Kings (and Queen) of the wild frontier - Day 2 - Travel day and Santa Monica

[TrueBlue]

So today was the day that we were finally on our way to California! Could not believe how excited I was. I needn't have set the alarm last night as I was up and watching tv in bed before it even went off. This must have been about 5am.

This happens all the time but I still set my alarm to be on the safe side.

Our flight wasn't until 9.30am so we all got up and out of bed at 5.30, packed everything away again and headed down the stairs for breakfast which I had pre booked.

They didn't start serving breakfast until 6am and I thought we might be cutting it fine as we still had to wait on the shuttle bus to take us back to Terminal 5 which is about a 10 - 15 min bus ride away.

It was a hot buffet style breakfast and we all stuffed our faces with various items and 15 mins later we were heading outside to wait on our shuttle bus.

The bus arrived on time (think it was due in at 6.28) and we're quickly on our way to Heathrow Terminal 5.

We already did online check in and had our boarding passes (we got these at Edinburgh) but we still have to check in our luggage. This all ran smoothly. The lovely lady from BA that checked our luggage in informed us that our flight was on time and directed towards security.

We all got through security with no problems. None of us bleeped going through the machine either so we were fit to fly yippeeeee.

We wandered through all the shops in Terminal 5 and I was drooling over some of the designer ones. Ramsay, Callum and Scott didn't share my enthusiasm and carried on walking - spoil sports lol

We got on the monorail (is that what it's called) to our departure gate and when we arrived we went in search of our aircraft.

WOW - she didn't disappoint! She was mahooosive!



We watched the ground staff loading her up - there was some amount of cargo going in - I was pretty impressed by how they did it. All electronically by machines

Anyway - it wasn't long until they started boarding. Our seats got called and we headed towards the walkway that took you upstairs on the plane. We then headed to the back to our seats in rows 82 and 83.

First impressions were good. We had plenty of leg room, inflight entertainment was working ok and I had an additional storage cupboard at the window seat which turned out to be very useful as it held loads of my goodies



We took off on time at 9.30 and I couldn't believe this aircraft could get off the ground with the size of it but it did and before long we were flying high and making our way across the pond.

I was engrossed in the flymap - not sure why but I watch this on every flight we do.

I also watched a bit of The Big Bang Theory (brilliant sitcom!)

Before long we were flying over Greenland. WOW - what a sight! It was so nice seeing it from up above. Wouldn't like to live there mind lol



The air crew on our flight were superb - couldn't fault them at all. They were constantly coming round with drinks and asking if we were comfortable enough. Our meal was really tasty too. I can't remember what I had off the top of my head but I do remember telling Ramsay it was one of the nicest meals i've had on a flight and he said the same.

Before we left Heathrow I popped into one of the shops and bought myself a drink, some snacks and my sushi - love sushi! One of my favourite things to eat just now

I had this quite early into the flight in case it went off



We seemed to fly over Canada for ages then before we knew it we were flying over the USofA

I watched more Big Bang Theory, read some magazines and continued to watch the flight map. The time seemed to go past really quickly. It certainly didn't seem as long as the flight actually was

The captain announced that we were flying over Vegas! So I looked out of my window and I could see our hotel we would be staying in later on in the holiday. I knew then that it wouldn't be long until we landed

We touched down on time at 12.30 local time. It took a bit of time to offload all the passengers but we were soon off the flight and heading to passport control.

There was a huge queue so we decided to join it and wait our turn. We had just started to walk towards the end of the queue when a member of staff took us to the side and let us join the queue for local people. It was empty and we walked straight up to the desk.

We were through in no time and heading to the carousel for our luggage. This didn't quite go as planned. Our cases must have been first to be put on the flight because they were last to come off. I was starting to panic that they weren't there then we saw them. The carousel was empty of people by now. By the time we headed towards customs we were right at the end of the queue. It took about 20 mins to get through but all was ok

Soon we were exiting the airport and into the glorious California Sunshine It was soooo warm compared to what we had left back home in Scotland.

We followed the signs for car hire and waited on our shuttle bus to take us to Alamo.

