Spending the night in LA

August 10th ,2009 (a repeat day for us since we crossed the international date line)


We have arrived back in the USA but are spending the night in LA. The trip back was not as smooth as going down…let me explain.
We got up at 5 AM Monday (Sunday 3 PM at home) to get ready for our return. Planned to be in the lobby by 6:50 for our airport shuttle pickup. Just before we went down we had a mini panic attack as the voucher for the shuttle (which was already paid for) was not with our papers. Donna had packed a bunch of papers in the bottom of her suitcase the night before. SO we had to unpack one of the suitcases and hope it was there…yes it was but we had to quickly repack, as the shuttle doesn’t wait for anyone. The shuttle came a few minutes early and we were ready. The vehicle this time was a new mini-bus, but we should have taken some cues as to how the ride was going to go by our first transaction with the driver. He opened the mini trailer door (similar to our mini van back door and held it up while we loaded our own suitcases…normally the driver takes your bags and does it all. He commented how he or someone had to hold the door up as the door doesn’t stay up and he doesn’t want to get hit in the head again. During the ride he kept playing with the radio and his language was not always the most appropriate.
We leave our hotel and head for the next pickup. Remember how we told you how different driving in Melbourne was, well we had another experience today. Thank goodness the traffic wasn’t too bad yet. He couldn’t find the next hotel, couldn’t remember how to get to there so he did a few U-turns (with a trailer behind him) right n the middle of downtown. At the first stop we moved further back in the van. A few times during our trip we had to hold on for dear life. He drove quickly and rather erratically through Melbourne. By the time we got to the airport, we both were relieved but felt a little nauseous.
Getting through security and onto the plane went well. They announced that we were getting ready to take off. It was a little warm in the plane so some people turned their vents on. There was young college girl ahead of us who was complaining of being warm, opened her vent and the next thing we knew she was getting sick. Thank goodness she wasn’t the young girl sitting next to us. We continued to taxi down the runway when an announcement came on that there was some mechanical difficulties. To make a long story short, we there was a problem with the wheels for the landing gear (they wouldn’t straighten and lock). They tried a few fixes on the runway but then needed to taxi back to the gate for the technicians to look at it. After about a 2 hour delay, everything was set to go. In the meantime the girl ahead of us got sick another time. The Qantas staff attended to her and did ask her if she was going to be okay to fly. She said it was what she ate and that she had gotten extremely warm. She thought she would be fine. They reminded her that it would be about 15 hours before we saw land and that once in the air there was no turning back. She did travel and we are glad to report that there were no more episodes.
The plane back was a bigger one than the one going down. Again it was full and filled with people of all ages, especially children under the age of 2. We had one child 2 rows behind us who was quite distressed, he didn’t just cry, he screamed for the first half of the flight. I think his ears were bothering him. We felt sorry for him but the parents never got up and walked around to help with discomfort. Thank goodness for the headphones, video games and movies. They helped to decrease the noise and distracted us from the activity going on around us. Yes Donna had a working TV this time. She rarely watched it but played the various games, FreeCell, Centipede, Crossword Puzzle, Chinese Checkers,….these kept us busy for many hours. We didn’t sleep much on this flight. The flight itself was even smoother than going down.
We arrived in LA 2 hours later than scheduled which meant we missed our connecting flight. The staff at Qantas were very organized and easy to work with. We were not the only flight that was delayed, so was the one from Sydney. While we were traveling to LA they were busy setting up alternatives. The nice thing was that you actually had some choices…go with what they had scheduled or look at alternatives, Well the itinerary that they had for us meant arriving in JFK at around midnight today but then we would have to figure out how to get home at that time since we would miss our Rochester flight.
The final decision was to stay in LA Monday and then fly out on American at 6AM Tuesday. They booked us right to Rochester via Chicago. We were lucky as we had made our own flights to Rochester, which means they weren’t required to help us get from NY to home. The staff at Qantas were very accommodating. So we are scheduled to arrive in Rochester at 4 PM Tuesday.
We were both tired so we just took it easy here in LA. Not enough time to do anything as we didn’t get to the hotel until about 1PM. We ate lunch and dinner here and did take a small walk. We are at the LAX Hilton, but nothing to do in close proximity. Guess we will have to come back for a longer visit.
Well we are going to try and get some sleep before the 3 AM wake up call. At least the trip got broken up some.
Oh by the way we played 2 games of Snookers last evening. On the first game we both improved our scores. The second game was even better for Donna but she still got beat.
Remember how we said the food was pricey in Australia, there is one thing we found cheaper…massages. Jack had 2 of them while we were there. One in Sydney and one in Cairns. Each was about 40 minutes and only $15 each.
