...I organize my stuff and this time manage to not
miss the connector in the US heading to LA - unfortunately the flight is overbooked so another passenger gets issued the same seat numbers as me; on the plus side I sit there first so I keep the seat; on the down side the flight is full and I have the middle seat and the comfort is like RyanAir's wet dream (a budget version of RyanAir!!!) Oh well ticket was cheap... 5 hours of the flight drag on impossibly... No food and US$3 waters of course...
...I land at LAX and get the impossibly long shuttle ride to my rental (Thrifty) then get put on a Skype like machine to call the rental agent (instead of a live convo - the live clerk only gets called when they need to check my license) and then wait a long time but finally the white beautiful Jeep is in my hands. What a tank!!!!!!
...I go straight to shop for the new iPhone, get into an argument in Apple Store because they won't accept my credit card, pull three of my cards together to withdraw (painfully) the required amount in cash and go with a slight delay back to LAX to pick up Jan who is just flying in...
...we head for the UPS store to pick up my shipments but it's closed so we go to the hotel. It's decent but the bathroom reminds me of the Psycho shower scene complete with the curtain and flickering light...Not really worth the US$110 per night we dropped on it. LA...
...we head straight for the basketball game as the highlight of the evening, are amazed by the crowds around the arena, get ripped off (US$30) on parking, enjoy the game (I'm slightly jet lagged so doze off a little by the end) - despite far seats visibility is great and entertainment factor - awesome.
...we top off the evening with a beer at a nearby Hooters; beer is pricey and waitresses in hot pants look underage. Bleh...