It is easier to get into America than it is to get out of Australia.

Dear Reader,

I don’t know if the above statement is always true but it was for me this trip. After a very long (12 hour) flight from Sydney to L.A., it was a simple walk through to get past customs and out to the beautiful Cloud and Rain!

Despite being long and tiring the flight was enjoyable. I met another great person, a guy from Perth who had been to L.A. before and was kind enough to let me have the window seat for take off and landing. I actually found it an ideal situation because being on the isle was handy for bathroom breaks but I still got to see the sites.

I can’t say I got much sleep but I did see a couple of good movies I’d been wanting to watch and as we approached L.A.X I chatted with the guy who gave me his tourist map of L.A.

But then, the weird part came. We landed safely and taxied in, came down and queued for customs. The queue moved quickly with each Australian simply having a finger scan and photograph taken. A woman had moved through the queue checking everyone had filled in their papers correctly so after handing those over it was straight to the carousel and out of the door in search of my hotel shuttle.

No scans, no cavity searches, no bomb scanning, nothing. I had to tweak my luggage at Perth Airport, new the routine when I did it again at Sydney airport, had a bomb residue test, walked through two metal detectors. That was just to get out of first my state and then my country. To get into America? None of that. I thought security here was tough? I suppose they simply hope that Australian customs did a decent job of checking us over before we boarded.

Well, the good news is I’m NOT a terrorist and despite the rain (What is up with THAT, Sunny California?) am already loving my time here.

Sincerely,
Rebecca