I never thought i would end up goin to the US while i was still young.Being a simple Pilbara boy that loves to roll around in the red dust(Iron ore) i thought that we would go one day in the distant future with my young family once the kids were old enough. Well here i am writing a blog, its feburary 19th 2011 4am American Western time, in my cozy hotel room in LA cause i cant sleep. I can still remember when we were planning for this trip. It was really a spur of the moment thing because me and karisse were still planning our Bali wedding for 2012. We blame/thank our best friends Steve and Kara for influencing us into goin on this trip of life time.
When we booked this trip it seemed so far away. we planned on things we wanted to do and see. This Country has so much to offer.We were stoked with the price we paid for this trip. It was alot cheaper then what we were expecting. The months after we booked the tickets seem to drag for me. maybe it was work or maybe it was hedland but the big day couldn't come quick enough. The 2 weeks before this trip it didnt really seem real that i was going. I was on call for one of those weeks. I f*^ken hate call it always leaves me on edge cause when u think u can relax u get that damn call. At least im not in town doing there calls......
But enough about the prologue to this trip this blog is going to be about a great trip to the USA. Hopefully i will try and post something everyday.Doing this blog will keep the memory fresh in my mind and it might even inform some of the people out there.
So when it finally comes down to leaving Hedland, there is a scent of doubt in the air as to whether the weather(LOL) was gonna let us leave. Hedland generally doesn't receive much rain throughout the years, but this year has been different. For the last two months hedland has got more rain then it got for the last 3 years i think. all i know is that La Nina effect is definitely making things more wet and its making the stuff on the ground green(SHOCK!!!). Got my man tom to drop us off to airport(thanks bro) then when go to check in our plane is delayed for 2hrs due to mechanical faults or something. It wouldve been nice if Virgin contacted us before hand instead of making us wait at that 3rd rate airport. Once we finally got on the plane,the ride was a little rough. We made it in one piece and we got Fiona to pick us up(thx Fi). We hung around Perth for abit and we gave Alira over to her Nanna and Pop for her holiday( Thanks Tam and Dave Love u heaps). It wasn't as hard as i thought it would be to depart from our daughter maybe cause i know she is in the best pair of hands we have in Perth. Its still early days so we will see how i feel later. A trip like this we couldn't really take alira because she is still to young and there is a lot of traveling we are doin between states. One day when she is older we will go again.
So from Perth we go to Sydney. If u ever have to wait at either of these airports i strongly suggest u join the Qantas club so you can access the lounges. it makes the waiting so much more comfortable. I got a little bit starstruck when we seen Women Surf Legend Layne Beachley. At first i didn't really acknowledge it was her till i looked the second time after she walked past and Kara asked if that was her. true story... Also Karisse Scored a real Guess Handbag in duty free for $70 down from $230
The plane going to LA was the mighty Qantas A380. It is a massive plane and we weren't lucky enough to get a free upgrade but the cattle class weren't full to capacity so we were able to spread out and get some sleep along the way. i think i got a fair bit of sleep, apparently it was pretty turbulent. No i didnt join the Mile high club....
We got into LA at 9:50 Local time . i didnt realise how big LAX is. Its a fair bit of a walk from the plane thru to immigration. I got asked the standard entry questions and the lady quizzed me as to why Ive been to Indonesia so much. I was gonna be a smart ass and say something stupid, cause i reckon i would've ended up in Guantanamo... Try explaining to Americans that its cheaper to travel to Bali then it is to travel to Perth. We got our bags no problems and we even got through customs easy. I soon as we got outside the terminal for our shuttle to the hotel, it was bloody cold. Poor steve and kara were both wearing shorts while me and karisse had our jumpers and long pants. The cold breeze was like the old freo doctor u get in perth. We got on the shuttle and it took us like 30mins to actually drive out of the airport cause of the size of the place and traffic. The road surface of the freeway here is shocking, we were constantly bouncing up and down.
The one thing you notice here is the size of the city. Its friggin huge. Downtown looked pretty interesting. The staples center is all dressed up for NBA all star weekend. Tried getting tickets but we didn't want to pay $1000 for seats in the bleachers. Finally got to the hotel, we are staying at the Comfort inn on West sunset blvd. Its a small hotel but its pretty cozy. We were told our rooms wouldn't be ready till 3pm local so we dropped the bags off and started heading down west sunset blvd. There is a very strong Hispanic/Mexican influence here. The buildings,signs and people here all Mexican. Not a bad thing i guess. we found a little cafe and had a great little lunch. i cant believe how cheap the food here is. The staff were very attentive and they even balanced the wobbly table. Headed back to the hotel got into our rooms and just chilled out and ordered pizza from dominos. and so ends the longest wait....
Today we r going to do the big tour around Hollywood, downtown LA and even Beverly Hills. Just for the girls we might even get some shopping done
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