CHCSYD

I watched the next 3 episodes of the series I mentioned last time. Can't wait for it to come to our screens

We flew on what will be one of the last 'old school' CHCSYD sectors.

In a few days, the Margarita project begins on that sector. It will be interesting to see how it all pans out.

I imagine there are a few things nobody has thought of, so we will see.

I must say that the CHC crews, particularly the zealots, are a very friendly, competent bunch.

Having flown on long-haul in the last few days

The Flight Home

So, row 10.
Nice flight.
Both Sarah and I chose not to make up the bed option, and dozed in the recline position.
The bed is REALLY uncomfortable. Firm. Forget firm, it's too damned hard. The people who like hard beds have other issues, not for discussion here. I am told that they will be retrofitted with softer cushioning. They give you a topper pad in the mean time, but that really doesn't help. They need a pillow top for that to add value.
Here's a thought; Make a really thick pillow topper pad, which when flipped over is a little firmer.
In that way, the softies can have a pillow top mattress. Those who like a little firmer can flip the topper pad. Those masochists who like it tough can leave the topper pad off altogether, and sleep straight on the built-in mattress.

I watched a couple of movies, as well as 3 episodes from a new series called "White Collar". For those as old as me, you might remember Robert Wagner's first TV series, called "It takes a thief". This new one seems to be a remake of that concept.

A few hours sleep was enough, and I felt great when we landed. A quick visit to the AKL Koru Lounge, and off to CHC on NZ303. A meandering path to get to the gate, and then onto a bus.

One passenger asked why we take a bus. I told him this is how the airline can sell such cheap flights. We drive half way.

Back home. Minus 3 degrees. You have GOT to be kidding.
Sarah was sick by the time we got home, and was not a happy possum for the rest of that day.
Luckily, she was lots better the next day, so we made plans to fly to Sydney the following day, Friday.

Can't go from 38 degrees in Vegas to -3 in 3 days!!
Let's get out of here.

Now I am sitting in my brother-in-laws apartment in Sydney, tapping away into the night

Mmmmm

Yes!!
We got the upgrade. Thank goodness.
We had almost given up hope of getting it, once we heard about the sale.
I will need to check with staff travel about this.
I have no problem with the company filling up business on the day by offering a one-price-fits-all upgrade. Great idea.
But.
Do they take into account the number of staff who have paid for an upgradable ticket, or ignore them?

With Qantas, they even limit the number of FQTVs that they allow to upgrade, based on the number of upgradable staff. Staff with upgrades, then FQTVs with upgrades. By the way, all of this happens at least 24hrs out.
With NZ, FQTVs get upgraded first, and then staff. I can't really argue about that, but the downside for both FQTVs and the staff, is that the confirmation doesn't happen till the boarding gate. Yikes!
Not very friendly, even for the FQTVs.

Now, the sale question. If the company sells all available seats on the day after upgrading qualifying FQTVs, there is no point in selling staff an upgradable ticket at all. Not only will we have no clue of our chances, but the chances themselves will be virtually nil.

Anyway, we got the upgrades, and got to sit in row 10. Front row of second cabin.

I found out about the upgrade by asking the lounge staff. While there, I started chatting to the French guy mentioned earlier. They had a set of the Premium economy seats there, and he took great pleasure in spending more than 10 minutes demonstrating them to me.
They are great! This is my first opportunity to see them 'in the flesh'. Very nice.
This is really going to be a popular option once it goes live.

Had a great chat with him, and he was very very accommodating. A wonderful asset to the company. The accent is still unexpected, but who cares.

Santa Monica

To be honest, Santa Monica is a bit of a yawn.
Sure, the pier is a great place, but that's your bleeding lot, mate.

The neighbourhood is very South LA, so we didn't venture far. The famous 3rd Street Promenade is not as interesting as New Regent Street. Sure, it's longer, and it does have an Apple store (no not a greengrocer).
And what exactly IS a promenade, anyway. Just another street. Nothing exciting by any stretch. Very ho hum.

