WE'RE HERE

Well!, as my dad always says when he first walks in the door – we are here – WE ARE IN USA. It has been a long journey, and much harder than I anticipated. We left home this morning at 8am and drove three hours to Christchurch, then flew to Sydney via Emirates, then caught a V Australia flight to LA – all in all the journey has meant that we have been awake for 33 hours – yet it is only 9.40pm here on Friday October 1st. The Emirates flight was lovely and comfortable. We had three hours in the transit lounge in Sydney airport and there were loads of shops to occupy myself – Richard just found a comfy chair, read the paper, and did puzzles. The V Australia flight was challenging as the plane was full – not an empty seat, and quite noisy. I don’t know how people can manage to sleep upright because I sure couldn’t. I watched two movies, played yahtzee and solitaire on the onboard entertainment system that they have. Not even the sleeping tablet that I took worked – urrggh. Arriving at LAX was daunting - it is HUGE. The airport itself has at least 130 gates. Going through customs took ages as there were hundreds of people in the queues from all the incoming flights. It is a gorgeous day here and a balmy 23 degrees at 10pm and noticeably humid. The hotel is lovely and has an extremely comfortable bed. I will sleep like a log tonight. We have had our first meal on US soil and – as people had warned us - the servings were large. Afterward we sat beside the pool amongst the palm trees and soaked in the atmosphere enjoying the mild temperatures.