Jason's America by Bicycle

Saturday, 23 April 2011

Friday 22nd April 2011

After a good night’s sleep, we breakfasted at the hotel before wandering down town to try and find an adaptor for the laptop and to see any local bike shops. We visited a number of bike shops and I also bought a US cellphone for $9.99. There was no luck with the adaptor so went back to the hotel and started assembling the bikes. We took the bikes down to the ABB mechanic for final assembly and safety check. My helmet was failed despite having been in Patrick’s hand luggage. We wandered back up town but failed to see the bike shop we were looking for. Later that evening, we followed Mike from ABB to the bike shop where I bought a new helmet.

On the way back to the hotel, we tested the local cuisine of Taco Bell which filled the slot.

Friday, 22 April 2011

Thursday 21st April 2011

The journey had begun.

Patrick and I left Napier just after 6pm bound for Auckland. The AirNZ guy tried to charge Patrick $75 for his bike but after a brief review of the AirNZ web page, he agreed that my belief that there should be no charge was in fact correct. The flight to Auckland was uneventful and we proceeded to the AirNZ lounge to wait for the flight to LA. While the boarding pass said boarding at 8pm, this was way off we and boarded about 9pm. The plane was full but we had seats at the front of the cabin next to a door so had plenty of leg room.

Flying through the night and back into Thursday, we were aided by a tail wind and landed around 2.30pm local time. The plane was delayed on the taxi way by VIP traffic, presumably that of the USA President.

The immigration official was not overly excited when told I was planning to be in the USA for five weeks and had very little cash on me. However, we were soon fingerprinted and waved through.

Once out of the terminal, we looked for transport to the hotel. The airport help advised the only way was by bus to Disneyland then a transfer to John Wayne Airport and then the hotel shuttle bus. While waiting outside the terminal for the first bus, we saw a van marked “John Wayne Airport” so I asked him for a price. He said $40 each. I offered him $35 which he accepted. We loaded the bikes, jumped in and then he asked exactly where we were going. We said to the Ramada Inn at Costa Mesa and he said he could do that for a few extra dollars. Having seen his prominent sign that a 15% gratuity was not included in his price, I offered $40 each all inclusive to the hotel. He accepted this and we continued on our way. The hotel is about 45 miles from LAX and took about an hour so it seemed like a reasonable price, especially as the first bus was $25 each!

We checked in at the hotel o.k. and met a couple of the America by Bike (ABB) staff in the carpark.