Day One

MP3 track of the day - Oasis - Whatever

Weather: Hot

Waking up at 5:45am from another bad nights sleep I got ready for the 7am shuttle bus to Heathrow. All went well and I boarded my flight to Los Angeles. On the plane I watched two films including the new Robin Hood (a good film when you realise that the film is set before Robin becomes the Robin Hood each five year old boy in the UK knows). During the flight I had two meals at funny times of the day; by midday USA time I had eaten my breakfast, lunch and tea ... everything felt a little weird and I was a little time disoriented.

Once at LA airport I left the plane to be greeted by a sea of people trying to filter themselves through US Immigration. An hour of queuing later I had made it through part one of immigration; I then went to pick up my baggage and after another 30 minutes made it through part two of US immigration. I had arrived at the airport at 12:55pm and left almost three hours later due to the stupid immigration system the US has (and all this for three days!).

At least I wouldn't have to worry about getting to my hostel as I had pre-paid for a 'Super Shuttle' ride to my hostel through STA (my travel agent said it would be a good idea). I got on a shuttle and off we went...

... I knew it couldn't last, I knew soon enough I would have to pay for something I either didn't want or had already paid for and this was it. The driver (who was miserable) asked me for a voucher which the STA hadn't given me ... all I had was my itinerary. I was sat next to a lovely woman who tried to help me out by trying to call 'Super Shuttle' HQ to see if they had any reference number for my booking. When that didn't work she also tried to ring the local STA travel agent here in LA, but as today is a holiday there was no joy there. So with no option I had to pay the $16.00 for the trip that I had already paid (I'm going to get my money back ... after this blog I'll be emailing STA and letting them know exactly what I think of there 'good idea').

Anyway I'm at my hostel (which also needed a voucher but I managed to sort it without the voucher) and my room is nice ... I'm on the ground floor and a sliding door outside is open in my dorm due to the heat, luckily I have my 'packsafe' as all is well.

I don't think I'm going to get anything else to eat today as I've already had three meals today, think I'm just going to go to sleep ... tomorrow, Beverly Hills!

Toodle Pip