After we are safely on the ground, Willard gets a rare chance to visit the cockpit of our 747-400, and swap stories of flying with our Captain.

After we clear Immigration and Customs, reality re-asserts itself, and Willard finds himself back on a luggage trolley (at least it's still chauffeur driven!) waiting for the shuttle bus to our hotel, the 4 Points LAX.

We had a car pre-booked with National Car Rental, but we didn't realise that the main airport rental lot for Budget was just across the street from our hotel, so we went in, managed to get a marginally better rate for a much better car, and then cancelled our reservation with National (after all, someone else may need that car, and one day, that someone else may be us!).

Willard manouvers our "mid-size" rental car (which, for our UK/European readers, has a length in-between that of an ocean-liner and an aircraft-carrier), we're taking advantage of our UA Sydney flight's evening schedule to cram in some shopping at the Citadel Outlet Mall on the outskirts of LA. With the US Dollar rate being what it is, pretty much everything looks ridiculously cheap!

Sadly the afforementioned Outlet Mall doesn't open until 10AM, so Willard decides to retire to the local "Ruby Tuesday's" diner (which is open, and serving breakfast) in order to collect his thoughts and sample an American breakfast.