There's something comfortable about familiarity. Re-boarding the Norwegian Jewel at San Pedro, the port for Los Angeles, we felt a whole lot more relaxed and less rushed. Boarding was straight forward and we knew exactly where to go once on board. First stop (that's right, you guessed it) was the Tsar's Restaurant for a leisurely lunch. We took our time savouring the food in what we think is the nicest of the ship's eating places. Over coffee we studied the wine...

Our flight from Vancouver to Los Angeles was smooth and event-free. We knew our three nights here were going to be very comfortable when we first set eyes on our huge motel unit with the bedroom upstairs overlooking a big living space. The weather was glorious with sunshine, clear blue skies and temperatures in the mid to high twenties. It was very pleasant to shed our cool weather clothes and feel the sunshine on our skin again. On our first day here we did som...