L.A., a note to follow soh

Let's start at the very beginning - a very good place to start!

On second thought, can we skip ahead to Disneyland? L.A. was a'ight, but we were tired from our long flight, so we didn't fully appreciate that night.

And then... Anaheim! So immaculate! It was like an extension of the perfection of Disneyland. Sweet-smelling flowers lined the way, while leafy trees gave us shade along the wide, smooth path.

As for Disneyland (and the California Adventure Park), they were indeed spotless. 'Twas all glitter, bright colours, carefully manicured greenery and litterless beauty.

The worst parts? 1. The heat. 2. The crowds. 3. The waiting lines. 4. Waiting for 3/4 of an hour to meet Thor (and then he wasn't even Chris Hemsworth...!!!!!) We only realised after we'd already been waiting there for about 25 minutes what "Thor: Treasures of Asgard" was actually about. John wisely advised bailing then, but you know what it's like when you've already been waiting for a while... You're committed!! And then, when we finally got our turn, it was decidedly lame. At least we got a photo with the Chris Hemsworth imposter.

 John/"Thor"/me

 De crowds

The best parts? 1. The rides, of course. 2. The two theatre productions we saw on our second day: a 20-minute small-scale Beauty and the Beast, and an hour-long Aladdin extravaganza. The actors were so true to the cartoons - looks, voice, everything! I think they were singing live, too - it was so good, and so professional!

Further observations:
1. There were some Disney movies that were barely represented, if at all, e.g. Mulan, The Emperor's New Groove, Hercules. I gather from this that if the Disney heroine never wears a ball gown (or at least a beautiful dress) at some point in the movie, it's hard for it to get a look in at Disneyland. Fie!
2. There was a woman there with her daughter, and both of them were dressed like Jasmine. The whole hog. AND THEY BOTH TOTALLY LOOKED LIKE JASMINE TOO. :-O

I would now like to share an epiphany I had while at Disneyland: All Disney princesses (that I can think of) feel trapped in their situation and desire freedom! Whooooaaaaa! Never noticed the thematic link before!

John also feels trapped sometimes and desires freedom. In this case, from a skull cage. However, while he waits, he tries to blend in.

We are approaching the end of our time in the States. For our return journey to LAX, we decided to book a shuttle to the airport, to be picked up at 9.05am. I know, I know - I had to get up before 8. It was pretty bad. But that's not the point of this story.

We got to the pick up point at 8.55am. By 9.10, we were getting a bit worried. By 20 past, we were FREAKING. OUT. As in, like, furrowing our brows and feeling a bit anxious. By 9.25, John decided to ring up and find out where the shuttle was - were we indeed deserted and friendless? I started PACING. The lady on the phone rang the driver, and then relayed to John that the van was there already - it was a red van, and was at the front of the pick up area. John wondered if we were at the wrong place, and reiterated that the van was not there; we could see the whole area from our seat. The lady assured us that it was. Then, as he spoke, at about 9.35, the van drove up. Yay!!! We assume someone had been telling porkies.

As it turned out, our shuttle still dropped us off early for our flight, and we were processed within half an hour, which gave us 2 and a half hours to get some breakfast and wait. What we had heard about LAX's dreadful lines, delays and slowness was all LIES (in our experience).

Next stop: Canada!