USA Trip 2025. Where da sun at? By BdJ

Jan 29, 2025

Written by Bart de Jong

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For many years I've done an annual winter trip to California. The first one being 1990 when 3 months were spent in San Diego. The winter weather in The Netherlands is simply shit if you want to keep riding your bike outdoors. The winters of 1991/1992 and 1992/1993 were spent in San Diego as well. Simpler times with nothing but riding and partying on the schedule. I do miss those times. In 1994 and 1995 we moved up to Huntington Beach and made life long friends in that corner. BMX Freestyle wasn't huge back then, and those who rode, had a passion for riding. Several of them stayed in BMX over the years and are now contacts to visit.

Getting to do these California trips with my son Philip (21) means a lot. This was our 3rd annual Cali trip together. For him to experience the sunshine lifestyle in 12 days is important. There is more in life than being in Helmond. With Philip's interest being focused on motocross we combined BMX and MX for the days we were there. Plans were made to visit dealers, friends, manufacturers, events, supercross races, lifestyle shops, and enjoy the palm trees with sunshine.

We left Helmond by taking the first train to Schiphol airport and managed to get checked in and all with time to spare. Thanks to the KLM status this process was easy and breakfast was spent in the lounge.

With a bit of moving seats before take-off we each had a window seat with a free seat next to us. When you have to spend 11 hours sitting in a seat it sure makes sense to try to make it as comfortable as possible. I managed to forget my airpods which was not great. The Netflix series that I downloaded.... no use. Noise cancelling sound? Nope. I sure wish I had double checked before we closed the door behind. Good thing is that there was free WhatsApp communication possible during the entire flight to LAX. At least that way it was possible to stay in touch with people.

Los Angeles wildfires had been in the news the week prior to our departure but when we flew into LA we could not spot any of it. Even the Hollywood sign was still up. The landing was perfect. The three hours spent in line at U.S. Immigration was not. Thousands of people waiting in line, 25 booths available and only 4 open. It feels like they never learn.

We picked up our bags, which must have been sitting there for hours, and headed to Hertz in the shuttle bus. We picked our car, a black Nissan Rogue SUV, which had tinted windows and Apple carplay. We did make a mistake two years ago when we went for the car with the black rims, but it only had a CD player in it. Instead of spending time in Los Angeles on arrival, the three hour wait in line had taken hour energy. A quick stop at T-Mobile for a local sim card for both of us (wasn't cheap at $140) and we were on our way to our home base in Newport Beach. Sonder Solarena once again. A decent place.

First food stop of choice: In 'n Out Burgers.

BdJ