Beginning of a Long Vacation - '08-09 U.S. Trip Pt. 1

In late December and early January my wife and I took a nice 12-night, 14-day vacation that took us to two countries, three states, and a number of cities, primarily Las Vegas, San Diego, and Los Angeles. It was the longest vacation that the two of us have ever taken together, even longer than our honeymoon to the Maldives in 2007.

While I was looking forward to the vacation, I was not looking forward to the first day of the trip, which involved me driving us from Los Angeles to Las Vegas immediately after flying from Japan to the U.S.

We flew from Osaka Airport, a.k.a Itami (the smaller airport in the Osaka area), to Narita International near Tokyo to transfer onto a flight from there to Los Angeles. The Japan Airlines airplane from Osaka to Tokyo had our hopes up for a comfortable airplane ride. The plane was large for a one-hour flight; it was a Boeing 747, I believe. The coach seats had a lot of leg room, comfortable seats with moveable headrests, and foot rests. Very comfortable. First class must have been heaven! We were thinking, if the airplane to Tokyo is this comfortable, the airplane from Tokyo to Los Angeles must be really good.

We were wrong. The seats on the second flight were cramped, somewhat uncomfortable, and the seats had no foot rests. So much for a comfortable airplane ride to the U.S. I brought a lot of stuff to help me get some sleep on the airplane: neck pillow, eye cover, earplugs, among other things. But I just couldn't sleep. I can never sleep on airplanes. So when we arrived at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), I was tired and sleepy - not exactly the state you want to be in when you have to drive six hours.

After getting the rental car, we departed LAX. I was happy that I could drive on the right side of the road without really thinking about it. However, I got lost trying to get to the freeway. Before the trip, I got driving instructions using Google Maps. But I had instructions from LAX to Vegas, not from Dollar Rent-A-Car, which was a few blocks away from the airport.

We spent maybe 30 minutes trying to find the freeway that runs right by the airport. Once we found it, we had to contend with massive traffic in the Los Angeles area, and that was around 11 A.M.! It took an hour for us to drive to the other side of L.A., where we stopped at a Wal-Mart to do a bit of shopping.

My wife and I always make it a point to stop over at Wal-Mart whenever we travel to the U.S. We can buy a lot of American foods and goods to take back to Japan, and at reasonable prices. During this Wal-Mart stop, though, we bought sandwiches, a salad and fried chicken from the deli for lunch, a lot of bottled water for our travels, and a six-pack of Coca-Cola for me to stay awake during the drive to Vegas.

And I definitely needed that Coke as we drove up I-15 through the California desert. I had to do all I could to stay awake. We had the radio blasting, and I sang along. I was drinking sips of Coke every opportunity I got. My wife would speak to me with a loud voice. It was difficult, but we made it to Las Vegas sometime before 8 P.M.

It was amazing to see the lights of the Strip, the place I had heard so much about ever since I was a kid. We saw the MGM Grand, New York New York, the Bellagio, and Caesars Palace as we drove up to the Flamingo - our home for the next five nights. We checked into our room, and the only thing we did before quickly going to bed was take a good view of the north Strip from the window. It was beautiful - we had a great view of the Mirage, Treasure Island, Harrah's, and the Venetian, not to mention the Stratosphere in the background. A relaxing way to end a tough and busy day.