California Dreamin' part 1 - High in the Sky

 All the leaves are brown....

                        (all the leaves are brown)

And the sky is gray....

                        (and the sky is gray)

I've been for a walk....

                        (I've been for a walk)

On a winter's day....

                        (on a winter's day)

I'd be safe and warm....

                        (I'd be safe and warm)

If I was in L.A....

                        (If I was in L.A.)

California dreamin'....

                        (California dreamin')

On such a winter's day

This blog is about my latest visit to see my family in California after 3 years of hiding away from the corona virus.  I plan to make the posts short on text but rich in photos.   You are welcome to scan your way through the photos at the bottom of the screen but if you do that, you will miss the links and the videos (where/if I have posted them).  I will make shorter blog post in more sections so you can easily click your way to those posts that have the most appeal for you.

You might want to skip the first blog all together as it is mostly just airport photos and photos from the air.

Ready? Here we go...........

I snapped this photo from Gate E135.  I tried to send it to the Cargo driving department to say hi and let them know I was here but it bounced back.  I guessed there is a block on sending an mms to the company phones.  It wasn't my department but now and then I would have to help drive out these huge cargo pallets to the "long haul" flights.

This is the latest edition to the airport.  

Clean, new, shiny and ZZZzzz...

Here is another colleague driving a smaller one-man car delivering cargo (in this case, mail) in baggage wagons.  This was my job. I miss it.  Bawwwwwaaaa haaaaaa haaaa ha ha ha ha

I booked tickets for Business Class.  

Sadly, Business Class was full.  

I ended up in Monkey Plus Class. 

Grateful that I wasn't put in Sardine Class.

Not as fancy, but the alcohol was flowing  - probably to keep us from complaining.  

Worked for me.

Now we are getting close to LA.  

I can feel it.  

I can recognize it.

But just where exactly are we?

This is probably the part you'll want to skip if you're not into maps or if you prefer an aisle seat over a window seat.  I am always fascinated when I fly over southern California.  I always wonder where we are but I can never figure it out........... Until now.

After 11 hours and 20 minutes, we finally hit ground.

This is the Tom Bradly International Terminal.

The Tom Bradley International Terminal opened on June 18, 1984, just weeks before the start of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games.  It is named for Tom Bradley, the first African-American and longest-serving (20 years) mayor of Los Angeles, and a champion of LAX.

California Dreamin' part 2 - Flea-bag Motel

Welcome to the Hotel California

Such a lovely place -

                        (such a lovey place)

Such a lovely face.

Plenty of room at the Hotel California

Any time of year -

                        (any time of year)

You can find it here.

When Jens and I travel, we are always bombed out from crossing 9 time zones.  We can never stay awake past 7pm/19:00 when we arrive in California.   And then in the middle of the night we are wide awake and can't fall back to sleep.  It's horrible.

So I planned this visit with that fact in mind.  I decided to stay in a hotel room at LAX.  This way I could sleep and in the morning I would get an early start and go visit my old workmate and long time friend, Gail.  She lives just 5 minutes away from LAX.

I looked on google maps to see where a bus stop/taxi stop and hotel are so that it would be a real easy morning when I wake up.  I could either take a $2 bus and walk 5 minutes or take a $15 taxi ride to her front door.  I would let it depend on what time I woke up and how fresh I was.  

There are plenty of affordable hotels on Century Blvd., but if you don't spend a minimum of 200 bucks, you will for sure end up with bed bugs sucking the blood out of you.  Basically for $50 more, there is a big jump in quality.  What I ended up with was surprisingly pleasant and I was pleasantly surprised.

Here now are a few photos of and from the hotel looking out of the window of my room.

 

H Hotel is where I stayed.

Here is the link to see pix from the hotel website - just in case you are in need. 

The below pix is from the website of the room that I didn't just stay in - but lounged in.  

It was really nice and relaxing and a great way to start to unwind from all those damn time zones.

The below photo is interesting because it shows part of the new sky tram that is being built at the moment.

Watch this Youtube video to see what it will look like after completion.

These LAX signs were just out front of the H hotel.  

I could also see them from the window of my room.

After I checked in, I walked the boulevard to Denny's.  Something quick and easy.  Decent food for the price and to take these photos for Jens as this is his favorite chain restaurant in California.

I did my best to stay up to match California sleeping hours.  I guess I went to bed about 11pm/23:00.  When I woke up, these were the views from my hotel window.

This is the early morning view I woke up to with the moon in the west, over the Pacific Ocean.  You can see the iconic mid-century space-age theme structure on the left.  Construction started in 1957.  The plans were to have this point, finger out to all the terminals.  That never happened and the original design ended up with major changes.  This link will help you see the building if you have problems spotting it on the above photo.  

After a delicious hotel breakfast (not included in the price) and a fantastic cuppa-java, I snapped these photos just as I was getting ready to pack and check out.  The view was amazing as I could see the Santa Monica mountains on the right and the Pacific ocean, from the window of my room.  

I was all set, packed and ready to go visit Gail.  She had called the hotel several times to get in touch with me but I was in the hotel restaurant enjoying my breakfast. Sadly, there was a last minute change of plans.  Gail was soon to be going in for an operation and she was very nervous and didn't want to take any chances with the corona virus.  I can understand that.  Her doctor said it was very important to be corona free and here I was just coming off of a plane with 150 passengers and surely one of them must have been positive - right?  So we agreed to stay in touch and hopefully we can meet on the next visit.

Therefore, I now needed to head back to LAX and get on the flyaway bus to Union Station down town LA.

California Dreamin' part 3 - Come Fly Away

Come fly with me, Let's fly, let's fly away

If you can use some exotic booze, there's a bar in far Bombay

Come fly with me, let's fly, let's fly away

I got a 2 great tips from my long time friend, George:  Don't take the metro and get on the Flyaway bus at the first stop.  Since the metro is a common mode of transport here in Denmark, I figured that the metro in LA would be about the same.  Wrong!  As it turned out, the closest Flyaway bus stop was almost next-door to the H hotel.  By boarding at the first stop, I was able to get the front seat.  So glad for the tips.

I didn't want to take the bus because I thought it would drive along the horrible 405 to the 10 going east.  But the bus took the 105 east and then up the 110.   The 105 was traffic free. But take a look at what we ended up hitting - OMG.  Luckily it was diamond lane all the way until we got to down town.

Exciting down town Los Angeles with clear skies and San Gabriel mountains in the background.

And here we are - Union Station.  Kind of funny that you pay after you leave the bus and walk to the ticket booth.  Now I need to meet George.