Thursday 26 June 2003
We felt fairly experienced when we the evening before departure sat laid-back in the sofa looking at our baggage. Everything was packed without panic. Our plan was to check-in the evening before departure so we only had to carry our hand luggage the next morning when going by public bus to the airport.
At the airport it quickly turned out that something was completely wrong. We were simply not on the passenger list for the plane to which we had tickets. We didn’t understand a clue and when to the SAS counter for explanation. The kind assistant told us that we were re-scheduled to another departure as our payment was received too late.
We looked at each other remembering the episode a while ago when we were surprised never to have received an invoice from the travel agency. When we called the agency to ask for an invoice they excused a bit upset, but made us sure that everything would be ready for us, if we just paid the tickets right away. It turned out not to be the fact. The re-scheduled flight meant a five-hour delay and a very long transfer period in Frankfurt.
The Swedish SAS assistant worked inveterate to solve the issue and after approx. one hour she cheerfully told us that she found two seats via Munich and with shorter transfer time. Actually this turned out to be a faster route than the original planned. It also confirmed that the idea checking in the evening in advance while having lots of time is a great idea.
The next morning we went by bus an hour later than original planned without any stress at all except for the slow morning traffic. We made it in time and before long we had opened the mandatory Toblerone snack in the plane.
After an approx. 12 hour flight we landed in Los Angeles 10.30 am local time. Ane’s brother would fetch us at the airport and shortly after our arrival an old black Cadillac up to us and Ane’s brother Morten welcomed us to sunny California. We drove to Valencia two valleys from Los Angeles city.
We took lodgings with a Super 8 motel in short distance to Mortens and we were excited to explore a bit of USA the next coming days.