Day 30 Farewell to the Sunshine State - Florida. Both Nikita and myself woke up quite zoned out after yesterday's long but satisfying day. Yesterday's Everglades/Miami tour bus finally got back to Econo Lodge in Orlando at 12:20 am and after repacking our baggage cramming in all our goodies from the 6 days in Florida, we crashed into bed around 1:45 am!

Caught the shuttle to the airport at 8:40 am, checked in and took the airport monorail to the remote terminal. Picked up a few more souvenirs from the NASA and Disney stores. Surprisingly the items were not jacked up in price as is often the case in most airport stores.

Both airlines that we have travelled internally with so far in the US; Delta and United both have a simple boarding system, in that you line up in your zone as shown on your boarding pass and board in a smooth and expedite manner. Very rarely have we had to pass other passengers in the aisle who have boarded in the forward cabin before us and creating a log jam. Another concept that Air NZ should implement back home.

Hooked into the free airport wi-fi to upload more pics to the travel blog. Lighting fast wi-fi at Orlando airport with most photos taking around 10 secs to upload. A lot of wi-fi connectivity throughout our last 4 weeks of travel has been extremely variable in regards to upload transfer speed and stability of connection. Most pictures would often take around 30-40 secs to upload at the slower/heavily used hotel servers. Free Wi-fi was found park wide at both Disney World theme parks and Universal Studios; so great to update Facebook and Messenger while killing time in the regular 30 or so minute queues for all the attractions/rides.

United Airlines B737-900 flight push backed on time leaving many standby pax behind. Great views of Orlando on the climb out until we flew over the Gulf of Mexico. Many large ponds/lakes are scattered all through out Florida, in fact most of the peninsula is one big ginormous big sand dune with the highest point being only 312ft above sea level. Florida fact: Florida is currently the 4th most populous state in the US, with around 19.3 million people and will soon pass New York into 3rd. California is No 1 at 38 million and Texas 2nd at 26 mill.

Landed in Houston on time and meandered our way to our transfer flight to LA at another terminal. Received a txt shortly after entering the terminal that our bags had arrived in Houston (from a dedicated tracking device in one of the baggage) Good to know that at least one item is with us so far. Shops every where and Tony finally managed to find a decent lightweight packable backpack for travelling and at a sharp price. Now I can finally dumped my old pack, bought in a trip to the US 15 years ago. Full marks to Nikita for spotting it ! Wound our watches back 1 hour here and grabbed a bite to eat.

Took off in the B757-200 to LA fully loaded with punters. Reasonably clear views with occasional scattered clouds over the lower SW states of Texas, New Mexico,Arizona and California. Currently updating this blog as we are flying over New Mexico as the on board movie didn't look too exciting.

Landed in LA slightly ahead of schedule. We have now done our "lap" of the US. Got the hotel shuttle to the same airport Days Inn we stayed at 4 weeks ago. Dumped our bags in our room and hit the pool. Early to bed tonight to recharge our batteries for the next 3 amped up days back in Las Vegas. Bring it on !!! Counting down the hours now till the Shania Twain concert in the Colosseum at Caesars Palace Casino tomorrow night as we have Cat 1 seats right up the front. This concert WILL be the tour No 1 highlight !

Next blog report coming to you live tomorrow live from the Silver State of Nevada.

Hasta la vista - Tony