The 321 Trip - Day 1 - Travel Day (31/10/16)

[pinkstargirl]

Previous Day

I can't promise to have every day up as quickly as this one, but I'll do my best!

Monday 31st October - Travel Day

The Diwali fireworks had continued until midnight at least last night, but that was when I'd fallen asleep finally!

I woke up at 5:30, and crept around getting ready. I loaded the car up and was on my way at 6:15. I arrived at the T2/T3 Long Stay Parking at 6:50, and parked in Zone C. I could see bus stop 3 was quite close to where I was parked, so I trotted off in that direction, not realising that 2 or 3 other groups were following me until we all had to force our way through a small gap in a hedge in order to actually get to the bus stop. Whoops! I arrived there at 6:55, and a bus came along 5 minutes later. I was a little confused when the driver dropped off at T2 first before going to T3, the staff bus I get everyday always goes to T3 first. We arrived at T3 at 7:15 and I headed into the Virgin/Delta check in zone to drop my bag off. The lady who helped me was very friendly and pleasant.

I then walked all the way back across the forecourt to go and get my breakfast. Usually I would wait until I was through security, but T3 doesn't have a great many options, Strada breakfast looks nice but I won't eat there on principle - I went with 2 colleagues/friends a couple of months back, all was going well except one meal was horrible and my friend couldn't eat it. She spoke to the waiter who apologised, the chef asked if she wanted something else but she said no as they were closing up and she felt quite ill. When the waiter returned, we were trying to check if it had been removed from the bill and he got a bit shirty, then we worked out how much hers was (for starter and drink) and it was £10.25. She handed him a £10 note and was looking for the 25p when he said not to worry. He then muttered "then you will be rich and I will be poor" which only I heard, and should have called him out on but I didn't. Luckily for him I didn't mention this until we were on the bus going back to the car park as my other friend was all ready to storm back in there!

I'd been checking out the options for a while, and I decided to eat in the fairly new pub/restaurant in the Arrivals hall. For those that may be interested, if you walk from the Virgin area in T3, straight across to the American Airlines check in (separate small building) and go down the alley to the left of that building, then there are 2 sets of doors, go through the right hand ones and you will be in the Arrivals area.

I chose a full breakfast with a pot of tea. The breakfast was made up of 2 sausages, bacon, hash brown, tomato, beans and eggs, which I chose to have scrambled. It was a tasty breakfast, the eggs were absolutely beautiful, still slightly creamy and delicious. I made a bit of a mess when pouring the dregs of my teapot, the lid on the pot was not secured at all and it fell out and plopped straight into my cup, tea went everywhere!

After breakfast I headed up to security, getting there at 8:10. There are 2 entrances to the main security area, and one had a massive queue, but I couldn't see anything at the other entrance so off I strolled, feeling smug as I passed everyone else, assuming that they didn't know there was a second entrance... onto to find that entrance temporarily closed. So my smug face and I had to walk all the way back past the queue, which had now grown even longer. I was nearly there at 8:25, when a woman came and redirected a load of us down to the other entrance. It then took another 20 minutes inside the security area before I actually got to a machine and loaded my bags! I set the metal detector off as a random check so had to go through the body scanner, but I got an 'OK', so I was able to collect my bags and head through duty free. All the Christmas decorations had gone up during the middle of the previous week, which I was not impressed with, it was October for heaven's sake!

I went into WHS for some magazines, I usually get a Cosmo, or a Glamour or similar, but that section of shelving was empty. Annoyed, I walked out and went down the other end of the terminal to use the loo. They closed the other WHS a few weeks ago so the large WHS is the only place you can buy magazines, I'm guessing that's why they were all gone! I went back after the toilet stop and got a couple of the women's weeklies instead. I then crossed the seating area and went to Caffe Nero to get a coffee. The woman in here wasn't very pleasant, I didn't make a note of why! I also picked up some chocolate covered coffee beans (which I've just remembered are still in my hand luggage!) and a croissant for later.

When I went back to the departure boards, my flight was showing Gate 19, so I headed off. I arrived at 9:40, had to get a new boarding pass printed (the lady checking passes had cut her finger and got blood on my original pass!) and headed in and picked out a seat by the window. As I put my coffee down, I knocked it over and spilled some. With the tea at breakfast as well, I hoped this was not setting up for the rest of the day! The plane we were flying on was Dream Jeannie. We began boarding and I was in my seat at 10:05, enjoying the legroom!

I had an orange juice while boarding was going on. I noticed that my glass had a crack down the side with a little bit chipped off, so I avoided that bit and mentioned it to the crew member who came to take the glasses later. She asked if I was okay, had I cut myself? I told her I was fine, but I'd just wanted to make her aware. We were due to take off at 10:35, and we pushed back from the gate at 10:34. We were in the air by 10:49, taking off to the east and quickly turning around. I had just started watching Zootropolis when the drinks started coming around at 11:11. I haven't made a note of any times we had food round, but lunch was served fairly soon after drinks, I chose the beef stroganoff which was tasty. This was served with a butternut squash and pecan salad, which was okay except the dressing had solidified in the bottle and wouldn't come out, and I believe a sticky toffee cake for pudding. Afterwards, we had tea/coffee in proper mugs!

