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Hi
... yes I'm finally here and no, strangely
enough I didn't get lost although there wasn't
much chance of that on the
NZ side of the trip as
both Sarah (my sister) and Brian, her husband work
at Ch.Ch. airport. Jaben picked me up from the
Nelson flight and I visited with him
and his
girlfriend (also Sarah) until
it was time for them to
deliver me to Sarah and Brian's place where I
stayed the night.
The next day Brian delivered
me safely to the
airport and both he and Sarah turned up at
departure time to ensure I had gotten on the
right plane.
Sarah actually walked me right into
the plane and delivered me to the flight steward
at which point her job of getting
me safely out of
NZ was finished. I'm sure the other passengers
must have thought I was a 'special needs'
traveller.
I was beginning to feel a bit like a
basketball being passed from one player to
another ..... luckily no one managed
to drop me
and I managed to leave the South Island in one
piece and on time.
From then on I was on my own and I surprised
myself
by managing to find International
departures at Auckland airport all by myself with
the help of a strategically placed
blue line painted
on the ground.
(Follow the blue line and International magically appears at
the end of it. I felt a bit like
Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz,
the yellow brick road would have been a doddle I reckon!)
Even though I managed to botch up the next part
of the trip by being sent to
the back of the line at
customs because I had forgotten to pay the
departure tax (Duh!),
I did finally manage to leave
the country. My sister had
gotten me upgraded
to business class so I was able to sleep in my
own private little 'pod' as time went backwards
and
we arrived at LAX the same day as we had
left ..... very weird!
My first sight of America was flying over Los
Angeles. It looked like it went on and on forever.
I couldn't
even see the edge of it; it just
disappeared into the distant haze. The whole
place as far as you could see was a dusty
colour
and as we landed I realized the reason for this.
It was dusty!
I seem to have bought our weather with me
because it's been overcast and
rather damp ever
since I've arrived although the temperature is
extremely muggy.
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| plenty of traffic but no sun! |
LAX airport was horrifying ..... it's huuuuge, so
luckily, after not managing
to botch up coming in
through American customs, Mum was there
waiting for me.
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| BTW - the flying saucer thing at LAX is called the 'Arch' for anyone who was wondering!! |
What a huge culture shock. There were people
everywhere and absolutely
none of them looked
very helpful. I'm dreading the return trip when I
have to find the way from a domestic terminal
to
International all on my own. I had enough trouble
trying to figure out how to flush the blasted loo at
the airport
..... imagine how much trouble I could
get into finding the right plane to get home!
We're staying in a hotel in Anaheim
right
opposite Disneyland, a really good place to
stay especially if you're a kid ....... yup, we're
staying in a
hotel full of kids who started the
day with a breakfast of donuts and coloured
cereal, spent the rest of the day at
Disneyland
eating heaps of crap food full of sugar, and are
now so hyped up they are bouncing off the
walls! Yippee,
my dream holiday!!
We've just come in from having a little
shopping mall tikitour. I was totally
unimpressed
....... there was a shop that was
just full of puppies. Pure bred & 'designer'.
The poor things were displayed
in glass
tanks ........ heaps of fluffy cuties, plus Italian
greyhounds, dachs, spaniels, pugs even a
Boston terrier
........ they were having a sale so
$999 puppies were now $399! The whole shop
was stocked with items solely for puppies.
From
the essentials such as food to designer
collars and leads, clothing and carrier bags.
Yuck!
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