Thursday, 21st March 7.30am GMT
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Wednesday, 20th March - Pittsburgh International Airport 4.20pm
Gatwick -> Pittsburgh (8 hour flight, 3 hour stopover)    Oh, the joy of sitting waiting in Airport departure lounges! The clock on the wall says it's 4.20pm local time. London time, that equates to 8.20pm, but after little more than an hour's sleep the night before flying out of Gatwick it feels more like the crack of dawn after a heavy night London time to me. There's still an hour and a half to go before boarding an over-booked 5 hour flight to Los Angeles and I feel like the walking dead. Fortunately, there have been no real problems. All the flights have been on time (a first for me!) and baggage clearance has been incredibly speedy (another first!)
I am quite impressed with US Airways. The staff can be a bit forgetful, but work hard throughout the entire flight. The plane is a very modern aircraft outfitted with the very latest "in-seat" console systems. On these you not only get a choice of movies (and have complete control over when the programme you select starts), but also arcade games, and episodes of TV shows like Frasier or Friends. Alas, somewhat over-tired I was not really in the mood for watching a movie and so, for what is arguably the first time in my life, the gadgets were wasted on me. However, I did somehow, over the eight hour flight, manage to read my first complete Harry Potter novel: "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets". This is the second Harry Potter novel which is due to be made into a film later this year. Frankly, it looks like the film will be a virtual carbon copy of the first one since the book came across as just a repeat on the story and episodic structure of the first film, with very minor variations! That being said, I enjoyed the book.
The only downside to flying with US Airways has been the 3 hour wait at Pittsburgh (fortunately my return from Los Angeles is direct) and the messy process of having to clear customs with my baggage and then repeat the whole check-in and convoluted security nonsense again. What with laptop, digital camera and lenses, Pocket PC and MiniDisc Walkman it is a total nightmare - Customs do not like gadgets!
Pittsburgh -> Los Angeles (5 hour flight) On the Los Angeles flight I managed to get a window seat, after swapping with someone who wanted to see the in-flight movie (this plane did not have in-seat consoles). Watching an almost continuous sunset was beautiful, and I also managed to get some brief snatches of sleep on this trip in spite of the wailing baby a few rows back. The most impressive thing though was coming in to Los Angeles airport at night. I can honestly say this was the most impressive airport view I've ever had. A huge patchwork quilt of dense silver, gold and green lights is visually stunning and gives the impression that one is looking at a vast Christmas display. It just seems to go on for ever. Unfortunately the photo (on a long release, with bad camera shake) just doesn't capture this The landing at Los Angeles was nice and easy - I had collected my luggage and was on the way to collect my hire car within 30 minutes of landing! The shuttle to collect the hire car was quick and efficient (I was the only one on the shuttle) and the hotel is easy to find.
Rasdisson Hotel (nr Los Angeles Airport) Arrival
		The hotel is large and impressive for an airport hotel, although, as always seems to be the case, there are nowhere near enough reception staff, and their English can be hard to understand. My room has a view over a sort of "spaghetti junction" of road arteries leading into the airport and is on a long road of nothing but the standard corporate hotels - they seem to go on for ever. The room itself is large and clean, which is a relief as I have 2 nights here before moving on to the more central Beverly Plaza Hotel. The muzzy blue and purple towers you can see outside the hotel window are not skyscrapers, as you might think, but tall columns of light that change colour every few seconds - very pretty.
In theory tomorrow is my trip to the Universal Studios park before everyone else from the Fellowship of the Ring movie fan club arrives. Here's hoping I don't sleep in and that the hotel reception staff can show me where on the maps it is because I can't see sight nor sound of it! Click here to see next day's report.