 |
| The Rockies from 40 000 ft |
I left Calgary good and early, but not at the crack of dawn. My flight left at 10:30am so I was there about 8ish. It is a good thing I was there so early, security was backed up and it seemed like it took me forever to get through all the customs crap. The flight down to L.A. was good, it was only 3 hours so it was a decent time and I was able to catch a quick sleep on the plane. I am getting better and better at that sleeping on the plane thing. I arrived in Los Angeles just after 12 in the afternoon, but my flight for New Zealand didn't leave until 9:30pm, so I had lots of time to kill. I collected my bags and went in search of a visitor information booth or someone to tell me if there was anything close enough I could go do while I waited for my flight. I found an information booth and the lady there told me that there was a tour leaving at 1:00pm from the Hilton hotel and that I could take a free shuttle from LAX to the Hilton it was very close. By this time it was now 12:40pm so I ran back down the stairs ("ran" as best I could with my life crammed into two backpacks) and caught the shuttle just in time. Made it to the Hilton at five to one and headed straight for the concierge.
He told me that they could store my bags for me, the tour was $65 and left the hotel at 1:30pm and returned at 6:30pm. Knowing that I had to catch a flight after the tour and that security at LAX may be a little time consuming 6:30pm was the latest I could be. I said to the concierge, "Are you positive it gets back at 6:30?" He said yes, if not before. I told him that it was very important that I not be back later then that because I had to catch a flight, and asked him if he could guarantee it would be back by 6:30pm. He said it absolutely would be and that the shuttle back to the airport ran every 20 mins. So I told him to book it. I waited outside in the LA sun for the bus to pick me up. It did come by at 1:30 and I got on ready for a tour. The driver, Mark, welcomed me and told me just to have a seat. We drove around and picked up a few others before we stopped at the tour company's office. We had to hop off the bus, pay for our ticket then get back on to start the tour. There were also some people waiting at the office already. So I went in to pay for the tour and I asked the woman at the desk I said, " The concierge told me that it will be back by 6:30pm are you sure it will be back by then?" She assured me that it would be fine and that they would be back, but just to make sure she would check with the dispatch guy. She called him over and asked him if they would be back by 6:30pm. He said that he couldn't guarantee to be back on the dot, but it would be shortly thereafter if not. I explained to him that I had a flight and if they didn't think they could make it back then that was fine, I just wouldn't risk it and not take the tour. He assured me that it would be fine and to relax and have a good time on the tour. He took me out to the driver and told him what the deal was too. The driver, Mark, told me he would stop at the hotel and grab my bag and have it on board and drop me off right at the airport after the tour. This put me at ease and they were very focused on accommodating me and the other people on the tour that were catching flights.
 |
| Venice Beach |
After Santa Monica it was off to Beverly Hills. Talk about rich and high end! Beverly Hills was crazy with rich people and designers. We drove up Rodeo Drive but we didn't get out and look around, just from the bus. The streets were lined with designer shops like Louis Vitton, Jimmy Choo, Micheal Kors etc you name it they had it. We even saw a Bugatti parked on Rodeo Dr. Apparently those cars are over a million dollars. On Sunset Blvd we saw a guy driving a red convertible Ferrari with his daughter in her car seat. The people that live in Beverly Hills have no concept of real life. That city is filthy rich! It was fun to see all the famous places though, and the driver pointed out a few places along the way where stars lived, or filmed movies. We drove by a lot of places from the movie Pretty Woman. From Rodeo Dr we headed down Sunset Blvd. This had less high end shops but was littered with places the stars go to hang out, expensive cars and shops and billboards. Tons and tons of billboards. From Sunset Blvd we went on to Hollywood Blvd.
Hollywood Blvd is the busiest craziest street in Hollywood. It is home to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, The Kodak Theatre (Where the Oscars are held), The Chinese Theatre (Where the Stars put their hands and feet prints in cement), and a view point for the Hollywood sign. There were so many people on that street! It definitely made for good people watching, that’s for sure. There were people performing street shows, people dressed up like stars that you can take their picture with for money, and tourists as far as the eye could see. The driver told us where he would be parked and told us to be back in an hour. My first stop was to go see the Hollywood sign and grab something quick to eat. I went up to the viewing platform to see the Hollywood sign, but you could just barely see it. I took a picture but it is in the distance. Some day I will go back and get a closer picture of the Hollywood sign. Then I looked around a bit, and grabbed a bite at Johnny Rockets. It was really good, but expensive in my opinion. However, with that many tourists wandering around you would be crazy not to charge through the nose for stuff like that. Then I walked a good section of the walk of fame. I didn't take pictures of all the stars I saw, for two reasons. One, it would have taken forever, and two, because my camera battery was dying. I walked up past the Kodak theatre and up to the Chinese Theatre, and saw all the hand and foot prints. Walking through the crowd is like walking through an obstacle course! There are people dressed as characters and stars wanting you to take their picture with them, people trying to sell you things, and crazy people just yelling things at passersby. Someday I will go back there and spend more time looking around. Because of the tour we were short on time, and hour is no time at all in Hollywood.
