We're Here!

by Jane

We made it to LA!

[Wednesday 5th September] We were having a very mellow afternoon at Anne and Lloyd's place while we waited to take a taxi to the airport.  We'd ordered the taxi for 3.15 and were slowly getting the computer packed away, Gary was finishing his last minute repacking when the taxi arrived 20 minutes early!  That was a bit of a flap but we managed to everything packed and don't seem to have left anything behind in the last minute rush.

I had read on the Air NZ website about 'twin seats' where passengers can 'buy' an otherwise empty seat on the plane which makes sure it's next to theirs.  $99 for all that extra space!  Sounded like a deal to me so I asked at the counter and yes, there were empty seats, and eventually we paid the $99 and it was all ours.  Were were in a set of 3 seats so the one between us was empty.  Much appreciated.

Gary waiting for the flight

I was a bit worried about the flight itself as I get a bit claustrophobic - made much worse by sitting behind somebody who insisted on having his seat reclined every possible moment.  But that extra seat in the middle was a life saver ... and the Chipmunks!  Nobody can be too stressed when they have their headphones on and are listening Alvin and the Chipmunks soundtrack up really loud.
  

Chipmunks!

Gary got a fair bit of sleep during the flight but I mainly listened to music and - hard as it is to believe - only read half a book in a 12 hour flight.  We got into LA about 1pm [also Wednesday 5th September] and it was quite warm (26 degrees) and humid.  But sunshine!  It's such a change for us coming from winter.  We took the shuttle bus from the airport to the car rental company where Gary was happy to pay a little more for an upgrade.  We'll be travelling in style!

On the shuttle to the car rental company

For the first of many times we shoved the bags in the boot, powered up the GPS and headed off on the 'wrong' side of the road.

Packing the car boot for the first time

Gary didn't seem to be too bothered by the whole business of an unfamiliar car on the wrong side of the road and in no time we were on the motorway heading for Pete and Marilynne's in Laguna Niguel.  Traffic was quite patchy but there was a lot of it.  We whizzed along once we got into the car pool lane.

LA traffic

Jane
in NZ