Back To The Future

Now as a kid it was a great idea to travel back in time, but today was to be my lucky day. [Cue music from back to the future].

We left New Zealand bound for Los Angeles at 19:15 on the 19th January 2012. We arrived in Los Angeles International at 10:30am on the same day. That's right we had travelled back in time. Ok now that I have let the kid in me out, I'll continue with the trip.

So we arrived bleary eyed after being on the go since leaving Akaroa the day before. We had a total of 14 hours to kill in LA, great!

Due to the joyous USA security there were no lockers or luggage storage at the airport. So after speaking to some locals, we boarded a bus and headed to the nearby hotels, who may be able to store them. After some sweet taking at the reception of the local Marriott hotel, I persuaded them to take our bags for the day, so we didnt have to lug them round - genius!

We took the local bus in to downtown Santa Monica, a short 40 min bus ride away. We had decided to stay away from the proper downtown LA, as there was soo much to see, but little time to do it and it all being spread out. Not also for the fact that we didn't want to rent a car or pay stupid taxi fares for one day. We had also heard of the infamous LA traffic, which would not be a good idea whilst trying to get back to the airport that evening.

We hit Santa Monica and found a nice little eatery for a proper American breakfast. I am still unsure about the whole maple syrup on eggs and bacon, but hey it was the closest thing to golden syrup so I gave it a whirl. (to be honest I'd eat most things if covered in golden syrup).

After this we headed for the beach and strolled along the pier overlooking the stereo-typical American beach. All really picturesque and just nice not to be stuck in the airport terminal for an eternity.

Little fact for you; The pier is the official end of Route 66, that runs from Chicago to Santa Monica.


 


Coffee & Shopping LA Style !



We strolled on the beach and felt rather odd at being in America, when we were only in new Zealand the day before. Also I think the lack of sleep had started to kick in. It was also strange to have the sun setting at about 4:30pm, where in NZ we had been used to long evening. So with that we headed for the shops and get a coffee to perk us up. We also opted to buy a Spanish phrase book, as at this point we still had the grand total of zero Spanish between us.



Santa Monica was a lovely place and a great place to travel to for the day if you ever have time to kill at LAX. We got a bus back toward LAX, collected out bags and went to catch the last of our 3 flights. We did encounter some minor problems at check in and had to use our Spanish phrase book (whilst in the USA!). But they were all sorted and we checked through security to go to our gate. The flight was at 00:35, so the last part of the wait felt like an age. We were both really tired but knew that we had a few more hours yet, before we could conk out on the plane. Needless to say as soon as we were on board and before we had taken off, we we're both away with th fairies.



Next stop....El Salvador