Thanks for all the insight into what it entails travelling ex-EU. A truly enjoyable read. 
I'm loving this live TR too! Great idea and look forward to the next instalment
Come in, Ryan ! Where are you ? We need to know you arrived safely despite the headwind !!!!
Yes, but it will be 4am in California...
Concorde RIP - the most amazing machine to grace our skies
Hi All,
At the hotel and now have wifi, I can post the latest updates. Apologies for making you wait so long!
Overall flight - It was a decent flight overall, managed a good few hours kip after a few drinks at the bar and some excellent conversation with a documentary film maker about a congo dance troupe (It won the CurryStone Design Award: http://currystonedesignprize.com/).
The food was good, I went for the Lentil Soup, Chicken with Gnochi and Salted Caramel Sponge. I skipped the cheese and watched Godzilla but in fairness, its a pretty dark movie and most of the A zone decided to keep their blinds open throughout the flight so it was a bit difficult to see.
We landed at 4:10 into a perfectly clear SFO. On the big loop into to the airport, we flew right over the Golden Gate Bridge. It's on the reasons I always sit at 18A, the A side gets a beautiful view of the City and Bridge so lots of pics are always taken.
We did a standard taxi to the A side of the International Terminal and I saw all the usually VS staff waiting in the bridges as we finally parked. L1 was first to the plane which was great for me to zip off.
I think I'm pretty fortunate in that I managed to get GlobalEntry a year back and even though we went into a empty immigration hall, I still went to use the machines so I sailed through. If you are the back of the plane, it was going to be a long one with only 4 desks to process everyone.
After a restroom break, we only waited 5 minutes or so for the bags to start arriving. Luckily the CTA Transfer bags started arriving almost immediately. This made a change from last time when I think they must have been the last bin to be unloaded. It meant a short wait for my bags to arrive before heading out to the rental car centre.
In SFO, the rental car centre is only accessible by the AirTrain. Top tip for all SFO newbies, when you arrive out of the customs hall, instead of turning left to the AirTrain A station,(there are two sides to the International Terminal A & G) which is the closest one, take a right and head to the AirTrain G station. It means you walk the short length of the terminal but, you only have 3 stops to the rental car rather than run the entire loop of all the other terminals for you just to stop at the AirTrain G station!!
So after leaving the plane at 4:15, I was at the rental car centre pretty quick and was in my car getting on to 380/280 to Palo Alto exactly a hour after landing. I did make a slight mistake in booking my rental car pick up time at 1pm instead of 4pm so there was a slight confusion at Hertz but it was sorted and I was on my way to my hotel for a few nights in bright blue skys with no clouds!
Thanks to everyone for the comments and hope you enjoyed the updates. Hope it might inspire some of you to give ex-EU a try!
At the hotel and now have wifi, I can post the latest updates. Apologies for making you wait so long!
Overall flight - It was a decent flight overall, managed a good few hours kip after a few drinks at the bar and some excellent conversation with a documentary film maker about a congo dance troupe (It won the CurryStone Design Award: http://currystonedesignprize.com/).
The food was good, I went for the Lentil Soup, Chicken with Gnochi and Salted Caramel Sponge. I skipped the cheese and watched Godzilla but in fairness, its a pretty dark movie and most of the A zone decided to keep their blinds open throughout the flight so it was a bit difficult to see.
We landed at 4:10 into a perfectly clear SFO. On the big loop into to the airport, we flew right over the Golden Gate Bridge. It's on the reasons I always sit at 18A, the A side gets a beautiful view of the City and Bridge so lots of pics are always taken.
We did a standard taxi to the A side of the International Terminal and I saw all the usually VS staff waiting in the bridges as we finally parked. L1 was first to the plane which was great for me to zip off.
I think I'm pretty fortunate in that I managed to get GlobalEntry a year back and even though we went into a empty immigration hall, I still went to use the machines so I sailed through. If you are the back of the plane, it was going to be a long one with only 4 desks to process everyone.
After a restroom break, we only waited 5 minutes or so for the bags to start arriving. Luckily the CTA Transfer bags started arriving almost immediately. This made a change from last time when I think they must have been the last bin to be unloaded. It meant a short wait for my bags to arrive before heading out to the rental car centre.
In SFO, the rental car centre is only accessible by the AirTrain. Top tip for all SFO newbies, when you arrive out of the customs hall, instead of turning left to the AirTrain A station,(there are two sides to the International Terminal A & G) which is the closest one, take a right and head to the AirTrain G station. It means you walk the short length of the terminal but, you only have 3 stops to the rental car rather than run the entire loop of all the other terminals for you just to stop at the AirTrain G station!!
So after leaving the plane at 4:15, I was at the rental car centre pretty quick and was in my car getting on to 380/280 to Palo Alto exactly a hour after landing. I did make a slight mistake in booking my rental car pick up time at 1pm instead of 4pm so there was a slight confusion at Hertz but it was sorted and I was on my way to my hotel for a few nights in bright blue skys with no clouds!
Thanks to everyone for the comments and hope you enjoyed the updates. Hope it might inspire some of you to give ex-EU a try!
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