Ian Berridge

Early start with a meet at 6.45 in the foyer for us all, we decided to take the pod to the airport, it’s a little bit novel and exclusive to the Thistle hotel we stayed at, they are egg shaped Pods and it reminded me of something you'd see in a James Bond film, take the elevator up to check in and baggage drop but check in doesn’t open till 8.10 and it’s 7.00 so self-check in it is, until the tech fails and says seek assistance, we do as we are told and are directed to the relevant assistance who sort us out, through security I set the alarm off, makes a change as it’s usually metal mickey aka Janet, Susan had her bag searched (liquids in the carry on) we’d decided a while back to book the airport lounge as a treat, so off we toddle, to be honest it was a bit underwhelming, unlimited all you can eat buffet breakfast inc. continental and cooked options, and hot, cold drinks including non-premium alcoholic drinks, all okay until we move seats and one of the hostesses starts to questions the ladies about our validity to be there, a few words exchanged and tickets produced and is is ok. the Lounge is just a bit pile em high pack em in.
Flight time is 11.10 so we leave the lounge at 10.30, not realising that there is a train ride to get to the departure gate, there is some panic and we have to call the lads who are leisurely strolling around the airport. It’s last call as we get to the gate, Janet actually ran (that’s a first) and we are the last ones to board, We are sat on the plane for twenty minutes and I started to think we had missed our take off spot, maybe due to our lateness, but it’s not our fault there is a fault with the luggage door, this delays us by 1 hr and 50 mins, nice enough flight and we make up a little bit of time, Rhys declares long haul flights the worst thing ever. Passport control is very busy and several people miss connecting flights, takes about an hour to get through, then order an Uber XL for all 6 of us, 2 Ubers later and neither can accommodate with 6 cases, trek downstairs to the taxi rank and get sorted with one taxi for all inclusive of luggage, this guy was more accommodating, onto the hotel and check in time to chill with a beer or two, the Lads show want to explore already so venture out to sample a local bar, Janet and I join them for one, whilst the Taits call it a night, we’ve all been up for 22hrs, early night tonight, so we can explore San Francisco tomorrow.Lue lisää