Welcome to California!
After 6 hours of flight Coast to Coast, flying over the entire continent, we finally land at the International Airport of Los Angeles!! Welcome to California!!
Arrival at the Airport
We rented a car for our California Tour, but we can’t go pick it up directly: we have to wait for our company’s specific bus to take us to the depot. So, we position ourselves in the waiting area in front of the airport exit and wait …
Pass the buses of all the companies … but really all! And more than one for company! Except that of ours!
We start to worry, also because we were almost the only ones at the stop. Let’s imagine that the others who are still there are waiting for the same bus, but it might not be so. Someone was just waiting for a relative or a friend!
Finally arrives !! Miracle!! They have not forgotten us! They load us on the bus and we head to the Dollar Rent Parking!
Quokka Recommend: in America the Credit Card is mandatory, if you plan to travel to the States, organize yourself in time and check the Card Maximum because, even if you paid everything from Italy, as we did, the operations “to Guarantee “that you will have to do will be many !! Such as renting a car that will take a large chunk of your budget as a deposit.
The lucky Rental
We take care of the bureaucratic procedures of the Rental and show us where to go to pick up the car. Perhaps for the trip, perhaps for the time zone or perhaps because we are not used to renting in the States, they show us a section of the “Standard SUV” Parking and tell us to choose…
“Excuse me but “Choose” what does it mean?”
“Choose any one of that section, the one you like, go up and the keys are inside.”
WoW !! It works like in video games in essence !! We quickly look at the options and head straight for the most modern: a brand new Ford Edge, it smells again and the Speedometer only marks 3.000 miles (4.800 km)! Perfect for our trip!
We leave the car park and ask for confirmation of the Full to Empty Rental policy: basically we take the car with a full tank, but, unlike what usually happens, we have to leave it with an empty tank !!
Quokka Recommend: if you use your Smartphone as a navigator in the States remember to remove the paid roads (TollWay) from the route search because in America they are reserved for subscribers to the FastPass which is a kind of Italian Telepass but which has direct dedicated whole roads.
Direction Laguna Beach !!!
We get into California State Route 73 towards South, the classic 6-lane California FreeWay !! It is the first time we drive on one of these roads !! We cross Los Angeles and, on the signs of the exit signs, we find some of the most famous names in Orange County, such as Long Beach and Newport Beach.
After only 40 minutes on the road, we enter the Laguna Beach Park Canyon which leads us to the sea. The FreeWay gives way to a more “normal” 2-lane road and the landscape begins to taste like a holiday !! At the edge of the road the greenery is lush and we begin to see some campsites and some Rent typical of the resort areas.
The road we travel ends up exactly on the coast, in the center of Laguna Beach and in front of us, almost to welcome us, there is the LifeGuard Tower of the Main Beach of Laguna!
