I woke up at 5:30 am and was out the door of the hostel at 6. I had an hour and a half to get to the pickup point near LAX airport on the other side of town, so I got on the Metro rail system and began my journey. On and on it went, as I travelled with all the early morning workers. It seemed a bit slow though. I changed lines and headed towards LAX, but by 7:15, I decided to abandon the Metro and get a taxi.
In a lot of countries, there are usually taxis near stations, but not where I was. I had gotten off in the middle of Los Angeles, or in effect, the middle of nowhere. No-one knew where to get a taxi and I was panicking a bit. I phoned up TrekAmerica and told them where I was and asked them to tell the tour leader. It was 7:30 - when I was meant to be leaving - so I phoned again. They said that the leader knew and that they would wait.
So back on the Metro system and off to LAX. I got there and jumped in a taxi to the Hacienda Hotel, where I finally arrived at 8:30, two and a half hours after leaving my hostel! I apologised profusely, but everyone seemed fine with it. The group was 15 strong and came from a range of countries, much like the other backpacker tours I had been on before.
We left at 9, driving to Hollywood Boulevard, where I had been staying the previous two nights and left 3 hours earlier. The irony was not lost on me!
After a quick look around, we began to drive out of L.A. and head East to the Colorado River. On the way out, we got stopped by the police for being in the wrong lane, an experience in itself! At about midday, we stopped for lunch, before moving on. It was a hot day too; we got out in the desert at one stop and after taking the temperature, realised that it was 42C!
We camped right on the banks of the Colorado River that night and got to know each other over dinner. It had been a hectic start to a day that turned out to be very relaxing in the end.
