The military say that no plan survives contact with the enemy. Well, I plan my holidays like a military campaign …
… and I have met the enemy!
First – the Airline. Virgin Atlantic
Book months in advance. Pay up front. Arrange your seats long before you go.
Try to check your seat. Virgin won’t allow it because all the seats are booked, so you are NOT allowed to look. Not even to check!
Book in on-line, 24 hours before you fly. And discover that you have been allocated different seats. Phone them up.
“You can NOT change your seats 24 hours before flying, sir!”
“But you can’t check them until 24 hours before flying!”
“You’ll have to ask at the airport, sir! Anything else I can help you with, sir?”
“No thank you. You have been most unhelpfull, and you have the most awkward and stupid site I have ever encountered. Good bye”
At the airport, the red-clad Virgin (???) offered to change our seats – for ones that were far worse!
We stayed overnight at the IBIS Hotel, Heathrow. They charge you GBP 7.00 to park. The first you know of this is when you enter the gate to the hotel. The full English breakfast ( GBP 6.99 extra each) was slow, late and consisted of sausages, bacon, beans and scrambled egg (help yourself at the trough). Croissant, fruit, water and sour milk (for the cornflakes) were available. And a toaster that the Japanese guests had to have explained. Revenge for their video players!
The barrier tried to chop our car in half on the way out. IBIS – your hotel was lousy. And the beds were like jail cell matresses. I know …
And our first hero!
Quality Car Parking, Heathrow. Quick, efficient and friendly. Thank you driver – you were GREAT!
The flight was an hour or so late, and 11 hours of Purgatory.
Airline tip #1. If you must break wind (and on a long flight, believe me, you must!), then be sitting next to the couples with small babies. Nobody ever suspects that it is you!
San Francisco is a surprisingly small airport. Somehow, you always expect everything American to be bigger. It isn’t. And this will be a recurring theme on this trip …
Next hero (or as they used to say – heroine)
The nice lady at the SF Car Rental centre. Polite, helpful. Did as she is told – tried to get us to upgrade – but never in a pushy way. She managed to get us a convertible. Hooray! Love convertibles. Thank you.
Additional note. Driving an open topped car across the Mojave Desert, means thay you look like a Panda. Red face, with white eye sockets where the sunglasses blocked the glare. Not the most appealing look. But still, thanks for getting us the convertible.
Mojave Desert. Visited the Calico Ghost Town. Sorry, Calico, but the place looked and felt like it was built last year. The tatty wood look and the widely strewn old scrap iron doesn’t make up for the overpriced gift shops. Not recommended.
Like SF Airport, Mojave, Barstow and Baker looked so much smaller than I imagined.
And then we arrived in Las Vegas. It is spread out a lot wider than any town in England, but I have to say …
… it looks a lot smaller than I imagined.
