Australia to USA

My Delta Plane

Today was a big day. It was the day I flew from Sydney Australia to Los Angeles USA. To make sure I did not arrive at the airport late and miss the flight I came down to Sydney yesterday by train and stayed the night with good friends in ‎Leichhardt. I woke early and went by bus to Central Station where I boarded the train to go to Sydney Kingsford Smith International Airport.

My Delts Plane

I arrived early to check my bags in and get my boarding pass. I was fortunate to be given an exit aisle seat 44h, which would offer more leg room. I went through security with no troubles and browsed the shops inside the terminal. I boarded the plane and found my seat and settled in for the long journey. The plane took some 13 hours to cover the 7,489 miles from one side of the world to the other. The time went quickly, as I watched several movies, slept, and enjoyed the meals served.

The Boeing 777-200LR plane arrived at the Los Angeles International Airport shortly before 7am. We even had to wait briefly in the plane until the airport arrivals staff started work! I was previously warned that it was a long process to get through customs at the Los Angeles Airport. However, I went through quickly with no troubles at all.

Union Station

To travel to my destination that day Las Vegas I needed to travel to Union Station. Several options were available. I could have travelled by taxi, limousine, or private shuttle, or by free coach transfer to a station to take a train. I chose to go by the bus service called FlyAway. This is a 7-day a week service that departs every 30 minutes from the Los Angeles International Airport Terminals with an $8 fee. The advantage of the FlyAway bus service is that it is a non-stop service, so it arrives in downtown Los Angeles at the Union Station quickly travelling along the freeways. This was my first time on US roads, where they drive on the opposite side of the road to what we drive on in Australia. This took quite a bit of getting used to.

Union Station

I arrived at Union Station at 8am, so had plenty of time to explore this historic train station until my Megabus departed at 12.30. It was called Union Station as several different rail companies joined together to build this one common station. Being a Sunday morning, the station was fairly quiet as the normal weekday crowds of office workers were not there.

Freeway overpasses

The Megbus left from the Union Station's Patsaouras Transit. I picked up boarding pass from the ticket stand and noticed that it had the number 1 written on it. I thought that this meant I had 1 bag to place on the bus. However, I found out that all boarding passes had numbers written on them, and people were invited on board in order of these numbers. There were no reserved seats. I chose a front row seat on the top deck of the double decker bus so that I could enjoy the expansive view out the front window. The bus moved quickly

Freeway, desert, snow

along the freeways, passing built up suburbs, snow capped mountains and deserts. I thought I would see lots of highway patrol cars, but I only spotted one police car. There was not much traffic on the freeway to Las Vegas, but being a Sunday afternoon, there was lots of traffic on the other side of the freeway heading back to Los Angeles. At times this was at a standstill and not even moving. It was nice to be a passenger and not drive all the way to Las Vegas.


The Megbus arrived early evening at about 5:30pm at the RTC South Strip Transfer Terminal in Las Vegas Nevada. It was only a short wait to catch the local RTC bus that went down along the Las Vegas Strip to drop people off at the various hotels and resorts. . Rather than buying a single ride ticket, I chose to buy a $8 ticket that could be used as multiple times in the next 24 hours.

My Megabus

I was dropped off outside of my hotel for the next 2 nights, the Stratosphere Casino, Hotel & Tower. After quickly checking in and exploring my room 204 on the 5th floor, I went down and explored the casino sections, and up the lifts to the observation decks at the very top of this 1,149-foot tall Tower. I then ventured out onto the Las Vegas Strip to explore the immediate area. It was then back to my guest room for a restful night sleep after such a long day flying from Australia to the USA.