I would recommend doing the pier from one of those hop-on hop-off buses, but I cannot in good conscience advise anybody to stay there. Especially on the last day before a flight to New Zealand.

Check out at 1100.
Store luggage at hotel (thank goodness)
Walk one block to Sears.Yawn. A small Farmers store.
Across the road to Bloomingdales in the new Santa Monica Place mall just opened. Whatever.
Head off with anticipation to the famous Promenade. Slowly up one side then down the other. That's barely an hour gone. Now what?
Back to have a better look at the new mall. Another hour.

It's now 1300, and the flight goes at 2130.
OK so it's back to the pier to see the goings on.
Watch some street entertainers. One tried to take my phone as a donation while I was filming him. Good value.
Bought a couple of souvenir things. Watched the world go by.
1440 we head back to the hotel and order a cab. Mentioned earlier.

Get to the airport in about 15 minutes. Originally planned to leave around 1700, amid warnings of a 60-minute drive. Don't believe it for a moment. See previous post.

Luckily, the staff will let us check-in for our flight. Relief.
Drop the bags with TSA. That organisation deserves a blog of it's own, many of which I am sure exist already. I have a new respect for AvSec.

Head on through the scanners. Know what to take off now. Seasoned travellers.

Find our way to the Koru Lounge. Rather nice.
Being run by 2 nice people with strong French accents. Odd.

Sarah suddenly realises that we didn't go through Customs. Very advanced. Don't know if it's just this terminal, or all at LAX.

Checked on upgrade status, and told they are pushing upgrade specials to the EY pax downstairs. Crash and burn. Or to be more precise "*^%$^*)**%*&)&*"

Again, time will tell.

Freeways

I didn't drive this time we came to Amrika.

The downside is always forgetting which way to go around a roundabout, once I get home. That was never a problem for me pre-Amrika, because I only learnt one way to do it. Once I drove on the wrong side, my brain was given a choice. Very confusing for a bloke brain.

I found that whenever I approached a roundabout (particularly unsignposted ones in a carpark), my brain would go "Ummm, around to the left? around to the right? Which way? Which way? No pressure at all!"

Anyway, back to the point.

I did not drive this time. We weren't going to be going anywhere that really needed one. If we had gone to Henderson looking for a Walmart then maybe. Otherwise, navigating inner cities on the wrong side of both the car and the road does raise the blood pressure a smidge.

As I probably mentioned, I didn't drive this time. From LAX to Santa Monica we took a shuttle from a tout standing outside the door. We started regretting talking to him after we saw 4 shuttles for Santa Monica from other companies come and go, with him saying "Just a few more minutes". It was starting to feel like the experience getting from the IHOP back to The Trump at Vegas.

Anyway, the guy eventually gave us the number of the van we were waiting for, written on the back of a business card so that we can order them for the return. I don't think so, Tim.

That just made it worse. We knew who we were looking for then, and he wasn't coming. Is that him? No. Is that him? No. Is that him? No. Is that him? No.

Remember that really fun game we used to play from the back seat of dad's car? "Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" I don't know what made me think of that.

Okay, so we have to go with a particular shuttle with the company, and he has his specialist subject on a placard on his dashboard. Eventually ours arrived. "Santa Monica".

Now, surely the point of having a guy go to the same suburb in his shuttle, is that he knows the area. We needed to tell him the address of the Holiday Inn.

The next people to get in had to find the address also. Theirs was the "Marina Del Rey Hotel" at, you guessed it, Marina Del Rey!

Both times he needed to ring somebody to ask. OH NO. He HAD a GPS on board. He just didn't USE it.

Guess what, Jose, I am sure if you typed in "Holiday Inn Santa Monica", I bet it will show you.

When he got to Marina Del Rey, he luckily saw the hotel sign, but missed 2 turnoffs to get to the door.

