We're at the airport, and apart from a minor heart stopping glitch, we're all check in for leg one. Adelaide to Sydney. A reasonably uneven flight aside from the landing. By far one of the worst wet weather bumpy landings I've ever experienced. Fine for me and the girls but Bernie had his teeth clenched for the entire descent and didn't unclench until we stopped at the gate. Interesting to see how he goes with take off in a much bigger plane in bad conditions.
Bought the required alcohol at Duty Free and hit departure customs. Lots of long lines and grumpy faces. We concluded that the job interview for customs was to be told a hilarious joke and not laugh. But no strip searches, and off we went to gate 51. The good thing about travelling with a 5 year old is you get put on the plane first. Our seats on the plane were great...in front of the bulkhead so didn't have to worry about putting our seats back and annoying people! After takeoff we were given lunch and complimentary drinks. The moment seemed to warrant a couple of Bundys, so we did, to celebrate and for Bernie, a bit of Dutch courage to face the next 13 hours!
It took all of 5 minutes to play with the in seat entertainment unit and work out what to watch. Lots of comedy and Identity Theft for me. After a bit of seat swapping, we all tried to sleep, but it didn't come easily! I think the most I got was about 2 hours, and that was not solid at all!!
Breakfast was served and before long, it was time to land. We cleared US Customs with ease, thankfully, and went off to catch our shuttle to our hotel.
And so we got our first glimpses of America. Lots of things we saw for the first time, like Taco Bell. And the oil rig thingies. But what surprised us was how run down things are in LA! Our hotel is situated on Hollywood Blvd, but at the non-trendy end! We took a walk to get lunch/dinner & supplies and there was lots of closed up shops and homeless people. Really quite sad! We found a little deli place and had lunch - a healthy salad wrap for me that was so big I ate half and bought the rest back! Then to Ralph's for some shopping and now we're back at the hotel, fighting the body clock and jet lag. Tomorrow will be more exploring and Tuesday Amy & I are off to Warner Brothers for a tour. Sadly children under 8 are not welcome, so Bernie & Tara are hanging here. There is a pool, but its shut until next month - not very handy at all!!!
So day one is about to conclude but the best and the rest is still to come!!
Song of the day: Coming to America
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