As I write this, of the last 28 hours, I’ve only slept for a
maximum of about 2 of them – and neither of them were together, so the Daze
part of the title is apt today.
So the transit day started out pretty cruisey by my usual
standards – only having to be ready to leave for the airport at 6:30 am is new
for me – its generally at silly o’clock in the middle of the night. The transfer guys ( The Pickup Guys) were
here on time and because we were the only passengers at that time, we got a car
to ourselves which felt a bit like royalty.
Actually, despite a one hour trip taking two hours thanks to
peak hour traffic, everything was going so efficiently, I was bracing myself for
the ‘blow’ which must surely come. On
arrival, our check in had just started boarding and we got waived through to a
desk just opened and within 10 mins of being at the airport, we were checked
in, and basically ready to go through to departures.
The time just flew and I cannot remember a trip where this
part didn’t seem to drag out. Before we
knew it though, the same cheerful chatty check in guy was taking our boarding
pass and onto the 747 we meandered. Our
seats were only a row or two from the galley, which we thought would be great
but alas, the constant slamming of doors and trays and crushing of little soft
drink cans drove us to distraction and made sleeping literally impossible. Hence the hour of sleep on the plane ( which
has never happened to me – I’m the one they have to wake to feed) and
subsequent one hour ‘s coma in the room after lunch.
So, not having flown Qantas long haul for over 14 years, it
has its pros and cons. Pros: great departure time, they continuously feed
you, fatter than usual pillows.
Cons: The older plumper
attendants that constantly stick body parts into your face as they bend to
attend to another patron, the lack of floor lighting in the pitch dark to find
the toilet ( so I improvised by grabbing headrests, and the odd tuft of hair of
its occupant to find my sleep-deprived way to the loo) and the fact that there
is zero amount of food choices for a 10 year old palette ( unless of
course, you are a 10 year old and can order it). Worst airline food I’ve encountered bar
none. But only because it almost without
exception had tomato in it ( which I can’t eat) or olives ( and I flat out hate
olives). I’ve never flown and not been
able to find an alternative to my liking – but not today.
Another little tip – if you insist on leaving your shoe
laces untied for the duration of the flight, make sure that you have ALL of
those suckers in the toilet shoebox before you shut the door – because when
that latch slides across slamming it shut, your lace WILL get caught in the door,
and you WILL have to ‘go’ in whatever yoga pose that leaves you in, because to
open the door would be embarrassing – and so is forgetting to flush and rushing
back to do so… I promise I only did that once, and lets face it, there’s a lot
going on in the one little space- it gets harder to remember everything as you
get older.
So I digress….
We arrived at LAX before it actually opens, so had to wait
at the gate until 6;30am by which time a number of other planes arrived. But, not to be outdone, we disembarked in
what surely must be record time and were down in customs before you could blink
– and it filled to capacity in the same blink.
Again, we were lucky and got waved through to a newly opened customs
officer, who cheerfully and swiftly waved us through without finger printing (
I can only assume because I’ve been printed before and DMM is a minor over here
still), and the same with the next guy and our luggage was some of the first to
turn up on the carousel. Amazing. All in just on an hour.
So through the gates we go and found our driver – a Russian
we shall call Boris for the purpose of this exercise - who has a lead foot but
a lovely Lincoln with leather seats in a mini limo-style to take us to the
hotel. At the hotel, our luck continued
with our room being ready to take at 8:30am – which I’ve also never encountered
– and we have an identical room to the one I stayed in 18 months ago, comfy and
clean and a heater which is now blasting away keeping the 7 degrees Celsius at
bay.
We spent a few hours wandering through the shops in Downtown
Disney which was a few hours short of what I was hoping for, but unfortunately,
DMM is unwell, and shopping was proving more than she could muster the fortitude for– despite it being she who
bought the first couple of bags with
Disney and LEGO written on them – a combination of extreme jetlag and a panic
attack has floored her.
Anyhoo, I DID manage a Wetzel dog for lunch ( my absolute
fav) and a trip into Marcellines for a red velvet mickey shaped cake pop, and will
head back to DTD solo tonight because I am sure that the ‘one hour nap’ that
DMM is still having some 3 hours later will continue on until morning at this
point. She’s wrecked and hopefully the
sleep will boost her resolve for tomorrows visit to
‘the-makeup-company-that-must-not-be-named’.
And tonight, I’m going to buy a hoodie… I am not good with
the cold.
The flying and apparently boxing Kangaroo we flew to LA in.
Millie selfying in the Lego Store with Gandalf
The gorgeous goodies at Marcellines candy store - traditionally, I buy a 'little something' every day
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