Brisbane to Los Angeles to Bogota

Finally, after many months of planning we hit the ‘road’. Well the air actually. Leaving on a flight from warm Brisbane after catching a shuttle from home. Bound for Los Angeles, on a 13 hour flight. Left at 10pm Australian time, arrived LAX about 5:30pm LA time. So far so good. But tired with limited sleep. Lucky we have a sleepover before flying next day.

One curious sidelight of the QANTAS flight to LA was while the sun rose after about 4 hours of flying, we stayed in the dark with shades down the whole time, meaning we were like on night-time simulation the whole time, even though it was mostly all day. Not sure why that was, as it did not seem to make sense to me to how best to acclimatise at the LA end, but then I am a bit unpractised at international flying of late.

Arriving in LA was mostly uneventful, thankfully. Weather cool but fine, but already the sun had set. Took a good hour to clear immigration. After full finger prints and photos at the entry point, we took a shuttle for a very short distance to the Hyatt hotel nearby. Found our room, had a meal, checked some local news, then sleep from 11pm, till walking about 4am. Awake for a while then slept till 11am. Up, shower, lunch (nice, as was tea last night), getting the tipping business in order (don’t Aussies love it… not), then having rechecked in briefly for the afternoon, to wait for flight, we checked out about 4pm, back to LAX.

In line at LAX for about 60 mins to check into Avianca flight to Bogota. So far so good. Then work through LA outbound security. First the screening by the canine. We all line up in twos, then waft through as he gives us the sniff, as he is marched back and forth. Not sure how long his shift is but suspect he needs a constant supply of biscuits (OK, maybe cookies for the locals). Next security is the X-ray, all shoes and belts off, and a patting down for this guy. What did I do wrong? Can do it here or go to a private room I was told. Private room? Let’s not make a scene, here is fine sir!

Then we waited for our flight. Had a great chat with a couple from Phoenix. TP kept the subject matter on track. Nonetheless, learned a great deal from the (nearly) local. How they have coyotes and bob cats in their local neighbourhoods. How prevalent Spanish is in the southern borders of the US, from the West Coast to Miami, and through Texas too. Yes, Utah is a great place to visit, so we may do so. But let’s not discuss politics, let’s not even mention the unmentionable. Then we caught our flight, with all announcements starting in Spanish, with English following. That’s OK, the immersion has started at LAX.

Smooth flight of about 6 hours overnight, left about 8pm LAX time, arrived Bogota about 5:45am local time, with Bogota three hours ahead of LA. Again about a 60 min wait through immigration, then got a SIM card (100K pesos for 30 days, 65 GB data), got through X-ray of bags on exit and found our driver. Forty mins to hotel, and that was exciting. Colombian driving is not for the faint hearted. For the motor bike riders, reminded me of downhill skiing on the home trail. Go for it, and lots of slaloming, and ‘he who hesitates is lost’!. Be aggressive, or be …. vulnerable, or stuck.

Hotel is nice, good neighbourhood, had breakfast, sleep to 3pm. Short walk, safe neighbourhood, weather about 17C. All online now, so fine tuning communications, tea late, soon bed. Tomorrow it is time to meet our new family.

Dinner was good. Navigating Spanish but the menu helps. Not much English with the wait staff but we are enjoying learning the language, small steps at a time. But wow, how does Google translate help. Just trying to remember so much. Yes I am having fun.

Meantime, I reflected, can you be all of excited, tired and grumpy at the same time, after many hours of travel, and red-eye aviation? Well I think you can. We are now pleased to be here in Bogota, at elevation at 8,600 feet! Altitude sickness is real here, so we have to go easy for a few days, and we will. Otherwise, we look forward to the adventures that beckon, and the dangers we will studiously avoid.

And so, two pictures from our hotel roof. The holiday has just started.