With ours, he approached from the wrong way, so had to turn the corner and find somewhere to make a u-turn. Surprisingly, someone gave way and let him do it.

Where was I going with this? Oh, that's right. Driving.

Now, on the way back from the hotel to the airport, we took a cab. I sat in the back, and watched the flow of traffic.

Now the point to all of this meandering.

I will take every opportunity to take the piss out of Amrikans. They are kind of like Stralians. They give us so much material to work with, it would be a sin not to take a crack every now and then.

Anyway, I do take an opportunity when it presents itself, but this is not one of them. I have to say that the freeway system (there it is, my point at last) is very, very good.

I was impressed when I had to drive in them, and I am impressed as a passenger.

Funnily enough, last time we came here, having prebooked a rental, I looked out the window as we came in over LA, and looked at horror at the zillion-laned freeways slicing the city into bite-sized pieces.

"There's no way I'm driving in THAT" I proclaimed.

When we eventually got to pick up our car at Hertz, they were advertising a new-fangled device called "Neverlost", a GPS for the low, low price of an additional USD7 per day. (Remember, this was in '02) Great, let's do THAT.

One cool feature of the GPS was to make "maximum use of freeways" or "minimum use of freeways". Hit the "minimum" button, thanks.

The result was a very painful, stressful (stress, me?) drive through the middle of LA, heading for Anaheim. From memory it took about an hour and a half. There were many missed turns, and just as many admonishments from the smart-arsed machine plugged into the cigarette lighter. I could just hear the contempt in her voice as she said "recalculating route" yet again. I just know I heard her follow that with "idiot" occasionally.

The reality is that the local driving is the only stressful part (other than those roundabouts). Once I made the rash decision to give the freeways a try, I could not believe it. What took an hour and a half of skilful navigating getting TO Anaheim, took what seemed like 10 minutes to get back via the freeways.

And the signs are so easy to follow. Miles ahead, you are warned of the next 3 exits, so you have to be a complete muppet to get off at the wrong exit.

Having said that, can you imagine life here before the GPS? Ye gads!

The signage HAS to be muppet-proof. This is not the thriving metropolis of Christchurch.

Back home, you miss a turnoff, and you just go to the next one and double back. Can you do this on an Amrikan freeway? Hell no. Take an exit and you have entered another dimension. You have warped onto another freeway. There is no doubling back. There is no turning back at all. The only way is forward. Even the same freeway going the other way isn't always comfortingly next to you as a point of reference. It is complete chaos!!!

Or so it appears from above.

But once strapped into the ride, it is eerily logical. Everything works. The flow. It just works. (Sorry Mr Jobs)

Oh sure, they have traffic jams, but mostly because of an accident causing the traffic to back up. But with no accidents, have you seen how many cars flow along there in an hour? A day? A year?

Spectacular!

Go to Auckland, and as soon as more than 20 cars are on the same piece of motorway, the place turns into a parking lot.

The reason? They were designed by some muppet looking down on it from the comfort of a business class window seat. Our Parking lots (I mean motorways) have the shortest little off-ramps. They take mayby 6 cars and they are full. Do they flow seamlessly onto another motorway, or at least a new lane on a local street. Hell no. They end at a stop sign, or a set of traffic lights.

Once that first car stops, everything backs up behind him, and spills out back onto the motorway itself. That lane soon grinds to a halt as far as the eye can see, and any cars wanting to get into that lane to take that same exit, also grind to a halt as they wait for a gap, blocking the second lane as well. How many lanes do we have on our motorways? Often just the 2. Oh good. That'll work.

That is just what happens on an ordinary day, when one exiting car stops at a set of lights for his required 3 minutes, or at a stop sign for an indeterminate time.

Imagine this scenario repeated at every exit on every motorway in Auckland.

