Sleeping in Terminal 5, not in a Tom Hanks way, is a very good experience. We arrived late because our flight from Tenerife was delayed, so it was a delight to be able to push our baggage cart right into our room with no messing.
We swerve breakfast, not just because £30 per person seems a bit stiff, so we enjoy a room-picnic before checking out, reversing our baggage trolly manoeuvre right back to the Elizabeth line, transit to Terminal 3 and then onto Virgin checkin.
With no queue, we are soon whisked up in the private lift to their dedicated security section. Again no queue and we are straight through to duty free bedecked with Christmas tress, we buy nothing and head upstairs to the Virgin Clubhouse.
The lounge is gorgeous, complete with roaring fires and friendly hostesses. There’s a full blown restaurant but we really don’t need a massive breakfast, opting instead for delights from the delicatessen counter – gravadlax, salmon and trout. We didn’t need the “scan for champagne” option as the lovely Polly is even more efficient than a QR code.
Service on Virgin is lovely, we generally prefer the line for Western travel (and Eitihad for Eastern) and as ever it doesn’t disappoint. Virgin has a great couples-moment which allows for dining together, we love this opportunity to share a table.
Meanwhile we fly over Yorkshire, then Liverpool towards Belfast (Titanic alert) and thence toward Iceland, Greenland and Canada. The views are wonderful as we follow the Great Circle toward Calif, USA.
Ten hours is a long time, especially when the entertainment is underwhelming, but somehow it’s OK and we’re looking forward to arriving in California, where we’ve not been for almost a decade – last time here was Christmas 2015 pre cruise.
Afternoon tea is equally lovely, plain and fruit scones with lemon curd, morello cherry jam and clotted cream. Shame there’s no Earl Grey but nothing is perfect these days!
We enjoy the amazing views over Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and tiny corner of Arizona in particular the Las Vegas strip in the distance – one can see from Luxor to Wynn with New York, Belaggio Caesars and Venetian in between, before we begin our decent into the City of Angels.
It takes us 74 minutes to queue for immigration, with literally thousands of visitors trying to get in, the citizens queue was almost as long too. Happily the officer was lovely and not at all how US Immigration officials used to be. Then it’s a taxi across town, as we’re staying in Long Beach which is near the cruise terminal.
In fact we’re just down the street from Queen Mary, where we’ve stayed before, and we did joke about checking in there but really don’t need to. Anyway our hotel is very convenient, although a bit old fashioned, it’s situated under a bridge right on the Los Angeles River with a lovely coastal walk.
We walk back over the bridge into Long Beach and head to the marina area where all the restaurants are in a line, well it’s a circle actually, and choose Chinese for dinner, which isn’t particularly good but we’re tired and not expecting much. A lovely walk back to our very colourful hotel and it’s time for an early night.
