The day started with a 5am alarm call in West Byfleet and ended with a cold beer in Newport Beach some 23 hours later.
We had a great flight from Heathrow to LAX. The girls enjoyed their maiden flight with sprite, sweets, magnum ice creams and back to back movies. Not sure they will want to go back to being under canvas again after this! Becky and I were treated to some Champagne courtesy of the Captain (Thanks Andy Holland!) who also invited us to sit in the flight deck after we had landed which the girls absolutely loved.
Then we started queuing which was not so great. 2 hours at the airport to clear immigration, then a further hour at Avis Car Rental. After eventually getting the car sorted we went into the lot to collect it only to find another gentleman putting his suitcases into it! It seems they rented us both the same vehicle. He very kindly stood down and let us have it and we started the 40 mile drive to Newport Beach.
Due to the time wasted queuing it was now rush hour so we spent another 90 mins in a queue on the 405 Southbound leaving central LA before finally arriving at our little condo in Newport Beach at around 6.30pm local time (2am GMT). Girls had fallen asleep in the car and then went straight to bed. Becky and I unpacked and chatted to Rollo, the caretaker of our condo, who was amazing and provided lots of useful info, but boy he can talk!
I did a quick sortie to the local convenience store to pick up some supplies and am writing this whilst having my first cool beer.
Looking forward to tomorrow.
The Perry’s Travel Blog 