Tuesday 16 August 2011

You can't take that bike on the plane sir.....

My heart sank as I was greeted with this at Heathrow this morning........but then he winked at me, checked in the bag and chose to ignore the fact that it was overweight (the bike, not me).  A bit of amusement for him but not funny for me.

The flight into LA served to underline just how massive and empty most of the US is. Am I really up to cycling all the way down to Mexico?  A stressful time in LA airport involved me having to pick up the bike box and charge across the huge airport for my connection which was made despite the customs official grumpily questioning me why I am carrying bike tools with me ("durr, something to do with going on a bike tour I think").

My first bit of miscommunication with the natives came when I asked if there was a trolley around.  "Ummm do you want a taxi sir?"  "no , a trolley please".  Once I mimed pushing a trolley he pointed me to the 'carts'.  Hmmm.

First glimpse of a snow-capped Mount Rainor from the plane.

First impresions.....the natives speak loudly nd give the impression of feeling really positive about things.  A cynical Brit in their midst will probably temper that.

Off to bed now. I've been up for 23 hours now.

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