An Introduction - READ ME FIRST!

Okay, this is the blog I kept while I was away in the US for my family. I've edited little bits here and there but most of it is as I posted. It's in 'reverse blog order' which means the post after this one is the first one to read, and onwards.

The pics I've got on Facebook are here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=112023&id=740693722

I hope reading this gives you some idea of what went on. And I hope its at least a little entertaining!

Sunday 9th August - Day

Ohhhhhkayyyyy...

We're here. It's 7am in Aus on Monday the 10th, and its 2pm on Sunday the 9th in the US.

First things first. Australia. Belted through customs and ended up looking through the shops on the other side - but not for long. Tried to find a notepad that wasn't terribly expensive (failed) and then got sore shoulders from our too heavy back-packs.

So we sat around in the waiting area til they opened the next area on (waiting area for gates 8 & 9) - we both had our bags searched (not very thoroughly), and our shoes, and a wave over with a hand held metal detector. Should mention that the bag scan on the way into the gate area neither of us took off our watches and the detector failed to go off. Nice one :/

Soon we were being boarded. Down down down to almost the other end of the plane - row 70 of about 75. On the window, we got the first row of two seats (instead of 3) so we didn't have to put up with anyone else.

There were a few kids on the plane, but there wasn't too much screaming. Though apparently there was when I was asleep :P

I'd taken a phenergan before I boarded and didn't bother with the wrist straps. They're supposed to fit the ball to press between the tendons in your arm, but mine are really close together so I didn't want to risk it.

Strangely, just one made me want to sleep pretty quickly. I was still trying to get used to being able to cruise without getting sick. After watching a movie and having "lunch" I zonked out for what I thought was 4 hours, JT tells me it was 5.5.

At one point during the flight we had the captain come over and tell everyone to get back to their seats (you have to be belted if you're sitting, no matter what). Just a minute later and we had some turbulence come through. Freaky.

After I woke up I watched a couple more movies and quickly got bored. It really hits how long you're sitting there for. It wasn't so much cabin fever that really got to me over all, it was the ache of sitting on my butt for way too long.

Anyway, 10 hours into the flight I got a little worried so I took another phenergan, which again made me want to sleep. I slept for about an hour or so before they turned on the lights again. Had to be the most painful 2 hours ever. Sitting there, sore arse, body just about shaking with the need for sleep and trying not to pass out during landing (I was feeling a little queasy even with the drugs). But I kept it all down, thankfully.

As we were standing there waiting to get off the plane, I stuck my customs/immigration forms in my mouth (between my lips so they didn't get wet) while I got something out of my bag. Unfortunately they did get a little wet, my lips fused to the paper and I ended up ripping a hunk of skin out of my top lip. Yeah, gross, I know, but effing painful :P It bled and everything. So thats really irritating.

Anyway, the line at customs took us at least half an hour to get through, I got mistaken again for a male, and we got our bags fine.

Found the shuttle relatively easily. Before we even got out of the airport and onto the freeway we'd seen 2 car accidents, airport police, blue uniform police and highway patrol officers. Pretty nifty.

The freeways are pretty efficient looking, at least for a Sunday.

As we pulled up to the hotel, a fire engine came blaring down the road...so many emergencies lol.

Downtown is weird. Its like what you see in Newcastle these days (looks dead as). Only a bit busier.

The lady at the counter checked us in at 12:45pm, pretty darn good considering its supposed to be a 3pm check in.

We found the Ramen place, and a stupidly long line to go with it. We're right in the little tokyo district so theres a lot of Japanese stuff around.

Unfortunately we were too tired and hungry to be able to think, so we went back to the room for room service. Not very nice. My "cheese" pizza also randomly had chicken, capsicum and pineapple on it, as well as bbq sauce.

So I've had a shower and now I'm lying in bed, finishing this post before I pass out!

Sunday 9th August - Evening

Update number 2!

