We Are Melting!

Well reader, I have to tell you that this is the last dispatch of our current trip and I am hoping to complete it before I melt like a knob of butter in a very hot pan!  We thought Palm Springs was rather warm but when we got to Los Angeles early this afternoon, the temperature outside was registering 111F on the car's thermometer!  This quite simply is not normal and for locals is evidence that something is going on with weather patterns,  particularly the ones that have caused utter devastation in some communities in Northern California through forest fires.  Fortunately, it is set to cool down to something a little more normal by the end of this week but what they could really do with here is some of the considerable rainfall that we get in the UK.  It's not going to happen though.
And so we left our last hotel bed, enjoyed our last early morning coffee and hit Interstate 10 for the 100 mile journey back to LA to meet my now not so new cousin Drena and her husband, David .  This was a bonus for us because if our original plans had worked, we would have missed Drena as she heads off to Boston on Thursday to see her son, Josh.  Fate for a change played a very welcome hand.
The journey across to Paramount where they live was pretty uneventful although the nine lane 91 West was a new experience!  This is not a place to be driving if you are of a nervous disposition.  It is eye opening and so was the massive traffic jam we saw coming the other way as we eventually headed to the airport.
But prior to the airport trip, we had a delightful few hours with Drena and David, including lunch at a popular local haunt and I got to enjoy one of the best pizzas - no cheese involved - that I have ever tasted.  Thanks to all Sarah's efforts we feel very blessed to have found Drena, her sister Diedre and their respective families and I feel genuinely sad that my dad never got to meet them because he would have truly loved his new found nieces.  Perhaps he is watching down and enjoying the interaction that we are now enjoying with our "family across the pond"?  We are hoping that next year, we might get to see them in the UK.  Fingers are crossed for that to happen.
As I write this, sitting in the departure lounge of the Tom Bradley International Terminal, we are looking forward to getting home to see our family.  We love them more than anyone could possibly imagine and it is the one thing that we find difficult to deal with when we go off on our regular travels.  Absence unquestionably in our case, makes the heart grow fonder and we can't wait to catch up and give some huge hugs when we get home.
If anybody has been able to persevere with my ramblings over the last three weeks (I am grateful that many of you have), then you have been left in little doubt about the enjoyment and the thrills that we have experienced.  As well as crossing items off our "bucket list", every trip here adds more cement to our love for the country and its people and whilst ever we can do it, we will continue to cross the pond.
Funnily enough, on the final drive to the airport, Linda said, "any chance of going to a rodeo next year?"  It's been added to the list.
Thank you for reading.

Last Coffee In Palm Springs

 The Warning That Comes With Your Coffee!

Quite A Well Known Star!

 And Another

 We're Going To Melt!

 With Cousin Drena

And David Who Was Born In Derby!

Palm Springs - Love It Or Hate It!

Yesterday, we left Barstow to spend our last couple of days in Palm Springs, a place you will either love or hate but more on that in a minute.
After the true splendour of Death Valley, we did think anything that came after that would prove to be something of an anti-climax but not so because we took the longer cross country route down to this oasis in the Coachella Valley.  The journey again produced spectacular scenery and roads that were virtually deserted.  Whilst the distance was only a touch over 100 miles, it was a wonderful ride and was perhaps helped in some small way by the incredibly sharp early morning light which turned the mountains into a series of blazing reds and oranges.  As I commented previously, only the human eye can do justice to all that was around us.  Photos come a very poor and distant second!  Another factor might have been the temperature which at one stage registered 39F!  Brrrrrr...!
By the time we arrived in Palm Springs late morning, the temperature had improved to 84F and by early evening was in the low 90s.  Oh how we love the warm and dry heat that the desert throws at you. 
Palm Springs and the sprawling conurbation that covers vast areas of the Coachella Valley has become a firm favourite although it wasn't love at first sight, far from it, but it does show that sometimes first impressions are wrong!  I hated it on our first visit.  I thought it was hot, dusty, dirty and soulless but as we have visited over the years, that initial impression has long faded and I always look forward to spending time here because actually, it's very relaxing, perhaps because everyone appears chilled and the weather always provides wall to wall blue skies.
It really became popular in the 1930s and 1940s as a bolt hole for film stars, many of whom built homes here.  It is only a short hop from the nightmare that is Los Angeles and its attraction for celebrities remains to this day.  It also markets itself well with big sporting and music events
 and has the supposed "8th Wonder of the World" in the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway which in ten minutes whisks you from the heat of the desert floor to cool pine filled meadows at 8,000 feet.
We are only here for a couple of days and tomorrow (Tuesday) are hoping to catch a flight back to the UK  from Los Angeles after meeting up with my new found cousin Drena and her husband David.  We have been able to alter our plans to make this happen and whilst Sarah and I were fortunate to come over to LA last year, this will be a first opportunity for Linda to meet the new family.  She is in for a treat.
Mind you, I do have a good mind to leave her behind in Palm Springs because today she has succeeded in pouring very hot coffee over my hand but worse than that, at lunchtime, she manged to drop a great dollop of butter onto the top of my straw hat!  Don't ask!
I hope to post the final dispatch from LAX tomorrow evening.

 The Desert At Its Best

 Pretty Chilly

Not A Car In Sight!

Linda Inspired By The Scenery! We Were Still At The Time!

 Palm Springs - We Love It

The Blue Skies And Beautiful Light

 Sonny Bono's Star

Sonny Bono Statue - He Was Mayor Of Palm Springs For Many Years

An American Icon Outside Our Hotel Room

Aerial Tramway

It Only Took 28 Years!

What could that title possibly mean?  Actually, it is driving across Death Valley in California, one of the lowest and the hottest places in the world.  We first came to America in 1989 and have returned on many occasions since but not once have we been able to complete this iconic drive.  Today, that all changed.
Before talking about today, I wanted to mention last night's drive from LAX airport to Ridgecrest, our starting point for today's Death Valley adventure. It was something of a nightmare because our flight landed at the worst possible time - Friday night rush hour in Los Angeles or as I refer to it, "motoring armageddon"!
Our problems started at the Avis hire car desk even before hitting the road!  I am an Avis Preferred member which gives me super powers, specifically queue jumping, but not last night!  Our 24 hour delayed arrival and a problem with the booking left me at the back of a two hour queue!  Undaunted, I waived my bright red Avis card at a passing manager and before I knew it, I was picking my Toyota Camry up outside and we were on our way!  I think my charm, my smile and a certain amount of charisma helped a little.  Hee hee!
Mind you, the term, "on our way" was a somewhat dreamlike description as we hit the seven lane 405 freeway North!  Those seven lanes were all full and moving at about 10mph and this carried on for mile after mile!  A 158 mile journey took an extra hour and by the time we reached Ridgecrest, we were shattered but happily still in one piece!  This freeway and its big brother, the I5 can shred nerves.
Talking of shredding, I did manage to do this to the skin on my back when checking in at our hotel and misjudging a gap between two bushes!  The photo below shows the result and it has been extremely sore all day.  Anyway, onto today.
Oh what a beautiful morning, albeit a little cold and leaving us needing an extra layer to start the day.  Linda referred to me as being "very chipper."  She hates it when I am so happy in a morning and finds it hard to match my bonhomie, a challenge she has failed for the whole 44 years of our married life together!  One day I will get a surprise I'm sure!  Yes, a sunny morning, an exciting American drive ahead and a Starbucks latte in my hand.  What could possibly better this?
And so off we set on what has proved to be one of the greatest holiday experiences of our lives.  It was simply incredible from start to finish, a total of 299 miles!  I know to some people that this might be the nearest thing to hell but believe me, this drive is anything but hell.
It is spectacular, stunning, mesmerising, breathtaking, sublime, phenomenal, majestic and totally, totally magnificent!  You will gather that we rather enjoyed it and quite frankly, I don't know what else I can add.  My pictures or indeed anybody's photos could never do this place justice.  It has to be seen and experienced.
We were blessed with a gorgeous day and temperatures in the mid 80s.  Bearing in mind the highest recorded temperature in the valley was 134F and that they are generally always higher than 100F, today was almost Arctic like!  It was also very quiet and at one point we covered nearly 40 miles without seeing a car on our side of the road!
I could wax lyrical for hours and probably will do this in person when I next meet any readers.  If you take my advice, don't mention Death Valley!
So we are now in Barstow and heading down to Palm Springs tomorrow morning for a couple of days R&R and some shopping before heading back to LA on Tuesday to meet my new found American family prior to catching our flight home that evening.
Today's memories will last forever.

Freeway Traffic In Los Angeles

Ouch!

 Perfect Start To The Day - And Linda Paid!

Not Yet Death Valley But Spectacular

 Now That's Death Valley!

 It's Huge!

 An Old Borax Mine Equipment

What A Backdrop

Lowest Point In The USA

On The Salt Flats

The Sign Says It!

 The Hottest As Well As The Lowest

 Incredible Zabriskie Point

282 Feet Below Sea Level

Oh Dear, Oh Dear, Oh Dear!

It couldn’t last!  Things have been going so well on this trip but to a certain degree it all fell apart on Thursday albeit, our problems were but nothing compared to those of our fellow passengers!

We have been travelling to America and other parts of the world since 1989 and in all that time we have never had an experience like we did in Honolulu.  We boarded our American Airlines Flight 162 on time, taxied out and lined up on the runway for take-off and instead of hearing the roar of the engines and feeling the sparkling acceleration to lift us into the wide blue yonder, we got the equivalent of “Houston we have a problem!”  A return to stand was required for a minor technical issue.

What was supposedly a minor technical issue turned into a two hour wait on the aircraft before we got the message that the problem had been fixed and we pushed back once more for take-off.  It didn’t happen as without very little explanation from the flight deck, we returned to stand once more and were asked to disembark with a voucher to spend $15 each on food.  This amount didn’t go very far in the airport without a top up from us!

Back on the aircraft once more and pushed back heading for take-off – problem not fixed, disembark once again!  Aircraft declared unserviceable and a new one would have to be found.  Another two hour delay and another repeat of an unserviceable Airbus A321!  That’s when the chaos really started!

I don’t know whether I felt sorry for the very limited number of American Airlines staff or not, dealing with 170+ frustrated travellers.  What I did feel is that they did a classically pathetic job of keeping people informed even if they told us nothing!  The flight crew had led this approach memorably by being conspicuously absent from sight during the whole 8 hour debacle!  Boy that Captain did a poor job on customer relations.  Those 4 stripes on his shirt carry amazing authority, nay reverence, with his passengers and regardless of problems with the aircraft, he fell very far short of what I would have expected!

We didn’t learn anything from AA.  What we did learn was from other passengers and eventually. we took the option of seeking a hotel voucher from the airline and hence we spent the night in the Hilton Hawaiin Village where we arrived nine hours after first sitting on the aircraft.  All we did was sleep and eat a £20 each continental breakfast before returning to the airport at 0700 this morning.

Many passengers had missed worldwide connections, one couple we heard to Australia and many taking multiple flights to get home to American cities for weddings, specialist appointments and to meet members of their families.  A logistical nightmare in every sense but as I said earlier, this has caused an alteration to our plans but that had already happened for different reasons anyway!

We were supposed to be driving up to San Francisco today to stay for three nights with Ian, my nephew and his wife Georgia.  However, they are having to move on Sunday and so whilst they were still happy for us to go, we decided that their lives would be so much easier if we pulled our trip and instead look forward to seeing them at Christmas when they return to the UK for a holiday.  We will of course miss seeing them but we have done both San Francisco and Yosemite on more than one occasion and won’t lose any sleep over not seeing them this time!

So plans are changed and on landing at LAX we hope we can still pick up our rental car a day late and head north towards Death Valley.  Hopefully American Airlines will compensate us for paid for but cancelled hotels plus other costs but I will pick up on that one when home.  Friday evening rush hour is not a great time to be heading out of Los Angeles in a car but we have no choice.  We might be lucky but have at least a three hour journey with the hope of arriving at our new hotel around 2300!

I’ve written this while sitting on an almost empty aircraft and the crew have been very attentive, presumably trying to make up for the debacle of yesterday. The Captain and his First Officer however continue to remain mysterious people in the flight deck!

We have remained relatively stress free and consider yesterday as “having an adventure!”

Hopefully an update tomorrow from Death Valley.

Our Hawaiin Airlines Ride From The Big Island

Our First Broken Aircraft!

The Storm After The Calm!

Our Private Jet This Morning

 

On Our Way And Over Diamond Head Crater

 A Spooky Empty Aircraft

Not Many Passengers

The Kiss Of Death!

Oh how smug I was last night talking about our flights today and how we had a bit of a tight connection but that shouldn’t be a problem.  I even said, “I hope that isn’t the kiss of death!”  Well it was unfortunately. 

The flight to Honolulu was bang on time and so was the American Airlines flight to Los Angeles until we were sitting at the end of the runway ready for take off.  It never happened as the Captain reported a technical problem that they tried to fix unsuccessfully but eventually required a return to the gate.

Sixty minutes later he asked the passengers to give the engineer a round of applause as the problem was now fixed. A quiet hooray from me but no applause.  I thought this was pushing it too far.  It proved right! 

Pushed back off stand and engines started, the Captain reported the problem still there.  Back to stand and after another hour they declared the aircraft unserviceable and that we should disembark and go and spend $15 each courtesy of AA.  We had an ice cream each which cost nearly $17 and used the rest for a packet of chips (crisps back home), a bottle of water and a chocolate chip cookie to help sustain us in our hour of need.

As I write this, they are going to hijack an inbound aircraft and have suggested that we should be able to depart at 1800, exactly five hours after we should have left!  Would you believe the delay is the exact same figure as the flight time so we will be leaving at the same time as we should have arrived in Los Angeles!  We are genuinely chilled though and stress free unlike many of the passengers who have missed connecting flights.  We feel sorry for them and for families with very young children where delays like this one can prove a real nightmare.

For us, have to pick up our hire car and drive up to Bakersfield but by my reckoning if all goes well, we should be in bed by 0200 in the morning.  I will now keep my mouth shut and hopefully be next reporting on our trek through Death Valley.

I do love travel.

Update at 2205 Honolulu Time - We are still in Hawaii!!

The plane that replaced the broken plane also became broken so American Airlines have now had to put us up overnight in the Hilton Waikiki and hopefully we will fly out in the morning.

We have spent 8 hours getting on and getting off planes since landing in Oahu at 1115.  It has been a disaster and AA have demonstrated tonight just how not to manage a crisis.  Particularly poor throughout have been the flight crew who have provided a valuable demonstration of how not to keep your passengers informed of the problems.  Throughout the whole of the 8 hours delay, they have not been seen which I think is disgraceful.  I will say no more on the subject.

Will be re-planning in my dreams tonight and hoping that our flight goes in the morning.

Update from LA??  I'm not holding my breath.

 The First Broken Aircraft

Smiling Before The Second Aircraft Broke!

The Big Island Wins By A Knockout!

If anybody has been reading my Blog and I know you have because of the "hits" I have had on it, I did comment in an earlier dispatch that I would give my verdict on Hawaii at the end of our stay here.  Well that time has come because we fly first (as well as First Class) back to Honolulu in the morning and then onwards to Los Angeles to continue our American travels.
If my assessment was purely based on Oahu then I would have said that we were glad we had been but that the overwhelming memory would not be of the beautiful beaches, coast and mountains but of the hordes of people that populate the island and make it more like an ant colony than a holiday paradise.
The Big Island on the other hand has been a pure delight despite us not having the greatest of weather and it has successfully redressed the damage done by its smaller sibling.  We have managed to cover the whole island more than once!  It does live up to its name because it is very big but you never get the impression that it is crowded and we have been able to enjoy the motoring and all the fantastic sights and sounds that it has to offer without the crush of people.
The other factor as well is that we have been staying in the most beautiful Airbnb home which is owned and run by the remarkable Rhonda who is a human dynamo despite being not much younger than the two of us.  She goes way beyond what we have experienced before and we have marvelled at her energy and commitment to this venture which she started 3 years ago.  When I booked this place, I couldn't believe the quality of the reviews given but having now stayed for four nights, they are well deserved.
And so we move on in the morning, hopefully with successful flights - the connecting one from Hawaiin Airlines to American Airlines is the key one but how can a 45 minute flight be late?  I hope that I haven't just given it "the kiss of death!"
If all goes to plan then on landing in LA, we will be picking yet another hire car up from our old friends Avis and setting a course for Death Valley with an overnight stop in Bakersfield.
I have to add a PS to this final post from Hawaii and it relates to coffee.  I should have spoken about it in more detail somewhere else because here, they really take coffee seriously and serve some of the best there is.  We have sampled the delights on a daily basis and I have included a photo of my last one in the Pacific which was superb.  Unfortunately, tomorrow we will be back to the wishy washy stuff that Americans are used to!

Our Big Island Home

Looking Out Over The Estate

Full Of Light

The View From Our Loft Bedroom

Great Coffee In Hawaii

Hawaiin Sunset Tonight

 So, So Beautiful Watching The Sunset

Big Pockets Needed For The Big Island

Crikey, this place is expensive and we are fast running out of cash!  But please don't all start shedding tears for us at the same time, it's not really necessary because both Halifax Clarity and American Express hiked my credit limits before we left UK soil and these might just come in very useful.
I know that I have often been likened to Victor Meldrew - (American cousins you might have to Google that one) - and today after a visit to Safeway to buy a few provisions, according to Linda, I started to do my best ever impersonation of him!  I have never come away from a supermarket with so little and paid so much!
I suppose it really highlighted the cost of living in the middle of the Pacific Ocean where literally, everything from cotton buds to cement mixers has to be shipped in by sea or air.  If you could survive solely on pineapples and macadamia nuts you might stand a chance of living economically, but outside of those two items you are dead in the water!
The two items that really hurt me today were Gala apples and a very small bottle of Diet Coke.  In fact, it was probably the apples that caused the most anguish because for the cost of just one of these items, never mind the two that we bought, we can live comfortably for a whole week shopping at Aldi!  Such was the price of the three items that I couldn't bring myself to take a bite or a drink and in fact have put them all in the safe for the night and have made provision back home for them to be met by armed security when we return!  I am also trying to work out the cost of smuggling them into the Hawaiin Islands because I reckon that Gala apples and coke could well replace crystal meth or heroin!!  Rant over!
Hey we are continuing to have a great time and this Big Island continues to require us to do big mileage if we are to see as much as possible before our departure on Thursday.  It was a quiet day today because we only did 350 miles.  Oh, and don't get me onto the price of gas (petrol to us) - I don't believe it!!
I forgot to mention a couple of things from yesterday in the form of lava tubes and Cafe Pesto in Hilo, pronounced Heelow.  The lava tubes which we ventured into are fascinating and are created by molten lava moving beneath the hardened surface of a volcano.  Once all the lava has been dispelled, it effectively leaves a circular cave and there are hundreds of these around the Volcanic Park here.
Cafe Pesto was interesting because we decided to dine in a proper restaurant for a change and it was purely by accident that we came across this whilst walking through the streets of Hilo.  What a find and we both agreed that this was one of the finest dining experiences we had ever had in America.  Simple fayre but so fresh and so beautifully cooked and what made it taste even better was that Linda paid!  The first actual damage that she has inflicted on her credit card since we arrived!
Today, we took in the most southerly point of the USA where people jump off a 40 foot high cliff  into the Pacific to mark the occasion.  We watched as some tried so hard to summon up the nerve to jump but couldn't overcome their fears while others were so matter of fact about the leap into the unknown.  I was so desperately disappointed that I had left my swimwear in our room - yeh right - and instead had to console myself with a coffee and piece of blueberry cake at the nation's southern most cafe!  It was truly a poor substitute.
We also took in Rainbow Falls and a wander around one of the largest towns on the island, Kailua-Kona.  The falls are so called because of the wonderful rainbow effect from the spray.  We couldn't see it at all but were then advised that it could only be seen in the morning when the sun was behind you.  Needless to say, we visited in the afternoon!
Kailua-Kona was the town that we flew into and is seemingly a paradise for triathletes having just hosted the world famous Ironman event.  The place is rammed with people sporting the "I Finished The Ironman" tee-shirts and despite asking at many shops, I was unable to acquire one of these very impressive pieces of clothing.  I could buy a "I Finished The Ironing" tee-shirt but that didn't quite carry the same kudos so instead, like every competitor that we have quite clearly identified, I am tonight spending an hour shaving off every bit of my body hair so that when we walk around town tomorrow other visitors to the Island will look at me and think, Ironman!
I think on that note I have written enough tonight and I hope that you enjoy this dispatch.  An early night in anticipation of the 753 miles we are looking to cover tomorrow!  Sarah, I am only kidding.

Cafe Pesto In Hilo - Yum Yum

Lava Tube We Walked Through

Southern Most Point Of USA

Linda Not About To Jump!

Damn, I Forgot My Swimwear!

 Dangerous Or What?

 That's How To Do It!

Coffee & Cake

At The Most Southerly Cafe In America

Rainbow Falls