To here! (AKA LA)

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The first day - we get to Heathrow on time, courtesy of my Dad (although I was a bag of nerves - I'm not the worlds best traveller) and we go through the DIY check in desks at the virgin desk - which actually sounds pretty naff but it was good as you scan your passports and it prints out your boarding passes and then you check in your lugguage with the person on the desk. The rest of it is all the normal airport stuff. We board and then join the queue with all the other planes waiting to take off - I knew Heathrow was busy but this was silly! We waited 45 mins just to get on the run way! but anyway, nothing much to report on the flight - plane was larger than the cheap Ryan air planes I'd been used to recently and had 2 aisles and a TV in the back of the headrest of the seat in front. Ended up watching Wall-E, Kung Fu Panda, Family Guy, The Simpsons and could chart the progress of the flight on the interactive map that you could load up - I was impressed! I managed to doze for the first hour and a bit but then got woken up by some horrible turbulence as we were going over Iceland (we went in a big loop over Iceland, Alaska, in over Canada and then North Western US). It was not nice stuff - throwing you about the place. I kept listening out to the cabin crew as they were still laughing and joking so it couldn't have been too bad but managed to put both of us off our in flight meal (but that wasn't hard - they're not renowned for their fabulousness are they??).

The rest of the 11 hour flight passed in a blur - watching easy TV and then dozing again and finally we land (after what can only be described as the longest descent in history - Paul was doing his nut as he HATES landings with a passion). Then passporty/visa type stuff and we head outside - the heat just hits us! When Dad dropped us off at Heathrow, it was 4 degrees, whereas now, it was 25 degrees and glorious sunshine! Heaven! However, we must have picked the only taxi outside the airport that a) didn't have air conditioning and b) didn't even have windows in the back that you could properly wind down - just the crappy ones with the plastic hinge near the back that open the whole window about an inch. So combined with this extreme heat, the lack of air, the empty stomach which has felt nauseous on and off for the flight, extreme tiredness and the fact that the little dude driving the taxi would put his foot down one minute and then slammed on the brakes the next meant that my first glimpses of LA were not seen with a fresh mind - although I did see the HOLLYWOOD sign on the way to the hotel.

The hotel, when we finally arrived, was an excellent choice made by Paul - very large room with fridge, microwave, air con, wireless internet, big tv. Amazingly, we checked in to our room at 4pm LA time (midnight in English time) and then went for a walk outside to get some water, ordered pizza and went to bed about 7pm LA time which I thought was pretty good considering how knackered we were! Still, at least we can be up bright and breezy tomorrow to sample the breakfast.

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