Just a few weeks ago, I had the wonderful opportunity to introduce Pearl and Gladys. They look rather stunning together, if I may say so myself. I love my girls. I think they are now BFFs, which makes perfect sense to me.
In fact, it seems that these two ladies could have been sisters in a previous life, don’t you think? I had lots of heavy stuff carried by Pearl to load onto Gladys, so I pulled onto the ramp today to get everything inside.
Very important cargo was transferred from my car to my airplane. People have to drink, after all!
Occasionally, maybe 30% of the trips, we order catering for the passengers. Today’s menu included some sandwiches, chips, brownies, potato salad, fruit salad, and condiments.
Of course, I also made a bunch of homemade cookies for the passengers to enjoy today. I guessed properly that five grown men can never have enough to eat.
This was the view while waiting for my passengers to arrive before our flight. I waited under the tree to click the gate open when I saw their car pull in from the street. They parked next to the airplane so that I could unload bags. We have five people on board today, so this should be lots of fun!
Our passengers arrived on time, and we were soon waiting at the beginning of Runway 3 for clearance to take off. Corporate airplanes take priority in this airport, and I love that we rarely have to wait.
Just like we always do when heading towards Los Angeles, we passed over Deer Valley Airport. It’s a madhouse down there, with a dozen flight schools and tons of airplanes based on the field. I’m so glad that we found a cheap hangar elsewhere so we didn’t have to be based here with a bunch of flight students!
Just flying over makes me nervous because of all the traffic. Luckily, we were climbing through 8,000 feet today while over Deer Valley. Traffic no factor.
Have I ever mentioned how much I love living in the Valley of the Sun? I can say that now because we are finally exiting triple-digit temperatures. October and April are my favorite two months, so I am really loving things outside right now.
We normally fly to Van Nuys when coming to Los Angeles, but this weekend meant a different destination for my passengers. The closest airport to their meetings was Los Angeles International, or LAX. This place is huge and crazy busy, so I didn’t have time to take any pictures of our arrival.
But I did snap a picture of my first Airbus A380 sighting! This gigantic airplane can only land at a few airports around the world, so it was a rare treat to see it in action today!
A Delta Boeing 757 also landed not too far from my ramp, so I grabbed a photo of him next to the LAX tower. This is not a favorite airport to visit, since it’s so hectic. We really have to be on our toes for this place.
In fact, LAX makes #2 on the list of least-favorite airports to land, voted by pilots worldwide.
Gladys is one of the smaller airplanes on the ramp in such a busy place, but that doesn’t mean that she stops looking the best. We always get all sorts of people who want to poke their heads inside to take a gander. She is one popular lady! In a good way.
This is an McDonnell-Douglas MD-80, which is usually a decent-sized airliner. In this case, it is a private airplane of some rich guy in Europe! Can you imagine?!
We were scheduled to be here for just one night, arriving Friday afternoon and leaving around midnight on Saturday. Little did I know that our weekend would turn out very differently from what we all planned.
After Gladys was buttoned up and ready for her overnight stay in a scary airport, I got a ride over to the hotel. It was just a few miles away from the FBO and was on the arriving corridor for landing traffic at LAX. Very cool!
I think that Courtyards are my favorite of the Marriott family in which to stay. They are modern and spacious and always have lots of options for food, too. I’m usually on-foot, so this matters to me.
It was even better to score a normally-priced $160 room for $99 a night. It’s the little things that make me the happiest!
My room was huge…and so comfortable. I regretted that I would only be staying here for one night. Maybe I should watch what I say more carefully! Did I jinx us?!
The vanity was in the main bedroom area (weird?), but it was pretty. So I didn’t mind. The recently-renovated room was a dream to have for the night.
And I got lots of work accomplished here at the desk area. I bring my laptop on most trips so I can get things done while being away from home. It was also a treat to get the Food Network on television, so I probably watched an episode or two…
The weekend started out great! Tomorrow, I have time before our flight to explore Manhattan Beach! Come along for the journey!
That is a really nice room! I remember what happened and I'm pretty sure you did jinx yourself! Be more careful out there--lol
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