USA Roadtrip - Day 0 (Tweed Heads, NSW Australia to Los Angeles, California

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Welcome to another edition of the Spanner family travel blog. On this adventure it's just Kerry & Andrew off to the USA where we are doing two separate back to back road trips where will be visiting another 7 new states. I will try and keep it interesting giving you an idea of what we are up to and adding some photos along the way. Feel free to add some comments to the blog at the bottom and if you are sick of hearing them let me know and I will unsubscribe you from the blog updates. Left home in Tweed Heads around 7am and drove the Mitsubishi Station wagon up to Brisbane and realised why I hate city commuting. A few showers when we left but as soon as we crossed the border into Queensland the sun came out and I was blinded without my sunglasses which were unfortunately destroyed last night whilst getting some last minute super glue repairs. Arrived at BNE and dropped off the car at the Hertz depot which only cost $113- including fuel which was cheaper than getting transfer car up. After checking in and going through security we did the new customs passport scanning which was a breeze (hope we get through US Customs just as quick !). Had a look at Sunglasses Hut and decided to buy a new pair of Ray Bans which I last owned about 20 years ago (see I was ahead if my time). Only cost $200- which I figured wouldn't be any better in the States with currency so low. We grabbed a coffee knowing we are faced with a month of crap coffee and memorised the taste. Boarded on time and we have seats 26J/K which are exit row seats with no window and heaps of legroom. Beauty. Soon enough we were on our way and dinner was served after about an hour. Kerry had Chicken with rice and I had Beef with vegies. Bread roll, a side salad, crackers with cheese, and a white chocolate mousse and we were done. Wow all was good. Haven't airlines improved over the years. Now for movie time. Kerry watched The Dressmaker which she said was ok whilst I watched The Walk about some French dude walking between the World Trade Centre towers in New York back in 1974 which was excellent. Grabbed some snacks later and they gave us an Eggplant Wrap. I would never even try that on land but we are off on an adventure so ho harm done. It was actually quite nice but I did not enjoy spilling the juices on my shirt and shorts. Music selection in the entertainment system is pretty good. Nothing like hearing The Eagles, Bee Gees and Fleetwood Mac on the Bose headphones to relax. I saw another movie later on which was The Intern starring Robert De Niro which was pretty good as well, whilst Kerry watched Malala a documentary. My final TV show was a half hour documentary about Timmy Cahill which has motivated me to read his biography which I have packed away which I got for Christmas. Arrived in LAX at 6am local time and we were a bit unlucky in that our plane was the fifth Australian flight to land in 30 minutes so no fast way through customs this time ! We did hear something about a fast process for people who have travelled to USA recently to avoid all the fingerprint scanning etc but too late to see if we were eligible (maybe next time we will research this better). We both managed to stay awake the whole 12 hours so we get can get our body clocks adjusted. Off now to catch the shuttle bus to the 4 Points Sheraton LAX for some shut eye. Not many pictures on Day 0 (since it is now 1 hour before we left home!) but will add plenty in the days ahead.

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Photos

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Kerry looking forward to the short flight !

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Arrived. Greeted by the customary USA flag and a message from Mr Obama.

Comments

[Bill Oliver]

Coffee
If you pass a Dutch Bros. Coffee Stand in your travels give them a try. I drink Black Coffee, I order 4 shots in a Med Size Cup "Americano" Nice and Bold yet Smooth... The Best I have found.