While I had my cuppa, I started watching Mr Right, which was quite enjoyable, some funny parts. Not for you if you don't like blood though! They brought the mini Fabs round a bit later, and then after that a choice of hot pasties (cheese and tomato, or peppered steak) and this was all before afternoon tea! For PE passengers, VA also have their 'Wander Wall' which is located at the front of PE just before UC. This has drinks and snacks that you can help yourself to at any time. I had some chocolate and a biscotti, while I watched The Boss which was very funny as well.

I was impressed with the dimming windows on the Dreamliner, I enjoyed being able to look out but not be completely blinded while I did so! I did try and nap a little but to no avail. So I started watching How To Be Single just before they brought round afternoon tea. I seem to remember the menu card having 2 choices, but we all just got the same. 3 finger sandwiches (salmon and horseradish, cheese and pepper, ham and mustard) 2 mini cakes (cherry bakewell slice and banoffee slice) and a warm scone with cream and jam. That I dropped on my hoody. I hoped this was the end of spilling things on myself/everything around me. I started watching a programme about dogs learning to fly, but switched it off as I couldn't get into it. Thankfully we only had another half hour or so before we landed, so I took lots of pictures of the changing landscapes as we got closer to the ground.

We landed 5 minutes early at 14:45 (local time) and were off the plane by 15:00. I joined the queue for immigration and we waited, and waited. There were 2 officers dealing with us all. The one went on a break, and one who just arrived seemed to take ages sorting himself out. Meanwhile people from further back in the line are getting called to the machines. Eventually, myself and a couple of others got called to another line and I was seen by an officer. He seemed quite bored, I didn't get the interrogation I usually get, and I was done within about 3 minutes! The baggage belts are just behind the immigration desks, as they are in MCO, and bags had been going round for about 15-20 minutes by this point. As I was waiting, a man brought one of the dogs around who was sniffing out fruits and vegetables in peoples' bags. I soon spotted my suitcase, grabbed it and made my way out, confirming with the customs guy that yes, I just had sweets and biscuits in my luggage.

When I had booked my hire car, the site said that all the rental companies are 'at airport' so I came out looking for the Dollar rental desk. If anyone tries to tell you the car rental at LAX is 'at airport' - it's a lie! You have to go outside, cross the drop off lane and wait for a bus for your rental company to show up. This is for ALL rental companies, and it's very frustrating to be waiting for a bus when you thought you'd be picking out a car by now, or at least fending off the staff member who thinks you need a massive car... I was on the bus to Dollar at 15:45.

There was a fairly long line at Dollar, and when I was served, the guy tried to make me take the prepaid tank of fuel - "it'll only be $40" and tried to get me to take a bigger car. I was also charged around $120 for 5 days, with extra insurances etc. I need to dig out the paperwork because I hired a car from LAX on Tuesday for one day, and I paid $6. Go figure that one out. I just assumed this was normal until this week. Finally, finally I could go and choose a car. Typically, there were a few people choosing compact cars at the same time so ones I was just about to go and check out were being chosen. I looked and saw a little silver Chevrolet Sonic, checked the boot for a parcel shelf, checked round the car and decided on that one. The picture is the best picture I have, I didn't take many of the car!

I was very impressed to discover, a couple of hours later, that it had a reversing camera! I opened up my maps app on my phone and put the hotel address in, it took a while and I was amused to see the name of the very first road I had to drive on in LA...

I left Dollar at 16:45, immediately went the wrong way down the street and was then driving blind while the app rerouted me. I first had to drive down the I105, and then onto the I110, which was where I first got stuck in traffic. All in all it took me nearly 2 hours to drive the 30 miles to Anaheim. And the interstates and freeways are all really crappy road surfaces. It wasn't a very pleasant experience. :angry:

I arrived at the hotel just after 18:30, checked in and was pleased to see that I'd parked the car almost right outside the door to my room. I got all my stuff in, broke one of my nails and immediately searched for In-N-Out on my phone to see where the nearest one was. The plan had been to head to Upland to a coffee shop my sister had told me about, a quick stop at the Brea Mall to pick up a Hot Topic package and then my first taste of In-N-Out. I had of course assumed I would have a car by about 4pm and be on my way. As it was, the first 2 parts of the plan had to be left for another day.

The closest one was about 10 minutes away, so off I went. The drive through had a massive line so I went inside. I ordered a Double Double burger (2 patties and 2 slices of cheese) and some animal style fries (fries with onions, cheese and their special sauce on top) and a drink. I took it all back to the room and watched something on TV while I ate. It was really yummy but would have been better if I'd stayed in the restaurant and eaten straight away. I had a shower and went to bed at 9:30, with the alarm set for 5:30 - I had my very first Disney character breakfast booked in the morning!

Next Day

[nanasamboy]

oooh that burger looks magical! what a shame customs and the driving was such a pain.

Looking forward to seeing where you had breakfast!

[Pussycat Doll]

Hopefully you won't spill anything else! Good day though and your burger looks lovely. Pussycat

[Jake71]

Apart from a few spillages, that wasn't too bad a travel day at all. I've got In n Out Burger on my list of places to try this year.