We got back from Orochon Ramen not too long ago. It was pretty epic. Very salty, quite spicey. I had the number 5, which is two rungs up on the spice metre. So it goes 7 to 1, mild to hot. Then theres Special #1 and Special #2 - 2 is the hottest and the one that Adam from Man V Food took on.

I was getting the nice runny nose and my eyes were watering just from number 5! Weak :D

I've just finished off a video which I'll be emailing through. I look like a retard but hopefully it'll be worth the embarrassment...just don't go sending it to anyone :P

Things worth mentioning:

LAPD building must be just across the way - had the chopper land there a couple of times already.

First candy related purchase in LA was a box of Pocky...Japanese snack. lol.

Hmm...yep, I think thats it.

Monday 10th August - Day

This morning we got up (well, I got up and JT was already awake) and went for a walk to Philippe's. It was a fair way up, but worth it. It was so freakin' cool to be in there, I saw the woman that was on Man V Food, got a really great beef sandwich and I tell you that mustard is definitely as hot as the show suggests.

I got a little souvenir from there too (a bobble head!), which will be an awesome reminder.

This part of LA, downtown, is utterly dead. Its the working government district. All attractions around here are very much culture based stuff. So museums, art centres, that sorta junk. Crap that we find more boring than watching American TV.

Right now we're lounging in the hotel room. Theres no pool here, nothing to do...the closest train station is about a mile away and we really don't like the look of the area.

Bring on Quakecon.

Monday 10th August - Evening

So I slept for about...3 hours or so this afternoon. JT was out for about 5 hours.

We watched a bunch of WWE and then went off in search of McDonalds for dinner. 7pm and the damn place was closed! 95% of the street was closed, exceptions being the odd dodgy looking mexican cantina.

Its quite weird around here. We're in the midst of the Japanese Little Tokyo and yet when we went to Phillipe's we were right next to Chinatown and then this little Mexican alleyway thing with stalls and junk. JT bought a mexican wrestlers mask for Tim.

So we walked a little further after maccas and stopped short of some shifty looking people. Turned back and headed to the hotel again, hell bent on never getting room service here again. Yech.

We ended up at some Pizza joint, I had a pepperoni pizza which has to be the best one I've ever had. Not that I've had much to compare to :P

We're lazing around watching American Gladiators now. Its from the late 80s/early 90s and its no where near as sensationalised as ours was around that time.

Tuesday 11th August

Phew...what a day.

This morning we trekked out to the T Mobile store so JT could get himself a phone. He didn't set up his phone for international roaming for some retarded reason so he had to buy a prepaid phone to talk to his parents.

I really wanted to get a Hiptop phone, but alas, I'm not willing to spend $450 on a phone I can't use on my current plan :P

Next we went to Maccas for some breakfast and found the menu a little unappetising. So we kept walking south til we found something we felt comfortable eating...which turned out to be KFC. Haha!

So I got a strip meal, which comes with 2 sides. This ranges from wedges to some sort of greens to corn on the cob to mac n cheese (theres about 4 more options other than those, too). I got wedges & mac n cheese. It also comes with a biscuit - exact same consistency as a scone, same taste only not as sweet. Pretty cool.

From here we kept heading South, walking along South Broadway St. Eventually we realised we were so close to the Staples centre, so we headed on over there. Boom, life was suddenly everywhere!

Somehow, as we walked from the Kyoto Grand side of 11th Street to the Staples centre side, we went from dingy scabby looking Mexican filled area to regular this-is-what-I-though-LA-would-be-like.

We found the ESPN building, the Nokia Centre, a bunch of massive advertisements and the Grammy Museum, which advertised a special on Michael Jackson and Neil Diamond.

So we went on in, $10 admission, and checked it out. It was a pretty cool museum. Not supposed to take photos in there but I took a couple anyway :P
The MJ stuff was a few outfits here and there, plus they were playing a concert in one section and his music videos in another. Not much, but the museum isn't too huge.

I got an MJ t-shirt there which is nice.