Good Grief. Will the new super-city mayor please send somebody on an all expenses paid junket to LA for a week, please? Get a bit of a clue as to how a REAL motorway is designed. And don't just take a peek out the window as you land, and then jet off to Vegas to check out the go-go dancers. Drive on the damn thing. See what is different.

More from the Pier

Dinner

By the way, we had Mexican at the restaurant right on the end of the Santa Monica Pier.

Mexican food, Margurita, mexican food, margurita. Why wouldn't you?

Did I mention, EVERYTHING is large in America?

More Monica

This is the smoking area on the pier. That's all there is, poor possums. To be fair, I saw two of them. Thousands of people, and 6m of asphalt to breathe fresh air through a filter. That just kills me. No wait...

Santa Monica

You guessed it! The first photo was not taken at Santa Monica. It was taken onboard an AA B738 from Vegas to LAX.

What took my interest is that those things on the ceiling are the life rafts. Talk about a great use of space!!

I have seen onboard when we have used a 737 to replace an A320 on a trans-tasman flight. A massive liferaft is wedged onto a set of 3 seats. Looks as ugly as sin, and must be as awkward as buggery to manhandle into position. Even the Airbus uses locker space which could be used by pax.

Anyway, we eventually foound a shuttle, and made it to the Holiday Inn at Santa Monica. Very average hotel, but location "to die for".

Went for a wander down the pier. Evidence attached.

Delays

Yep! I got caught by delays. Welcome to the world of travel.

We have an 1135 flight from LAS to LAX, so being the retentive wee possum that Sarah is, she wanted to be here early.

So I arrange an 0830 shuttle pick-up. He is on time, so we get to the airport by 0900.

Then we do the check-in. We have to pay $25 for EACH bag here, so we are ready with the green stuff. Everybody here must check-in on a kiosk, so no problem. We did that in LAX to come here.

But these kiosks are different. The last one had a passport swipe at the top, this one you put it face up in a slot. No problems, I am flexible. I can cope with change.

Next, the LAX-LAS kiosk offered us a first class upgrade for $45pp. Nah, we might do that on the return.

Does that option exist this morning? Not so much.

Next change, the damn kiosk wants me to pay my $25 bag fee by credit card. But I want to pay cash. I paid cash in LAX.

Bail out of the check-in. Yes I DO want to cancel, thanks.

Find a customer assistance lady nearby. Sorry, she's busy letting some people into a disney queue with their bags. No multitasking here.

At last, "Can I help you sir?"

We want to check in one bag, but we want to pay cash. OK, just check-in with no bag and pay at the counter. Hey, that is bordering on common sense. Not bad.

So, we are all good.

Got our boarding passes, got our cash, the lady has let us into the bagdrop queue, we see the lady at the counter. Want an ID? Sure, here's my passport.

"When are you going back to Christchurch?"

3 days

"What flight are you on?"

NZ001 on the 10th

"What flight are you on?"

NZ001 on the 10th

"What airline are you on?"

Air New Zealand

"So that's Zee Enn?"

No that's NZ

Enn Zee

"Oh, En Zee. OK then"

Anyway, you get the idea. This went on for a while, and then she told me to put my money away.

It appears she added our flight details to justify not charging us for the luggage.

Excellent. $25 saved. So up goes the bag onto the scale. All good?

"Just a moment, your bag is 9 pounds overweight. You will need to take 6 pounds out or pay $50."

OK we will reshuffle some stuff.

How much weight is that?

"6 pounds, see the scale?"

No we are just trying to convert that into kilos.

"Oh, here we go. (flicks a switch) that will be 3 kilos"

Great, thanks.

So we take out a few shoes, and now have a plastic bag to carry as well.

We soon buy another bag to tidy up our hand-luggage situation.

We do the whole queue at security thing, no dramas. Eventually we are in the departure lounge, where I write the last post about the military.

After basking in the sun for a while, we head for the gate, only an hour early.

That shouldn't be too bad. I give Sarah a little stick for getting us here too early.

A little after boarding time, we hear talk of a gate change.

