V-Flyer

Well after months of planning the day finally arrived for our latest holiday to the West coast of the US

I had an initial meltdown when the taxi did not arrive at my 5.45am requested time! Eventually he phoned saying he had gone to the wrong address some 15 minutes away. Those of you who are familiar with the M25 vs North Circular Road route from the east side of London will know you need to be on these roads well before the rush-hour. So we finally head off at 6.05am and he didn’t take the M25 – big mistake as we hit traffic. Anyway we finally arrived at Heathrow at 7.30am. Pulled up for DTCI and then drove up to be greeted by name. Nice. Then very quickly our luggage was tagged, boarding passes issued and then swiftly through security.

We headed straight for the Lounge which was very quiet. Had a relaxed and enjoyable breakfast. The staff so attentive. My friend went off for a manicure whilst I sat and soaked up the ambiance and people watched. Time went quickly and we then slowly meandered off at the first boarding call. The gate was virtually empty but we still used the priority lane. I was amazed when I was welcomed on board by my name

Our seats on the Airbus 340-600 were 8 & 9A which are fantastic seats. Everything went very smoothly for next 11+ hours, apart from the fact that the IFE kept crashing. Basically we had no entertainment for over half of the journey The FSM personally came to every UC passenger to apologise and told us we would be allocated 8K air miles for the inconvenience. However these, nor miles for the actually flight miles, have hit our FC accounts yet, so email sent to them today.

I will confess to not really enjoying the on board food. The starter of warm chicken satay was very nice but then I opted for the lemon and thyme chicken on a spinach base which was neither appetising nor even hot. I followed this with just cheese & biscuits but apparently the brioche and butter pudding was divine. As I do not drink alcohol, I was constantly asked if I would like another coffee or soft drink. The afternoon tea sandwiches were a tad dry but the presentation very nicely laid out.

The cabin crew were very efficiently and extremely friendly. The FSM was around the UC cabin a great deal and she kept the staff motivated by example. Our flight arrived a bit early. We were allocated a gate promptly which meant we was off plane and into an empty immigration hall really quickly. We had to transfer to T3 for our onwards flight to Phoenix but this was no big deal even with suitcases. LAX airport is undergoing a lot of renovations and the Terminal 3 resembled a building site and was extremely noisy.

We spent six wonderful days in Scottsdale, with glorious sunshine. Our tour to the Grand Canyon was simply wonderful. Our plans are set to return to Arizona next year. We flew back from Phoenix with US Airways (now all AA aircraft) into Monterey. We stayed in Carmel. Our planned trip along the Big Sur was spoilt by the weather with low hanging cloud preventing the wonderful views. We had a great last day at the Pebble beach golf resort after doing the '17mile drive' We then drove up the coast to San Francisco which was absolutely mobbed. Made us realise – we don’t do cities anymore.

Return TR from SFO will follow.

Thanks for the TR, sounds like a great trip.

oldboy

Thank you for the TR, and glad you made it there ok after all the hassle a while back

How did you tour the grand canyon? And any tips on Monterey etc since we will be heading to the West Coast in September

Thank you for your TR. Thank goodness things got better after the initial worry of the taxi.
Glad most of the trip lived up to expectation .

Pleased you had such a great trip - I well remember your traumas around the VS flight being moved and am so glad it worked out for you.

Hev60, we had much the same weather as you! We had a few sunny days in San Francisco at the beginning, and at the tail end of our time in LA, but most of our drive down the PCH was a bit grey and windy. Still, it was beautiful. We stopped off in Carmel on the way! We found a lovely little place to have lunch. Hope you enjoyed your time there I'd really love to see the Grand Canyon properly one of these days and am glad you had such a great time.

Thanks for the wonderful TR!

Thanks for the TR Hev60 Interested in why you thought 8&9A were great on the A346 as I am now reconsidering my current seat selection on our Lax flight in July

Very jealous of your stay in Carmel as it is one of the cutest places on the coast. Your mention of 17 mile drive brought back memories of our trip there a couple of years ago. I am now in love with that coast. Shame about the weather around Big Sur as that is a truly gorgeous part of the world

Thanks for posting

mrsw wrote:Thank you for the TR, and glad you made it there ok after all the hassle a while back

How did you tour the grand canyon? And any tips on Monterey etc since we will be heading to the West Coast in September

mrsw Yes our connection to Phoenix worked well with plenty of time in between the VS flight landing at T2 and the USAirways flight out of T3. I must admit we was really tired by the time we got to our hotel in Scottsdale and getting up at 6am was a struggle!

Our trip to the Grand Canyon was a private tour organised with Pink Adventure Tours out of Scottsdale. The journey there took 4.5hrs but we had a few stops on the way, including one in Sedona We hope to return next year and will do the tour ourselves this time.

