My sister Erin was nice enough to drive us to the airport so we didn't have to pay to park our car. We were even fortunate enough to still be going on this trip since both of us lost our jobs. But it was already paid for and included most meals, all the hotel stays, and the transportation. Once we got to Detroit Metro we got our boarding passes and checked out luggage, then we went through security at wrap speed, which never happens to us. At 7:00 in the morning we were ready to leave, but the flight didn't board until 8:45. So we decided to hit up the National Coney Island for one last taste of Michigan before we headed to sunny California. Don't worry, I didn't eat a coney dog, I had French toast while Brian had a Greek omelet.
(Brian enjoying his breakfast before the flight).
After we boarded the flight I fell asleep. I always do this. I slept for about an hour and by then we were in the sky. I am not going to bore you with what we did on the plane. Because all I really did is read a little and play with the Nintendo DS and Brian did the same. We finally arrived at LAX, thank goodness because I hate long airplane rides. After a brief bathroom break it was time to get the luggage. We went down the escalator to grab our luggage and saw a man holding sign that stated "B. Thomas". Now I knew that Adventures by Disney (ABD) was going to provide transportation, but I am sure there are millions of B. Thomas' in the world. So I asked the guy if B. stood for Brian and it did. This made me mad because I did all of the travel arrangements and talked with all of the ABD reps and they put the sign in his name (sorry I don't have a pic of the sign). We grabbed our luggage and we walked to the towne car that was going to take us to the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel.
(Me with my Hollywood shades on our arrival)
After a half hour drive we arrive at our destination. We walk into our hotel around 12:20 and were greeted by one of our guides Diana (pronounced Dee-anna). She gave us our room keys and told us to meet the group on the second floor at 4:00 pm to start the adventure. So we went to our room to change clothes, since it was like 70 in LA and I was wearing jeans. Our luggage was already there because a nice bellman already whisked it away for us. I was excited when we entered the room because we got free gifts, and who doesn't love free gifts. We got ABD cooldanas (pieces of fabric you soak in cool water and wrap around your neck, travel fans, some pens, a duffel bad, H2O hydration spray, and some weird block thing that I ended up throwing away once we got home). We looked out the window at the wonderful view of LA and saw the Hollywood sign outside of our window (which I have never seen). We quickly changed and decided to get something to eat since dinner wasn't until 5:00 and we missed lunch. I really wanted to go to the Disney Soda Fountain and I knew it was close by. But I will get back to that part of the story tomorrow....
(a picture of our gifts)
(one of the beds in our double bed room)
(you can faintly see the Hollywood sign out in the distance)Day One, Part 2 will be published soon, so keep posted!
