darlings
we had Quite intended to go Directly from Palm Springs to our new apartment in Los Angeles (and Greg had so kindly prepped a care package and a blow-up mattress and linens and Everything so we can camp there for a bit.)
there was a setting-off-from-Palm-Springs at a Reasonable Hour and then horribly delayed by a very bad accident (no! not involving us, thank the gods) which held up the Traffic back MILES AND FOR HOURS and we gave a pause and a deep almost sob-like gaze as the cars snaked past the accident scene for we are sure no one survived it – there were six firemen standing seemingly helplessly by the overturned car and if there’s one thing you don’t want firemen to look; it’s helpless.
(respectful pause).
safe to say we took a Long Time getting into Los Angeles and kept remembering things we would need to buy to camp out there at the new apartment (while our stuff is in a Truck heading West for the next 7 – 10 days, depending on whether it goes via Chicago or Texas or SF with flowers in its hair).
and (to share honestly with you as we do like to) we are Not really quite well enough to have Done That Drive (we can be awfully willful tis true) and so there were Tears and angst and – oh gods – there’s no way to say it without seeming like a Total Princess.
we called the Mondrian and we’re here.
*blush*
quick last minute Travel(l)er’s tip.
most (pretty expensive) hotels have a room that is designed (Very Cleverly) for people with disabilities but they can’t rent it out unless they have someone who will properly appreciate it – which is either someone for whom it has been Designed OR someone clever like us who says “have you rented it out and if not, is there a special Rate” (because there always is….)
so here we are – with a cup of tea and a fruit plate (welcome back to L.A, darlings) – and a STUNNING view over the twinkling lights of the city. 
it took us a while to find the television (this being a Starck designed hotel and all) but we Thought the Giant Mirror contained something so we kept looking for a button or a switch and finally made it work.
not that we’re going to Watch it because with a view like this, one might better spend one’s time gazing upon it and feeling grateful and nibbling on a piece of pineapple, sipping tea and generally getting awfully moist around the eyes because we’re home.
gosh.
now. it. begins.
A momentous day :) I remember, deeply, arriving home (NZ) on Sept 4th 1999. Fast forward, Sept 4th 2010, I remember, deeply, standing(why, did I stand?) in the dark of the early morning, in a 7.1 earthquake wondering what on earth I had come home to/for????? These moments are engraved onto our lives.
we need a little more of your story *peeringcuriouslyviatheinterweb*
where were you before NZ 1999? is there a Post that tells us?
and the last earthquake we were in (here – 2001) – not a 7.1 – we cannot compare to the devastation of your beautiful land – merely something just under a 5 – we stood too – because the earth was cracking and we did not want to lay on it but to ride it.
No post yet. Immediately prior to 1999, our home was New York (White Plains).
blimey.
where ALT now lives! http://www.hintmag.com/post/things-we-learned-from-andre-leon-talleys-giant-interview-in-vanity-fair–august-07-2013-1503
Well, I never!!! Blow me down….and all that. And definitely blimey with a cor.
Wise move, and very useful travel tip, thank you!
I love that you gave yourself such a stunning Welcome Home present.
Well-deserved.
bisous,
H.
PS. for my fellow tg-ites, yes, having worked in luxury hotels while putting myself through school I can confirm that she is absolutely correct and they are often by necessity the most spacious rooms in their category…truly an insiders request.
We do feel Most Clever in such a delicious room.
So exciting.
Starck.
Délicieux.
Vraiment! *smiling*