Wandering around the West Coast - Day 17 – Our final day in San Francisco and flying home

[jocat]

Index is here.

Day 17 - Thursday 10th August 2017

We woke at 8:15 am and contacted Reception to see if we could extend our check out time. The hotel was full but they gave us an extra hour so that we could check out at 1pm.

We got ready and went out to Eight am for breakfast. Martin ordered a Diamond Heights, which was a Black Forest ham and cheese frittata - this was served with breakfast potatoes and a bowl of fruit. I ordered a fruit bowl with a side of wheat toast. I'd seen the small fruit bowls and thought that's what I was getting. No, it was huge!

I hardly touched the toast and still left the bottom layer of the fruit bowl. The orange juice here was freshly squeezed, so very refreshing. We left stuffed and headed back to the hotel to pack.

It took us a little while, but we had an extra hour, so once the main packing was complete we had showers/baths, before dumping the toiletries. The final weigh in took place and our bags were still overweight! A bit of reshuffling occurred, but it was minor really. The removal of some shoes to go in the hand luggage, along with some souvenirs, soon sorted things. We checked out, asked the Bellman to store our bags, then set off for a wander.

I obvious hadn't bought enough tat for gifts, so headed back towards Pier 39 to go to a particular shop I'd seen. I ended up buying nothing from it and bought the last minute gifts back at a shop near the hotel.

We had a look around Hyde St Pier, which was opposite our hotel, then sat on a bench in the park and people watched. It was turning out to be a lovely afternoon with lots of blue sky. It was still a little foggy/cloudy out towards the bridge though. Feeling a little thirsty, we went to the Buena Vista bar near our hotel for a drink. Martin had their Buena Vista Pilsner and I had a Diet Coke.

All too soon it was time to go to the airport. We walked back to the hotel, collected our bags, then got an Uber at a cost of $31.63. We arrived at the airport just before 4:30 pm.

Bag drop was very quick and easy as there were only 4 people in front of us. We had completed this within 5 minutes of arriving outside. Both cases were bang on 23kg - brilliant packing!

We had a bit of a wander to see if it was worth staying out in the main terminal for something to eat or go through security, as there didn't seem too much near the gates on the airport map. Well there wasn't much before security either, so we went through and headed towards gate A9. Right near our gate was a Gott's Roadside - that would do. We both ordered our last American burgers, along with some water. They were actually very good!

I then went into the shop nearby to pick up some mints, and also got a fruit cup and a muffin for the plane for me (fussy eater remember. ) I was hoping to sleep for most of the journey, but if I woke, these would make a great breakfast or snack! I took my Stugeron at this point too.

Boarding was completed by 7:20 ish and we were expected to take off just 15 minutes late. We were sat on the upper deck in the very back row. I'd been a bit worried as the last time we'd flown BA, it was a really cramped and uncomfortable journey to Toronto, but this seemed so much better. Perhaps an airbus is a much bigger plane - can you tell I know nothing about planes? I also loved the side lockers for me to stuff all my bits for the journey in. This helped it feel more spacious too, as there was nothing on the floor by my feet (well apart from the entertainment box.) With nobody behind us, we could even recline without affecting anyone else.

We pushed back from the gate at around 7:35 pm, and took off 20 minutes later.

The drinks service commenced soon afterwards, but it became obvious that they didn't intend coming round very often. I asked for an orange juice and they asked if I'd like wine with my supper. They then gave us 2 bottles each.

Dinner was served at about 9:20 pm, with a choice of chicken curry or cheesy tomato pasta. Both were served with a side salad, bread roll and creamy cinnamon cheesecake. As per usual, I ate everything apart from the hot meal. About half an hour later, another drinks service came round. Everything was collected in by 10:30 pm and I tried to get some sleep.

I managed to get off to sleep relatively quickly, although woke a lot as I'd invariably moved and my blanket covering me had also moved - I feel the cold much more on overnight flights. I switched on the flight map and was pleasantly surprised to find out we only had just over 2 hours until we reached London, so I'd actually managed to have the best part of 5 hours sleep, despite feeling that I’d been very restless. Martin had managed about 3 hours. Both of these times are records for us.

I tried to doze a bit more, but with a little bit more noise in the galley while they prepared breakfast, coupled with my travel sickness medication probably wearing off as it only lasts 8 hours, it wasn't to be. Instead I watched a couple of episodes of The Big Bang Theory.

With an hour to go, breakfast was brought round. This was a choice of either a traditional English breakfast of bacon, sausage, scrambled egg, mushrooms and tomato, or a cheesy omelette. This was served with a small blueberry muffin and a carton of orange juice. I just had the cold part of the breakfast again - the hot food always seems to make me feel queasy.

We circled around London for a little while, but as it was a fairly clear day, I could spot a few familiar sights.

