Touchdown in Los Angeles

~ International travel can be quite confusing to the uninitiated. Last night, Tuesday, I uploaded a blog post from Auckland, New Zealand. And now here I am a day later posting another update from Los Angeles, California – and it is still Tuesday night! No wonder international flights leave passengers jet lagged, short tempered, and struggling to adjust to constantly changing time zones.

At 2.02pm local time, New Zealand flight NZ2 touched down at Los Angeles International Airport, otherwise known as LAX. It was the end of another uneventful flight spanning 10,590 kilometres, and eleven long hours from Auckland. All up I’ve spent at least 18 hours travelling (I’m too tired to work out the exact number). Right now as I sit in my Super 8 budget hotel room at LAX, I am delighted I made the decision not to fly through to New York, thereby saving another 6-8 hours of flying time, and the additional problem of trying to work out what to do after arriving at New York City’s JFK airport at one in the morning. I certainly had no intention of banging on the door of my host’s apartment at 3am or thereabouts asking to be let in.

Never the less, my stopover in L.A., is going to be short, sharp and shiny. Essentially, I’m here to let my body adjust to the change in time zones, so that when I reach New York I will be ready to hit the streets as soon as possible. However, that doesn’t mean I’m going to spend a day and a half sleeping or sitting around watching cable television. Tomorrow I will go on one of those horrible all-in-one bus tours that cover most of the popular attractions around Los Angeles, if only to get a quick overview of the city.

My in-flight movie of choice this time was The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, a film based on the best selling book of the same name by Stieg Larsson. Several members of my family have been urging me to see the film, so as soon as I spotted it on the list of in-flight movies, I knew I had to watch it. I must say though, it was very disconcerting to be watching this film while sitting next to two young women. The film features several explicit sex scenes (even after being modified for air travel), graphic violence, lot’s of images of dead female murder victims, and other violent scenes. I don’t know if anyone else was watching the film over my shoulder, but I certainly felt conspicuous and even self-conscious at various points during the movie. Having said that – it is a very good film, and I’m glad I finally got to see it. Even if it was edited for our in-flight entertainment.

Getting through security at LAX was slow but without incident. After having my fingerprints taken and my face photographed for posterity, I was out on the street looking for my courtesy bus ride to the motel, which duly came and presented me with my first problem – no money for tips. It’s not as if the driver of the bus had to do very much. After all, I am quite capable of humping my own backpack and small case, but of course he wanted to show how efficient and accommodating he could be. So he loaded and unloaded them for me, and clearly expected a tip, which I just as clearly ignored, since I didn’t have any money handy to give him.

If the same driver gives me a ride back to the terminal on Thursday morning, I will make sure he gets an extra bonus for his efforts.

I must say, my energy levels are flagging fast at the moment, so I’m signing off. Time for a long hot shower, and meal at the Greek restaurant just around the corner. Later, gator…

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mike_s_etc/

One Leg Down - One To Go

It's 7.30pm New Zealand time as I write this (5.00pm in Adelaide).

I've just completed the first leg of my trip around the world - Adelaide to Auckland - although I'm not spending any time exploring the 'land of the long white cloud'. There are better times of the year to travel New Zealand, unless you are into winter sports - and I'm not.

Got off to a good start this morning, thanks to Sarah-Jane, my long-suffering niece.

However, I had a moment of panic last night when I went to bed. Literally 30 seconds after I flipped out the light and put my head on the pillow, I suddenly thought: I don't have any printed details for my accommodations in Los Angeles. I had of course, booked a couple of nights in L.A. weeks ago, and I had copied the information into a couple of MS Word documents onto my laptop. But I had forgotten to make a print out of the information.

There I was, trying to get to sleep, while also trying to remember the name of the hotel and coming up with numerous variations of the place, but not the right name. I considered leaving it until this morning, but knew if I left it, I would never get to sleep from having the oversight play on my mind all night. There was nothing to be done but get back out of bed, unpack the laptop, power supply, cables, and pre-paid wifi dongle, boot up the computer, find the files on my machine and finally email them to myself so I could print them off this morning. All that duly done, I packed everything away again, and 50 minutes later hit the pillow once more.

But why did I remember this oversight at almost the last moment? How is it, that my subconscious was able to retrieve this information, when my conscious mind had forgotten these very important files? I have no idea of the answer to those questions, but I'm thankful for the gift. Truly, the human mind/subconscious is a wonderful thing.

In the end, it was an uneventful flight - just the way I like it. My inflight movie of choice was a second viewing of the South African film, District 9. I even got to sit next to the wing exit, which means that in the even of an emergency, I was the person designated to open the escape route onto the wing. Unfortunately, no-one explained if I had to wait until the plane came to a complete stop before I opened the door, or whether I could open it before we hit the ground. Fortunately, I didn't have to find out!

Livingston spent the whole flight tucked into the overhead storage locker - sleeping. At least, that's what I'm assuming. Anyway, he didn't complain too much, and I left him to it. I did take some photographs during the flight, but as yet I can't download them from camera for your viewing pleasure.

They will wait.

Just like I'm waiting for the next stage of the trip: Auckland to Los Angeles.

The first leg was easy. This next one will be a real back breaker, but with a bit of luck I hope to sleep most of the way. See you then, then.

Dr. Livingstone, I Presume?

~ Well, yes – and no.

Meet my travelling companion, Livingstone, named in honour of the Scottish missionary and explorer David Livingstone. Livingstone was created by my niece, Sarah-Jane Cook, a much underrated visual artist who works across many mediums. Since I generally travel on my own, we both thought (that is, Sarah-Jane and I), that it would be good if I had a travel buddy with me on my round the world trip, which begins in less than 24 hours. So, out of all the creatures and characters Sarah-Jane has created, I have selected Livingstone as my boon companion.

Livingstone is already well travelled, having recently come from a tiny planet in the region of a star cluster with the incredibly romantic name of NGC 6752. Seriously! Livingstone was very straight faced and quite sober when he told me this. Apparently, NGC 6752 is somewhere out beyond the Pavo constellation. Unfortunately, he did get caught up in some recent sun spot activity which seems to have caused a major malfunction in his internal guidance mechanisms. The other side effect of this incident is that it has left him with a body mass that has become extremely soft and pliable, giving him the appearance of a soft toy made from heavy ply wool with black beads for eyes – but as Livingstone says, appearances can be deceptive.

In and of itself, his transformation from an inter-galactic, state of the art, robotic alien is not a major drawback, since it means he is now incredibly light and can fit into almost any space, which in turn means I should have no trouble toting him around with me wherever I go.

Assuming I don’t get turned back at Los Angeles International Airport by an overzealous Border and Customs Control officer who thinks it is very strange that a 61 year old should be travelling around the world with a ‘soft toy’ called Livingstone, I look forward to sharing many exciting adventures with you - and of course, with Livingstone.