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Back in the USA
Like last year we were flat out til the last minute. An early start to get an order packed and to the airport by 6am on Monday meant we only got 4-5 hours sleep Sunday night and getting everything done on Monday meant an hour or two of sleep for me and none at all for Pete.
Our ride to the airport picked us up at 5.15am, thanks Sue! We checked in with a couple of hours to spare and relaxed at the gate before flying to Sydney. Getting through customs etc was a breeze followed by another couple of hours kicking back, checking out the stores etc. we realised when we saw the various souvenir stores that we'd forgotten to pack our flag we took everywhere last year, the star of many of our pics. As a replacement option we bought a small flag & a stuffed kangaroo mascot (skippy) to be our travelling companions this year.
The flight was long but uneventful. We mostly watched movies and dozed a little here and there but nothing longer than 30 or so mins at a time. As always we arrived in the USA before we left Australia, gotta love the international date line; we get a second run at Tuesday the 19th :-)
The airport in LA was far less busy this year, we arrived a few hours later then we did on the direct flight last year and it was a good move as far as LAX went. US customs and immigration was a breeze and we were quickly on our way to Enterprise car rentals like last time they were super quick and easy to deal with even giving us an upgrade to a small SUV, a Jeep Compass, our transport for the next two months. Pete joked being a compass it should know its way everywhere lol
Using Betty, our US GPS we easily navigated from LAX to our hotel in Hollywood travelling a lot of roads we recognised from last year when we caught the bus from our airport hotel into Los Angeles. Traffic was busy but very manageable, the slightly later flight working for us again. We yet again found it strange to be driving through the suburbs only to have the houses replaced here and there by oil derricks beavering away dragging up the oil.
Our hotel looked a little run down when we arrived but the room is great, clean, fresh and with a microwave and fridge it has all we need. We settled in, had a long overdue shower and went for a walk around the neighbourhood that's to be our base for a couple of nights. There are a couple of very large hospitals close by so there's a lot of sirens. Behind us is the massive LA Scientology compound.
We tried to sort out a phone and or wireless modem chip at A T& T but their plans didn't cover Canada so for what we need have decided so far that we'll be just as well off paying the $5 Vodafone will charge per day on the days we use Pete's phone for calls or data. For the most part we will just use the free wifi at hotels, maccas etc same as last year unless we find a plan that looks like it'll work for us.
On the walk back we stopped at an Armenian bakery and had some lunch, can't recall what they were called but sort Armenian version of a meat pastie and a spinach and cheese pastie. Interesting options, not bad but would probably not get them again lol as usual here it was a good price, 2 whatevertheywerecalledthingies and a drink each for $6.
Back to our hotel and we had a little lie down, three and a half hours later when we woke we weren't sure if it was still Tuesday 6pm or Wednesday 6am lol further checks of the time on the iPad revealed it was still Tuesday evening.
A couple of hours lounging around, halfway watching the news on the TV. It was mostly about the shooting of a black teen in Fergusson Missouri, de ja vue all over again, last year it was another white officer who had shot a black youth causing uproar - the more things change the more they stay the same.....
8pm and it was time to stir ourselves and headed out to get some basics, laundry powder, drinking water, salt & pepper etc The closest Walmart turned out to be the one we found a bit useless last year but we got most of what we were looking for including an esky.
On the way back to our hotel a police car went screaming past then we noticed the police chopper with its search light doing the rounds. A couple of blocks before our hotel at a smallish strip of shops there were a number of cars and a fair few cops standing around so something had definitely gone down there.
It was 10.30pm by the time we got back so we went for the easy option, a few doors down we hit Wendy's for a quick easy dinner.
After unpacking the groceries we reorganised our gear so we will only have the one case to take in and out of the hotel for each stay. The other has the gear we'll be needing once we hit the colder areas so til then it can just stay in the car for a couple of weeks. For now the weather is great, warm and sunny, even now at midnight it's very pleasant, a nice change to the chilly nights recently at home in Redcliffe.
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