The SSSS tour of celebrations.

[drron]

Tuesday comes and we are up just after 0400.The price you pay for booking 2 QFF J awards to LAX only 10 months out.You take what you get.So an 0600 flight to MEL before on to LAX.Also a couple of days earlier than planned so the first 3 nights in the USA ar in Pasadena.just a change from the usual places we stay in Southern California.
Drop the car back to Avis at 0500 when they open.Off to checkin where we have a lovely agent who is both professional and friendly.no problems and our bags are tagged with F stickers.Off to the J lounge after the usual pat down at security.Basically only time to have a small serve of Bircher muesli when our flight is called-earlier than we had expected.We arrive at the gate and premium boarding had already commenced through 2 lines with the economy pax waiting.yet the 2 premium lines were longer than the economy line.They began allowing Y pax on as I was having my BP checked.looked back and still as many premium pax to board as economy pax.Well first SYD-MEL flight on a Monday morning.

QF 401.SYD-MEL ETD-0600. push back-0605. Take off-0612. Seats 2A,C.
ETA-0725. Land-0727. At gate-0732.
The Captain obviously wanted to be quick away and at 0554 announced everything was ready for departure but there was no tug for push back.had to wait 10 minutes.So then quite a line for take off on the main runway plus all the early International arrivals.Sitting in 1A was Roger Corbett but his colleague was in 1D-he asked the fellow in 1C if he would mind swapping and that was no problem.But at the end he pulled out his BP and I noted he was supposed to be in 1F-it was occupied when he boarded.
As we were going to be Flounging in MEL we both said we didn't want brekkie.I then dozed off until we were well into the descent into MEL.Then the transfer to the International Terminal-what a dog's breakfast it is at present.Wonderful last send off for International tourists.

Certainly a good view of the airport from the Flounge.Pity they couldn't have a sign saying which set of grey doors you go through to the conveniences.Menu the same and just as in SYD they cremate their bacon.The corn fritters just like in SYD are only just able to be called corn fritters now.The loss of 1 or 2 more kernels and they would have to be renamed-Fritters formerly known as corn fritters.

So the time came to give up my view of the plane we were to board and actually board it.

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This is the first time we have had to walk uphill to board a QF A380.On the 3 previous occasions TKW mrsdrron was and upgraded us to F.
That flight next.

 

[drron]

QF 93.MEL-LAX. ETD-1115. Pushback-1129. Take off-1152. Seats 12A,C.
ETA-0645. Landed-0627. At gate-0634.

So our first impressions of Emerald City were not really positive.The predominantly grey colour of the QF cabin really isn't friendly.The J seats are not my favourite.More surprising was the storage space.the side bins are smaller than those on the 747 upstairs and the side overhead storage is ridiculous.My carry on which can go in wheels first in Y on QF;'s 738s and 717s had to be put in sideways and with no spare room.Fortunately we were only travelling with 1 carryon,1 computer bag and 1 handbag-and no the handbag wasn't mine.Also in Row 12 the middle of the side storage bins cant be used.

Service was average.Food basically below average.And why in International J cant QF tell you what wines are onboard?Once again asked if I wanted white,red or sparkling.My first answer was I will have champagne.After that I had the Punt Road Pinot Noir-I picked up the bottles to get maker-only told that they had a 2014 pinot and a 2014 shiraz when I asked what reds they had.The Pinot was light in colour and body so I switched to the Wirra Wirra Catapult shiraz.The whites were the Shaw and Smith Sav Blanc and a Voyager chardy.

To the food.Here is the menu-

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Mrsdrron had ordered online so had the online special-lobster coughtail.However it was classified as a main meal so she couldn't order a second main meal and none of the small plates appealed to her.Fortunately on board she was able to have the pork chop and have the lobster coughtail as an entrée which is all that it is.I had the mezze plate-the pic looks a lot better than it looked in real life and basically I thought pretty awful.Then I had the duck.Overcooked-the greens were unrecognisable so most remained on the plate.

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Nothing took my fancy on the IFE so I just listened to some music and read Shackleton's account of his 2014-2016 journey to Antarctica-we will be visiting the Falklands and South Georgia next March.Some fitful sleep.
Then time for brekkie.Mrsdrron had the French toast and I had the full breakfast-though only 1 mouthful of the scrambled egg.But basically still one of QF's better breakfasts.

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Arriving in LAX we arrived after a Chinese plane plus a couple of others so long lines to get to the E gates.Then having got our receipts we then had to present to an agent who sent most to the old Immigration booths but a lucky few of us sent to the side where the agents just took the Customs card,stamped the passport and sent you on your way.
arrived at the baggage carousel and most bags were already out so don't know whether priority worked or not.Our orange bag was easy to spot but there were at least 6 purple bags similar to ours.The ribbon though gives it away.An hour after getting off the plane we were in the Avis shuttle.This time for the first time at LAX the Avis Preferred worked so very soon on our way to Pasadena.

