Well after a long planning period and constant communication with the LAX Swissport Station Manager Robert Bedrick and Marie Stephany-Akbas, Swissport Account Manager Star Alliance Lounge, I have been able to prepare all 18 images for transport.  The complete load to transport were eight large (ca.180 x 130cm) heavy boxes of about 30Kg each.  The boxes were packed as good as possible and then the night before the flight of LX40 on the 22rd of May we did a precheck-in of all 18 images.   As you can imagine just getting the images to the airport required a large truck and very patient Swiss ground personal.  After the initial shock of seeing these large boxes we finally solved the problem of how to get the large boxes through check-in to the holding area for the next day.  The Swissport ground staff was completely helpful (as usual) and the process went quite well.  I then asked one of the ground staff to please keep a watchful eye on the boxes until the loading on the next day.  I left Zurich Airport with a good positive feeling that at least they would be loaded with care (and they were).

The next morning was relaxing and I was very happy that I also had all my personal bags checked-in.  Through the whole flight I could not help to think that I have come this far and I would hate to see the unloading crew at LAX screw this up by mishandling the boxes.  After landing I made my way to the baggage claim as fast as possible and patiently waited for the boxes to emerge from the holding area.  Much to my surprise each box was in great condition for the exception of one the boxes which had a dent in the top, the unloading crew a LAX did a great job and did handle everything with extreme care. 

After collecting the boxes with the help of 2 unsuspecting Skycap’s we slowly labored to get to the Star Alliance Lounge.  After about 90 minutes, almost getting crushed by eight 30Kg boxes more than once, sweating through all of my clothes, AND a $70 tip (which they did not deserve because they left me without completely finishing the job) we finally made it to the Lounge entrance. I felt like I had run a marathon (and I know because I have run 18). 

I was finally beginning to see that I was once again in control of the situation and the last step would be the installation that would take place early in the morning after a good night sleep.  Now I was off to meet my long time friend Mark Marino that drove up from La Jolla, he would help me the next day for the installation.

On Sunday the 24th Mark and I arrived at the airport at 07:30 and met Laylani Sanchez.  She would be our contact for the whole day and would be there for any special questions or requests while we made the installation.  Without getting into details of the installation we were finished by 18:00, a full 10 hours with only a short break. 

After cleaning up and getting together my tripod and laser level I snapped photos of all the images hanging. 

Mark and I then headed to the RV that we rented and headed for Joshua Tree National Park for new photos and “some rest and relaxation”.  The “rest and relaxation” never happened, that story will be in the next blog I do.