Day 1 - Welcome to LA

With a 10pm flight to LA, I realised flying day can be pretty intense when you have to wait all day to fly.  Finally it was time to be dropped at the airport and my very nervy stomach could start to settle as I waited the obligatory two hours to board.  With next to nothing open in the airport it was an absolute godsend that I had packed a book that I’d found in our hotel in Sarria during last year’s Spanish adventures, as I didn’t want to be that person charging their phone before they even left the airport.

 

Watched a lot of young travellers making TikToks of their impending holidays (I think I can almost do the choreography to “Apple” from memory now). Paid too much for much needed water for the flight ($8.50 for a 1l Pump) and settled in for boarding.

 

Delighted to get on board and find that my seat choice gamble had paid off. I picked the first row of three in the middle aisle, where they reduce the seat numbers in the centre aisle toward the back of the plane. While it’s a little noisier back there, here are some of the pros and cons I found.

 

Pro - as I’d picked the seat on the right end of the row, I got two seats to store my gear under.

Con- the seats weren’t perfectly aligned so I did need to slightly tilt my head to watch my screen as it wasn’t directly in front of me. Same deal for the tray table - it was about 5cm to my left of centre, but a small price to pay for no squashy leg room.

Pro - there was never a line for the toilet at the back of the plane, and I watched those using the middle loos stand in bunches waiting for almost the entire flight.

Pro - the noise from the plane negated the crying baby sounds behind us so it just blended in.

Not a bad selection of entertainment on board. I watched Ghostbusters Frozen Empire (who doesn’t love Paul Rudd), Mean Girls (the musical reboot), Avengers Endgame (so I could fall asleep and not be worried I didn’t know how it ended) and finally David Holmes - the Boy Who Lived, the story of Daniel Radcliffe’s stunt double who suffered a spinal cord injury while filming the final movie and is now a wheelchair user.  Probably not the best selection when I’m tired, anxious and a little overwrought but his approach to life post injury reminded me so much of our boy that it was actually a delight to watch, even with a few tears, especially when his mum spoke about not being able to just “fix things with a plaster” like she was supposed to be able to do.

 

My seat mates were lovely - my immediate neighbour a young woman on the way to see family who offered me gum and complimented my newly done hair. One passenger made me uncomfortable as I found him standing next to my seat multiple times during the flight stretching (there was a bit more aisle space where I was). This was a little unnerving to wake from sleep to have someone so close to me.

 

Disembark at LAX at 6.30pm local time, spend an hour and a half in line for immigration and for the first time I have to give my itinerary and show my return flight booking before being allowed into the country. Perhaps the camping element in my trip had them thinking I’d go on the lam and disappear into the back country never to be seen again!

 

Finally through it all, wait for an hour and a bit for a hotel shuttle that never arrived, so walked to the cab rank and spent too much on a cab to get to the Motel 6 I booked, knowing full well I’d be back in 6-8 hours for my flight to Seattle.

 

Nice room, comfy bed and about 6 hours of fitful sleep and I’ll be ready for the next day’s travels.  Won’t you join me for the next instalment?