That's All Folks!!!!!!!
Trip Start
Jul 02, 2009
1
20
Trip End
Jul 26, 2009
Telford, England, United Kingdom
Monday, July 27, 2009
Our final day in USA on 25th July '09 found us waking in San Francisco to yet another fog-shrouded and cold day, but at least it was dry!! Our bags had been packed the previous evening and all we had to do was check out of the Parc55 hotel at 10:00am. The first part of our journey home was using the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transport) train system to San Francisco International Airport. This is similar to the subway but much, much faster, at least 60mph underground!! Eventually it emerged to the surface into glorious sunshine, leaving fog-shrouded San Francisco behind. It was amazing to see the fog still lying over the city; it was as if a white blanket of cotton-wool had been lain over the skyline to completely obliterate everything! There was a very distinctive line where the fog ended and the blue skies started....very eerie!!
Anyway, we arrived at SFO International Airport 11:00am in plenty of time to get bags dropped at the British Airways desks, having already checked-in the previous day on-line; Speaking of which, it cost me $26 to print off 2 sheets of paper in the hotel's business centre that were our boarding cards - what a total rip-off!!! BA desks were due to open at 12:00pm, but as usual only the ghosts were on duty! At 12:15pm a guy casually strolled up and opened up a single desk to an ever increasing queue; magically, another couple of staff appeared as the queue started to get longer! We always seem to get stuck behind the awkward customers, and so it was on this occasion that we were stuck behind a non-British family who were weighed-down with large cases and bags. Inevitably the cases were over-weight and they proceeded to empty cases on the floor to try and get the weight down. I had to ask them to shift their cases out of the way so that we could get to the next desk and as usual, you get the looks of derision that say 'how dare you tell US what to do!!'.........bloody FOREIGNERS!!!
After dropping off cases, we had to pass through the inevitable pantomime that is Security - American Style before we could get into the Departures Lounge! At least there wasn't too much of a queue for once! It's a wonder they let you keep your clothes on!......maybe next year it'll be time to 'Get 'em off!' They have now got these new body-scanners where you enter the cubicle and have to raise your arms above your head so that the operator can take a full body-scan.....just like x-ray specs but on a bigger scale!! Must make sure I take my bra off first next time!! - don't want some gay young blade getting over excited!! I was hoping that the metal work in my ankle would set it off, but just as we were approaching said beast, we were diverted to a lesser normal scanner that failed to alarm.....'Bummer'!! And to add insult to injury, I was frisked by a weedy looking guy, who at least had some humour when I commented it could at least have been some nice-looking dusky maiden giving me the once-over!! Then he had the cheek to say "Have A Nice Day!!"....Arggghhhhhh!!! If you were unlucky enough to have a cast on your arm or leg, you were whisked off to a separate area where you were given a proper going over! I saw one chap who had to remove a removable boot (used for recovering leg fractures) and have it inspected....completely OTT!!!
After passing through 'The Gates of Hell' we were in the departures lounge and looking for something to eat. SFO airport is quite big and very modern, but unfortunately there aren't many shops or eateries to be seen - there isn't even a McDonalds to be seen anywhere!!! So we had to make do with a cheese/turkey and egg sandwiches and a bottle of orange juice!
Whilst Eileen disappeared in the forlorn hope of finding a decent shop, I was left watching the busy landings and take-offs taking place. It was amazing......as one plane was landing, two more were preparing to take off - using THREE runways! You could see two planes running down the runways at the same time to take off! There was yet another runway for the BIG jets...747's etc who waited for the bigger gaps of approaching planes before roaring away into the skies!
4:00pm arrived and it was our turn to head for the skies. The first to board were families with young children.....but it was amazing to see 50 and 60 year old children trying to board the plane before their turn; and even more amazing when the staff were shooing them back out of the way.......some people seem to think that the plane will take off without them unless they get on first!! Must have been GERMANS!!! After we boarded the plane and taken our seats ready for take-off, we noticed a chap in the next aisle to us. He definitely wasn't instilling confidence in the pilots for he was using his rosary beads! I think he was really praying that his wife would disappear! I know I'm not anything like the 'dashing cavalier' where looks are concerned, and have broken a few camera lenses in the past, but this woman would have made Medusa turn to stone....she was ugly!! It wouldn't have been so bad if she hadn't had her hair gelled OTT with it sticking out everywhere; plus the fact she was way over 70 trying to look 20........needless to say it didn't work!! She was also a hypo with tablets for this, tablets for that and tablets for just about everything else.......she even had an x-ray of herself in her case that she showed the woman in the seat next to her!!
