Los Angeles International Airport

Cross-country plane rides aren’t all that bad if you’ve had the right libations early in the trip. I didn’t even notice that US Airways has ripped out the entertainment system and there was little to occupy our time once the meal was over.

I plugged in my iPod to a book I’d already heard and promptly went to sleep.

You can’t do that with ones you’re listening to for the first time, because you miss stuff and it’s too hard to go back and figure out where you were, especially if you drift in and out.

When I got poked awake, we were 30 minutes out of Los Angeles and it was time to straighten up.

Either I slept soundly or the munchkin slept as well. I’m not sure which.  Regardless, we both enjoyed the flight.

LAX is an enormous airport. You realize it’s size when you come in on a domestic flight and then have to switch over to the international terminal. It’s about a ¾ mile walk from where we got off to where we had to go, but since we had almost 7 hours to kill it wasn’t a big deal.

There are people at LAX who are wearing badges that say "VOLUNTEER".  They approach offering to help you find your destination.  The first time we were through here, I mistakenly thought they were truly volunteers for the airport.

I soon found out that they are volunteers who are soliciting donations for some group or other, and are only helpful to get you to stop and talk to them, and maybe feel obligated to give them some money afterwards.

Color me cynical, but I have a hard time believing that all those "donations" make it to their intended recipients.

The airport plays announcements in the terminal that they aren't airport employees or affiliated with the airport, but since those guys are out on the sidewalk and you're inside by then, it certainly doesn't help you the first time around.

I’ve already written about the plane we’re going on to Singapore. One of the perks with that is that we got into the Business Class Lounge, which is much, much, MUCH more comfortable than staying out in the terminal.

Unfortunately, I packed the cord for the camera in our luggage, which is somewhere in the bowels of the airport on its way to meet us in Bangkok, so I can’t show you the pics we took right now.  Suffice it to say, it feels very "Asian" with nice teak dividers and very sleek lines.

In addition to nice seating, internet access, and about four different stations with open bars, drinks, munchies and some hot food, even, it has nice clean bathrooms.

Not airport bathrooms, mind you, but ones like you’d see at home. With decorator tile, magnifying mirrors (for those needing to touch up their makup, I assume, although it is something of a wakeup call to those of us who need to do a bit more skin maintenance than we’ve done in the past) and – blissfully – SHOWERS.

Not gang showers like at the gym, but a room you can go into, by yourself, with a lock on the door so you can freshen up a bit.

Remember, we got up and showered about 6:00 this morning Hickory time. It’s now 7:00 p.m. Hickory time, and we leave here about 11:00 p.m. Hickory time to climb on an airplane for the next 18 hours or so.

A shower and a shave before we do that is sounding pretty nice, plus the fact that we can change into the sweats we brought to lounge around in before we get on the plane, rather than trying to change in the airplane toilet.

It can be done, but it’s a real chore for men of our, umm, disposition.