Time to leave

As I needed to fill in the day before my 1020pm departure, I ran out the departure clock on the room. BTW brekky has been included with every hotel stay here. Once I left the hotel, it was a nice morning, so I went down to the wharf to a different spot so I could see the sea lions better. Also did a drive closer to the rock. I bought some tacky souvenirs and ended up having an early lunch. I was going to lunch in Santa Barbara. However, I had a feeling parking might be difficult. I saw otters again but not close enough to get good images. I left and selected a road that turned out to be very remote, windy, narrow, long and steep. It was too dangerous to take my eyes off the road. This was a mistake due to it taking 1h40mins, and I hadn't filled the fuel tank. I ended up in another valley with a very large but empty dam. I could see old bridges, roads and fences in it. Not far from there, I went past some mega mansions. The type with full-time gardeners. Huge stone entries with massive wrought iron gates and guest houses. They weren't resorts. Eventually, I got to Santa Barbara without running out. I did a few passes through the town. I did go to where I was going to have lunch. Absolutely no parking. So I went down the beach road, found a public park, and had a look at the ocean, jugglers, dogs, Catalina Islands, joggers and the off shore oil rigs. Yep, didn't expect them.

By now, I was thinking I had better get to the airport. In case the traffic is bad. Good call because it took an extra 2hrs due to accidents and breakdowns. Anyhow, I handed back an undamaged car with nearly 3500km extra on the clock. Just on 3.5hrs to departure. I took the shuttle to the terminals, but unfortunately, there is no stop outside the Tom Bradley terminal. More damn walking. My torn hammy is still hurting. I checked into the flight, it all looked good for departure, but it left about 1 hr late. The flight was rough at times I think I managed 4hrs sleep. Apart from leaving late, we arrived late due ATC. This is common if a flight misses it's planned arrival time. I missed my connecting flight to Brisbane. I got transferred to another and I finish writing this mid flight. I'll get there about 2.5hrs later than planned. I'll write a wrap up tonight from home.Read more