One of the big surprises has been the train. I haven't actually been in Los Angeles for a decade or so, and I had no idea that they'd constructed a train system which -- unsurprisingly -- is called Metro.
Here's Bao, flaked out on one of the astonishingly comfortable seats.
By the time I'd decided to come and do the seminar and attend BookExpo, all the downtown hotels had been booked out for weeks. However, Pasadena is only a 20-minute drive away from downtown -- and cheaper -- so I decided to stay there. Even so, I was dreading that drive. The Los Angeles freeways are fast and unforgiving.
That's when I discovered the train. It's fast, it's cheap, and it's reliable. It's also bright, clean and pleasant. So that part has been a snap.
BookExpo was overwhelming. Stall after stall after stall in a Convention Center that's physically larger than the entire suburb of Queens Park, which is where I lived in Australia. Hundreds of publishers, millions of books. I met my new agent, Jamie Brenner, and we had coffee.
Nobody noticed me, but everyone noticed Bao in his stroller. If Bao wrote a book, he'd probably end up on Oprah.