There are palm trees outside my window, geraniums on the windowsill, and over the road a splash of white and pink roses. This is a very manicured, and relatively new developed of houses in a gated enclave in Encinitas. It's very green - lush even, and it's my second day in America, though by the time I post this it will be my fourth day. I'm staying in my friend's brother's beautiful home. I'm in the guest bedroom, which looks out to the front of the house.
At the rear the canyon rises up forming a verdant 'wall' of garden, planted with an exotica of flora. I've never seen bird of paradise plants growing outside. There's a beautiful tinkling stream and pool, where hummingbirds dart between the palms and it's all very peaceful. After arriving we just sat in the garden and drank tea, while Dana, our very lovely hostess, served us local strawberries, tortilla chips and dips. It was so good to stop travelling!
It's been a time of 'firsts'. I feel very much like a child, wide-eyed with wonder. Everything is making me slightly tearful. That and the jet lag. Talking about flying, once we were actually airborn and flying over the Shetlands, I burst into tears. I had done it! I had conquered my fear and I was okay. About our flights: we were delayed by the volcano's ash cloud and then there was a further delay because of a faulty brake light. We took off hours late, but I couldn't tell you the exact time, because I'd set my watch to Pacific Coast time on boarding and it completely threw me for the rest of the day. Once we had taken off we were told that due to the delays we woudl be rerouted to Washington DC for refuelling and a crew change - so 8 hours later,having flown north of Iceland, over Greenland (lots of snow and ice flows), down through Canada and so to the States, we finally arrived in DC in a thunderstorm, lightning playing across the wings as we landed. We were futher delayed by the refuelling and so, after another 3 hours on the ground, we took off for LA. Storms were sweeping across the midwest and so our flight path was again diverted north, this time over Minnesota. It was relatively calm until we were a couple of hours into the flight and then the turbulence started. I just kept thinking, 'it's a bumpy old bus' and that and closing my eyes and trying to get some sleep (though it was hard) pulled me through.
We flew over the great 'jewel' of Las Vegas (by now it was night), shining and sparkling 38K feet below us - then over the Sierra Nevada and so to LA. My feet were officially on US soil. All those delays meant we landed at 10.30pm, which was 6.00 am the next morning in London - we had spent 21 hours travelling - 13.5 of them in the air and the rest stuck inside a stationary plane. Incidentally, that same plane was flying onto Honolulu, so we could have stayed on board and gone a bit further! United Airlines had rebooked our onward flight to San Diego for 12.30am but we declined and instead they sent us to the Westin Hotel for the night and rebooked the flight to San Diego for 1pm the next day.
Thank God we could stop travelling for a while and sleep. My bodyclock was completely screwed and I just lay dowon in my $365 a night hotel room, care of United Airlines, and watched Star Trek so I could zone out. The next morning we had a complementary breakfast at the hotel - scrambled eggs, potatoes and toast, and took a walk along the road for a couple of hundred yards - all I could manage I was so jet lagged and confused. We repacked and caught the shuttle bus back to the terminal building. Through security and we waited to board our flight to San Diego. Half an hour later we were sent down onto the tarmac to board out twin engine prop plane - the commuter flight to SD. I was nervous all over again as this was a tiny plane compared to what we'd just flown in on. Luckily, I was seated next to an off-duty air hostess, which was reassuring. The take off was a breeze and I remembered to breath! We leveled out over the Pacific and flew down the coast, skirting the
Catalina Islands. We swooped down over San Diego to land, somewhat bumpily. Phew survived another flight!
We took a taxi to Encinitas. It took about half and hour, I guess. Time didn't mean much anymore. So here we are, settled in and ready for the weeks ahead. I was so tired I slept right through dinner until the next morning.
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