Day 17: New York to LA: time to pack away our winter woolies

Where did those two weeks go? Today started with repacking (again). At least with the extra suitcases, it is easier to pack everything (for now). We ended up at Pastis in the Meatpacking District – it is the sister restaurant of the French Bistro, Balthazar, that we visited last week. It was also recommended to us by a couple of different people. It was good to see yet another area of New York that we hadn’t seen – here are a couple of pics of the area and Pastis…

And look whose offices are in the Meatpacking District (or it could actual be classed as Chelsea)…

I would have really liked to have looked inside their offices – apparently the fit out is amazing!

So we were left with a couple of hours left in New York before leaving for the airport… what should we do? Shop of course! This time flew and before we knew it, we were back at the hotel collecting our bags. We asked the doorman for a taxi and he said he had a car outside for the same cost as a taxi… here’s our ride…

Yes, it’s a white stretch limousine. Complete with crystal glassware, tinted windows, green sparkly lights on the roof and neon lights around the bar area. Needless to say, we had a bit of a chuckle – although from a practical perspective, I think we actually needed the extra boot space in the end.
When we asked the front desk person at our hotel this morning how long we should allow to get out to the airport, he said one hour should be plenty. One hour and forty minutes later we arrived at Terminal 7. Our limo ride was eventful, including unbelievably congested traffic and a car accident (yes, our limo driver ran up the back of someone). He seemed to be very conscious of getting us there asap – I had no idea limos could get up to those speeds (we seemed to be going a lot faster than everyone else!) Anyway, we got there in one piece.

Our flight wasn’t too busy and the delightful lady checking us in gave us a row of three to ourselves, so we could spread out a little. We flew over Las Vegas - wow, does the strip stand out! We couldn't believe just how bright it was. We arrived in LA about 9.30pm - it was all very well organised with Qantas staff directing us to the baggage claim so we found our bags easily and then we waited for the hotel shuttle for about 15 minutes to take us about 1km (we didn't fancy trying to walk out of LAX though - it's crazy as many of you will know!)

We checked into our hotel without any issue and have a very comfortable room for one night. We forgot until we got into bed how close we are to the airport - those planes are loud! Anyway, a good night's rest before an early start to drive to Las Vegas to win back what we've spent on this trip! (Joke).