Old Timer Garage

Today is our last day in the US. These two and a half weeks have really flown by and it is hard to think that we will spend the next night in the air and that in just over 24 hours I will be back in the office.

Our flight is supposed to take off in the evening in Los Angeles airport so we have all day in San Diego. It won’t be much time but at least we should be able to get an idea of the city.

As always lately, we check out from the hotel and start looking for the closest Starbucks for breakfast. Our French names are not easy to understand for the American waiters so for a few days already, we have been telling them that our name is Bob each time they ask to write on our cups. It makes us laugh and it works very well.

Once refuelled, we do a quick tour of the city in the car. My brother has already been here several times so he is quite familiar with the city and shows us the points of interest. Then we head to the coast for a walk next to the waves.

 

And waves there are. The Ocean seems to be pretty strong and the waves breaking on the cliffs where we are walking make for very nice pictures.

 

A bit further, it is a beach where tens of seals are taking the sun. There are many tourists there and at least as many seals. The weather in San Diego seems to be pretty much all year round a very nice 20 degrees and very sunny. And we enjoy it even more because it is the end of October and we know full well the type of weather that is waiting for us in the UK. So we take as much light and sun and heat as we can to fight through the British winter.

After the beach of the seals, we will end up having lunch in a close by Taco Bell and it will be the last thing we will do in San Diego before getting back in the car and heading back to LA.

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The airport is relatively easy to access from the southern side of the city so it only takes us 2 hours to get there. We park the car just in front of the entrance and my brother comes in with us to help us carry our luggage. He will then have to drive back to Nogales on his own to get back to work too. For him too the holidays are almost over and he still has about 8 hours of driving to do before he gets home. After having spent the last 15 days together, it is going to be weird to drive all this way on his own. He will stop over in Indio for the night and should arrive home tomorrow.

On our side, we have a return flight direct from Los Angeles to London and then 3 more hours in bus to get back to Bristol. By experience I know that the most difficult are the last 3 hours in bus and I would even go to say that when the difference in price is not too big, I would rather pay a bit more and leave from Bristol than have to take a bus after a 12 hour flight. The jetlag heading east is always harder for me than the other way around and the fact that I have to get up at 6 am tomorrow morning isn’t helping either but I am not paid when I am on holiday so I would rather get back to work as soon as I get home.

Once we cleared security checks at LAX airport, we only have to wait for our plane to arrive. Once again a brand new Boeing 787 Dreamliner (Norwegian is famous for having one of the youngest fleet of aircraft in Europe). We will be served a small meal after taking off and once the stewardess has taken my tray back, I put my headset on and sleep 8 hours through the night and the turbulences and will only wake up to see my breakfast already served in front of me. A good head start to recover from jetlag.

We land in Gatwick around 11 am and my cousin leaves on her own to get back to her flat. For us though, it is a 3 hour wait for our bus. The temperature is pretty low compared to what we have had in the past 2 weeks and as much as many people laughed at us when they saw us land in Tucson with our winter jackets, we are very happy now to have taken them.
Once on the bus, I will try not to fall asleep again to try and set in the European time and be able to sleep tonight and as planned, 3 hours later, we are home.

THE END (of the first road trip) 

Conclusion here: 18- Conclusion of the first trip

 

 

 

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