Then somebody with worse english than us asks if the flight is delayed. Sarah goes to look at the screen, and yes delayed from 1135 to 1250.

About departure time we start hearing announcements about the delay. The aircraft was held up by bad weather somewhere first thing.

About 1155 we hear that the aircraft has not left LAX yet. An engineering issue. ETD 1200, ETA 1300, we will leave at 1345.

Then at 10 past 1220 we hear that it has left the gate, and we will be told when it takes off.

OK it has left, and on it's way. Due about 1325, but we might still leave at 1345.

Time will tell.

Happy, happy, joy, joy

Just as I finish this, 1326, the PA says the a/c has landed, and is taxiing to gates.

Here we go then.

Thought for the day

While at Las Vegas airport, waiting to check-in, I noticed some military types, all kitted out in their cammo gear and heaps of luggage. America, right?

Anyway, seeing their luggage in the same cammo fabric made me wonder.

What happens if it goes missing? How will BTU find a bag that blends into it's surroundings?

Worse, what happens when they arrive in Afghanistan or Iraq? As soon as they put their bag down and turn their backs, it disappears! That's why the war is costing the Americans so much money. They have to keep replacing lost gear. By now Iraq must be littered, not with land mines, but with invisible Samsonites. Must make for a lot of injuries.

What else did we do?

Oh right...

Went down to Mandalay Bay and watched "Lion King". Good show.

Went to a Walmart. Just like a big Warehouse really, but really cheap stuff.

Good brand names. Even cheaper than the outlets.

Finished that trip with a lunch at IHOP, while we waited for a cab.

One for the boys

Popped into Treasure Island for dinner tonight.

Saw this bike on the way out. Built by that crazy build-a-bike tv programme. Actually very well done. Mucho impressed. Lorne will get all slippery over this one, I am sure.

Shopping

Yesterday took a drive.

There is a "Gold Line" articulated bus that goes up and down the strip.

We hopped on outside the Fashion Show Mall near our hotel, an tootled on down past the airport, to an outlet mall. Rather huge, really.

Back on the bus, and off to the other end of the strip to another outlet mall.

On the way, we go through what they call the "arts centre" of Vegas. I would call it "the bronx". Scary stuff.

Actually didn't buy that much from either one. Yes, I know, Sarah. Go figure.

By the way

I don't think I mentioned before, but we are staying with "The Don" in Vegas.

No photos because the hotel is boring.

As Sarah says, opulence for it's own sake. Lots of gold trim everywhere.

Very nice hotel, but obviously decorated by one of his wives.

Staying on the 58th floor, with a view of the city.

Amazing how many empty sections, even on the strip.

Spot the sweety

Before We proceed, let me just say that neither photo here has Sarah in it. One is just some chick blocking my view of Excaliburs, and the other one is a statue made entirely of jelly beans. See if you can tell which is which.

The Atrium at The Bellagio

There are some weird and wonderful sights in the hotels in Vegas.

The most famous thing about The Bellagio, other than the Ocean's 11 movie, is the wee pond out the front.

However, I thought the Atrium was a little "Willy Wonka meets Honey I shrunk the kids".

Only in Vegas, right?

If a picture is worth a thousand words,...

Once apon a time, curved escalators were regarded as impossible.

But have a look at this. I KNOW!

Architecture is pretty damned impressive as well.

This is in the Caesar's Forum shops area.

Caesar's Palace is one of the original casinos of Las Vegas, and it has just kept growing.

There has been a couple of hotel-sized buildings and a shopping mall added since we were here 8 years ago. There are now 3348 rooms in 5 towers.

HUGE!!

Row row row your boat

So I'm a soppy romantic. As Frank Sanatra once said, "Sue me, sue me, shoot bullets through me."

Deal

View from our table

The shops and cafes in The Venetian are along these canals. And a canal isn't very venetian without gondolas, and of course singing gondoliers. Very cool.

