The journey begins

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I know there is a real danger of making blog entries far too long so I'll try and just give you the highlights.

After an emotional departure from Heathrow I arrived at LAX to have by bags pulled apart my customs as they seemed to refuse to believe that all the luggage I had was mine and mostly clothing!

I spent 10 really relaxing days with Chloe, Graeme and Seren, Graeme was working during the week, so I got to spend some quality time with Chloe and Seren seeing how they spend their days in sunny California. Seren really has changed since I saw her last in October 2006. Running around, really chatty and a very clever little lady. I am a very, very proud Godfather!!

Graeme and I went to see a couple of major league baseball games at Dodger Stadium which were awesome.

On the weekend we took a road trip to San Diego, home of Ron Burgundy and the setting for what is surely one of the greatest comedy films of all time, Anchor Man! We stopped off for breakfast in a cafe on a beautiful beach about 45 minutes from Santa Monica en route to San Diego. Unfortunately we got stuck in outrageous traffic and arrived late afternoon. We checked into a hotel in La Jolla (pronounced La Hoyer) and headed down to a very cool beach at the end of the road. Being so close to the border it was only right to sample some of the local cuisine at the Mexican restaurant over the road from the hotel. I stuck to the beer but Graeme had a top shelf Margarita. That was the end of Saturday!

On the Sunday we drove down to Old San Diego but due to the popularity of the place and a real lack of parking spaces we spent only half an hour there. Then more parking issues meant us abandoning our plans and heading back to the same beach from Saturday at La Jolla. On the way home we were hounded by more traffic - bugger!
So my time in LA over it was time to head to LAX for the final leg of the journey to Auckland. Breezed through security and decided I needed beer to help me sleep on the flight. A mere 5 pints of American piss later and it was time to board. With no chance of sleeping I thought I'd remind myself of why I was moving to NZ and watched all 3 LOTR back to back which killed 9 hours of the flight!

On arrival I had to explain to the customs officer how my visa worked as she didn't appear to know, after a few minutes of chatting it through she decided I was a nice chap and let me in to the country - BONUS.

After having my hiking boots disinfected I was allowed to leave the airport where Sherylee and Jason picked me up and whisked me back to their place.

Have been messing around here for a few days now, nothing exciting to report other than I have bought a bike so I can get about, still on the lookout for the ultimate camper within the budget which I think is going to be tough. Made some new friends already and am probably going to try and get some temping work to keep me off the streets until mid August when I'll head down to the South Island for some alpine action.

That's it for now, still a bit longer than I had hoped but the next one should be shorter, promise!

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Comments

[Chloe]

Nice Blog Uncle Eeyore
Nice blog, keep it up, lovely to hear what you're up to. Chloe xxx