Round The World and other travels

A frequent flyer's collection of trip diaries

Planes, Trains & Automobiles - The Sequel

Homeward bound on St Andrew's Day

Having celebrated Thanksgiving Day just two days previously, I felt I should give at least a nod of recognition to probably the strongest candidate for Scotland's national day. It was a foggy morning in San Francisco, but the unwelcome grey blanket was already starting to burn off as we each went through our morning routines. For the second time in the trip, we had a simple but adequate breakfast at a nearby McDonalds. By 10am the packing was done and we were ready to go, feeling incredulous that the trip was already all but over. Having just missed a BART train to SFO, we took the next one to Balboa Park and did the remaining part of the waiting there, in less claustrophobic conditions.

On arrival at the airport, we found our way to Terminal 2, now transformed into American's new domestic base. The obvious next port of call was the Admiral's Club, where I enjoyed a large and nicely made spicy tomato juice. We saw our aircraft arriving at the gate and thinking that I would grab a quick photo, I made the discovery that my camera battery was still attached to the charger. It was no great disaster: in order to keep things simple, we had only checked our bags to Los Angeles, so I would be able to retrieve it there. Fortunately, our plane was turned around quickly and significant delays were avoided.

(Link to flight log in side panel)

ABOVE: American Airlines terminal and Admiral's Club at LAX

I picked up my checked bag at LAX and, finding a reasonably quiet spot to open it, transferred my fully charged battery to its rightful place inside my camera. It was good to be fully functioning again! We took the escalator up to Departures level, checked our bags back in and had an easy passage through Security.

Very quickly we were installed in the excellent Flagship Lounge, which in Bruce's opinion was the best in the network and was certainly streets ahead of the Admiral's Club that I had so recently experienced at Heathrow Terminal 3. With the aid of a code given at check-in, we passed through the unmarked "secret door" to the First Class section. I had a soup-and-sandwich lunch and then just relaxed and read for a while. Time passed relatively quickly.

(Link to flight log in side panel)