Boston to Los Angeles

We had a good flight to Los Angeles from Boston on an American Airlines flight. Flew out of Logan International at 8:00am and landed in LAX at 11:00am. It is a 6 hour flight, but you gain 3 hours due to a time zone change. I was not looking forward to the flight as we had a revolting flight from San Francisco to Boston with the same airline. We left San Fran at 11:15pm on July 2nd and could not sleep due to cramped seating and a lack of air conditioning. That flight contributed most to ‘jet lag’. The flight yesterday however was a bigger plane & our seat allocation was at the front (just behind first class) – so we seemed to have plenty of room. One thing to watch out for with flying with most domestic airlines within the USA – if you are not connecting from an international flight you get charged for check in baggage ($25 USD per case.

The flight over the mid west gave clear views of the Grand Canyon, New Mexico, Arizona & Colorado. We hit overcast conditions once we hit the East Coast. It was a ‘coolish’ 18 degrees when we landed in LA, but warmed up as the day went on. We booked a ‘shared shuttle ride’ that picked us up from the airport and dropped us off at the Best Western at Long Beach for a cheap $14 per head. This same ride would have cost us around $100 if we had taken a taxi.

The rest of the group were already at the motel when we arrived. Maurie, Evan, Dave, Mary & Bob were just walking out the door of the motel when our van pulled up. Tracee & I quickly checked in and jumped on the Metro Train with them ($6 per person for an all day pass) and took the Blue line into Union Station, then the Red Line to Hollywood Boulevard. We had a walk around the Boulevard (where the ‘Star’s’ have their names on the pavement), visited an Army Surplus store & then had a stop for lunch at a Hooters Bar - which all the men (apart from me of course) seemed to find very entertaining! We then caught the Metro back to Long Beach where Tracee & I left the group & went back to the Best Western. We caught the Metro later in the evening down to 1st Street (near Ocean Boulevard) to meet the rest of the group for dinner at a Buffet (Hometown Restaurant). It was my kind of place – all you can eat for $10!

My first impression of LA is that it appears rather a dirty place. Hollywood Boulevard was pretty tacky with cheap novelty shops and hawkers selling tours. There appears to be a lot of poverty around (when looking at residential properties from the train) and every carriage we were on seemed to have at least one person who was mentally unstable and ranting about something!