After using on line check in we did a couple of hours in Disneyland before driving up to Camarillo to do some shopping at Premium Outlets, we do love a bargain. One of the best were Sony 1GB Memory Sticks for $79 in the Sony shop. Suffice to say I bought more than one.
Our next stop was back to Santa Monica to pick up a few bits from the Apple Store. We took the long route through Hollywood and Beverly Hills and it never ceases to amaze me how different the two areas are.
All too soon it was time to drive to the airport and make our way home.
After dropping the car off we got to the airport and after telling the security chap that we had used on line check in were told to use the UC queue. This was pretty painless and we kept the seats we'd booked.
After waiting in the lounge for about an hour we boarded the plane. Now, I know it was a 340-600 but I don't know the name. It seemed pretty new and there was a nice blue light in the toilet which I've not seen before. Anyway take off was nice and smooth and we were on our way.
The big dissapointment was that it took ages to fire up Vport. After several attemps to reboot the system it eventally worked but this was only after we'd finished dinner (I had BBQ Chicken which was quite nice).
As we were quite tired, we decided to try and get some sleep and to my amazement I managed to get a couple of hours. That's the first time I've got more than an hour on a plane. After waking up I watched various TV comedy and stuff before we were over the north coast of Ireland, then turned south for our final leg before starting our approach to Heathrow.
The flight itself was quite smooth, crew were as attentive as normal and overal it was a pleasent journey. The landing was however a little bouncy but everyone laughed when the first officer thanked everyone for flying with VS and 'Captain Kangaroo' for an interesting landing.
I think we arrived about 40 minutes early and after getting off the plane made the usual trek to immigration. Formalities over we went to the baggage hall, where they seem to be be installing new baggage equipment. Looked a lot different to when we were here early in January.
Anyway got ourselves ready for the wait for the bags and what a nice surprise they came through within 5 minutes. Customs was really busy but we walked through as usual and then it was time to get the bus to the car park and head home.
Overal we had a really good trip. We love doing this in February as it gives us something to look forward to after Christmas/New Year and its not too long to wait for Spring when we get back.
Next flying trip is back to LA in August (in PE) but we have a couple of shorts booked in the meantime so hopefully it won't seem too long.
Miopyk