Anyway the flight was very good and after our meal, we put the blindfolds on to try and get some sleep and help the jet-lag. I had booked seats with extra leg-room and so were able to stretch out. Managed to get some power-naps in, but as always on planes the noisy environment doesn't allow you to get much sleep!
After 9 1/2hours we finally arrived back in 'Dear Old Blighty' at 11:00am local time, in anticipation of seeing our beds before too long! Terminal 5 at Heathrow is certainly something else! Before even reaching Immigration Control, we had to take a ride on a train and ride numerous escalators...there were dozens of the blighters!! Passing through Immigration Control was a doddle......no queues....HEAVEN!! Then came the dreaded "Baggage Claim"!! It was at least half an hour before we had sight of our cases; but then we were on our way home.......OR SO WE THOUGHT!!!
We were booked on a National Express coach to Birmingham due to leave at approx 3:00pm with a connection to Telford. Eileen's daughter suggested that we try to get an earlier coach, and so we managed to book an earlier one due to leave at 12:35pm.....just 15 mins away! We paid an extra £6 for the privilege, and then had to wait, and wait, and wait until the coach finally arrived at 1:20pm with it having been stuck on the dreaded M25. So we eventually set off almost an hour late with me sitting on cloud 99 moaning like a trooper about us missing the connection in Birmingham!! It became even worse when we arrived in Warwick and the driver announced that he had run out of hours and we would have to wait for a relief driver!....AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!! Blood pressure really through the roof now!! It wasn't so bad when we were told that connecting coaches were being held back in Birmingham until we arrived. Even so, we were later than predicted as we kept getting stuck behind Sunday drivers, and Wednesday drivers taking their test to become Sunday drivers!!
Eventually we made our connection and were well on our way to Telford....or maybe not!! It wasn't long before we hit the M6......you've guessed right!! We hit the traffic jams at the M6/M5 junction, the traffic was just about crawling along; and to cap it all down came the rain!!!!! WELCOME BACK TO BRITAIN!!! We made it to Telford at 5:30pm where Eileen's daughter and the rain were waiting, eventually getting into our castle just before 6:pm..........WE'VE MADE IT!!!
So was it all worth it????
You bet it was!!
It was a fantastic holiday and one we will never forget.
So what were the highlights?
We found the American people very friendly and courteous (even the drivers who waited for you to cross the road - whilst we waited for them to drive by!).
New York - A very busy city with hordes of people everywhere. Main highlights - Walking over the Brooklyn Bridge (twice), the Planetarium at The Museum of Natural History.....fantastic!!
Chicago - Quieter than New York but with fantastic shops (Didn't buy anything!). Main highlight was Millenium Park and the 'Magnificent Mile' shops.
Flagstaff - Gateway to the Grand Canyon. It was very hot here, being over 100F. Main highlights - Train from Williams taking us to/from the Grand Canyon (being robbed at gun-point) and the Canyon itself. Worth every penny of the holiday just to be there, even though it was exceptionally hot!!
San Francisco - Fog-capital of the world!! Every morning you would look out of the hotel window and there it was waiting for you! Main highlights - the cable-cars (fantastic feeling riding the running boards!), and the trams. Walking up and down those STEEP streets; and then there was ALCATRAZ! Such an amazing place to walk around....a prison in every sense of the word!!
What were the lowlights??
The times after dark when we switched out the lights before getting some well-earned sleep!!
Would we do it again??
You bet we would!!!
And so after three weeks the blog must come to an end. It's been fun putting it all together and I hope that those of you who have kept track of our journeys have enjoyed reading it.
Now where did I put those brochures to Siberia???....................................
