Day 1 - San Francisco

View from my hotel window of the garden
see all photos »

I departed 9 Tay Court at 8am this morning and caught the Heathrow Express to the airport as I was too lazy to bother with the tube. There is something rather satisfying about walking past all the people queuing to check in and walking straight up to the desk with my one bag – yes, I have only taken one bag with me and it is actually quite small. I am impressed with myself although the lack of choice of trainers (I only have 2 pairs with me – I know, I’m surprised at my discipline too) is rather hard to come to terms with, but sacrifices in the name of travelling have to be made. Anyway, I was accosted by a little security man who demanded to know why I only had a one-way ticket. On production of my return part from New York he seemed a little less concerned but then started to bark at me about a visa. I then explained that I didn’t need one as I was going for less than 90 days to which he seemed rather surprised. It is somewhat disconcerting to consider that I might know more about visas and travel to the States than the man in charge of security, but hey ho. The Virgin lounge was nice as usual and I had some breakfast before boarding the plane. I was in seat 2A which was on the upper deck and right at the front. I peered at the cockpit and it was, as expected, full of lots of buttons and lights which I decided was a good thing to see rather than an empty cavern or something resembling a second world war fighter (I know all about these now after my trip to Duxford last week). However, my sejourn upstairs was rather shortlived as I did my good Samaritan act for the day by moving downstairs so a family didn’t have to be split up – actually it was totally selfish because I knew that if I didn’t move someone else would and then I would have to put up with a family of 4 with small children in tow for 11 hours. Luckily my glass of Laurent Perrier also followed me downstairs as well. I have decided drinking champagne at 10.30 in the morning is the way to go in life. Makes Mondays much more tolerable! Six episodes of Catherine Tate, lots of good food and wine, much staring at the SkyMap of where in the world I was flying over and an attempt at sleeping later I bucked up the courage to fill in the dreaded green visa waiver form. I invariably fill this in wrong (although the lawyer in me would argue that there are not enough explanatory notes accompanying the form and therefore it is not my fault). I’m always also thankful of my spur of the moment decision not to go along with my friends on their murderous rampage back in 1992 so can place a nice little tick in the ‘no’ box to ‘have you ever committed genocide’. Ridiculous form, but I suppose if you don’t ask you don’t know – although I presume that those who have committed genocide are possibly not so hot on the honesty front either but who am I to question! The flight was otherwise fairly uneventful and on arrival I managed to get through both customs and baggage reclaim in 10 minutes – must be a world first! I was highly amused by the selection of 'Did you know?' facts about US Customs and Immigration which were displayed around the baggage hall - my personal favourite was 'Did you know that although most travellers are honest, some are not'. Brilliant. The weather in San Francisco is really nice and not a cloud in the sky. At the moment I am sitting on my bed in my hotel looking out onto the courtyard garden where I have been told that I have to go for drinks at 6 and meet the other guests – how very civilised! Am really tired though so might have a nap first. I will keep you updated as to how that goes tomorrow… sleepy Claire!

Distance travelled today – approx 5,500 miles.

Distance travelled today – approx 5,500 miles.

Bearwatch – 0. Although did spot a large man with a big beard and a hairy back.