Aaaaaaand They're Off!
Welcome to the 2008 edition of Debbie and Don's New Zealand trip. The Airport limo arrived at 6:00 am as requested and we were whisked off to the airport on the nearly empty 401. The trip from Toronto to Los Angeles was especially easy because the third seat next to the two in our grouping did not get sold, and we spread out in much greater comfort.
We ran into our first hitch in the planning when we discovered that the Air New Zealand check-in counter wouldn't open until an hour and a half after we were ready to check in. Unfortunately all of the restaurants at Terminal 2 are located behind the security screeners and we wouldn't be able to get there without having checked in with ANZ. So, after getting directions from a couple of helpful airport staff, we trundled our selves and all our luggage over to the next airport terminal and got ourselves a drink and some snacks.
Once we had checked in and had passed our luggage on to the loving ministrations of the Air New Zealand baggage handlers, we caught a cab to the beachfront at Venice Beach. The weather in LA that day was unusually cold and very windy.
We walked down from where the cab dropped us to the pier at Washington Blvd.
The houses facing the beach along this stretch are a mix of new "architecturally designed" structures mixed in with a lot of the original cottages that originally populated the beachfront. Many of the cottage-like homes have been "upgraded" either by the owners or by someone else who didn't have a clue, so there are some pretty wacky renovations. This is the one non-wacky cottage we both liked.
By the time we had reached Washington Blvd, we were pretty frozen, so we sought refuge in a bar that I had visited the only other time I had been in LA. We arrived just in time to catch the last few minutes of the Superbowl pre-game show and so decided to hang out and watch the game. It would seem there are a lot of Giants fans in that part of town.
The game was fun, the crowd entertaining, and the wind continued to whip the sand across the dunes.
We left there and headed down the street to a local mexican restaurant before cabbing back to the airport, slogging through the security theatrics, and settling in for a final North American pint before catching our flight across the Pacific.
If this pic looks familiar, it's because it's the same tired folks in the same tired pub at Terminal 2 in LAX (only 2 years later).
That will have to do for today. We are getting up at 6:00 am tomorrow morning to catch a flight so I need to retire now and catch up on some sleep.
Until next time ...
Don
We ran into our first hitch in the planning when we discovered that the Air New Zealand check-in counter wouldn't open until an hour and a half after we were ready to check in. Unfortunately all of the restaurants at Terminal 2 are located behind the security screeners and we wouldn't be able to get there without having checked in with ANZ. So, after getting directions from a couple of helpful airport staff, we trundled our selves and all our luggage over to the next airport terminal and got ourselves a drink and some snacks.
Once we had checked in and had passed our luggage on to the loving ministrations of the Air New Zealand baggage handlers, we caught a cab to the beachfront at Venice Beach. The weather in LA that day was unusually cold and very windy.
We walked down from where the cab dropped us to the pier at Washington Blvd.
The houses facing the beach along this stretch are a mix of new "architecturally designed" structures mixed in with a lot of the original cottages that originally populated the beachfront. Many of the cottage-like homes have been "upgraded" either by the owners or by someone else who didn't have a clue, so there are some pretty wacky renovations. This is the one non-wacky cottage we both liked.
By the time we had reached Washington Blvd, we were pretty frozen, so we sought refuge in a bar that I had visited the only other time I had been in LA. We arrived just in time to catch the last few minutes of the Superbowl pre-game show and so decided to hang out and watch the game. It would seem there are a lot of Giants fans in that part of town.
The game was fun, the crowd entertaining, and the wind continued to whip the sand across the dunes.
We left there and headed down the street to a local mexican restaurant before cabbing back to the airport, slogging through the security theatrics, and settling in for a final North American pint before catching our flight across the Pacific.
If this pic looks familiar, it's because it's the same tired folks in the same tired pub at Terminal 2 in LAX (only 2 years later).
That will have to do for today. We are getting up at 6:00 am tomorrow morning to catch a flight so I need to retire now and catch up on some sleep.
Until next time ...
Don
posted by Don at
3:46 am
2 Comments:
"By the time we had reached Washington Blvd, we were pretty frozen"
Tell ya what Don, I'll trade places with you. I'll go to California and "freeze", while you come here and shovel the 19 or 20 inches of snow we got here overnight :)
Tony
By
Anonymous, at 12:12 pm
Hi Tony,
Yes, it was quite horrible. In addition to the described hardships, the door next to our table in the bar didn't close quite properly and we had to sit there with a DRAFT! I kid you not. Drafty! Also, they only sold AMERICAN BEER there. I think you will agree we were quite the soldiers to tough it out through the whole ordeal.
Don
By
Don, at 5:20 am
Post a Comment
<< Home