We met back at the bus and we had one last stop at the Los Angeles farmers market. When we arrived it was just after 6:00pm and the Mark asked me to hang out for a second when he stopped. So we stopped and everyone else got off. Mark said that we wouldn't be back at the time I wanted and that he was going to try to have me at the airport at 7:30pm. I was so mad, I could have slapped a bitch. Him and his assistant Caroline said, “Oh just ask them to take you to the front of the line, they will if they know you have a flight soon.” When I told her that I somehow do not believe that Homeland Security was going to bump me to the front of the line because I was late, she seemed surprised. Then I told her that American security wasn't about to do any favours for anyone. I was livid! I had asked several people if I would get back in time and now, at the end of the tour, NOW he is telling me I won't be. I asked him what my other options were as far as taking a taxi etc. He said that as of then no mater what transport I took it would be the same because of the traffic. I asked him if my $65 was so important to his company that he was willing to completely fuck me and my trip! Ol Marky Mark hadn't expected me to be so upset I don't think. So at that point I had no choice, I couldn't get to the airport any faster. All I could do was hope that the lines weren't too big and I would make it through in time. After the farmers market, which if I hadn't been so pissed would have been way better, we headed back to Santa Monica to drop of one passenger and then to LAX. He kept saying that Terminal 2 for Air New Zealand was going to be the first stop, like he was doing me some kind of favour. Which only fuelled my fire. Caroline said, “Oh don't worry, last time I got through in an hour and I was so panicked. I know how you feel.” To which I replied, “ Now look! I don't give a shit about what you did last time you went through the airport, and for the record this feeling I have is both panicked and extremely pissed. This feeling could have been avoided but you all chose to lie to me and have put me in a position where I may miss my flight. At the start of this tour I thought it was going to be a great experience and you two seemed very accommodating. Now, because of you two people and this tour company L.A. Has left a bad taste in my mouth!” Caroline didn't say anything after that I think she realized I wasn't in a chatty mood. We pulled up to the Air New Zealand terminal just after 7:30pm. I grabbed my bag a jumped off the bus, refraining from telling Mark to go fuck himself! So a word of advice if you ever go to L.A. Don't bother using the services of VIP TOURS, tell your friends!
Luckily for me there was no line and I ran right up to the check in counter. William, the agent waiting on me asked how long I was going to New Zealand for and I told him I had a working holiday for a year. Then he asked if I had it in my passport, and when I told him it was electronic and I didn't need a stamp, he said he had never heard of that before. Awesome! So he had to go get someone smarter then him and ask about my visa. The other guy said that it was true, and verified I had a proper visa. So William checked in my bag and at the last minute asked to weigh my carry on. I threw it on the scale and he said it was to heavy. I was surprised because it was just fine for all of the rest of my flights. He said they had a 7kg limit and mine was 8 on the nose. I lost it! I opened my bag and started pulling stuff out and I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes. I pulled out a few things and hurriedly chucked it back on the scale. I knew I had to hurry, because of Williams stupidity, it took extra time to check in! The scale read 7.6kgs. The tears broke free and I looked at him and yelled, “ I don't know what the hell else you want me to take out! There is nothing in there!! A change of clothes and my friggin computer!” The TSA guy that came for my check baggage said, “7.6 is fine.” I looked at him and said, “ No! This guy is telling me it has to be 7, and I have nothing else to take out! What do you people expect us to carry on!!” Then William grabbed an approved luggage tag and threw it on my bag saying it was fine just to carry on. Oh yea, and I forgot to mention that upon checking in William told me they had a full flight and I was in a middle seat but if they could they would move me. Awesome! 13 hours squeezed between two people! I got through security fairly easily and lucky for me I could see my gate from the airport bar. I had enough time to pound back 2 beer before boarding, and that seemed to calm my nerves a bit.
I am going to leave the story of my flight for the next one, and my first in Auckland. Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment