Day 1 was always going to be a bit ordinary – it’s “travel day”.
We booked “cheap” flights with AirNZ and thought we’d treat ourselves to Premium Economy. It was about $1k each more; but we told ourselves it’d be worth it as we’d be driving as soon as we got off the plane; then at the other end; we’d be back at work the next day.
However we convinced ourselves, the result was very favourable – it’s a big step up from cattle class (aka economy). There’s lots of little benefits which we enjoyed; from a bottle of water waiting for you to the much nicer meals to the very good level of service. Plus the seats, which are far better & with loads more leg room and only 2 seats per column.
My major gripe – they don’t recline that much further. Whilst I had no expectation of it being a flat business-like bed; it didn’t go back that much further and even though there was some tilt; you’re still sitting pretty upright. I think I got 2hrs sleep; Soph may have got 3. But plenty of others seemed to sleep well, so maybe it’s just us.
After 4h15 from Adelaide to Auckland, an hour of waiting then the boarding of the “proper” plane – we had about 12hrs to kill on our way to LAX. The flight was without incident; as enjoyable as long-haul pretty much can be for non-sleepers, and then we had to tackle LAX’s infamous arrivals area.
Surprisingly, it was actually fairly straight forward. Perhaps we scored a lucky time slot, but we were processed & on our way within 45mins or so. We caught a shuttle bus to Alamo to pick up our hire car (a nice black Mustang convertible) and called past AT&T to get 2 SIM cards for our phones. We were then finally on the road to Palm Springs!
What was supposed to be 2hrs turned into 3.5hrs with traffic congestion & various other things. All I can say is, it would have been 4+hrs if it weren’t for the “carpool” lane which kicks in with 2 or more passengers. How 4 lanes of bumper-to-bumper traffic is only 1-person cars just amazed us. We took full advantage of that and finally made it to Palm Springs.
A valet met us to park our car who then showed us to our room in what can only be described as one of the most elegant; mid-century boutique hotels going around, L’Horizion. It may have taken us 25hrs of transit to get here, but it was so worth it!
We had a dip in the pool; freshened up with a drink at the poolside bar & then dined at their very impressive restaurant.
Great afternoon/evening to start what’s going to be an epic trip!