Day 2 : LAX - SFO - Lake Tahoe... the BIG travel day.

 

The last time I travelled overseas was 25 years ago for my honeymoon; it’s been a huge drought. Working, children, more working, new house... loads of reasons not to travel even though it could have been made possible if I’d really had the desire. Now the desire is there.

 We were up super early and after we re-packed, we Uber’d  to the airport with the Greens, a gorgeous couple who I quickly grew to love; these two are down to earth and rock solid travellers. At the airport we met couple number two the Bonds, Luke being the events coordinator of this trip who is all over international travel, the States being his specialty. And finally couple number three arrived, Damo and Maz who are nothing like the colloquial and bloody Oz names I just gave them and are fine upstanding, well known community members in Brisbane

 

Luckily for us Michelle used to work for Virgin Australia so we were given priority check in and had most of our seats rearranged to bulk head seats, meaning there was no one in front of us. This equals extra leg room! Winning! (Flying tip 1)

 

Normally I’d have to check in on my own at a check in station but yesterday I had my tickets printed in advance by Virgin as they could see I had connecting flights (Flying tip 2 : ask at your primary flight if they can print all of your boarding tickets off for you.)

 

One difference in booking with a travel agent to booking online myself, is that when you do it yourself, you have all of the correspondence go directly to you for checking in, etc. Booking with a travel agent and going internationally just meant I showed my travel itinerary and my passport on my very first flight and all of my details came up on the system. It’s a good and bad thing, they have all your details, but I felt a little lost without a boarding pass in your hand before you arrive at the airport.

Once checked in, we had the luxury of having breakfast and pre-flight yummies in the Virgin lounge. And when I say we... I mean I know people who are either ex-employees of Virgin or are platinum card members. (Joining Velocity is free, visit here to join and start earning points: https://join.velocityfrequentflyer.com/?channelname=inet#!/join/account ) What’s not to love about eating a full buffet breakfast at 10 am and washing it down with a cider?

 

Boarding was effortless and our journey began, I was beyond excited and even a little teary, this was a momentous occasion for me. We had bulk head seats (travel tip 3) which meant we has no one in front of us and that meant we could stretching out to sleep.
 

Flight time : 15 hours

Days lost / gained: depart and arrive same day

Meals provided: dinner, late snack and early breakfast

What to do: watch 4 movies, listen to music, try and sleep

What are you provided with: blanket, eye mask, ear plugs, head phones for the screen.

 

It felt surreal to be on that plane, to watch the light fade faster than usual, to see the water and islands below, to sleep when you felt wide awake and eat two dinners and a cooked breakfast.

LAX... the airport on STEROIDS!
 

I’ve never seen an airport like it, it’s HUGE and so, so busy! (see below: photo cred Nancy-D, Discover Los Angeles Flickr Pool) In fact it's so huge, a site called 'A Basic Guide to Los Angeles Airport' has been written to help new comers out, wish I'd read it before I left! see link : https://www.discoverlosangeles.com/travel/a-basic-guide-to-los-angeles-international-airport-lax 

 

   

Our task: get from terminal 3 across terminal 1, we had to run... and that was after we 1. Scanned our passports, had our photo taken, went through customs to have our passports stamped and briefly answer questions such as “First time to the U.S.?” “Yes.” (Eyeroll because it’s the only stamp I have in my passport, thought it was obvious.) “Why are you visiting?” “Just on holiday.” Other details to always have on hand are the address of where you’re staying on the first night and have your ESTA details ready. Getting through customs can be very time consuming and stressful. It's definitely a tense place, so make it easier for yourself by reading through this site first : '10 Tips for Getting Through http://www.nbcnews.com/id/8220190/ns/travel-travel_tips/t/tips-getting-through-customs/

Get through customs, pick up your bag from the baggage claim, move through towards the end of terminal 1, drop off your bag to be sent on to SFO, leave the terminal, run like mad to get to the next terminal, show boarding pass and passport, go back through security ( phone, iPad and handbag all separate, shoes off, belt off, nothing in pockets, go through X-ray, arms up, move through, possibly get a quick feel over, collect things, move through to the gate area.... all while still being absolutely gob smacked at how big and spread out the place is and how busy the cues and lines are. It. Is. Overwhelming. LAX was also hot and humid, I didn’t expect that. Yes it’s the end of their summer but I just didn’t consider the humidity.

All the while this is happening, watch your emails (free wifi everywhere, take out your SIM if you’re worried about data roaming) because the gates change constantly.

 

Our next flight was a Delta internal flight LAX to SFO and let’s be completely honest here... it is no Virgin flight. The standards just aren’t the same. Virgin flight assistants are immaculate, not a hair out of place, uniforms crisp, make up flawless. Delta flighties just look like service staff and that’s the way they behave too.

One surprise, dogs are allowed on domestic flights. Couldn’t believe it. Never seen that before in Australia. Flight tip 4, if the flight assistant asks you if you want a cookie or Cheez It’s... don’t take the Cheez Its, they’re sh-IT!

40 minutes later, some shit Cheez It’s and a small water later and we were in San Francisco!

Car hire: two SUV’s (Nine adults and all their luggage). Remember: lefty loopy, righty tighty, no I’d never willingly drive in the US of A. 6 car freeways and bumper to bumper traffic in and out of big cities, it’s asking for an anxiety attack.

Next stop 🛑... Walmart in Sacramento!

It’s huge. The fashion choices of the people shopping there is questionable, as is the fashion on sale there. The shelving is twice my height, everything is supersized and the variety is overwhelming. Our first group shopping experience ended in a $670 bill (US dollars) just short of $1000 Aust. “ We’ll add it to the spread sheet”. One of the boys put it on their credit card, I don’t even know if mine would take that amount in one transaction. I did have than in cash on me though.

 

Travel tip five: notify all banks and credit cards that you’re travelling and where you’re going so you don’t get locked out of your accounts in fear of your cards being stolen. I had 1. My normal ATM card that I could tap. 2. My credit card with a zero balance before I left so I could track how much I was spending. 3. A travel card from Travel Oz ( https://www.travelmoneyoz.com/)  with $2000 on it AND about $1000 US cash. Overkill? Probably but I didn’t want to be caught out if I lost a card, one was stolen, my account was frozen, etc. The good thing about the Travel Oz card was that I set it up with my travel agent before I left and I had the card in my hand on the day ( just needed to have my passport there as I.D.) I can access up to 60 currencies and transfer back and forth between them on the app. I also exchanged AUS dollars into US dollars before I left and didn’t have to order it ahead of time. They also bought back the cash I didn’t use when I returned. I also have the opportunity to just use my Travel Oz card here in Aust just like an ATM card if I want to. All very easy.

 

Next stop: Star Bucks, act like a local, buy a coffee and a bagel and use their free wifi, perfect!
 

And then finally head en route to Lake Tahoe, drive time 5hrs 30 mins... a massive day.