Flying to Las Vegas

We got up early in Santa Barbara because we had tickets to fly to Vegas today. I was thinking there was going to be traffic going over from the Ventura freeway over the mountain on the San Diego Freeway (405) but nothing. Especially in the diamond lane because there were two of us we flew through all the way to LAX (Los Angeles International Airport). I have never been to any of the New York City Airports but in the U.S. the two biggest I have ever been to are Los Angeles and Chicago Airports. So, getting into LAX once we got off the freeway was a complete traffic jam. We realized after driving through the traffic twice in a circle (because I'm no longer fluent in L.A. Airport locations of airlines and parking we finally decided to pay 30 dollars a day rather than take another hour to go to long term parking and then get stuck in traffic another hour and maybe miss our flight because of the traffic right at the airport. So, though 30 dollars a day for short term parking is a lot it is better than missing your flight. So, if you can manage not bringing your car to the airport (after what we saw today) that might be good if you are flying out of Los Angeles anywhere. (especially if you don't want to miss your flight).

This was one of the few flights where we ascended into the clouds and then stayed in the clouds most of the way to Las Vegas until we got almost into Nevada it started opening up enough to see the ground again. Usually, I find you are either above the clouds or below them and though radar is supposed to be okay to fly by for commercial airliners I like VFR rules best where you can actually SEE other aircraft approaching you from any angle because I used to pilot small planes myself in the past. There is also IFR which is what we were doing today which is IFR(Instrument flight rules). VFR (Visual Flight Rules) is only for daylight hours when it is clear enough to see wherever you are going and you are not allowed to fly through clouds (the center of them so you are invisible to other planes visually) without going IFR and under the control then of Air Traffic Controllers on radar wherever you are going.

When we landed it was overcast in Las Vegas which is nice because the temperature did go above 80 degrees so far today which is nice. So, we rented a convertible to enjoy the warm desert weather while we are here. Here are the temperatures this week with clouds and storms going nearby

Sunday

78.0°/49.0°

Mostly Clear

Monday

77.0°/53.0°

Partly Cloudy

Tuesday

68.0°/49.0°

Mostly Cloudy

Wednesday

78.0°/53.0°

Partly Cloudy

Thursday

83.0°/59.0°

Partly Cloudy