Scaredy Cat Travels

Dallas to Los Angeles or How To Spend 24+ Hours Packing

Flight: American Airlines Non-Stop to Ontario airport in Economy 

Hotel: TownePlace Suites Los Angeles LAX/Hawthorne

Plans: I won’t really give advice on how to pack for 24 hours. It will happen on its own if you take a three-week trip to Asia. Or anywhere with kids unless you are a true gambler and let them pack their own suitcase. If so, I’ll let you dig your own “I want to spend $150 on an ugly hoodie because my kid only packed short sleeves to go to Alaska in the winter” grave.

Our luggage for three weeks – from l. to r. Niki – Everlane Backpack and Monos Carry-On Plus; Jackson – Target A New Day Athleisure Square Backpack and Ogio Nomad Carry-On; Rowan – Target Open Story Large Backpack and Samsonite Expandable Medium Check-In Bag. Rowan carried our (mostly my) overflow in addition to his items and a pocket trumpet.

You may remember that plans were to pull Rowan from school early, fly to Ontario Airport in LA, grab the rental car, meet up with the film crew from the Song For Hope documentary for dinner then spend the night at the TownePlace Suites Los Angeles by LAX/Hawthorne in preparation for our flight to Tokyo the following morning. Other than our flight being a little delayed into Ontario, that’s what we actually did.

Spoiler Alert: This may be the last time the plans match the reality.

Actually I think I planned to take an Uber but ended up getting a one way rental which was easier for me and maybe a little cheaper than Uber. Not easier if you aren’t comfortable driving in LA though.

A little pre-flight meal at DFW. I have no idea which restaurant. My new career as a travel blogger is off to an excellent start. If you want to hunt for it, it’s in the D Terminal not far past security. The food was surprisingly good.

See if you notice a theme with Rowan in the trip photos.

Scaredy Cat rating: I originally rated the day at two paws, and I’ll stick with that. If you are not comfortable driving in places like LA or Dallas, I would add at least a couple of paws. I don’t remember the flight so that’s the best possible scenario. Flights you remember are usually terrifying.

Our most stressful moments were figuring out where to park for the LA restaurant and figuring out which of our Dallas friends we were willing to give up in exchange for a ride to the airport. It was nice knowing you, Kevin.

The $$$: There were no money surprises today either. Other than the usual LA dinner sticker shock.

Hotel #1 Review: TownePlace Suites by Marriot Hawthorne/LAX

It was fine. Again, I don’t remember much and that’s often the best I can say about a Fairfield Inn or a TownePlace Suites. Slight foreshadowing for our Aloft hotel in Seoul.

As an experiment, I shelled out a $600ish annual fee to get the Marriott Brilliant American Express despite already having a Marriott Boundless VISA. With the Brilliant card, you receive additional perks including bonus loyalty points and a free hotel night each year (at a tier that is genuinely usable unlike the free hotel night that comes with the Boundless and is only redeemable at the scariest Fairfield Inns in places you would never go willingly). However, I took it out because I wanted the automatic upgrade to Platinum status, with its free access to the hotel lounges and promise of room upgrades. This trip was a great opportunity to see if they would really upgrade us (they never do with Gold status) and if I would use the lounges enough to justify the fee. $600 is a lot of bad scrambled eggs.

In comparison (as the photo above supports), I never use the airport lounge access provided by my other way-too-expensive-annual-fee American Express Platinum card. But that is a whole side rant worthy of its own post. I’ll just say that I, after schlepping myself across the airport to get to the always well-hidden, far, far away lounge, have said out loud to the attendants “this is worthless” more than once, and leave it at that.

I am happy to report that at TownePlace Suites we did receive a few worthwhile perks. We had originally booked a Studio Room with 2 Queen Beds and a Sofa Bed. TownePlace upgraded us to a two-bedroom suite which was perfect because we were already sick of each other. We also received a $10 snack voucher as a gift which the kids immediately used on chips and drinks because they were hungry immediately after dinner as usual. A free breakfast was also available, but we didn’t try it. I noticed that I wrote previously there was also a bar but I didn’t see it or use it. I know you are shocked.

The hotel felt reasonably safe (an actual concern in the LAX area), clean and was convenient to LAX and gas stations to fill up the rental car.

I would stay there again in a similar “passing through” situation.

Checking rates for a similar night, using a AAA or AARP discount, a King room is $221; a room with two Queens is $251 and the room we had with two Queen beds in one room and a bunk bed in the additional room is $393. This was booked with the Boundless card free night (that I just trashed a couple of paragraphs ago) but upgraded because of the Brilliant card so the annual fees can make sense if you travel frequently.

The hotel’s standard room photo.

My only pic of the room. I am an excellent travel blogger.

Bonus for reading this far about a day we didn’t do much: I lied about our only stressful moments. There were two additional, but I think (hope?) they are unique to our family dynamic.

First, as we were backing out of the driveway, our former friend Kevin joked, “Everyone have their passport and ID?”. A reference to a trip last summer where, just a couple of miles from the airport, Jackson piped up from the backseat asking, “Sooooo…what happens if you get to the airport and you don’t have your ID?”. It didn’t immediately register, bless my heart.

Fortunately we had left for the airport much earlier than necessary in my quest to use the American Express lounge for once, and we had an expendable niece/cousin who was willing to get up at 7:00 am and drive to DFW in rush hour traffic to bring Jackson’s purse with their drivers license AND insulin in it. It was nice knowing you, Emily.

Imagine the parental freak-out this trip when Jackson piped up from the backseat, “Ummmmmmm”.

After that crisis was averted, Rowan chose to ask too many questions the rest of the way to the airport like “Isn’t Ontario in Canada?” “What if you booked the wrong flight?”. I pretended to dismiss him but secretly checked everything for the 1000th time. Slight foreshadowing for that fabulous ferry from Japan to South Korea.