Farewell Hawaii, Hello LA

I slept restlessly, worried about the implications of missing our connection at Honolulu etc, as Nicole was to meet us at LA airport. We finally got up at 4:45 and were breakfasted and away by 5:40. We checked in and were able to also check in our bags for the LA flight as well, which made me a little nervous about them getting lost.

A slight panic when Pete couldn't find the car rental agreement, but it didn't matter. Soon we were on the plane and leaving the Big Island. We saw Maui, Lanai and Molokai drift below us and soon were at Honolulu. The shuttle bus took us to the international terminal where we remembered to buy a souvenir t-shirt for Nicole, and at last a hat for Sean.

Pete had a bit of trouble with his hand luggage. They made him turn on the computer to check that it wasn't a bomb! Now we're on our way to LA so it's Aloha and Mahalo to Hawaii!

We taxied for some time at LAX. It seemed like miles. The car this time was larger - a blue Buick. Then came the task of navigating our way to our hotel which we knew was somewhere in Anaheim. It took us a long time because I was navigating by what I thought was the shortest route. It just didn't happen to be a freeway, and at every block just about, there is a set of traffic lights. It took about 1 1/2 hours to get to Buena Park, and we couldn't find our street so we stopped at a shopping centre to ask. We were only a couple of blocks away. Our hotel is very close to Knott's Berry Farm, Ripley's Believe It Or Not, and the Wax Museum.

We checked in and received a bit of a shock. Three faxes were waiting as well as a letter. It turned out that Nicole's plane had been cancelled (she was to arrive at 10am the next morning), and there had been some running around in Sydney trying to get her onto a Qantas flight which got in at 10:30. Pete phoned the travel agent, Phil, and also Barbara who had arrived earlier in the day with Neil, and was staying at the Queen Mary Hotel. We found out that Nicole was definitely booked on the Qantas flight, but we were flabbergasted at this turn of events.

Eventually after settling in we went looking for dinner. We didn't want to go too far, so we decided on the Denny's which was within the hotel proper. Not much time for doing anything else before turning in.Read more