The journey started out for our family with quite a bit of excitement. My two oldest sisters and I were at the airport, waiting for the rest of our family, which didnt come until 5 minutes before the check-in closure. When they finally arrived (the AA people had already read us the riot act for arriving so late) we dropped our luggage and went through the security. Everything was fine except, what we found out only later, that the customs officer opened our bag and took some stuff out, which we never got back. After the flight to New York, we had to change the airport and organised our transport right there. After having checked out the prices of the different companies and several negotiations we found a cool driver who even offered us to drive through Manhattan (which was actually not on the way). So we arrived quite early in Newark and by the way got to see the amazing, worldfamous skyscrapers. After having gone through security and enjoyed our first american burger, our plane took off and landed in LA a few hours later, during which I could sleep a little.

After having chosen a car at the rental station, we headed to our first Mennonite your way family. The head of the little clan was an art professor who was a funny, phlegmatic person, accepting different opinions and a very interesting discussion partner. Everyone had his own bed (I had a couch...just ftr) and was therefore able to cure his jetlag.