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Published: April 16th 2007
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Hollywood
Where dreams come true Monday April 16,
We arranged a Lincoln Town car Limousine to take us to Kennedy Airport this morning for our flight to Los Angeles. Check in was a breeze, we didn’t have to take our bags anywhere for scrutiny at all, it just went down the belt, quite different to other airports where it is taken aside and X rayed. We walked to the Admirals Club, which is the American Airlines lounge. It was quite roomy, but all they were serving was coffee, tea, juice and a plain bagel. Paul got on line to read the Sydney Morning Herald but it was blocked, as were all Aussie news sites, the prompt said it was due to due to 'violence and hate' contained on it. Obviously their net guard blankets a lot of sites this way.
Todays flight was operated by an American Airlines Boeing 767-200, and they offer an enhanced First Class 'Flagship Service ' on this route. When boarding time came around, we walked to our gate which was not far away. When we were given the call to board, many passengers were crowded at the boarding area and were abusing us and other passengers as only
The Governator
lets hope he does not come back First Class passengers were called first. Take off was delayed as a lot of passengers were being paged and asked to leave the aircraft, apparently standby passengers. The flight was 100 % full. AA were selling seats right up to departure.
Once in the air we had a few drinks and was served lunch. Appetiser was a bowl of warm nuts and some marinated Bocconcini. A Bowl of vegetable and wild rice soup followed, and then a cart was bought into the aisle from where the Flight attendant mixed salads to order with your choice of dressings. Main course was a cold fillet of Salmon with pasta. Dessert follwed, a warm fudge sundae with nuts. Yummy! Paul watched a few movies from the personal video players that were handed out, while Jeff snoozed and read magazines. later in the flight we were offered warm Chocolate chip or Oatmeal Raisin cookies with glasses of milk...very American.
After arrival in Los Angeles, we picked up our bags and caught the shuttle to the hotel. Jeff was offered a upgrade to a suite for an extra USD $50.00 which we gladly accepted. It was a corner suite with a great view
Room 876
Our room at Sheraton LAX of the airport, and the soundproofing is magnificent, you hardly heard the planes at all.
This time change had really hit the both of us, so we took a snooze. By now it was almost 3pm Los Angeles time, and we had been up since 2am los Angeles time (5am New York time). Paul had been chatting to Ted, a nurse who once worked in Plymouth, UK, and we arranged to meet him later in the evening. Ted drove us through Hollywood and Beverly Hills, and we went to Graumanns Chinese Theater. There we saw lots of Movie stars imprints going back to Mary Pickford and Mel Gibson, and even at 11pm it was crowded. Then Ted drove us back to the hotel.
Tuesday April 17,
Up early, we caught the shuttle to Thrifty for our hire car. After some confusion with being offered an upgrade, only to find it did not have the satellite navigation that we had booked, we drove away in a Jeep which we were very happy with. We drove to Culver City to go to Ross Stores, TJ Maxx and J C Penney. The navigation was so much easier than the one
Jeep
Our hire car from Thrifty we had in England. Ross and TJ Maxx was down on stock but we found what we wanted and got good bargains, handbags were exceptionally priced. We finished up there and went to J C Penney. America as we have said all along is good value for consumer items.
Lunch was at a mexican restaurant we had visited on our last vist, and later on we drove to Santa Monica to see our friends Jeff and Paul for dinner. We had met them on a previous trip here in March 2005. They had a friend over who was cooking for us all, it was stunning huge roll of pork that he had stuffed and roasted with lovely vegetable. It was terrific to catch up and have a good laugh with them.
Wednesday April 18,
We decided to go to the beach at Santa Monica and walk around the Malls, as it was a beautifully sunny and clear day. It is not often you can get a clear day in LA but it has been windy. We decided to not use the freeways as the roads were clear and we could see more that way. Santa Monica is
Santa Monica
3rd Street Promenade a very popular city but it has a large homeless population, It's very sad to see them asking for money constantly, and in the end we just did not make eye contact with them, although we do give a dollar here and there.
We went to shop at Gap, Pottery Barn, and Restoration Warehouse among others. Paul found a book about Picasso’s Dachshund called Lump, and Jeff found a few things for the house. After lunch we walked around just taking in the sun. As this is the very last part of our trip we have been slowing down, as it has been so hectic.
Our hotel, the Sheraton Gateway at LAX, is surrounded by other hotels, and long and short stay carparks, and is right next door is a multi storey car park with a open roof. Also LAX Airport is in full view of our room and the carpark, giving a terrific view of planes approaching, landing and taking off. We decided to go to the rooftop of the carpark next door and take photos of planes about to land. After about 10 minutes of taking photos we were told to leave because we were not
Dinosaur
Display at 3rd Street Promenade authorised to be there. We have even heard that spotters at a local burger restaurant "In and Out Burger" being harassed by police and having their cameras confiscated while taking photos of aircraft.
Back at the hotel to pack for our flight home, we decided to have Mexican for dinner again, as its so good here and someting we never have in Sydney. We found a restaurant in West Hollywood called The Gardens of Taxco, so we called Ted and asked him to come along. There is no menu, the waiter just asks if you want chicken, beef or shrimp and then he explains how dishes are cooked. Everyone has the same appetizers, it's only your main course which will be different, and, as usual, the meals are huge. We were amazed how Ted finished his.
Driving back to the hotel we filled the Jeep up with fuel, and had our last nights sleep in LA.
Thursday April 19,
We returned our car to Thrifty, and sorted out problems with the cars Satellite navigation that we had experienced. As compensation they did not charge us for it and also reduced the upgrade fee we had paid
Our last meal
Mexican Restaurant at West Hollywood, its great value. Lots of Mexcicans go there which was nice. Back at the hotel we finished the last bit of packing, showered, and then we checked out of the hotel and caught the shuttle to the Airport.
There was a delay in Check in due the computers being down, but once it was rectified we were on our way to the Admirals Club lounge. It was nice to see the Qantas Boeing 747-400 there and to know we would have a good flight home.
It has been a wonderful holiday, we have more entries to do LA after we arrive in Sydney.
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