　
　
August 10th ,2009 (a repeat day for us since we crossed the international date line)
We have arrived back in the USA but are spending the night in LA. The trip back was not as smooth as going down…let me explain.
We got up at 5 AM Monday (Sunday 3 PM at home) to get ready for our return. Planned to be in the lobby by 6:50 for our airport shuttle pickup. Just before we went down we had a mini panic attack as the voucher for the shuttle (which was already paid for) was not with our papers. Donna had packed a bunch of papers in the bottom of her suitcase the night before. SO we had to unpack one of the suitcases and hope it was there…yes it was but we had to quickly repack, as the shuttle doesn’t wait for anyone. The shuttle came a few minutes early and we were ready. The vehicle this time was a new mini-bus, but we should have taken some cues as to how the ride was going to go by our first transaction with the driver. He opened the mini trailer door (similar to our mini van back door and held it up while we loaded our own suitcases…normally the driver takes your bags and does it all. He commented how he or someone had to hold the door up as the door doesn’t stay up and he doesn’t want to get hit in the head again. During the ride he kept playing with the radio and his language was not always the most appropriate.
We leave our hotel and head for the next pickup. Remember how we told you how different driving in Melbourne was, well we had another experience today. Thank goodness the traffic wasn’t too bad yet. He couldn’t find the next hotel, couldn’t remember how to get to there so he did a few U-turns (with a trailer behind him) right n the middle of downtown. At the first stop we moved further back in the van. A few times during our trip we had to hold on for dear life. He drove quickly and rather erratically through Melbourne. By the time we got to the airport, we both were relieved but felt a little nauseous.
Getting through security and onto the plane went well. They announced that we were getting ready to take off. It was a little warm in the plane so some people turned their vents on. There was young college girl ahead of us who was complaining of being warm, opened her vent and the next thing we knew she was getting sick. Thank goodness she wasn’t the young girl sitting next to us. We continued to taxi down the runway when an announcement came on that there was some mechanical difficulties. To make a long story short, we there was a problem with the wheels for the landing gear (they wouldn’t straighten and lock). They tried a few fixes on the runway but then needed to taxi back to the gate for the technicians to look at it. After about a 2 hour delay, everything was set to go. In the meantime the girl ahead of us got sick another time. The Qantas staff attended to her and did ask her if she was going to be okay to fly. She said it was what she ate and that she had gotten extremely warm. She thought she would be fine. They reminded her that it would be about 15 hours before we saw land and that once in the air there was no turning back. She did travel and we are glad to report that there were no more episodes.
The plane back was a bigger one than the one going down. Again it was full and filled with people of all ages, especially children under the age of 2. We had one child 2 rows behind us who was quite distressed, he didn’t just cry, he screamed for the first half of the flight. I think his ears were bothering him. We felt sorry for him but the parents never got up and walked around to help with discomfort. Thank goodness for the headphones, video games and movies. They helped to decrease the noise and distracted us from the activity going on around us. Yes Donna had a working TV this time. She rarely watched it but played the various games, FreeCell, Centipede, Crossword Puzzle, Chinese Checkers,….these kept us busy for many hours. We didn’t sleep much on this flight. The flight itself was even smoother than going down.
We arrived in LA 2 hours later than scheduled which meant we missed our connecting flight. The staff at Qantas were very organized and easy to work with. We were not the only flight that was delayed, so was the one from Sydney. While we were traveling to LA they were busy setting up alternatives. The nice thing was that you actually had some choices…go with what they had scheduled or look at alternatives, Well the itinerary that they had for us meant arriving in JFK at around midnight today but then we would have to figure out how to get home at that time since we would miss our Rochester flight.
The final decision was to stay in LA Monday and then fly out on American at 6AM Tuesday. They booked us right to Rochester via Chicago. We were lucky as we had made our own flights to Rochester, which means they weren’t required to help us get from NY to home. The staff at Qantas were very accommodating. So we are scheduled to arrive in Rochester at 4 PM Tuesday.
We were both tired so we just took it easy here in LA. Not enough time to do anything as we didn’t get to the hotel until about 1PM. We ate lunch and dinner here and did take a small walk. We are at the LAX Hilton, but nothing to do in close proximity. Guess we will have to come back for a longer visit.
Well we are going to try and get some sleep before the 3 AM wake up call. At least the trip got broken up some.
Oh by the way we played 2 games of Snookers last evening. On the first game we both improved our scores. The second game was even better for Donna but she still got beat.
Remember how we said the food was pricey in Australia, there is one thing we found cheaper…massages. Jack had 2 of them while we were there. One in Sydney and one in Cairns. Each was about 40 minutes and only $15 each.