Didn't spend a lot of time in Monterey as we stayed in Carmel. I'll PM you, so not to bore our fellow v-flyers talking about California

Hev60 wrote:

mrsw wrote:Thank you for the TR, and glad you made it there ok after all the hassle a while back

How did you tour the grand canyon? And any tips on Monterey etc since we will be heading to the West Coast in September

mrsw Yes our connection to Phoenix worked well with plenty of time in between the VS flight landing at T2 and the USAirways flight out of T3. I must admit we was really tired by the time we got to our hotel in Scottsdale and getting up at 6am was a struggle!

Our trip to the Grand Canyon was a private tour organised with Pink Adventure Tours out of Scottsdale. The journey there took 4.5hrs but we had a few stops on the way, including one in Sedona We hope to return next year and will do the tour ourselves this time.

Didn't spend a lot of time in Monterey as we stayed in Carmel. I'll PM you, so not to bore our fellow v-flyers talking about California

Feel free to bore away

Blacky1 wrote:

Hev60 wrote:

mrsw wrote:Thank you for the TR, and glad you made it there ok after all the hassle a while back

How did you tour the grand canyon? And any tips on Monterey etc since we will be heading to the West Coast in September

mrsw Yes our connection to Phoenix worked well with plenty of time in between the VS flight landing at T2 and the USAirways flight out of T3. I must admit we was really tired by the time we got to our hotel in Scottsdale and getting up at 6am was a struggle!

Our trip to the Grand Canyon was a private tour organised with Pink Adventure Tours out of Scottsdale. The journey there took 4.5hrs but we had a few stops on the way, including one in Sedona We hope to return next year and will do the tour ourselves this time.

Didn't spend a lot of time in Monterey as we stayed in Carmel. I'll PM you, so not to bore our fellow v-flyers talking about California

Feel free to bore away

I'm with Blacky on this one

Okay will do Hev

Another vote for more details about California please.

Thanks for the TR Hev60, so pleased the rescheduled flight time didn't cause problems with the onward flight. I too would have had a meltdown about the taxi and why on earth did the driver take the North Circular - mad idea at any time but at rush hour!

I'd love to see Big Sur, having seen gorgeous photos from family members who did the trip in an RV a couple of years ago.

I share your view about the latest menu offering. I know some on here have enjoyed it but it didn't impress me last week.

Your taxi "adventures" would have given my blood pressure medication a run for its money....

And bore away about California - though it will just make me jealous as MrsPJH says we've "done it" and is not minded to return.

Thanks for your TR.
Totally understand the A406 Vs M25 problem, always hit the A406 pre 6am!

Petmadness wrote:Thanks for the TR Hev60 Interested in why you thought 8&9A were great on the A346 as I am now reconsidering my current seat selection on our Lax flight in July

Very jealous of your stay in Carmel as it is one of the cutest places on the coast. Your mention of 17 mile drive brought back memories of our trip there a couple of years ago. I am now in love with that coast. Shame about the weather around Big Sur as that is a truly gorgeous part of the world

Thanks for posting

Petmadness - On a 340-600, the seats which face the wall are considered to be quite private as you're facing the back of the seat on the other side. We had 8&9A going to LAX and have sat in 5&6K on the other side - These are my favourites.
Personally I like the seclusion & privacy of facing the wall. I never feel closed in and I honestly prefer it to facing the other UC seats. I also prefer the UC 340-600 to the 747 but its all about personal choice. Enjoy your flight.

Hev60 wrote:

Petmadness wrote:Thanks for the TR Hev60 Interested in why you thought 8&9A were great on the A346 as I am now reconsidering my current seat selection on our Lax flight in July

Very jealous of your stay in Carmel as it is one of the cutest places on the coast. Your mention of 17 mile drive brought back memories of our trip there a couple of years ago. I am now in love with that coast. Shame about the weather around Big Sur as that is a truly gorgeous part of the world

Thanks for posting

Petmadness - On a 340-600, the seats which face the wall are considered to be quite private as you're facing the back of the seat on the other side. We had 8&9A going to LAX and have sat in 5&6K on the other side - These are my favourites.
Personally I like the seclusion & privacy of facing the wall. I never feel closed in and I honestly prefer it to facing the other UC seats. I also prefer the UC 340-600 to the 747 but its all about personal choice. Enjoy your flight.

Thanks for the info Hev. Logged in and I had already chosen 8&9A on the way out but have just changed the return seats to 5&6K as privacy is important. Thanks once again

Enjoyed the TR and follow ups, thanks for posting.

I stupidly read the TRs in wrong order so read about your less than ideal return flight first, pleased your flight out was a good one.

Have done the Grand Canyon by road a few times and twice by air from LAS but due to be around Phoenix later in the year so thanks for the pointer on the trip from Scottsdale as I'll probably give that a try on my day off & let someone else do the driving!