Woke at 2.30am and thank god the ship was not rolling, must be getting close to Los Angeles the sea is calm. 6.30am and the Coral Princess has entered the harbour at San Pedro Cruise Terminal Berth 93. It is a massive port can see miles of cargo containers, lots of large cranes and a very high bridge going across the water next to the cruise ship.

Seeing we are to vacate our Staterooms by 8am, we were up early final pack up to Horizon Court for our last breakfast said our goodbyes to Red and Sharon when we collected our carryon bags, did a final check of our Stateroom and safe deposit box. Caught up with Tony and Deidre at the International Café for a cup of coffee before going to the Explorers Lounge our designated waiting area for our Disembarkation Group “Gold 5” to be called to disembark the Coral Princess. We were meant to disembark at 9.40am but it took nearly an hour before we finally left, passengers like us were not impressed as we all had prior arrangements.

Our Supershuttle was pre-booked for 10.30am, but we didn’t need to panic even though the queue to Customs & Immigration was long, it was quick plus suitcases were easy to find once we cleared Customs. Outside of Berth 93 we found the stand for Supershuttle, they had our details and a van was there. Shared the ride with Aussies we met in the queue and before we knew it we were the second drop and we arrived at Holiday Inn Express not far from the International Airport. LA is a massive city, very busy for the middle of the day.

Check in was quick, we didn’t have to wait for a room which was great. Nice big room on the third floor (six stories high) on the quiet side overlooking good old MacDonalds and Sizzlers. Settled in, nice to have the internet, did our emails and downloads then went over to Sizzlers for a late lunch.

Only 3pm, hotel Reception gave us directions to the big Westfield Mall so once again we had fun finding buses to take us there. Hotel is near the corner of Manchester Ave and Airport Boulevard, so a quick walk to Sepulivard to catch the green bus Rapid 6. Being a senior is great the fare was US35cents each and in no time we were at the Westfield Mall (over 300 stores). On the hunt for Richard’s runners, walked the three levels to different sports shoe shops trying on the two types he was interested in. Loved the Nike but our exchange rate is terrible, making the shoes expensive. I was lucky and found what I needed, had a good afternoon at the Mall. Easy finding the Rapid 6 bus and our way back to the hotel, stopped at MacDonalds for a takeaway coffee and back to the hotel seeing it was 7pm.

Not hungry seeing we had a big late lunch at Sizzlers, early night for our big day in LA tomorrow before we leave for home.