Day 1: Travel Day

All were up bright and early today, after a nights sleep at The Premier Inn at Heathrow.
Very unusual for us was a leisurely transfer to the airport.  Drove to Terminal 3 where we were met by a chap from Purple Parking ready to take my car off my hands.

After fighting the 5 large travel bags over the road to the checking desk, we soon had our boarding cards in our hands.

Off up the stairs to the private security channel that Virgin Upper customers can use.  Through all the take belt off, remove lap-top from bag and walk though scanner in under 2 mins!  Having decided that we were not a threat to national security, we wandered through to the Virgin Clubhouse to have breakfast. 

Food and drinks ordered then it was off to the shops and duty free.

All purchases completed and back to the Clubhouse.

Meg relaxing in the clubhouse.

Chilled for a hour till just before 11:45 then a stroll to the boarding gate.

Quickly onto the plane (Cosmic Girl - 747-400) and stowed hand luggage and settled down to a glass of champagne for me and Orange juice for the girls. 

Getting ready for their seats.

Then the announcement, two engines needed to be checked after new parts fitted.  This would take 10 mins.  30 minutes later another announcement that the internal communication system needed a new part too.  Finally 2.5 hours later we were in the air and on our way to San Francisco.
Food was fine and then made my bed and tried to get a few hours shut-eye. 

Meg going to sleep.

No joy as a wee brat was misbehaving and parents not checking him.

Anyway, fast forward 10.5 hours and land safely in SFO.  Through immigration, with nearly nearly the full cavity body search and on to collect bags.

Grabbed a few trolleys then headed off to the car rental via the AirTrain.  Car collected, bag stowed in the back and set Sat Nav for Monterey.

The drive down took nearly 1:30 hrs.  Traffic not too busy, but sun down for the last few miles.
The hotel, Monterey Plaza and Spa, was located and car disposed with the valet and checked in.

Get to our room and room serviced ordered.  The time was now 9:45 local time, so we had been up for over 24 hrs.  Bodies crashed and sleep state entered by all.