First glimpse of LA

So that’s LA or at least a small piece of it.

Glimpse of Los Angeles out the aircraft window.

Glimpse of Los Angeles out the aircraft window.

 13+ hours later here we are, very tired and still a long way to go.  Well, I can say although I didn’t sleep the food was good, the service was good and the plane felt pretty comfortable but I would have liked a bit more leg room.  We actually made an enquiry about how much it would cost to upgrade.  The response was A$900 (USD$900).  Hmmm, I’ll think small!

Special Note: LA Customs and Immigration check points.  We made a boo boo.  When disembarking from the aircraft we collected all our rubbish which we were going to deposit in the nearest trash can.  I thought that our fellow travellers were very untidy as they had left a variety of food stuffs including lots of uneaten oranges etc.  Guess what . . there are NO TRASH CANS between the plane and Customs!  What you take off the plane, even if it is rubbish, you MUST declare it!  We had previously completed our immigration and declaration form stating that we had NO food items but because we had food scraps in our rubbish . . we had to declare it.  That meant completing another declaration for both of us.  The queues at LA Customs are really long and guess what another 747 arrived from Australia about five minutes after us.  But wait there’s more . . to save time I thought that I’d go to the toilet after the Customs check and before the baggage search area . . guess what ????? there are NO TOILETS in between those areas.  AAAARRRGGGH!

 

Are we there yet?

It seems like we should have been in the sky for about five hours but in reality less than two hours.  Who made up that saying “Time flies when your having fun” anyway?  Looking down below I can see some land.  What’s that?

New Caledonia or Nouvelle-Calédonie

New Caledonia or Nouvelle-Calédonie as seen from above.

 Aha!  New Caledonia or Nouvelle-Calédonie.  Check out the in-flight map.

Aircraft in-flight seat map.

Aircraft in-flight seat map. Showing our position above Nouvelle-Calédonie.

 Take note in this part of the journey we are 1475 km or 916 miles from Brisbane and still have 10080 km or 6263 miles to go.  Crikey!  Are we there yet?

Coincidentally, at that exact moment in time we were flying over New Cal a work mate of mine was on a cruise liner below us.  We didn’t find out until a month later.  How bizarre.

Sit down & belt up. Let’s get airborne!

Hey, the V Australia’s 777 is actually a reasonably roomy aircraft.  Nice and modern too.  Lots of gadgets to play with, should keep me entertained for at least five minutes.   Hmmm, just thinking about all those extra gadgets . . in the back of my mind I recall an Air Crash Investigation program on TV a couple of years ago which centered on cabin electronics failure causing a fire.  D’oh! 

Inside V Australia's 777 aircraft

Looking from our seat (about 4 or 5 rows from the back). Inside V Australia's 777 aircraft.

 How come I always get the guy with a big head or hat on in front of me?  Same thing happens at the movies.  Speaking of movies, the entertainment package on this plane held heaps of movies and documentaries, all viewable at no charge.  Yes, that is correct, FREE.

 Did I mention that the flight from Brisbane to LA is over 13 hours.  13 hours echo echo echo . . Arrrghhhh!