Around the USA in 150 days
(Or how we toured the USA on a budget)
Getting There
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Around the USA in 150 days(Or how we toured the USA on a budget) |
Finally, on April 21st 1989, the BIG DAY arrived. We boarded a Qantas plane at 4:30pm and flew from Perth, Western Australia, to Sydney, New South Wales. It was Nola's (and the kids) first flight (and only Graham's second) and after making the 2,000 odd miles trip in good time, we had to spend what felt like several hours circling Sydney Airport waiting for a big storm to disperse. Just after the pilot turned south and started to head for an alternative airport did we finally get the nod to land at Sydney.
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Sydney's famous "coat hangar" bridge, from the Manly ferry |
We spent several days in Sydney, catching up with family on both Nola's and Graham's side of the family. It was also a big adventure for the kids, having never before left their home state.
Sydney is an interesting place to visit with it's historical connections, and is the busiest of all Australian cities. We went for a trip across the famous Sydney Harbour on the Many ferry, saw the famous "coat hangar" bridge (pictured), rode the Monorail around Sydney, went to a restaurant with our in-laws, and visited the site of Captain Cook's first landing at Kurnell, near Botany Bay. On a shopping trip, Nola's sister bought Chris a little red umbrella which made him very pleased.
Then on April 25 we finally lifted off at 8pm on our journey across the Pacific, and left Australia behind. The first leg (from Sydney to Hawaii) was 9 hours, and we tried to sleep as we started off in darkness.
After sleeping a few hours (not particularly well, given the small amount of space and minimal comforts afforded by a tourist class fare) and a couple of airline meals* the island of Hawaii was a welcome change from the endless stretches of ocean dotted with tiny white clouds below. We were also thankful for the opportunity to stretch our legs after so many hours.
Honolulu International Airport was something of a disappointment - I thought that it would be bigger and more exciting somehow. It was not particularly big, and very empty. I guess perhaps many years of television viewing had trained me to expect a bevy of gorgeous Polynesian girls piling lei's around our necks, or something like that. (Note - you can have a traditional Hawaiian greeting, if you don't mind paying for it!)
But when I went to the refreshment kiosk, I suddenly realised that we were already in the U.S.A.! This was brought home to me abruptly when I tried to pay in Australian dollars, and found that US dollars were required. Also I was mentally prepared (by the many books on the USA we had read) to expect everybody in the service industry to demand a tip (the girl at the kiosk didn't expect one - see tipping*). But was I was NOT expecting was to pay tax on top of the advertised price (see taxes*).
So the last State (the 50th to join the Union) was our first State.
After a couple of hours (not long enough to grab a taxi and see the sights, but long enough to become thoroughly bored) we climbed on board our Qantas aircraft again for the last leg to Los Angeles.
The pilot informed us that we had a forecast of fine weather for the last leg of our journey, but added that he was climbing to a higher altitude to avoid what he called "clear air turbulence" which is apparently common on the Hawaii - L.A. run. It doesn't show up on the weather radar, so they can't fly around it.
He wasn't wrong - not long after leaving Honolulu, we encountered some very bumpy conditions. Fortunately this didn't last long, but then the plane started "shimmying" from side to side, like it was wagging it's tail, and sometimes this was also combined with a slight up and down motion. It proceeded to do this for almost the whole remainder of the trip. This, and the fact that I was trying to sleep (I didn't sleep much on the first leg), made me feel constantly slightly nauseous, so that for the first time I thought I might throw up. But I managed to keep down a couple more airline meals (amazingly!).
After what seemed like an eternity of feeling like a flea on a happy dog's tail, the pilot announced that we would soon be landing in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles - now there is a name that brings mixed feelings to anyone on the planet! The centre (sorry, we're in the USA now, so I'll use the vernacular) center of all that is good and bad and fearful and wonderful about America! The home of Disneyland (the original anyway), Hollywood, street gangs, drug culture, mugging, smog, temple of the automobile, monument to suburban sprawl! At least those were some of the images that alternately fascinated / terrified me before arriving in Los Angeles. And we were about to arrive!!!
Soon after we saw the California coastline appear out of the clouds, and the aircraft turned and headed south, following the coast. We were lucky enough to be seated by the left side widows, and so had a great view of the rugged coastline, with huge cliffs in places extending hundreds of feet straight up out of the sea. After about 20 minutes we suddenly we banked left and the pilot announced that we would soon be landing, and we dutifully fastened our seat-belts.
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Our first gimpse of the famous LA freeways |
A few minutes later we could see Los Angeles through the window (pictured) and shortly after the trappings of an airport (fields, taxiways, hangars and the like) rushing past us below and to both sides, and thought we must be about to set down - but LAX is so huge that we kept flying for what seemed like ages (perhaps it was another 3-5 minutes) before our runway appeared and we finally set down.
Now here is an interesting thing. When you fly eastwards, the nights and the days become much shorter. This is because the speed of your aircraft is effectively added to the speed of rotation of the Earth, as you race towards the next sunrise. The result of this, added to the fact that we had crossed the international date line (between Sydney and Honolulu), meant that after leaving Sydney at 8pm on April 25th, and having flown for a total of 15 hours (including a two hour stop-over in Hawaii) we arrived in L.A. at 6:30pm on the same day, an hour and a half BEFORE we left!.
Next - LAX
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