 

[amaroo]

Safe travels! See you in BKK...

 

[drron]

Looking forward to that.Will try out a few new places before you get there.

After picking up the car it was very easy to get to Pasadena.Just get to I 105E then I 110N and you end up only 2 blocks from the Sheraton.It took a while on the 110 through LA itself-

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Once past downtown LA it was much better.We would have been really early for checkin so it was off to the Santa Anita Mall.Looks fairly new.So a Starbucks to keep us awake-didn't like the look of the kale chips they were selling.Well this is California.Then Nordstrom's and Macy's plus a few of mrsdrron's favourite store.Unfortunately a new favourite-Muji-is only opening in January.Next off to a Nordstrom Rack,Walmart and Kohl's.
Back then to the Sheraton Pasadenato checkin.Wasn't expecting much and that is what we got.In need of a refurb.

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A view of the Convention centre and the mountains-

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Didn't really unpack as we were both tired.So over to P F Changs for a very early dinner.One of our favourite chains as reasonable Asian fusion.So I had the Firecracker cauliflower which I really liked and we shared our favourite Northern style ribs,edamame,lobster fried rice and Mongolian beef.A bottle of SB and then back to the hotel and straight to bed.

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[drron]

Walking back to the Sheraton the Christmas lights were already on-

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The next day was more shopping but this time a fair drive to Carbazon and the Desert Hills Premium outlets-a lot of high end shops here.The first for a purchase was Ted Baker.The woman serving us asked if we were feeling the cold.They were forecasting that the temp on the weekend was going to be a low of 28F-she said this is unheard of and she has already been able to go snow boarding on the nearby mountains when normally you cant do that until February.

Several more purchases were made-I did get some things.On the way back we stopped at the Colonies Mall at near San Bernadino-the next day was a year since the shootings there.Once again it was a Kohls and a Nordstrom rack.As we left the sunset was brilliant-

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And just a word for those who also want their marriage to last 45+ years.This is how you do it-
[video=youtube_share;Q5XrQEMOIiU]https://youtu.be/Q5XrQEMOIiU[/video]

Back to the hotel and as we were quite tired it was back to P F Changs for the ribs,pepper and garlic chicken and a very delicious shrimp and mushrooms in lobster sauce-

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[Pushka]

Gorgeous sunset drron

 

[OATEK]

Gorgeous sunset drron

Agree, definitely a nice set!

 

[drron]

Mrsdrron fleshes out our trips.We had 3 nights in California before heading for Hawaii.She found Huntington gardens which is a collection of gardens,art gallery,museum and a library.It was the family home of Henry and Arabella Huntington.His uncle was an owner of the Central Pacific railway in the mid 1800s.When his uncle died Henry married his widow.In 1919 they converted the property into a non profit Educational trust which it remains today.
Now one of the days we were in California was December the 1st.The Huntington is free on the 1st of every month but you must get tickets online-they go online on the 1st of the previous month at 0900 Pacific time.Mrsdrron kept a check but when we awoke at ~ 1200-1300 Pacific time all the tickets were gone.So early on the morning of the 2nd November mrsdrron was ready at 0200 on the Sunshine Coast and I at 0230 in Whyalla-we were both successful-mrsdrron for morning admission and I for the afternoon.

So the day had come.You take your printed tickets to the admissions off ice and get a sticky label for your shirt etc.Then at the appointed time-1030 in our case-you are let loose.It was not a disappointment.We decided to stroll the gardens first-the Chines,Japanese,Australian and Rose gardens and then check out the buildings.As well asplants there are several sculptures around the property-

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The greenhouse which I will come back to plus flowers and furry things-

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Then the Chinese garden-

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[drron]

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Amazing attention to detail-

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[drron]

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Expansion of the Chinese Gardens is planned-

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[drron]

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When I was taking those last photos an old Chinese gentleman was sitting behind me.he suddenly calls out "Ronnie" and then asks if I like the Chinese Gardens.Did he know me or did I just mishear due to my deteriorating hearing.I certainly didn't recognise him.So I turned to the ducks-

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[drron]

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[drron]

So now a short walk to the Japanese gardens.The camellias are just starting to bloom-

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[drron]

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[drron]

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[drron]

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[drron]

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Next is the Australian garden.When coming from the Japanese garden the entrance is impressive with massive eucalypts-

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[drron]

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And for our WA readers-

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[drron]

Another for the West Australians-

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A walk up the hill to the rose garden through the sub tropical zone.An interesting plant from Africa which they called the goat horn tree-

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Then the roses-

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[drron]

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