The detail these guys put into their hotels is spectacular.

The Venetian

Here are some shots from and inside The Venetian, as we went in looking for our favourite Mexican Restaurant.

The Wynn

Went for a bit of a wander onto The Strip.

Started at The Wynn. It didn't exist last time we were here, so had a bit of a drive by. Not too shabby.

Las Vegas Airport

The flight to Vegas was a little bumpy, particularly on descent. Having flown into CHC a few dozen times, today's turbulence was nothing much.

As soon as we got off the plane at Las Vegas, we started enjoying the experience.

The first photo is the first thing you see as you walk off the airbridge. Slot machines.

Last time we came here, we drove, so have never flown there before.

We were impressed!! A very nice, well organised airport. We thought for a moment we were in another country. There is a train from the arrivals terminal to baggage claim. Very KUL.

The photos above are the arrivals terminal, just before the train. Nice.

Fresh Air at last

Waited for the Hilton shuttle. Took a while. They advertise every 15 minutes. Not so much.

Anyway, better than last time. We stayed at the Il Segunda, and their shuttle was 30 minutes. Ish. Emphasis on the ‘ish’.

The Hilton is literally just down the road, so we were checking in a few minutes later. Nice hotel, Paris will be proud.

Don’t want to pay extra for the broadband, so this post will have to wait till Vegas till it goes online.

Did dinner at Denny’s (a real one, not that asian restaurant next to Hoyts). All you can eat pancakes for USD4. Ridiculous. The bill came to $15 and change, and we gave $20 including tip.

Sarah thought that was reasonable till I told her that’s about a 30% tip! Never mind, a cheap meal.

American Customs. Need I say more? Obviously!

As we got off the aircraft, the length of the bridge was stacked with wheelchairs, each manned (or should that be personed) by what I can only describe as a peculiar looking specimen.

I think the rule of thumb is that if you have a US passport, you instantly qualify for special assistance.

And not the Olympic context, either.

Arrived in LAX arrivals hall.

Oh…

My…

God…

There were 3 Disney queues for foreigners. We (Sarah) picked the middle one.

Each block had 4 Customs booths servicing it. All were fully manned.

Except ours. Ours had 2. But wait. After a while, one of them left. So it went from “painful” to “excruciating”.

Oh, don’t worry. He eventually came back. From “excruciating” back to “painful”. All is good.

Remember, we were in Business Class. Most people in our ‘slow’ bank were from Business Class, so we were there before anybody else off our flight.

The staff noticed the slow queue, so started peeling people off the back of the queue into other, faster queues.

Do they pull people from the middle of another queue? No.

From the front? Hell no!

From the back.

Good for them. They get here last, and get fast-tracked. Excellent!

Then somebody came through looking for pax for Alitalia. They must be connecting to Europe. They find about a dozen in the next queue, and then bring the front. OF OUR QUEUE!!

Oh…

My…

God…

Again…

As we were almost at the front, we watched a family at the booth. Obviously they introduced fingerprint scanning since our last trip here.

Anyway, the officer was going through the same script for probably the zillionth time.

• Right hand four fingers
• Thumb
• Left hand four fingers
• Thumb

A woman in the family (mother I think) was struggling with the instructions

• Right hand four fingers
• Thumb
• Left thumb
• Left hand four fingers, woops sorry
• Left hand four fingers again
• Thumb
• Right again
• Left hand four fingers
• Um?

Who knew they would have an IQ test to get into America. Obviously it wouldn’t work for US citizens. Nobody would be let back in.

Have you ever noticed the way customs work their manning formula? Clearly it’s the same around the world.

• X number of pax expected
• Divide it by the magic number, usually 50
• That is the number of officers to roster.

Nothing wrong with that. Until some over-zealous number-cruncher decides to make the formula work dynamically. That means that as the queues shorten, the number of customs agents required goes down, so they get progressively peeled off.

Very clever, right? Wrong.

