London & LA Landmarks

I flew home to be with family (see post about my mom, below) just before the Easter weekend. On the flight from Leeds to London, I got a terrific, birds-eye view of several London landmarks. In the first photo below, you can easily see Tower Bridge and sort of make out the Tower of London, as well as many iconic skyscrapers. 

Tower Bridge

And in this photo, you can spot the London eye, Houses of Parliament, and Big Ben (clock tower). One of the three bridges in this photo is also London Bridge, but it's so nondescript, I'm not sure which one it is. I am sure some of you out there know and will rightfully shame me for my ignorance :-)

London Eye, Houses of Parliament, Big Ben

The nonstop flight from London to LAX was fairly stressful, and not just because I was traveling home to see my very ill mother. It started out terrific - on a very full flight, I had the aisle seat in a 3-seat row that was otherwise empty. Yahoo!! After the pilot turned off the fasten seatbelt sign, I moved my happy little tush into the middle seat and spread out. About 10 minutes later a flight attendant asked if anyone was sitting in the other seats, as there was a claustrophobic passenger who dearly wanted an aisle seat. I told her as long as he let me out whenever needed (I like to drink a lot of water on long-haul flights), I would move to the window. Shortly thereafter a man moved all of his carry-ons to my original seat and then disappeared for about 20 minutes. When he returned, he reeked of cigarette smoke and was trailed by a very angry flight attendant who informed him that he had broken a federal law and would be arrested as soon as we touched down in LA. He feigned ignorance (his english was not very good) and apologized profusely enough that the head steward came over and said that they would give him one pass, but if he did ANYTHING else, he would be arrested ASAP. Whew! For about ten minutes there I thought I may get to sit next to a man zip-tied to his chair for the next 11 hours! 

My awesome sister, Toni, picked me up and dropped me off at LAX. Of course, both flights required us to be on the 405 at the peak of traffic. Toni had the great idea to drive side-streets there and back again. It was so much fun seeing a ton of LA landmarks along the way! I got a few fun photos of the one and only Randy's Donut shop donut! 

Sunset on Randy's Donuts

Randy's Donuts' donut

My flight home included a medical emergency about four rows behind me. Complete with flight attendants running up and down the aisles, the pilot requesting for any medical personnel onboard to make themselves known, multiple tanks of oxygen, and an ambulance waiting for him upon landing. 

I am very thankful that I was not the medical emergency, and for now on may avoid the direct London <- -=""> LAX flights!