On the Road Again

Thursday, 20 August 2009

Road Trip, Day 1

Today was my first day of my self-driven road trip. I'm in charge from here on. I'm the responsible adult. I'm the designated driver. I'm the tour guide. I'm like, totally stoked!

Rental Car Blues

So, when planning this jaunt, the most complex single part was the Rental Car. No-one rents a car for 63 days and they certainly don't drive it from LA to NYC via a 6,000 mile route taking in 30 states.

That's why I spent so long finding a company, Dollar Rent-a-Car, that could do this for me. They were real helpful and suggested that I book via Virgin Holidays as they give an even better rate than Dollar do direct.

So, when booking with Virgin, I included the flights and hotel in New York and did, indeed, get a good price. However, I got crappy service. They kept contradicting themselves over duration, one-way rental fees and frequency with which I'd have to "check-in" with a Dollar office for them to check the car out.

Anyway, after a tremendous amount of hassle and repeated phone calls on my part and a replacement Rental Car voucher which I had to collect at Heathrow as the first one was wrong I believed it to be all sorted.

So, I arrived at the Dollar office at Los Angeles International Airport today with my voucher proudly in hand. Did the rental go smoothly? Did I pick up a Ford Mustang Convertible in a matter of minutes with minimum fuss? DID I FUNK!!

What a bloody shambles. Apparently my booking was cancelled as a "no show"... probably three weeks ago when I didn't arrive at JFK to rent a car as the first, erroneous voucher stated.

Anyway, some blustering by myself and very sincere apologies from the Dollar staff (who also agree that Virgin Holidays suck!) I wandered out to select my convertible.

No Mustangs

Nope, not one. We don't see many of those I'm afraid explained the garage attendant. Choose from this array of white Chrysler Sebring Convertibles. They were all dinged and scratched, so I reluctantly chose one... with a broken roof. I tried another. The attendant lent a hand and showed how the divider in the boot (trunk) works to keep luggage out of the way of the roof.

With the roof of a Sebring stowed in the boot there is about enough room for a laptop computer and a packet of chewing gum (if you like your gum squished that is).

So, regretfully, I rejected the convertible option and went back to get my Rental agreement changed to a "Full Size". I was kind of pissed (off) at this point because I drive a convertible at home and it has good boot space even with the roof stowed. I was also worried I'd end up with a stoopid mini-van or sedan (saloon).

Fortunately, I finally got a bit of good luck and though all the "Full Size" cars had gone, one arrived from the valet station and was ready to go. So, I was finally smiling as I drove off in my bright red 2009 Dodge Charger. It's a pretty sweet ride, good acceleration (now that I've worked out how to boot the throttle to get a good burst of speed) plus it is comfy, quiet and has a good stereo system... and a big boot too.

I'll take a photo tomorrow and you can see how she looks.

Movie Locations

On my trip, I plan to see a few movie locations. Today I planned my route out of Los Angeles so that I could see my first. I drove past the skyscraper which played the part of "Nakatomi Plaza" in the first Die Hard movie.

My photo isn't very good, though it does recreate officer John McClane's (Bruce Willis) first view of the tower at the start of the film. The area around the tower is quite well-to-do and there's no parking signs all over.

From Avenue of the Stars where Nakatomi Plaza, real name "Fox Plaza", is located I took a left onto Santa Monica Boulevard and drove down to the ocean and the start of the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH).

The PCH

The Pacific Coast Highway has been a "must do" part of my trip from very early on. People rave about it and I see why. The first section from LA to Malibu is all about large bays, golden beaches, rocky outcrops and cool, rolling road. I love it already and I'm not even at the good bit yet!

Santa Barbara

I'm now in my first Road Trip hotel, the Motel Hacienda at the very far end of Santa Barbara's trendy State Street. It's a good room, perfectly fine for my needs which, given how tired I feel, is a bed and a shower.

I checked in, sorted my bags then went into the city for a look around.

I has a minor mis-comprehension of what the concierge meant by the centre of town being "5 minutes away". I started walking along state street but after a few minutes I realised I was miles from town. Of course, this is California. No-one refers to how long it takes to walk anywhere. I turned on my heel, unparked the car and drove into town.

Santa Barbara is clearly well-to-do and it's main drag is lines with Sushi Bars, expensive boutiques, art-house cinemas and galleries. I parked up and bought a cappuccino and a piece of carrot cake which looked much nicer than it tasted and watched the well-heeled walk by as I consulted my guide book.

I'll take a closer look tomorrow, including the wooden pier and ocean-front area.

Goodnight.

Stats - Day Twenty-Seven

Distance Travelled by road (no longer "as the crow flies") - 111 miles - Hacienda Hotel, El Segundo, Los Angeles, CA to Motel Hacienda, Santa Barbara, CA

State count - 16 + DC