Day 1B - Thursday in the USA

Arrived in LA just as the sun was rising, very pretty with clear skies. Got a good view of the plane as disembarking, it’s huge! 

Clearing customs took ages. The process of queuing seemed quite disorganised, and carrying a backpack and laptop certainly added to the inconvenience.

Collected my suitcase and re-checked it for the Washington DC flight, then off to get a boarding pass. Oh, the flight is delayed from 9:30am to 12:30pm. Hmmm. Meals a bit out of whack, so went to Chilis to kill some time and get an early lunch (10am) as didn't know what food would be aboard to purchase. First tipping dilemma - does it have to be cash or can it be added to a credit purchase? Does the tip get left separately on the table or can you give more than the bill and say keep the change? There were other patrons but I couldn't see what they did. Too hard to work out on limited sleep, so asked for the bill and left $15 on the table to cover the $11 bill.

Then at 11:30am the flight was cancelled altogether. Grrrrr. Joined yet another queue to find out what to do, staff look harried and don't even have telephone headsets to make using the computer easier while on the phone! Spoke to a friendly operator on the airport phone I was directed to and found I’d already been rebooked onto the 2:30pm flight, so that was a relief. In looking for an upside to all this delay, perhaps it is helping to keep me awake until tonight and I’ll have a good sleep ready for tomorrow. Flight gets in at 10:10pm Washington DC time, and the hotel shuttle operates until 11pm, so I hope I’m in time.

Asking for help tally – 4 times

Flight to DC was fully booked and didn't get away on time as it took so long to board everyone and get the hand luggage stowed (of which we could only bring a laptop and one bag - that was enforced rather strongly, which I haven't seen before). It would have been early Friday morning, Melbourne time, so couldn't help falling asleep for about 1.5hrs. Glad for this actually, as didn't have much onboard entertainment. Didn't have a window seat but I don't think we flew over any interesting landmarks anyway.

Landed and had to take a train to collect my suitcase, that was interesting. The airports have been well sign-posted so would have been fine even if there wasn't a crowd to follow. Nervous wait to see if my suitcase had been onboard, and phew, it turned up on the carousel - don't have to use emergency outfit packed into backpack!

Called the hotel to be collected by the shuttle, and found the waiting area. Was joined by a family visiting from Iceland, great accent! We talked a bit, and I was named Miss Australia by the friendly female driver. I sat behind the driver to try to get a feel for the "wrong" side of the road, and it didn't seem too foreign. Hopefully it will seem that easy when I have to drive tomorrow!

Second tipping dilemma - does the hotel shuttle driver get a tip? I know taxi drivers do, and again, couldn't see what others did. So it was no tip. Hopefully I wake up in the morning.

Checked in, hotel staff friendly and room very comfortable. 

Had a shower, which didn't take too much figuring out how to turn on, and got ready for bed. Not a fan of the toilets in the US, but the shower did seem good. You set the temperature on the dial, then turn the single water tap on. So if the whole family likes the one temperature, no more fiddling with hot and cold taps to get it right...

The bed was lovely, so soft and inviting, and the room was actually dark (no pesky lights outside or in hallway). Ahhh, sleep....