We didn't wait too long and 15 minutes later we were inside the alamo office. They didn't give me any hard sell. They did try and get us to upgrade as 'he wasn't sure all our luggage would fit in the trunk'. I declined and said we have the same amount of luggage every time we travel and never had a problem before.

He directed us to the area were we could chose our car and we picked a white GMC. I couldn't be bothered looking inside all the cars, I just said "this one will do - it's big enough for us and our luggage" and off we went.

Ramsay drove first but before we did anything we set up the TomTom. It soon picked up our location and we entered the address of our first hotel. The Wyndham Santa Monica by the Pier.



We reached our hotel about 20 minutes later but wasn't sure how to get into it because there was road works outside. We soon found the entrance though and we pulled up outside the front door.

You can only do valet parking at this hotel plus they charge you $36 per day - even if you're a hotel guest. A bit cheeky I thought.

But we unloaded our luggage, said we didn't need any help with it and handed over our car keys to the valet guys.

Check in was a breeze and we were located a room on the 2nd floor.

We opened our cases and grabbed the first pair of shorts and t-shirt we could find and quickly changed as I wanted to head out to the Pier.

Our hotel was literally a 2 minute walk from Santa Monica Pier and Muscle beach. I loved the buzz about the place. It had a right holiday feel about it.

We walked along the pier taking various photo's ...









Next we decided to take a stroll along the beach. The warm air was so nice and although it was a Monday it was very busy.

The boys decided they wanted to do some of the monkey bars and climbing ropes and various other things they have along the beach. It was really good fun watching them. Callum (my eldest) loves a challenge and was determined to do all the monkey bars and the ropes.
It didn't take long for him to realise he had blisters on his hands caused by friction burns and they had burst too ouch!









Callum's sore hand...



We walked along the beach a bit until we came to some restrooms and Callum popped in to rinse his hand under the water. Because the blisters had burst and we were on the beach he ended up getting sand in there so he basically had to scrub them to get it out.

By luck they didn't get infected and they cleared up within a few days - lucky boy!

Anyway we continued to walk along the beach. One thing I noticed about there was how fit people liked to keep themselves. The walkway along the beach was full of cyclists and people jogging. Everyone seemed so healthy and slim looking.

I really enjoyed walking along the prom and taking everything in















By now time was getting on. It was about 6.30pm local time (1.30am UK time) so we decided to head back to the Pier and see if we could get a table at Bubba Gumps. We only had to wait about 10 minutes then we were called as our table was ready.

We were seated by the window and the view was stunning



The food was pretty good. I only took a photo of what I had and it was delish!



By now we were really starting to flag a bit so decided to head back to the hotel about 8pm.

We weren't long in bed before we all crashed out. We had been up for almost 24 hours by now but we all agreed that this was a great start to our trip and we all felt happy and relaxed and looked forward to the following day.

Tomorrow (day 3) we hit the coast and head for Morro Bay

[miked1e]

Good day... And the flight / journey seemed fairly painless... Unlike the hands

[Michelle]

That plane is some size!

Ouch at poor Callum's hands. Glad the healed quickly.

[purple myra]

Brilliant start! No rush to get the rest done... honestly

[TrueBlue]

Originally Posted by miked1e

Good day... And the flight / journey seemed fairly painless... Unlike the hands

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Was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this flight. Was really dreading it as it seemed so long but the time went past really quickly.
My son is always monkeying around so i'm not surprised at this lol. It did heal quickly though

Originally Posted by Michelle

That plane is some size!

Ouch at poor Callum's hands. Glad the healed quickly.

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Michelle I couldn't believe the size of the plane when we were looking out of the gate window. It didn't seem that big when we were on it though. Really comfortable flight

Originally Posted by purple myra

Brilliant start! No rush to get the rest done... honestly

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lol i'm trying i'm trying - honestly! lol. Been mental at work lately but maybe put another day or 2 up tonight

[KarenG]

Fantastic start!

[smedley]

Great start to the holiday, you got a lot done for first day too once you'd arrived!

[christybell]

Looks fantastic, Santa Monica is now on my "to do list"... Loving your report, thanks for sharing

[Carol_G]

Fab day Marion. I have yet to eat in a Bubba Gumps, I need to add this to my list!