J23 Wednesday, July 29
We had to set the alarm this morning to avoid leaving Las Vegas too late, since today’s drive is still a bit long…
The sunrise colors from our room are gorgeous, and it’s with regret that we leave the hotel.
But before leaving the city, we make a quick stop at the Las Vegas Sign, which we still haven’t photographed despite three trips… There was always a long line before, but this morning at 7:30 AM, there’s no one!
We drive to Primm, where we stop around 8:00 AM to fill up on gas, then head to Peggy Sue’s 50’s Diner for a break just before 10:00 AM with breakfast. It’s still got that retro vibe!
After that, it’s an exciting drive to Los Angeles, with traffic getting heavier and ending in jams. 😕 We’d like to reach Santa Monica, but it’s packed everywhere, and at one point, we’re stuck on a ramp leading to a parking lot charging $12 for the day—no way to turn back. Sure, paying by the day is nice, but we only want to stay for 2 hours max, so that’s pricey! 🤪 When the attendant in her booth sees my disappointed face and hears me say we didn’t actually want to park here, she lets us pass the barrier without paying and exit. But what a waste of time!
We then head toward Venice Beach via Pacific Ave, scanning for parking. Either there’s no space, or it’s expensive. We finally find a spot along the road, almost across from the Venice Fishing Pier, paying by meter. But since we’re almost out of change, we leave less than $2 for about 1.5 hours. Our goal now is just to show the kids the Pacific Ocean and that’s it! Honestly, it feels like the last day—we’re not up for anything, and the traffic has really put us off…
We walk to the end of the pier, but it’s pretty dirty. Then the kids dip their feet in the water (and more…) before we head back the other way.
It must be around 3:30 PM when we finally stop at a fast-food place for our last meal on American soil. This morning’s breakfast was filling, but it feels like ages ago! After that, we find a post office to buy stamps for our postcards (otherwise, they’d have been sent from France—way less exotic! 😉), and we return the car to Dollar. We’d already gathered our things and checked for anything left in the doors or compartments while at the fast-food parking lot, which was lucky because once we’re in line at Dollar, everything moves fast. An employee scans the car’s code, walks around to check for damage, notes the mileage, and hands us a receipt. And that might be the toughest moment of the day… Letting go of this car we’ve loved for three weeks really hits home that the trip is over…
Then it’s a bus wait and off to the airport, where we arrive early (around 5:00 PM for a 7:40 PM flight), but it turns out not to be useless… We’re directed to self-service kiosks, where we easily print Yannick, Hugo, and Calista’s boarding passes—but mine won’t work. An American Airlines employee comes to help, but she can’t figure it out either and sends us to the counters. There, we have to wait in line. When it’s finally our turn, we spend over half an hour (maybe even more—I don’t remember) at the counter with three people trying to fix my issue! They never told us what the problem was, but from what they were saying, I suspect it was something to do with my birth name and married name. Next time I renew my passport, I’ll just stick with my birth name—it’s simpler!
After that, no issues at security, and we don’t have to wait too long in the departure lounge. Our flight is on time. The LAX-London leg goes smoothly, but as usual, I don’t sleep. The flight lands in London around 2:00 PM, and our next flight to Paris isn’t until 5:45 PM, so we have time to relax on the lounge chairs waiting for us at the gate… But as always, it’s the same ones who fall asleep (Yannick and Calista) and the same ones who can’t and read instead (Hugo and me).
The London-Paris flight with British Airways is super pleasant: the plane is only half full, they serve a little snack, and it flies low enough to enjoy the view from the window. We see the French coast coming into view, then fly over the countryside. Really nice!
And just like that, the trip comes to an end…
Day’s summary: If we had to do it over, I think we wouldn’t wake up at dawn to leave Las Vegas. We’d take our time before checking out of our lovely hotel room and head straight to the airport without trying to squeeze in any visits. Anyway, the few things we did today weren’t worth the time lost in traffic jams…
The route we took took us through some gorgeous residential neighborhoods—mostly private communities where you’d need to show ID to get in. We could really see ourselves living there…
