Some last-minute activities in San Francisco to London doing a few things around our end of the Fisherman's Wharf area. The girls visited The Waxworks Museum, Ripley's "Believe it or Not" and The Haunted Dungeon whilst Di and I browsed in the shops and sat and drank coffee opposite in the sunshine.
We also all went to Pier 39 together to browse in the shops and see the sea lions for the last time before having a last meal in Johnny Rockets which all the family enjoy. A sunny but cool day to leave San Francisco but I prefer the weather like that
I find the journey east across the Atlantic to be such a mixture of lost and blurred time that I must note the passing of two days with a single entry in this journal. The day started late after a disturbed night. Youths across the hotel courtyard were whooping and cheering at the teasing display of some girls on the balcony next-door-but-one to us around midnight. They were waving their pants/briefs around having presumably taken them off and done a "moon" to attract attention. This is a tiresome North American practice of pulling trousers and pants down/ dresses up and displaying bums against a window as a joke. It was no joke to me the day before departure and I shouted at them to be quiet and, after a fashion, they became so.
** "Read More" BELOW for the complete story**
I was equally upset at the loss of sleep and jealous at such displays and behaviour that excluded me joining in! We also had a few dozen school-children in the hotel running up and down the corridor until late and found out, the next morning, that all of the nearby room number plates had been swapped over. Although our flight to London was not due to leave until 6.30pm, it is always difficult to do much when worried about checking out of the hotel, catching the shuttle bus, checking in at the airport, boarding etc.; but we did a few things around our end of the Fisherman's Wharf area. The girls visited The Waxworks Museum, Ripley's "Believe it or Not" and The Haunted Dungeon whilst Di and I browsed in the shops and sat and drank coffee opposite in the sunshine. A sunny but cool day to leave San Francisco but I prefer the weather like that. We also all went to Pier 39 together to browse in the shops and see the sea lions for the last time before having a last meal in Johnny Rocketts which all the family enjoy.
The routine to the airport and plan went quite well but with lots of waiting around. At least we hung back from boarding and lessened our time on the plane by taking seats in a less-crowded area of the terminal and ignoring the boarding instructions so that we boarded just before the Club and First Class passengers. The flight was only half full and so, by quick reaction, we managed to get all four of us a line of seats to use as a bed for stretching out during the flight. British Airways showed three feature films including "Chaplin" and "Bodyguard" and, although I had already seen them in England, I enjoyed them both. Pity they were both so sad, particularly the first. I read and wrote a little on the flight and also got up and had a long conversation with another passenger by the door; but still dozed for a little while which was unusual for me.
The journey still seemed endless but we eventually started our final approach to Heathrow with me having got Diana and the girls all packed and ready to exit the aircraft as soon as it landed. A delay on getting the luggage but then soon through immigration, customs and out to find the welcome sight of Daniel ready with the car to take us and our luggage home. I let him drive and was suffering from the typical spells of cramp and tiredness that is typical of jet-lag. We all brightened up long enough to get unpacked and have some tea and I took Sam for a walk so that Daniel could get away to Norfolk whilst Di started feeding a seemingly endless amount of our dirty washing into the machine. I then sat in the lounge as the tiredness flooded over me and broke off my dosing when Debbie came in and helped me up so that I could go to bed and get off to sleep almost immediately at 8.30pm. This was, after all, the only sleep I was going to get for two days and I needed it.