After that we went to the Staples Centre store, JT bought a stupidly expensive Hockey shirt - LA Kings. $135! I was going to buy a Lakers (Basketball) cap but I couldn't find one I wanted to fit me. Was $38 anyway. I want a Chicago Bulls one more, though I don't think I'll be able to find one >.<

We headed out to find a cab (there aren't that many around, surprisingly) and asked the driver to take us to the nearest Walmart. He suggested one only 5 minutes further (apparently) which was a Superstore (the nearest one was smaller, I saw that on the website) so we headed out. $50 taxi ride later we're there. It was freakin' huge, but really - not that much different to a Big W or Target. The only difference was size and what they sold.

I contemplated a few expensive items whilst there but didn't want to spend the money :P

We left Walmart and headed to a cheapish shoe store nearby so JT could get some new shoes.

$50 cab ride back and we were soon wandering back through Downtown. Its amazing how different some parts of the city are. It really is like walking from Circular Quay to Mascot within 3 blocks...only worse.

On the way back I got (what I assume is) a large coke from Maccas (after edit: pretty sure it's a supersize). $1.09 for a 42 ounce cup. Thats 1.2L!!!! Holy friggin crap! Hahaha...yikes.

Checked out the Sprint store after that, but unfortunately they don't sell Nokia phones so we left pretty quickly.

Next we went back to the Pizza place and had spaghetti and meatballs for a late lunch. Pretty sure we'll be going back to Orochon Ramen for dinner again tonight.

Wednesday 12th August

Soooo...an update.

We went back to Orochon Ramen one last time. Tasty tasty. I got a shirt from there too, says Orochon Ramen on the back in Japanese.

Went to bed at 12 and got up at 7:30 to get ready for the shuttle. Got sorted, buggered off and headed back to LAX. Trying to check into American Airlines is a joke. You have to check in on the computer before you go to the desk to get your bags checked and junk, and I'm not sure if its everyone or just us, but we then had to take our bags to the TSA baggage scan (or in JT's case, the non-TSA scanner as he didn't have TSA locks).

Massive waste of time going to 3 different things. If they were smart they'd just have everyone get checked in with the person and they could just have the scanning done from there instead of mass confusion everywhere. Highly inefficient.

Going through the metal detectors and on board scanner was eventful. Not just your belt and watch to take off, but also have to put your shoes through. I couldn't even walk through with my jacket on.

As we walked towards the gate there was a small place selling mags, chocolates and other assorted crap which had a t-shirt on display. I almost bought it. It had a picture on the front of Arnie in Terminator 2, with the T2 font saying "The Governator"

It was $28 plus tax. Just a wee bit too expensive for me!

I picked up a couple of Buffy comic books at the book store there that I've been after for cheaper than in Aus, and checked out the BestBuy vending machine - it sold digital cameras, DS's, SD cards, basically anything along those lines. In a vending machine. Unfortunately no pics - didn't want to risk that at the airport :P

Plus someone was using it.

Soon we were on the plane for a 2 hour flight to Dallas. I think I slept for about half an hour on the flight. Damn phenergen knocking me out :P

As we were boarding missingo came on the flight. He'd spent 10 minutes in LA going from his SYD flight to this one.

Got off the plane, got our bags and walked out into the humid humid Texas air. Crazy. We had to wait outside for the shuttle for about 15 minutes. I was fine, but the others were burning up.

About a 10-15 minute ride later we were at the hotel. Checked in and found our room. Very nice.

We ordered room service and its actually good! Theres pics up in the imageshack album, we paid the same at the Kyoto Grand for some really horrible pizzas as we did for these fantastic steaks.

After having only eaten a biscuit all day it was even better.

So now we're watching Man V Food and we're definitely going to the Nascar cafe in Vegas - the food looks great.

We were going to head down and check out the line but JT couldn't be bothered and I don't want to go on my own in case I get lost.

I keep taking photos on my camera without the memory card in! ARGH! I took photos of the Orochon Ramen winner wall last night - the one with Adam from Man V Food pic on it. And its on the camera. Lol. Its annoying the crap outta me :P Theres also the pic of the Philippe's building (and my sandwich) on it too.