LA LA land

Up at 4am and at Townsville airport by 5am or so.

My last moment in Townsville at the airport.

TICKETING
Take off at 5.55am with Qantas to Brisbane, time there for a coffee and duty free shopping (bought classic Vera Wang perfume and an 8GB SD card for my camera) then boarded flight for Los Angeles.

At check in at Qantas counter in Townsville, the customer service dude was surprised at my online details as I evidently was the first person – ever - he has not had to override anything with regards to my USA entrance details. Don’t know what was going on there …

Anyhoo, at the TSV self serve check in I allocated myself one of the last few seats for the LA flight and selected the back row seat, on the aisle, no-one allocated to the seat next to me, no seats on the other side of the aisle, and just an emergency exit door. Thought I had scored well to get the only seat with no-one next to me out of a totally full plane. Then at the Brisbane check in for LA (had to get another boarding pass) the customer service dude there offered me a better seat. I said that I hadn’t seen anything better on the console, but he said he could help me. Bastard! Turns out he moved me one and a half rows forward to the only other seat that was available (and I rejected) when I had pre-selected mine earlier. This one had someone next to me, people across aisle AND no foot room in front as it had the entertainment console right in the middle of the floor. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. And shooting filthy looks all flight at the ring-in who scored my seat didn’t make me feel better either - bet he was a mate of the Qantas dude.

THE LONG-HAUL FLIGHT
After a delay in Brisbane takeoff because the auto baggage scanner broke and luggage had to be hand scanned (so the story goes) I had another sleepless 12 hours or more – but did get served dinner, wine, and breakfast and watched a few movies. And Wendy and Leigh, I was very disappointed there was no hot face washer offered.

LOS ANGELES AIRPORT
Finally, arrived in LA at 7am Wednesday 18 May (crossed the international dateline) and it took nearly two hours to get through customs. First had to get into a long queue to get passport checked, fingerprints scanned, and ID photo taken. Then pick up baggage and get in even longer queue to get myself and baggage through customs a second time.

Had a coffee at the airport to wake up a bit – and was surprised to see only one or two shops etc at the arrivals hall. Then checked out how to get into LA from airport. Glad I didn’t pre-purchase a shuttle bus ticket on the flight for $38, or from the Qantas website before I left for about $13.

Paid just $7 for a direct bus (see piccie) to get to Union Central transport hub and then 35c for a DASH (inner city) bus to get to hotel. Actually didn’t pay the 35c as I wasn’t told (called Metro info first) that I needed correct change so some kind passenger paid the 35c as I only had notes.

UPDATE: Since writing this, I noticed the Metro train had a stop at the domestic airport and it appears there is a shuttle between the international and domestic airports, so worth checking that out next time for even cheaper fare.

This piccie below was taken on the bus in from the airport. That's Downtown LA in the distance.

ACCOMMODATION
Luckily, my twin bed shared room at the Stay Hotel on South Main St was ready so I could check in straight away (by now it was 11am) rather than having to wait until 3pm. This is the main reception for the building:

But, this is the actual lobby for the bit that is leased to the outfit I booked with (room is still accessible via the grand entrance though):

Unpacked a bit, chatted with Sth Korean room-mate, then had a fantastic hot shower, got PJs on was in bed by 12noon. Woke up about 5.30pm and had another shower to wash hair. Have to share the shower room with about 10 other rooms, but there is a toilet and basin in each room. For $26 a night with brekkie supplied, one can’t complain. And it is very clean, comfy, and totally without bedbugs! I had the bottom bunk.

At the time of writing this it is 10pm on Wednesday 18 May (3pm Thursday Townsville time) and fire engine sirens are roaring down the road every 30 minutes or so and lots of traffic noises.

FOOD
Just came back from braving the interesting night life (lots of vagrants etc) in my quest for junk food. I found a quite tasty grilled chicken burger with a huge slab of marinated capsicum. Bit daunted by the thought of it, but it was one of the tastiest junk burgers I have had for a while.

AND THEN ...
Off to bed soon and then hit Hollywood and Rodeo Drive tomorrow with my room-mate.

I’ll update again tomorrow night, but not sure how easy it will be to get to the internet again for the next four days or so after that while I drive the motor home from LA to San Francisco. Yep, I scored one for $1 a night, for four nights and a sweet $200 for fuel thrown into the deal.

Bye, Mandy