QF93 left Melbourne about 45 minutes late but arrived right on time in Los Angeles, at just after 7:00am today. We were at the gate and being deplaned just after 7:15 and I was through immigration, baggage claim and customs and in the rental car shuttle bus by 8:00am. That has to be a record!
The seat next to me remained empty the whole flight, which meant I could dump pillows, blankets etc. there whenever I needed to get up to go to the loo. We were served two meals — I had the roast rump of lamb on a pumpkin puree for dinner, and scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast. There was a snack bar too, where we could help ourselves during the flight.
Despite the fully flat bed in Business Class, I still didn’t sleep, though I felt my eyes closing about 1 hour out of LA… Wish it had been earlier! Instead, I watched 3 movies, read about 30 PDF articles I had accumulated on my laptop, and almost completed a novel.
The movies I saw were: Up in the Air (starring George Clooney; pretty good); The Blind Side (with Sandra Bullock; absolutely brilliant performance from her and she deserved that Oscar; great story; I’ll be more than happy to see it a few more times); My One and Only (with Renee Zellwegger; don’t bother; waste of space).
My rental car from Alamo is an ‘Intermediate SUV’ — a Ford Escape. It was cheaper than a standard or mid-size! Go figure. It was around $40 per day and no drop-off fee at Orange County Airport, and I got that deal via
priceline.com.
I was in Newport Beach just after 9:30 am and spent the day with my uncle, catching up on some sleep, and generally just hanging in the heat (it was close to 100F today). Tomorrow I’m off to the San Diego Zoo with my good friends, Sue and Dave. Can’t wait! Though I hope it’s nowhere near as hot…
BTW, what’s with the St Patrick’s Day thing here? My uncle cooked corned beef and cabbage, then in the evening his neighbour came over with more corned beef and cabbage! Is that even an Irish dish????
Rhonda Bracey: At Random 