Wonder on the West Coast: Day 15 - LA to London and Summary

[Stewboy]

Index

Monday 4th November 2019

It’s the final day of our holiday; no final few hours to be spent in the parks or doing something fun - unfortunately this day is all about travelling home…

So if you’re still reading and want to know how the day went, here we go!

We woke up at 8am and as there was tea and coffee in the room we made the most of those and relaxed in bed for a bit.

Jo checked in to the flight online, I apparently wrote up my notes from yesterday, but if you’ve read yesterday’s day you’ll know I obviously didn’t do a very good job!

Once those tasks were done and we were out of tea and coffee we got showered, woke Isabella and repacked.

We decided we may as well check out of the hotel now before going to IHOP for breakfast.

The hotel had been basic, but super convenient - worth staying in if you’re only doing a couple of days but for a longer stay like we had at the beginning of the trip the Homewood Suites was the better choice - and not as expensive.

There was an IHOP literally next door - we knew it would be busy and expensive but for convenience sake we went anyway. Fortunately we were able to get a seat quickly and ordered the usual combinations of breakfast pancakes and sausages, eggs etc.

Isabella decided to go for the Junior Churro Pancake Combo - she does love a churro!










IHOP - not great

The food didn’t turn out to be very nice which was a disappointment - I think the only reason it’s so busy is due to its location directly across the street from Disneyland!

We had to drop the car off by 1pm so we finished up our breakfast, headed back to the car (which we’d already loaded up) and set off.

We bade a fond farewell to Disneyland and Anaheim and made the short, uneventful drive to LAX. The drive took about 30 minutes to the Avis rental lot and once the car was dropped off, we loaded our bags onto the waiting shuttle and then we were off again.

From the Avis lot to the airport is about a two minute drive, but due to the traffic it took considerably longer than that - fortunately we had plenty of time so we weren’t worried. If you’re ever travelling to/from LAX it’s definitely worth taking into account the amount of traffic!

Once we arrived at the airport we headed into the terminal building to check in. It was fairly quiet inside and checking in was straightforward - as Jo had done it in advance we were really just doing bag drop but these self service machines aren’t ever as hassle free as they should be!




Remembering when we were the Three Caballeros

After bag drop going through security was also quick and straightforward - so far so good.

Our Air New Zealand flight home was due at 4:15pm and the time was currently 1:20pm so we had a few hours to kill in the airport.

After a little wander round we decided to head up to PF Changs to get some lunch and have a sit down - who knew when we’d get the chance to sit down again….

Jo had a Strawberry Margarita, I had a beer, and Isabella had some milk. The food we ordered (which I haven’t made a note of!) was really nice and it was a really nice place to eat away from the hustle and bustle of the main airport.


Scary eyes


Strawberry Margarita






Delicious lunch

After a lovely lunch we browsed the shops for a bit, bought some water, and then before we knew it was time for us to head to our gate.

We were onboard the plane quickly and it wasn't long until we were on our way. We had paid extra for SkyCouch seats - essentially the same as normal economy seats, but extra seating area can be folded out so that the footwell area is flush with the rest of the seating, making a ‘couch’. You also get extra bedding, and Isabella did later get some better quality sleep than she usually would as she could lay flat.

The flight home was uneventful; we watched some TV, we ate some food, we had some drinks - unfortunately I neglected to make a note of any of what those things are, but I'm sure you can imagine!

















Both New Zealand Air flights were really good - the food, the entertainment, the planes, the crew - but unfortunately soon after this they cancelled this route, so we won't be able to do it again

We arrived back at Heathrow at about 10:40am and unlike previous years there were no long queues through passport control. It wasn't long before we had collected our luggage, got the shuttle back to the car park, and were making our way home via the M25.

We arrived back home to a chilly house: Isabella was hungry and decided she wanted beans on toast. Despite the fact we were all tired, we stayed awake, Jo even had tutoring that afternoon from 4-7pm!

And that was the end of our trip: everything would be back to normal tomorrow; back to school, back to work.



Summary

Looking back on this trip now over a year later, I think it’s one of our favourite ever holidays. We’ve often thought that breaking up the trip into bits and moving around is too much effort, but it turned out to be a lot of fun.

Disneyland was amazing: being able to experience it for the first time when everything is so new but also so familiar is brilliant. It has a very different feel to Walt Disney World too. I can’t wait to return as there was so much we didn’t get to see our experience - although we tried our best! And being there for Halloween and the Oogie Boogie Bash was a lot of fun.

Our few days in San Diego were brilliant too. Having Kimberly come down and visit was great, and I loved visiting the Karl Strauss Brewery! The city itself is pretty small and we’d love to visit again and maybe spend a few more days experiencing what the city and the surrounding area has to offer.

The cruise was absolutely fantastic. We loved the Disney Wonder - and just like Disneyland/WDW it was so familiar (being the sister ship to the Magic which we’ve been on multiple times) but also so different. Mexico was lovely - the bits that we saw anyway! And we just love Disney Cruise Line and can’t wait to do it again when the world is normal once more!

And finally Dapper Day in Disneyland was the best way to end the holiday - despite the heat!

Jo did an amazing job with the hotels - some of which she booked, cancelled, and rebooked multiple times to get the best deals! Isabella says that Homewood Suites is the best hotel she’s ever stayed in(!) and I must agree that it’s definitely up there (not sure it beats Animal Kingdom Lodge or Cabana Bay though!

So there it is. Another trip report finished. It took a long time to complete - 1 year 1 day since it began - but the circumstances over the last year haven’t lent themselves to writing about fun trips abroad; we’ve also booked and cancelled about 4 holidays since we finished the last one

Anyway, thanks for reading, stay safe, and here’s hoping by this time next year I have another one to write about.


Bye

[Cutiepie]

Thanks for finishing the report. I have really enjoyed reading along. We loved The Wonder (Alaska). We really wants to do the West Coast and had planned for 2021 but nothing booked with the current situation. Can’t wait to get there some day.

[pinktraceb]

Thanks for sharing, I love your trip reports!

[Excited83]

Thanks so much for persevering and finishing this. I love your reports so was really interested to see what you thought of Disneyland. Fingers crossed you get another amazing holiday soon. X

[oribanana]

I love reading your trip reports and especially this one. It is trip I had been planning for our family before the world turned upsidedown! Maybe one day I will be able to book it and I shall take advice from your trip.

Thanks so much for a little slice of Disney Magic when I so need it!

[mrsdjh]

Thanks for the report - a great read as always. We were hoping for a West Coast trip this year but are going to wait a bit longer. In the meantime I’ve picked up a few tips by reading along.

Fingers crossed for a new report from you sometime. Happy New Year to you, Jo and Isabella.

Diane

[Unexpectedpenny]

Thank you for finishing this report, an enjoyable read as always ❤️

[sparkles18]

Thanks for finishing the report, it was great as always

[Pumba75]

Just enjoyed catching up. We had the same experience at that IHOP. Thanks for the time put into this. Hoping there will be more trip reports in the not too distant future!

[princess allie]

I’ve only just caught up with this and I’ve really enjoyed reading it. Thanks for taking the time to share in such detail, makes me even more homesick for Disney.