Day 1: Travel day - Auckland to Los Angeles

Welcome change to italics

Yesterday we flew from Auckland New Zealand to Los Angeles CA. Paragraph

Long line

The first few days of a new tour are always a challenge for the creators of blogs. While I wait for my brain to ease its way into this new time zone and observe its preferred hours of operation I have decided to resort to a new and untested tool, Microsoft Word voice dictation, a device to quickly and unabashedly unleash the word count that you the reader deserves. I'm not saying that I won't proof eat it but I would like this to be a raw and honest experience for you and me both.

The welcome sign at Auckland’s International Airport.

Tristan and I arrived at Auckland International Airport on a glorious late winter evening, slight breeze matched by a slowly melting grey blue sky and thin wispy clouds to catch the gradually fading light. Jonathan and Elizabeth were already on the ground in Los Angeles having travelled the previous evening and it so was the duo of Tristan and myself that were able to sweep through the chicken process making the greatest paste in order to enjoy the comforts of the quarter lounge before we were confined to the economy cabin of a Boeing 777-300 for the 12 hour Pacific crossing. Embarrassingly Tristan was pulled up at the security check so they could have a ferret through his carry on suitcase but alas nothing dangerous was found And we soon forgot about the incident Go away along the welcoming river avs Jack Daniels and perfumes on the way to the departure gates.

We ate dinner as the sun was setting, watching the Bustle of the ground crews and the graceful claims of departing aircraft, A picture they would have been lucky to claim for an Air New Zealand commercial. At 8:15 PM the aircraft door is closed right on time and the flight crew Completed a short taxi to the runway before lifting off into a dark sky in climbing gently toward a northeasterly hitting.

Auckland International Airport lies beneath an approaching twilight, and the White Whale, Air New Zealand’s pale and fernless 777-367 sits in the foreground unloading cargo after a trans-Tasman flight.

I raised my window shade after being woken up by the announcement for the breakfast service And soil review largely filled by an aluminium clad wing, Just a few hints of the calm blue waters below. I enjoyed the simplicity of the binary decision making Offered by this short menu and I opted for the sweet off option. My modular meal centred around a row of hot cakes bisected and presented in a unconventional lying down half stack. They swam among a sea compote and broached a beach of butter. There were toppings to enhance the hotcakes, a saucy vanilla syrup and a butterscotch squeeze, and I squeezed and poured While the porous silver discs absorb these delicious dressings. I ate the fruit platter with the fresh and fruity apricot and custard yoghurt dipping each slice of the rock hard pair In the sweet probiotic delight and then finishing up with the two red grapes I found looking at the bottom of the container. To drink I had a black makona coffee which was served hot but not scalding.

We disembarked into a call jetway at Tom Bradley international the air conditioned power beating away the fierce heat from this summer L eisen. The mood in the immigration queue was jovial and even the Border Patrol officers themes cheerful enough and we were waved on through to baggage claim. For the next 90 minutes as Tristan and I set in a taxi on the way to the storage unit Liz, jonathan, Gabrielle, and any, our tour manager, we're loading the bus for the first time, Carefully stacking the trailer with a focus on stability and weight distribution. We met back at the Airbnb where we gratefully applied showers onto our well travelled skins, and changed into more appropriate clothing for The warm weather.

Arriving at LAX.

It was games birthday in Australia. For the third year in a row we had dragged him away from home To mix our life sound and forced him to celebrate with us instead of his wife or family. The celebration was held at a tiki bar not far from our accommodation, A moodily lit and bamboo clad establishment and one which enhanced the bathroom experience for its patrons with prerecorded ocean sounds. We celebrated gabes life And toasted his achievements, and I ordered a large flaming drink.

Late in the evening we checked out of our accommodation we made our way to the Holiday Inn Express in Burbank we're shiny blue coach was parked outside the lobby, Rumbling quietly in readiness for the first night drive. Purring, even. We settled in and fine tune the ambience, dialling the mood lighting to the perfect setting and relaxing into the scuffed leather couches as blue paradise departed Los Angeles.

Inside the front lounge of Blue Paradise, modeled by Jacob Snell.

Thanks for sticking with me, if you've made it this far. I realised that this might be a punishing read but things can only get easier, I hope, once I have a good sleep.

Here are a couple of treats to reward your hard work and persistence. Good artworks and good shower heads at the Airbnb.

And a gif from the movie I half-watched on the flight.