What a bizarre day. Heavy snowfall with almost no visibility, then clear. Then black skies and snow again, then clear. Then snow again, and now it's bright and sunny, no snow to be seen, and bright blue skies. This is English weather. The predicted LA weather for my arrival.. highs of 64F (17C), lows of 49F (9C). Not as warm as last time (when it was in the 80s every day), but still much better than the 37F (2C) highs and 33F (0C) lows here ;-)
I'm watching the movie Swingers for the second time. It's such a money film, to use their terminology. When I first saw it, it really reminded me of what it was like being in LA. The story is pretty simple, it's like Go but without the drugs and more bars and clubs. Basically a bunch of guys goofing off around LA and Las Vegas all trying to pick up chicks, and playing NHL 94 on the Sega Genesis (or the Sega Megadrive to us British folks). Nice fun movie, about being in a group of young singletons in LA.
"Now I don't want you to be the guy in the PG-13 that everyone is really hoping that he makes it. I want you to be the the guy in the rated R movie. Now go get her. You're a bad man, you're a bad man, you're a bad man!"
This is pretty much just a post to get things kicking off. So yes, I'm heading off to LA for the second year in a row, supposedly it's that good folks :-) If I'm ultra lucky, I might get to take in Las Vegas, San Francisco, or San Diego as well this time around.
I'm really busy at the moment getting all of my work done and out of the way before I leave, this last month has been pretty hectic. The travel insurance has been booked through FlexiCover, I usually use STA Travel but their site was down when I wanted to order. I don't see any bad press about FlexiCover, but it's so hard knowing who to trust in matters like travel insurance. It could be a scam for all I know.. although I think insurance is all a bit of a scam anyway ;-)
I'm not packing as light as I did last time. Last time I crammed everything (multiple changes of clothes, shoes, knick knacks, etc) into hand luggage and bought clothes while I was there. This time I'm taking a few more clothes, but also throwing my backpack in as luggage to save me buying another one out there. This is penny pinching really though, as it only cost $15 anyway, but I'm planning to smuggle back packs of Big Red into the country, along with garish clothes for my father, so I really need the storage space.
The flight is at midday on Monday morning, although I'll be there four hours beforehand. Security checks at Heathrow take a long time. The flight lands at 11.25pm UK time (3.15pm local Pacific time), so it's a long flight too. Last time we got a free-for-all on the booze on the plane, so it turned out okay, and the inflight entertainment and food was surprisingly good. Virgin Atlantic get the thumbs up from me.
And, well, that's it for now. More as I get it!