Around the USA in 150 days
(Or how we toured the USA on a budget)
LAX
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Around the USA in 150 days(Or how we toured the USA on a budget) |
After disembarking and going through customs (I agonised over declaring our Vegemite on entry, only to be find that the customs officers weren't interested in it!) we found our baggage (we had tied yellow ribbons on the handles of our bags to make them stand out from all the others), and then walked out the front of the terminal building into a kind of passenger pick-up / drive-through area, to find the our bus.
It was just beginning to get dark (about 6pm) when we emerged from the terminal building. None of the staff or officials in the airport seemed to know where or when the Anaheim bus would be along, but one person directed us to an "Information booth" out front, where a disembodied voice in a speaker told us where to wait for the bus to Anaheim. It seems there is no real schedule, he just comes along "soon".
While waiting for the bus on a kind of traffic island in a sea of vehicle lanes, we were hustled by numerous "mini-bus" drivers, all of whom wanted to take us to our destination. At one stage they were fighting over us, even though we had no intention of going with them. I asked one of them what the fare was to Anaheim, and was told only that it was "cheaper than the bus", as well as the other mini-buses! We didn't trust them or even know whether we would ever be seen again if we got in their van. One mini-bus driver tried several times to begin "helping us" to load our bags into his van. We were relieved when the airport shuttle bus finally arrived, we thought that we had finally found some "normal" transport, but we were in for a surprise!
The driver loaded our bags into the baggage compartment and we climbed aboard thinking we were on our way at last to Anaheim. But it turned out that the driver was not allowed to leave the airport until he had a full load! So we spent another 20 - 30 minutes circling the various terminal buildings. At each one the driver would jump out and call out all his destinations, trying to hustle some more customers.
Once he had his full load we set off into the night, thundering along freeways through a seemingly endless sea of blackness and lights. Anaheim was the last stop on his route, so we got a grand tour of all of L.A's airports and many suburbs, but unfortunately in the dark! Along the way the driver kept up a continual babble with his passengers, especially one lady who appeared to be an airline hostess he seemed to know well. He kept making such classic quips as "I get my best sleep on the job", and repeated them for each new group of passengers he picked up at other airports. I couldn’t help thinking that L.A. seemed to be entirely populated by mad bus and shuttle drivers, all trying to out-hustle each other, and began to wonder if we had done the right thing coming here!
It seemed that the bus ride went on forever. Just when we thought the ride would never end (the kids were well and truly asleep by now) we arrived at Anaheim, and finally at our motel (the very last stop on the bus route), the Penny Sleeper at about 10 pm. We retrieved our bags from the cargo bay underneath (I was surprised to see that they were still there!) and went to check in.
Dying for a cup of tea or coffee when we arrived, I went looking for something to drink. I was hoping that that the motel might have a little restaurant or room service, but all that was available was a vending machine bolted to an outside wall of the building. I managed to get a drink of some kind, and then crashed with Nola and the kids in the motel.
Spent today (April 25th):
$40 transport (bus)
$8 Luggage trolley & Coffee
$48 total
Next - First Day (Anaheim)
Previous - Getting There
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