Day 1: TULLAMARINE to LAX

Day 1:  Tullamarine to LAX   April 12th, 2017

What we expected:

·      Big African-American people with guns, barking orders at us.

·      Long, long waits in queues for immigration then baggage collection.

·      Tense interrogation and finger print ID at immigration.

·      Confusion and tension as we found our way from the international terminal to the terminal for internal flights.

·      Plenty of interesting retail and eating places as is common in large airports.

·      Somewhere comfortable where we could relax for our seven hour layover before the next flight to Dallas.

·      Exhaustion and tension with Roger becoming more anxious and obstinate with every minute.

What we found:

·      On emerging from the plane, five wheelchairs and attendants lined up, one of them for Roger. as per our emailed request.

·      A fast-paced walk through from one check point to another, each time lining up in the ‘Special assistance’ queue, thereby evading the long tiring waits.

·      Avoidance of the barked orders because they didn’t apply to those who had special assistance.

·      A very cheerful and friendly guy at immigration.  His interrogation of us was much more just friendly questioning to ascertain that we are genuine tourists.  He seemed genuinely interested that we are going to Savannah and recommended a particular place that we should visit.

·      No confusion about what order to do things in or where to go because Roger’s ‘carer’ just knew exactly what to do and where to go.  I simply followed after them.

·      A relaxing experience with everything taking place smoothly and pleasantly.

·      A very basic, albeit huge, airport with almost no food outlets or spaces to relax.  We did find a Starbucks which had a few comfortable armchairs and at which we overstayed and snoozed.  Wandering into a domestic arrivals terminal we found a bar, an icecream shop and a coffee shop but nothing else.  We found nowhere to change currency, buy a local SIM card or other activities common at international airports.

·      Language surprise with most signs multi-lingual, English and Spanish.  Also several announcements in both languages.  Is this common throughout USA we wonder.