Do you know what I am sick and tired of?
Airplanes no longer providing complimentary meals and the gamble of airport food. This recent trip to LA opened my eyes to the lunacy of the entire situation. While traveling to LA, we arrived in Philadelphia for our 6 pm flight around 3:15 pm. Though I tried to convince Lance we really didn’t need to leave so early, he wanted to be on the safe side.
I guess I would rather be on the safe side than to miss my flight.
Having not eaten lunch and plenty of time before boarding time, we gravitated to Chick-fil-A for a bite.*
*Of the four different airports we have been to in the past two months, PHL had the best food options in our terminal. LAX, however, was horrible. So horrible, I can’t even discuss it.
By the time our flight landed, it was 12:30 am, east coast time and we were starving. Knowing the longer we waited the less likely we were to: 1.) want to eat any longer 2.) actually find anything decent to eat, we made it a priority to find food. And then we remembered that airports completely shut down come 9 pm and nothing we passed on our way to baggage claim was open.*
*Not that there were any real worthwhile options, anyway.
We hopped in a cab and after telling him the address of our hotel, Lance asked if we would pass an In-N-Out Burger on the way. In-N-Out was on Hubby’s list of ‘Places I Need To Take Jess in LA’, so despite our travel exhaustion and raging hunger, I was excited to be tasting the fast food joint I’ve heard so much about so soon.
I was also a little intrigued to be going through drive thru in a taxi.
The parking lot and line for drive thru were like most traffic situations in LA: jam packed. Deciding that drive thru would be the lesser of two evils, we told the driver to head that way. It was now around 10 pm and we sat in the longest drive thru line of my life. Think dinner time at McDonald’s times five.
My favorite thing about In-N-Out is the simplicity of their menu. They do burgers. They don’t do chicken. They don’t seasonally make fish sandwiches or any other kind of sandwich. They make burgers and burgers only.
Wanting to get the entire experience, I ordered a cheeseburger, small fry and a chocolate shake–and inhaled it all in about .45283 seconds.
The burgers are simple, the secret sauce perfection and the inclusion of lettuce and tomato makes it everything I want in a fast food burger. I knew this first interaction with In-N-Out Burger couldn’t be my only one. Had it been, I would have always wondered if I had loved it so much only because I had been so hungry.*
*You know what I’m talking about.
So, a few days later, after we spent all day walking around Hollywood, this happened:
I have warned him if he makes faces like that I am going to post them.
As we walked over to this In-N-Out Burger, we witnessed not only ridiculously backed up traffic, but also, an Uber driver get rear ended by a pick-up truck.
Boy, that was fun.
The drive thru line for this In-N-Out was out onto the street and when we first walked in there wasn’t an empty seat to be found. As we waited for our food, eventually the seats recycled themselves for new guests.
I can happily say that my second visit to In-N-Out brought about the same delight as my first. I ordered exactly the same thing, though I slightly regret not trying the Double-Double which, of course, Lance got both times.
The traffic in LA keeps me from wanting to live there, but gems like In-N-Out Burger tug my heart string a little and tell me that somehow I can endure traffic for the taste of a juicy hamburger.
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