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Old 20 Aug 18, 11:02 PM  
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Pumba75
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4 go La La in La La Land - Day 0: California Dreaming

Hello

Welcome to the start of our West Coast adventure!

Tuesday 31st July 2018

The day started early for me - very early! I woke up at 3am and didn’t really get back to sleep - I think it was a combination of excitement and thinking about all the things I had to get done at work - a lot of personnel changes mean my team is currently about half the size it was 6 months ago, so the past few months have been incredibly busy.

I got up around 5.30am, got ready and headed into the office, leaving Melissa and the girls to finish off the last few bits of packing, get holiday nails done etc.

The next part of the day was a bit of blur as I tried to get as many things crossed of my “to do” list as possible, but by about 3pm, I was pretty much done and decided that what wasn’t finished could wait until I got back! Out of office message went on, voicemail message was changed on my work phone and laptop went off - the feeling of leaving the office knowing I had 2.5 weeks of downtime ahead of me was lovely.

I headed back home via the magazine stall at the market to pick up a puzzle book for M and was also under strict instructions to get a couple of “trashy” mags for Melissa - she claims it’s the only time of year she reads them - hmmmmmmmm.

Soon I was home, suit was put away for a couple of weeks and I could turn to more important business! First up was checking in - we’d already completed API information and selected seats, so the online check-in process was very simple, until the printer ran out of paper halfway through printing off the boarding passes... and I discovered we had no more! Luckily, we have a large Sainsbury’s just round the corner so I popped out to replenish supplies, and managed to get back before I was timed out of the BA system - winning!

All was now on track, and we just had to wait for our taxi to arrive... until I remembered that I’d meant to get the cash out for this during the day... d’oh! Out I popped again!

Just one last important job needed doing - Melissa needed to “plump” the cushions on the sofa and put bleach down the loo - apparently this is vital before any holiday!

The taxi arrived at 5.30pm, we loaded up and were on our way - all very excited and looking forward to arriving at our Premier Inn at Heathrow T4 - unfortunately the M25 wasn’t sharing our excitement and was closed. Paul, our taxi driver who we also used last year (and a lovely chatty guy as well), found a detour we could take, but everyone else had the same idea so it was very slow - a good warm-up for our time in LA! We were almost there when M began to complain that she was feeling ill - She sometimes suffers from car sickness, which is baffling considering that she has no problems with rides at all - rather than redecorating the interior of Paul’s car, he pulled over so that she could get some air. After a few minutes, she was good to go, but she jumped in the front with a bag to hand, just in case, and we set off again for the final few miles.



We eventually arrived just before 8pm - we’d already checked in online so we got our room keys, dumped our cases in the room (which had a great view out over the airport) and headed down to the restaurant for dinner.





View from our room



This was quite a new hotel, and the restaurant was really nicely done and also not too busy, which was a bonus as we were all starving by now.

We were seated, and quickly attended to. Drinks were a selection of J2O’s for the girls, a lemonade, and a Bud Light for me.

We shared a Flatbread, Hummus, Olives and Feta starter, which was ample for the 4 of us, and was really good.



For mains we had the following:
M - Bacon & Cheeseburger



E - BBQ Chicken Melt



Melissa - Grilled Salmon Fillet



Me - Chicken Escalope



The mains arrived quite quickly, and were quite large! They were also really good, and much needed. Only slight issue was that E’s chicken was slightly undercooked in the middle - we pointed it out to our server, who took it away, and a little while later the chef came out with a whole new meal for her. He also apologised and offered us a free dessert - we had already discussed dessert but decided we were too full, so I politely declined. When the chef left, I was in trouble!

When we got the bill, our server, Bikas, had taken off the cost of E’s meal. I should commend the restaurant staff here, because all the ones that we came into contact with during the meal were excellent.

It was a really good meal - I always love this moment, the first meal of the holiday, when work is all done, it’s just the 4 of us, and all the possibilities of the next couple of weeks are still all in front of us.

With full bellies, we headed back to our room, got the last few bits sorted, had showers and settled down into bed. We watched tv for a bit and the excited chatter eventually dissipated as we went off to sleep - full disclosure: I “may” have fallen asleep before anyone else...

Tomorrow: Travel Day

Thanks for reading.

Edited at 09:20 PM.
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Old 20 Aug 18, 11:09 PM  
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JoJo88
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Great start! And to think, we were at Heathrow that same night, doesn’t time fly? 😭😭

Looking forward to reading about your adventures having enjoyed Melissa’s photos on IG 😊
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Old 21 Aug 18, 05:39 AM  
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Hidden mickey
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Love that last day at work feeling!
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Old 21 Aug 18, 02:35 PM  
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Can always count on the Pumba’s for a great food / trip report!
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Old 21 Aug 18, 09:21 PM  
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Great start, can’t wait to read about your trip x
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Old 24 Aug 18, 08:35 PM  
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Pumba75
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Originally Posted by JoJo88 View Post
Great start! And to think, we were at Heathrow that same night, doesn’t time fly? 😭😭

Looking forward to reading about your adventures having enjoyed Melissa’s photos on IG 😊
I know! Can't believe its all been and gone and we're back home. Hope you had a great time - Melissa enjoyed following along with you too.

Originally Posted by Hidden mickey View Post
Love that last day at work feeling!
You can't beat it - it's so much better than the "first day back at work" feeling

Originally Posted by capecoralfl View Post
Can always count on the Pumba’s for a great food / trip report!
Ah, thank you! Hope you're all well.

Originally Posted by sheluk View Post
Great start, can’t wait to read about your trip x
Welcome along! Will try and get the rest up as quickly as possible.

Thanks for reading all!
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Old 24 Aug 18, 11:00 PM  
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Last year we ran out of printer ink on pre-travel day! I also plump my cushions before we leave so Im with Melissa.


Your evening meal looks lovely even without the free dessert!
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Old 25 Aug 18, 12:13 AM  
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So looking forward to reading along... Great start and can't wait for the next instalment xxx
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Old 25 Aug 18, 07:43 PM  
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slow.jo
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Yay so excited to read this! Great start Graeme, I can feel the excitement of the imminent adventure!

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Old 25 Aug 18, 08:17 PM  
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Great start, but I was disappointed that you didn't get your nails done too!

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