I had to take the Flyaway bus, I had no idea where it was.

So, I asked a random airport staff, and she told me to exit and then find the green pole. But when I got to the green pole, it turned out it was not the right spot. I had to ask another person, and they told me to go to the blue pole. Luckily, it was a minute away, so it wasn’t too bad.

When I got to the blue pole, I was going to scan the QR code to buy the ticket. I hadn’t booked in advance since I figured my flight was going to be delayed, so I decided it was safer to buy the ticket when I got there.

But the bus suddenly arrived, and the driver was telling everyone to hop on!! I exclaimed, “But I haven’t bought my ticket yet!” He said it was fine. I thought it was extremely strange since I thought it was only normal if people paid prior to getting on. Otherwise, how would you get them to pay afterwards?

Anyhow, the ride was approximately 30 minutes. The moment we arrived, there was a lady that was waiting around to scan tickets. It turned out that they had a booth there where people could pay AFTERWARDS. Interesting.

The ride was around $9.75usd. I think it was pretty good since it would’ve been far more expensive if I had taken an Uber. (Note: It looks quite ghetto though.)

I was now in the Union Station of Los Angeles. And oh dear, it smelled like urine everywhere. Also, there were a lot of homeless people walking around. I was lining up for a subway sandwich, and I almost fainted from the scent despite having a mask on.

There were also a lot of police or security everywhere. It did make me feel a bit fearful, but I was also busy being stressed since I needed to buy a ticket to San Diego.

I found the booth and asked, and it turned out it was only $36 to get from LA Union Station to the stop I needed to get off. Not bad! The ride was approximately 2-2.5 hr.

I didn’t have enough time to get a drink though, since the ticket lady told me the train was departing in three minutes, and I would have had to wait THREE HOURS for the next one if I had missed it.

So, I ran like the wind and caught the train just in time. It was actually quite weird for me since I had never actually taken a train to go somewhere far before. Everyone had their own food on their laps and were just on their phones or tablets or whatever.

The lady next to me got off earlier than me, and so I took her spot and charged my phone. I notified T that I would be arriving soon, and she told me where to wait for her.

It wasn’t difficult to find T, and she picked me up without issues! I was actually quite excited. I had known T since 2015?? Back then, a bunch of us would go on discord to chat and sing karaoke. T has an extremely low and sexy voice. LOLOL. (It’s true though). Anyhow, we stayed in touch throughout the years, and even though we haven’t talked all that much in recent years, we still have a pretty good relationship. She is also a fellow translator, but we have different sites. If you’re confused, just imagine Asian youtubers meeting up with other creators in person. Continue reading “My San Diego and LA trip: Chaotic airport, meeting my colleagues + catching covid”