Arrival

Well, we're finally here! VA1 left Sydney on time, and arrived in Los Angeles on time 14 hours later. The flight was quite smooth with just a couple of bumpy patch-es. Unfortunately no sleep, as we were against a bulkhead which was one of the toilets. Sue managed to watch 4 movies, whilst I played games or just listened to my music, as my headset didn't work and my reading light was directed at Sue's space!

Clearing immigration was not a big problem, but different to what we had been led to believe from the website. The completion at home of an ESTA form was a waste of time - no-one wanted to se
e it, and the electronic passport counflted for nought.

We stayed overnight at the Holiday Inn Express LAX, once we had found out that we had to phone to be picked up by their shuttle - half an hour after we had been waiting in the humidity. We had a shower then ate at a Sizzlers. After returning to our room for a short nap, Sue developed a migraine, so we had some consternation about that until the morning.

After breakfast we packed and caught the shuttle back to terminal 5, for our flight to New York. We checked in our bags and proceeded in a queue to security, where we had to take off our shoes, belts and hold our wallets and passports as we went through the full-body scanner. We then had about an hour for a coffee and to buy some lunch.

Boarding went smoothly, and our seats were forward of the wing, but on opposite sides of the aisle. The flight went well, flying over Las Vegas (Nevada), Utah, Colorado (South of Denver & north of Cripple Creek - for Buffy Sainte-Marie fans), Nebraska, Ioha (Cedar Falls), Wisconsin (s of Madison), Lake Michigan (n of Chicago), Michigan (Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, Ann Arbor), Michigan (Detroit),Lake Erie (n of Cleveland), Pennsylvania and New Jersey (Newark).

4 1/2 hours later we were in NY, at the JFK aiport. Another 11/2 hours and a taxi ride later we were in the center of Manhattan, at our hotel near Times Square. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant around the corner in 9th Avenue. Neither of us slept well, so we're a bit jet-lagged today. However we're going to meet an acquaintance of Sue for Lunch at 1:00 on 42nd Streeet.

The expereince begins!