Sightseeing

Mini sightseeing

I woke around 0600 and managed to get ourselves downstairs for breakfast at 0700.  Kim organised a rental car by phone with Lucky Cars located at the Howard Johnson Hotel.

They have some very beaten up cars that wouldn’t be legal in some countries.  Kim s is a regular customer of theirs on his layovers here with the airline.

We checked-out and set off around 0930 and collected a crew friend, David, laying over here at the Marriott.  We went to Costco for some shopping, including some shirts as we didn’t have a change of clothes.

We thought it would be quite nice to take Eric to Long Beach to see the Queen Mary.  It was a brief but pleasant stop.

David wanted to visit the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Downtown.  We dropped in briefly.  The outside was as expected, similar to the Guggenheim in Bilbao.  The inside was very impressive, in white and pale wood.  It had a nice mix of lines and curves.

We stopped in Hollywood for lunch at Baja Fresh, a chain of Mexican wraps that we really love.  We introduced Eric to jalapeno chillies and he coped with them surprisingly well.

Soon it was time to return the car.  Waiting at reception for their transfer service to the airport, I snuck into the bathroom to freshen up with some wet wipes and brushed my teeth.

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First Class

At the airport, we were on standby and could try for the two flights to Auckland this evening.  The first was already full, so we opted for the second.  We were given our boarding passes straight away, which doesn’t always happen until the flight closes about an hour prior to departure.  Not only that but Kim and I managed to get our paid upgrades to Business Class at the same time.

A friend was in charge of the aircraft tonight.  He shifted us from Business into First Class and Eric from Economy to Business.  Catherine remained in Economy as she was dressed in jeans and it was against the staff travel dress code for Business.

We had a superb flight in First Class, naturally.  It would be one of the last First Class flights on the airline before that class of travel is scrapped.  I savoured the white and teal crockery, white linen, real silver cutlery and nicely plated meals.

Despite nearly 180 degree recline, I had trouble sleeping.  Half a sleeping pill helped but it wasn’t long before breakfast came.