to USA i go

The 4 participants, Kim, Casper, Joyce and me, in our super free & easy self-drive USA trip....

It has always been my habit to have a pre - travel trip post to share info on my flight, the accommodation booked and the research done on the places to visit but somehow, i din have much to blog about for this trip cos of 3 main reasons;

Reason (1) : Joyce was the one who booked my air ticket... we took cathay pacific airline, ticket cost $1652.40 with a stopover at hong kong....

what surprised me was that food served was horrid and both our flights were delayed... =S

Reason (2) : Casper was the one who booked the transport from Avis

we took the free shuttle bus from the airport and within 10 minutes, we were at the rental centre to pick up our dodge caravan which we paid usd$896.40 for 2 weeks...

my seat for most of the days.... =)  

this vehicle was finally chosen after a second upgrade... we kept upgrading our ride just to make sure that it can ferry 4 of us and 6 pieces of luggage. There are 4 here with another 2 within 2 of these and of which will start appearing after our outlet shopping days....



Reason (3) : Kim was the one who booked our first night accommodation at S$245 per night via airbnb... this apartment was just minutes away from Hollywood Blvd. And this was the only pre-booked accommodation for this trip.... the rest will be made on the go based on our location at the end of each day.... so exciting!!!!





my 'bed' for the night ... it's one of the couch in the living room...

due to our unbalanced combi of 3 gals n 1 guy... and since xt wasn't feeling well due to his flu and lack of sleep, I volunteered to be 厅长 of the day... which turned out to be a great choice as the rooms were too stuffy during the night..... it always pays well to be nice.... ;p 

 Joyce's and Kim's room for the night 

Xt's room for the night 

The toilet in the master bedroom 

the view from our apartment

forgot to take pic of the whole living room and the second toilet which was decorated with a 'Paris' theme... =S

To conclude, I m the leech of the group la... the only one who din contribute pre-trip and during trip cos I happen to be the only one without a driving license too.... oopx.....

Anyway, i woke up at 5+am,
took photos with my 3 baobeis

sweet mr ang fetched me to the airport to check in at 6+am for my flight at 8am, and after a total 18 hours on the plane with a transit at Hong Kong, 

we reached los Angeles...Met with intimidating custom officials and a welcome message from Mr Obama

and a colourful string installation at the airport....



First stop after getting our car was to get to T-Mobile to get the data plan for Kim's phone.... it cost usd$90 for unlimited data for a month... and another usd$30 for her ipad which was our saviour when it came to our on-the-go accommodation booking  

settled our lunch at shaky's which was just next door

food was way too salty for our taste buds and service was pretty slow ... =S

having fun playing with my shadow on the wall.... heee

Checked into our apartment at about 4+pm, laid flat on my 'bed', missed being in a horizontal position after being on the plane for more than 18 hours that I concussed almost immediately.... woke up 3 hours later and were delighted when Joyce & Kim bought ramen for me for dinner.....

And it was bedtime again after dinner.... I sure did sleep alot that day....


end of day 1 in USA.... simply sleeping the time difference away... =D