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10 Years Ago...
Sep. 11th, 2022 05:11 pm... We flew into LA, then on to San Francisco on September 11, 2012
The Presidential election was in full swing - Obama vs Romney... Feeling nostalgic yet??
An excerpt from the Tour Diary - posted here on DW last year some time...
The sun was rising as we approached the USA West Coast, landing in LA at about 6.30am local time on the same day we left Australia, only four hours earlier… Two long Customs lines later & explanations to a couple of Border Security Officials what Mint Slice biscuits are (they were both disappointed by the lack of Tim Tams in our bags... which showed Australians have bribed their way into the USA before!!), it was time to find our connecting flight to SF. Here the fun/stress – depending on which of us you ask – began. Our flight was not listed, a helpful airport official suggested we were now flying with American Airlines instead of United, our main luggage was dispatched down a conveyor with other AA bags & we went in search of one of two Domestic terminals. As per Murphy’s Law, the first one (American Airlines) was the wrong one & the United terminal was waaaay down the other end of the complex. Unlike most other airport patrons, we walked to it, quickly discovering why most airport patrons don't... it really was a looong waaay, especially for 2 jet-lagged foreigners
A quick check-in, (& shoeless full body scan, we were flying on Sept 11 after all) as we were running out of time, found our gate & boarded a much smaller plane & waited for takeoff… & waited… & waited. Various cabin announcements put the blame on waiting for extra fuel, delays in SF & waiting for a tow out to the runway. Drinks were made available & we had our first American Coke experience... Diet Coke tastes the same, but the American Coke Zero was bloody awful, at least to our Australian tastebuds. It'll be Diet for the rest of our trip then - nice to settle that early! Eventually we were off on a one hour flight north. One bounce & we landed in San Francisco - the real starting point of the journey
The Presidential election was in full swing - Obama vs Romney... Feeling nostalgic yet??
An excerpt from the Tour Diary - posted here on DW last year some time...
The sun was rising as we approached the USA West Coast, landing in LA at about 6.30am local time on the same day we left Australia, only four hours earlier… Two long Customs lines later & explanations to a couple of Border Security Officials what Mint Slice biscuits are (they were both disappointed by the lack of Tim Tams in our bags... which showed Australians have bribed their way into the USA before!!), it was time to find our connecting flight to SF. Here the fun/stress – depending on which of us you ask – began. Our flight was not listed, a helpful airport official suggested we were now flying with American Airlines instead of United, our main luggage was dispatched down a conveyor with other AA bags & we went in search of one of two Domestic terminals. As per Murphy’s Law, the first one (American Airlines) was the wrong one & the United terminal was waaaay down the other end of the complex. Unlike most other airport patrons, we walked to it, quickly discovering why most airport patrons don't... it really was a looong waaay, especially for 2 jet-lagged foreigners
A quick check-in, (& shoeless full body scan, we were flying on Sept 11 after all) as we were running out of time, found our gate & boarded a much smaller plane & waited for takeoff… & waited… & waited. Various cabin announcements put the blame on waiting for extra fuel, delays in SF & waiting for a tow out to the runway. Drinks were made available & we had our first American Coke experience... Diet Coke tastes the same, but the American Coke Zero was bloody awful, at least to our Australian tastebuds. It'll be Diet for the rest of our trip then - nice to settle that early! Eventually we were off on a one hour flight north. One bounce & we landed in San Francisco - the real starting point of the journey
