The long journey back to the Gulf begins at 12:15 p.m. tomorrow.

So, what does a person do on the final day of a once-a-year visit to Southern California?

1. Costco. Yes, an amazing place, especially as seen from the other side of the world. The second trip in a week. For the things I didn’t remember to get the first time, including the industrial-size bottle of antihistamine pills and the three-pack of socks. They could not, however, give me new glasses frames on the spot. Drat!

2. A visit to the family business. Some one-on-one conversation with loved ones, and a photo.

3. A bicycle ride through a cool and leafy part of north Long Beach, near the golf course. A neighborhood I didn’t know really existed. What a great place to live.

4. Dinner at my brother’s house, with his wife and son, the lawyer-to-be. A Pinot Noir from a Santa Barbara vintner. A Caesar salad. Tri-tip. Watermelon. Nice.

5. A half hour sitting in the backyard, admiring the greenery, the lawn and the leafy plants, and the citrus plants, including an orange tree grown from a cutting from a tree nursed by my grandmother (who died in 1966). And the flowers and the fronds. I won’t be spending time outdoors for another two months, minimum.

I stuck my toe in the pool. It was cool.

6. Watching, with my nephew the Angels fan, the final hours of the Angels’ 14-13 victory at Fenway Park. Five lead changes. Four hours and 34 minutes. The club’s pitching is still scary, but the offense was clutch, especially with the three in the ninth and the two in the 10th. Mike Trout continues to look like a young Mickey Mantle: A 6232 with two steals, a walk and several fine plays in center field. (Baseball: Goodness, do I miss it.)

It will be hard to leave all this behind. But in a way, it helps to have a deadline, because you do what matters most, and what will be hardest to replicate in the UAE, halfway around the world.