Arrival in LA and prep for our Cruise

Monday Jan 19th began with a bus ride from London to the Toronto Airport where we boarded a plane to LA. Our flight left Toronto at 7 PM with an arrival at LAX at 9:30 PM PST. We received all our five checked baggage and took the shuttle to our hotel which was booked for two evenings. As we left the airport, with our heap of suitcases, we passed others on a similar trajectory - either heading for the hills or planning a large cruise. The size of the baggage gave that away and I am glad we didn't have to share a shuttle with passengers with their "stuff".

This is very BIG - Really ?

Jan and I, on the other hand, neatly packed our bags and were very organized in getting ready to board the bus to the cruise terminal from our hotel. Still, they were heavy to move.

We stayed at the newly renovated Embassy Suites South by Hilton near the Los Angeles Airport and it's nestled in the coastal community of El Segundo. The all-suite hotel offers a serene retreat with easy access to main attractions. It's located only one mile from LAX airport, two miles from the beach, and five miles from the Forum and SoFi Stadium, which is home to the LA Rams and LA Chargers. The 349 newly renovated suites, each feature a kitchenette, bedroom vanity and sofa bed. The hotel carries a Spanish design and was built in 1986. We believe it is one of the oldest Embassy Suites in the Hilton collection.

Jan with her Friends Jan as an Angel Jan just relaxing

During our recent cruise to Alaska we met a couple from the LA area, Bob and Bojo, and they arranged to come visit us at the hotel. We were able to spend some social time together prior to our departure to the cruise terminal and to pay a large debt.

Bob is an avid sports fan and especially when it comes to baseball. He is a wealth of knowledge and I spent lots of time texting with him during the MLB season and especially during the World Series. Now, his wife Bojo, is a Dodger fan (it runs in her family) and I made a bet with her on which team would win the world series. Needless to say the Jays lost, as did I, so our deal was for the loser to eat a foot long hot dog with all the fixings and pay the winner $1.00 for every 30 seconds it would take to devour the entire dog. I owed her $7.00 and paid her in full when we met. However, I wanted Bojo to remember that the Jays will be back, and to remind her of that promise I also gave her a Blue Jays Blanket.

We enjoyed an evening dinner at our hotel with around 150 other cruisers that all booked with our agency, Travel with Alan, and the next day they bussed us to the Cruise Terminal for arrival at our ship by noon. It took about 1 hour to get on board and we proceeded to have lunch and relax. Believe it or not, they brought our luggage to our room around 10 PM that evening so we were able to hang out and discover the lay of the land well before we unpacked. In other words, where were the good bars.

Following lunch we did set out to find our room and made sure that everyone on the ship knew where we were proud to be from. This is going to be our home for the next 4 months. We're on level 9 on the Port Side near the aft of the ship with a nice balcony.

Our Cruise Ship arriving in LA Tuesday Evening

We left LA at 5 pm on Wednesday and it's now Saturday evening and we still have two days of travel to get to Honolulu. The entertainment has been good, we have found some new friends and we were surprised to meet others on board that we actually knew previously. It's a small world.

Sunday morning the highlight of the day will be two playoff NFL football games and the first starts at 8 am ship time. It will be broadcast on the large screen at the outdoor pool area and we are thankful that the weather here is a lot warmer than at home.

Tomorrow I will post again with what has happened on the ship over the first 5 days at sea.

There's been no sea sickness.... yet, and with the calm seas it looks like we will make it to Hawaii safely and still afloat. There definitely are no Hallman Experiences happening yet!