The maths doesn’t work for those at the back of the queue. Their time in the queue expands exponentially every time a customs booth closes.

Welcome to America.

So we were in the queue for an hour. Small room. Close quarters with a bunch of strangers. Not much in the way of aircon. By the end of it, our bag was waiting for us. The Priority tag was meaningless. We were the last to leave the arrival hall. Even the Customs officer who processed us followed us out of the hall. Shift over. I am sure somebody turned out the lights behind us.

By the time we hit the pavement, I had a good sense of what it was like to emerge from the birthing canal.

Racing this Time

The photo is the departure gate for NZ2 at AKL.

Thank goodness for the Koru Lounge is all I say!!

The flight was very comfortable.

I met one of the crew I recognised from NZ90 days, so we had the odd chat. Nice guy.

The time difference is not bad, surprisingly. Effectively, they are 5hrs behind us, so leaving 2130 from AKL, is 0230 in LAX. Ignoring the date, obviously.

What I had forgotten was that the business class IFE isn’t touch-screen on the 747. The economy ones are, but not business. Go figure. I sat there for a while waiting for somebody up the front to turn the damn thing on.

Then I saw somebody behind Sarah watching a movie. Doh! That’s embarrassing. Don’t tell anyone, will you?

Clearly the A320 IFE is superior. Best in the world, actually.

Anyway, had a short nap, and feel great.

On our way

I am now sitting in the AKL Koru Club, waiting to board NZ2 to LAX.

Row 11 I am told is the second row of business class, so should be very comfortable.

We did the Hotwire thing again for LAX accommodation. USD59 plus tax, $73 total.

Just want to be near the airport, and we got... Hilton Los Angeles Airport.

Not sure we are keen on helping to pay Paris's bar bill, but there you go. Somebody needs to get our money.

Looking around the lounge, we are really in a techno world.

There is an american couple at the next table. She is trawling on her laptop, and he is reading a book. On a kindle.

Across the room is obviously iPad corner. A couple of guys over there with their new toys.

I am fitting right in with my mac.

We are pondering the option of travelling from CHC to LAX on Monday instead of Tuesday.

The thought of CHCAKLLAXLAS is a bit daunting for Sarah.

So it looks like we will overnight at LAX airport on Monday night.

The Devil is in the Detail

So, its Christchurch to Auckland on Tuesday the 3rd August, then Auckland to Los Angeles that night.
We have upgradable tickets on NZ6, and the loadings look good for sitting in Business Class. It really is worth it for long haul flights.

Once in Los Angeles, we will connect to a commercial flight to Las Vegas. This was booked online, and is only NZ$377 return for both of us.

We were looking to stay at Bellagio or The Venetian, and there was a link from our staff travel site for discounted prices. The link didn't work, so it was back to the drawing board.

We have studied Expedia, Priceline, all sorts of discount sites.

A friend of Sarah's told us about a site called Hotwire.

This is like the mystery hotel feature of Wotif. We pick the star rating, and the part of the Vegas Strip we want to stay, and off we go. Once we pay for the hotel, we find out the name of the hotel. Scary, huh?

Anyway, we select 5 star, so not too much can go wrong. It advertises USD$89 per night, so that's a real bargain.

Bite the bullet, and roll the dice..

We are now going to stay at... Trump Towers. Not too shabby.

After 4 days, we will be back in LAX for 2 days at Santa Monica Pier.

Sarah always wanted to see Santa Monica. I hope it lives up to expectation.

Tally Ho!!

So it begins.
After a whirlwind selection process, we now have a holiday destination.

First it was Bangladesh, and then Bangkok.

Then she was interested in seeing Noumea. Then Santa Monica.
After a day or two, Brisbane was looking good.
A cruise sounds good right about now.
No wait... Japan it will be. Decision made.

Oh, all right then, we will go to Santa Monica and Las Vegas.

So online we go, to book some flights and hotels before somebody changes her mind.