We landed in LA just after midday (still Saturday) and were quite quickly through Customs etc., and then thankfully our cases popped out onto the conveyor - quite a worry when you check the bags in at Perth and then don't see them for 35 hours!
We caught a shuttle bus over to the Dollar Car Rental depot and were shocked to see 40+ people waiting to rent vehicles! But that was the easy part because after waiting 45 minutes to sign the papers we were told to head out back and choose a car from the SUV bay, only to find a huge park that had about 10 vehicles in it - none of them the size of SUV we ordered. The dozens of people waiting in the park were fighting over whatever vehicles had been washed, vacuumed, readied for rent and driven over to the park - what a bloody shambles! I know it was a Saturday arvo in Summer Holidays but hello????
So we waited with a dozen or so people for 2 hours before an SUV that our 4 cases fitted into came out! The Jeep Grand Cherokee we ordered was nowhere to be seen, so we settled on a Dodge Journey which will be adequate despite a lack of legroom in the back, but we wanted a Yank Tank!!!! Pissed off is the only way to describe it!!!!!!
After setting up the GPS we dialled in the address of the hotel we had pre-booked, about an hours drive north, and joined the throng of traffic on I405N - along with many thousands of others heading the same way! The 6 lanes each way freeway was clogged and we crept along at 45mph for half an hour or so until the traffic thinned and we could ramp up the speed.
It was about 5.30pm when we reached the Hampton Inn at Thousand Oaks, but with daylight saving it was still broad daylight, a bit different to the 6pm sunsets at home!
We checked to very comfy rooms and had a quick freshen up before finding a drink and some dinner - we were all flagging big time by now after so many hours without sleep - and we were back in our rooms and lights out at 8.30pm.
It had been a long trip, but the Air New Zealand flights were great and we made the most of the stopover in Auckland, so despite feeling pretty pooped we are ready to start the Road Trip!