Last Stop, Full circle back to Los Angeles again

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Last Stop, Full circle back to Los Angeles again.

This morning it really was misty, not cloud and most of the shoreline had vanished beneath it.

After breakfast in the hotel we took a stroll along the seafront, watched some Californian ground squirrels, including quite a lot of babies, scrabbling about in the rocks where they have their burrows and we likened them more to rats than our tree squirrels.

There were not many people about at 10am when we took a stroll along the wooden pier, the longest in California. Just a few people fishing or strolling like ourselves. As we walked back the place started to liven up a little. Maybe the Californians are accustomed to the daily mist and don’t get going until the sun burns it off.

We got on our way mid morning. Not far to go, just 70 miles to Los Angeles. We took the scenic route again, back on Route 1 along the coast instead of using one of the freeways directly into central LA.

We came to Malibu first. The national park just before the main area has been recently decimated by fire. We had seen it on the news just a month before we came away and noted that Route 1 was closed for a while. We could still smell the smoke in the air as we passed the blackened hillsides.

Malibu was still under heavy mist as we went through though the splendid beach was starting to fill with eager sun-worshippers. Many were school age so we concluded that California schools are now on their summer holiday.

I had hoped we might see some Brown Pelicans when in Ventura as they are common in this area but hadn’t so we were delighted when several flew over us.

Malibu is a rather exclusive area with some very expensive residences tucked away behind high fences and gates or built up in the hills with views across to the sea.

A few miles further along we came to Santa Monica and Mrs Garmin threw a serious wobbly by insisting Bob kept to the right lane. He did and found himself on a one-way road straight into a $12 car park. No way out except through the payment barrier and just to make sure a police car was parked beside that. We paid up and decided to use our dollars and strolled along the incredible expanse of sand which makes up Santa Monica beach and then along the wooden pier which is home to a fun fair. All very jolly, colourful and no hardship at all to waste an hour strolling there. Especially as the sun had completely burned off the mist and it was another glorious blue-sky day.



Next stop Venice or it would have been if Mrs Garmin hadn’t messed up again and taken us to the town instead of the beach. We did find Venice beach ourselves but decided not to spend another $9 parking so carried on straight to the hotel.

Last night’s stop is at the Westin Airport Hotel which is excellent, certainly as far as airport hotels go. Had a most aggravating and frustrating 1 hour+ when at 15.35 we attempted to book in for our flight and reserve our seats. BA only let you do this 24 hours before and even have a countdown clock to let you know when checkin has started. (We could reserve the seats earlier but only for payment of £28 per person which we consider to be a penny pinching rip-off so refuse to pay it especially as they don’t guarantee to honour your selections !).

At 15.35 precisely we logged into our booking on the laptop, making use of the free wifi in the lobby. Got as far as the “you can now book in” only to be told when we tried that it wasn’t possible. Tried several times to no avail so phoned BA. Passed on to 3 different people who had no idea why we were having a problem so we gave up. Dreading the arrival of the mobile phone bill which includes that call !

Tried to book in on the mobile phone but got a certificate error.

We then tried the hotel booking service but that refused to let us into the site, as it didn’t like it. Grrrrrrr. Even paid for an upgraded internet service but that failed as well. Almost tearful by this stage.

We went back to the lobby as could only use the free wifi on the laptop there and at last BA let us in to choose seats and book in. Problem. No way to print our boarding pass. We tried the business centre again but that still reported a certificate error so the hotel receptionist got in on her computer and printed them for us.

We conclude that the guest access internet connection has a dodgy firewall which doesn’t like the BA book-in screen we needed to use. What a waste of an hour and a half.

Only just in time to catch the sun before it vanished behind the tall hotel building so we could have a swim in the pool. We find that when the sun is out it is really quite hot here (75 degrees this afternoon) but no sun equals unexpectedly chilly.

We had a lovely dinner in the hotel restaurant, special dinner out for our 18^th Wedding Anniversary today– though actually we have eaten out every day for the last fortnight.

Tomorrow we will have to sort out the mess that our bags have got into after a fortnight living out of suitcases. Should have an hour or so by the pool before we need to check out, leave for the airport for our flights back to London.



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