Leaving Brisbane

Taxi arrived at 9.30am to take us to the airport. The taxi driver had no idea how to use his Eftpos machine so I sorted it out for him :-). We flew with V-Australia and one of the big advantages of flying premium economy is the quick check-in. All done in record time. Sean lost his boarding pass somewhere between where we were sitting (close to the outside of the qantas club so that we could take advantage of their free wifi)and the second security check!!!. No great drama got another one sorted.


First look at Los Angles



Santa Monica Pier

 Great flight. Left on time at 12md and arrived 12 hours later and nearly an hour early. Watched a few movies, slept through one whole movie, but there was turbulence half way across that went for ages and woke me up!!. The 777 aircraft is very quiet compared to the 747's. We were the first flight to try out the new menu and see their new uniforms which was pretty good. Great wide seats that reclined and the noise canceling headphones were wonderful. Definitely worth the extra $$$ to upgrade.
Arrived at 6:20am. As we were pretty well first off, we cleared immigration really fast - finger prints and iris scans. Got our bags and golf clubs and were on the shuttle to our car rental place by 7:15am. We have a huge Ford Expeditions SUV . Weather was overcast with a few light showers but at this point it was not cold.



Santa Monica Pier

 Very early so drove up to Santa Monica beach for a look. No one there except for a few homeless folk, so we had a great walk around the pier and beach area.

 Headed up to universal studios ready for opening at 10am. We did the tour first - really good, thoroughly enjoyed it. Did not get to see all of Wisteria Lane because they were filming Desperate Housewives today but we saw everything else. Did the Simpsons ride, the special effects show, the Terminator 3D show. Did not do the Jurassic Park ride because we did not want to get wet - too cold!!



Jane at Universal Studios



Had our first tasteless plastic meal and also the weather turned really cold - luckily we both had our warm jackets with us. Also still showers coming in regularly so at about 3pm we decided to call it a day and headed for our hotel.

Very nice Hyatt apartment - small kitchen, lounge area and seperate bedroom. Had a nice shower and felt a bit more alive again!!




 Forecast tomorrow is also cold and showery but after that the sun is expected to shine. Looks better than what was originally planned so fingers crossed .


Special effects

 Heading out now to get some food - had a very nice pizza from a local shop, then had a nice early night. Shopping in the morning to buy golf balls then golf in the afternoon at Trump National - yeah!!


Wisteria Lane