I heard lot of stories about U.S. customs; mostly scary ones. I think the strictest customs that I ever encountered has to be Australia. I heard U.S. was worst... Hence my work trip to Santa Monica was a mixture of forward looking and lots of apprehension at the same time.
After the booking of flight ticket, I was informed through the confirmation email that application of a certain visa-like, called ESTA, was required. Details such travel dates, address of accommodation etc. was required for the completion of the application. I was also advised by those who had went to the States before to prepare the invitation letter issued by the film market's organiser, and to have all travel details printed out in hard copy.
I had not travel with SQ for a long time, and I was glad to see a tremendous improvement in their service. They used to be really good, but the standard went down the last I was on their flight a couple of years ago. This flight, I see flight attendants helping with luggages more compared to them walking away in the past. There was more smiles too.
The flight took about 18 hours, and I was glad to have a window seat. And I almost forgot about SQ serving Haagen Dazs post meal! Small stuff but it kind of made the flight more bearable, with some thing to look forward to at the end of the meal before nodding off to the dream land.
I was pleasantly surprised upon touching down. We cleared the immigration relatively comfortably. The officer did have some questions, but those were normal questions and most importantly, they were not scary. I kind of find them friendlier compared to the Australia's customs. I guess I was lucky :)
I was in Santa Monica for five nights. While it was not freezing, the night was kind of cold for me. I am useless when it comes to cold weather; hence migrating out of sunny Singapore is never an option that I consider. I got some HEATTECH wear from Uniqlo and I am full of praise for this range. I got a down parka too, and it was so light, packed so small, yet retained heat so well that I am recommending it to everyone!
Since this was a work trip, I did no research. Whatever places that I went to outside of the film market was purely along-the-way-sort, and I took pictures with iPhone. There was a nice promenade that I past by a couple of times en route the industry screening.
And I saw the prettiest terrarium; they were so beautiful with the glass catching the sun rays.
While walking through the promenade, I would see plenty of performances, whether for commercial purpose or self fulfilling, I would see a lot of talented people around, and spectators were always encouraging. I would always walk away thinking it was no wonder L.A. is Hollywood's home ground. You can see so many dreams and the people are so passionate about their dreams.
Organic fruits were cheap in the supermarket. Strawberries were less than USD5, for a box which we could pay up to about SGD20 - 25 in Singapore. Blackberries and raspberries were cheap too, about USD3 per box.
And Apple!
I am not a hard core Apple fan, but I like their products - perhaps not all, but most of them. They represented a change of era with the introduction of iPhone, and they changed the game and life totally. I saw a huge Apple store along the promenade; it was beautiful! There was so much of skylight and the store was packed. Tables after tables of Apple products lined the store, and still there was plenty of room for everyone to move about.
I had not travel with SQ for a long time, and I was glad to see a tremendous improvement in their service. They used to be really good, but the standard went down the last I was on their flight a couple of years ago. This flight, I see flight attendants helping with luggages more compared to them walking away in the past. There was more smiles too.
The flight took about 18 hours, and I was glad to have a window seat. And I almost forgot about SQ serving Haagen Dazs post meal! Small stuff but it kind of made the flight more bearable, with some thing to look forward to at the end of the meal before nodding off to the dream land.
I was pleasantly surprised upon touching down. We cleared the immigration relatively comfortably. The officer did have some questions, but those were normal questions and most importantly, they were not scary. I kind of find them friendlier compared to the Australia's customs. I guess I was lucky :)
I was in Santa Monica for five nights. While it was not freezing, the night was kind of cold for me. I am useless when it comes to cold weather; hence migrating out of sunny Singapore is never an option that I consider. I got some HEATTECH wear from Uniqlo and I am full of praise for this range. I got a down parka too, and it was so light, packed so small, yet retained heat so well that I am recommending it to everyone!
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| Tall palm trees remind me of Santa Monica now... |
We rented a house through Airbnb. It was my first time with Airbnb, but it was a good experience. I had to sieve through the list of accommodations but there were filters to help me with it. But one problem... I did not anticipate the traffic in Los Angeles... On google map, it was about 25 min from the rented accommodation to Santa Monica, but it took almost an hour by car because of the traffic jam. But the house was pleasant, and so was the owner :) She did the nicest thing by turning on the heater when the temperature started to drop without asking. It was nice coming back to a warm house :)
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| Parking lot indication |
And I saw the prettiest terrarium; they were so beautiful with the glass catching the sun rays.
While walking through the promenade, I would see plenty of performances, whether for commercial purpose or self fulfilling, I would see a lot of talented people around, and spectators were always encouraging. I would always walk away thinking it was no wonder L.A. is Hollywood's home ground. You can see so many dreams and the people are so passionate about their dreams.
 |
| This lady led the puppet to perform a most spectacular M.J. dance. |
And Apple!
I am not a hard core Apple fan, but I like their products - perhaps not all, but most of them. They represented a change of era with the introduction of iPhone, and they changed the game and life totally. I saw a huge Apple store along the promenade; it was beautiful! There was so much of skylight and the store was packed. Tables after tables of Apple products lined the store, and still there was plenty of room for everyone to move about.
I saw plenty of young students being coached by Apple staff to use Apple products to do interesting stuff. I saw classes being held for adults too. All happening at the same place, same time. I guess this is luxury that Singapore might not have since space is precious... unless of course, if there is plenty of resources available by the business to facilitate such space and activities.
Of course, I did not miss out the ice cream :)
Clearing customs for the departure flight was also not as scary as I worried. I think giving enough time for the clearance helped plenty. However, for first time traveller like me, I was pretty surprised to realise there would not be an exit customs stamp. The immigration card that was completed and given back to the customs on the arrival was enough for departure.
The trip was good, but the long flight time was a real deterrence. Perhaps to make the flight time more worthwhile, the trick is to visit several states :)
Till Nov 2014, American Film Market!
Of course, I did not miss out the ice cream :)
Clearing customs for the departure flight was also not as scary as I worried. I think giving enough time for the clearance helped plenty. However, for first time traveller like me, I was pretty surprised to realise there would not be an exit customs stamp. The immigration card that was completed and given back to the customs on the arrival was enough for departure.
The trip was good, but the long flight time was a real deterrence. Perhaps to make the flight time more worthwhile, the trick is to visit several states :)
Till Nov 2014, American Film Market!
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