Hollywood touchdown
Hello, Mark here (spiffo = mark). Our journey started at 4am this morning, and that's a long, long time ago now. First stop was Dandenong station at 5.20am for the airport shuttle, followed by a 15 hour flight to the not-as-glamorous-as-expected LAX. Thanks to the international dateline and Einstein's special theory of relativity, we landed 3 hours before we departed.
Arriving at LAX, our passports were checked, and Shalini was asked to follow a customs official. He asked her to sit in an open office, checked something mysterious, stamped something mysterious, and mysteriously let us continue on our way. Two minutes later, the last customs official in the procession dropped the throw-away line "Do you folks have a return ticket?" which I think was designed to catch us off guard. Out into L.A. we stumbled.
Sam the shuttle driver was a cac, repeatedly assuring us we'd see 'crazy stuff' on the streets of Hollywood; 'the good crazy.' He also said everyone in L.A. had a car, lazy Americans drove one block to the shops, you can't get anywhere in L.A. without a car, taxi's were expensive and buses infrequent, but he finally admitted we wouldn't need to hire a car. He seemed to be battling some kind of driving-everywhere-conditioning.
Hollywood Orchid Suites are great, Marlo behind the counter overflowing with helpful info. Free wireless net, full kitchen, clean pool, room-safe, our own balcony, we are comfy little tourists right in the middle of the action. Thanks a bunch Loren for pointing us to this place.
Today was spent getting a vibe for the area, currency and pace. And losing our jet-lag of course. A full day tomorrow beckons...
Arriving at LAX, our passports were checked, and Shalini was asked to follow a customs official. He asked her to sit in an open office, checked something mysterious, stamped something mysterious, and mysteriously let us continue on our way. Two minutes later, the last customs official in the procession dropped the throw-away line "Do you folks have a return ticket?" which I think was designed to catch us off guard. Out into L.A. we stumbled.
Sam the shuttle driver was a cac, repeatedly assuring us we'd see 'crazy stuff' on the streets of Hollywood; 'the good crazy.' He also said everyone in L.A. had a car, lazy Americans drove one block to the shops, you can't get anywhere in L.A. without a car, taxi's were expensive and buses infrequent, but he finally admitted we wouldn't need to hire a car. He seemed to be battling some kind of driving-everywhere-conditioning.
Hollywood Orchid Suites are great, Marlo behind the counter overflowing with helpful info. Free wireless net, full kitchen, clean pool, room-safe, our own balcony, we are comfy little tourists right in the middle of the action. Thanks a bunch Loren for pointing us to this place.
Today was spent getting a vibe for the area, currency and pace. And losing our jet-lag of course. A full day tomorrow beckons...
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posted by Spiffo at
1:26 PM
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