We landed at 1:40 pm and were off the plane, transferred via the tube to arrivals, through immigration and in the baggage hall by 2:20 pm. Five minutes later we'd got our bags and were on our way out. I had a bit of a stop in the little duty free shop just after the 'nothing to declare' aisle. Our son Adam had asked us to look out for a particular aftershave for him, but it was no cheaper than home in Duty Free at San Francisco. However, it was almost £20 cheaper in the arrivals shop. There was a bit of a faff over which one was on offer, but after 5 minutes or so we were on our way out towards the bus stops to the car park - just in time to see the bus pull away. Never mind, only 10 minutes wait until the next one. Just before 3 pm we were on the road back to the Midlands. Friday afternoon traffic was a little busy though, and we had a stop near Bicester for a drink and some fresh air - I was in serious danger of falling asleep, so thought a bit of a walk would wake me up. It did!

We hit more traffic near Warwick, so didn't actually make it home until almost 6pm. I'll confess to dozing for just a few minutes - thankfully I wasn't the one driving. At least it should be manageable now to try to stay awake until at least 9pm. I ended up managing to stay awake until midnight and slept for 8 hours solid!

And that's it, another holiday is over. It’s taken a while to sort out all of the photos - I took a lot!

I've got a couple of trips in the pipeline to keep me busy until next summer’s flights are fully released and I can begin planning next year's holiday. Martin and I are off to Verona for a long weekend at the end of September for our wedding anniversary, and then I'm actually flying back to the West Coast at the end of October for a 4 night stay in Vegas to celebrate the big birthdays of two of my friends. There's eight of us going in total, staying at the Wynn Encore. Time to get reading some Vegas trippies I think. I've got to avoid my normal level of planning for Vegas though, as my friends might realise just how much of a control freak I am!

[Disney Wishing]

Great trip report. I've enjoyed reading along.

[Melbatb]

Thanks Jo - I have thoroughly enjoyed reading about your trip! Looking forward to hearing more about your future plans!

[Lovesholidays]

Brilliant reports, thanks so much for sharing them with us. Have fun planning your next trips

[tocpe321]

My youngest DS and I flew there and back in the same seats. DW and other DS were in front. Good that you got a few hours sleep.

Thanks for posting your great trip report, Jo. I've enjoyed reading it.

Happy planning for your next trips.

[jocat]

Originally Posted by Disney Wishing

Great trip report. I've enjoyed reading along.

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Thanks for reading and commenting. Your trip report from last year was a huge help to us when planning this trip.

Originally Posted by Melbatb

Thanks Jo - I have thoroughly enjoyed reading about your trip! Looking forward to hearing more about your future plans!

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Thanks Mel. I need to go off and read your latest trippie now. Have tried to avoid trip reports until I'd got mine finished but can now start again in earnest.

Originally Posted by Lovesholidays

Brilliant reports, thanks so much for sharing them with us. Have fun planning your next trips

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Thank you. Glad you enjoyed it.

Originally Posted by tocpe321

My youngest DS and I flew there and back in the same seats. DW and other DS were in front. Good that you got a few hours sleep.

Thanks for posting your great trip report, Jo. I've enjoyed reading it.

Happy planning for your next trips.

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Thank you - glad you enjoyed it. Did you not fancy doing a trippie?

[tocpe321]

Originally Posted by jocat

Thank you - glad you enjoyed it. Did you not fancy doing a trippie?

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I did a mini trip report, just an overview. I posted it, but then took it down. I didn't think it stood up very well compared to the full Trip reports done by yourself and others.

[jocat]

Originally Posted by tocpe321

I did a mini trip report, just an overview. I posted it, but then took it down. I didn't think it stood up very well compared to the full Trip reports done by yourself and others.

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Oh you should put it back up - I'm sure you're being too hard on yourself. I took something valuable from every trip report I read when planning this trip, no matter whether they were full reports or not. Your posts are always so helpful so I'm sure people would definitely find your mini trip report informative.

I know there are some excellent trippie writers out there, which can be daunting when you're writing one for the first time. Some people have such a talent for writing in an entertaining way, and I'm definitely not one of them. You just have to write them for yourself ultimately, and it's an added bonus if someone else likes it and finds it useful in some way. They are lovely to look back on and reread though, as you forget so much of the small details of a holiday very quickly.

[Pussycat Doll]

Really enjoyed your trippie, I'll be doing a live Vegas trippie in just 14 days time! Shame we're not there at the same time!

[tocpe321]

Originally Posted by jocat

Oh you should put it back up - I'm sure you're being too hard on yourself. I took something valuable from every trip report I read when planning this trip, no matter whether they were full reports or not. Your posts are always so helpful so I'm sure people would definitely find your mini trip report informative.

I know there are some excellent trippie writers out there, which can be daunting when you're writing one for the first time. Some people have such a talent for writing in an entertaining way, and I'm definitely not one of them. You just have to write them for yourself ultimately, and it's an added bonus if someone else likes it and finds it useful in some way. They are lovely to look back on and reread though, as you forget so much of the small details of a holiday very quickly.

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Thanks for the encouragement, Jo.

I'll take another look at it.