June 18th, 2024
Back on the Road on our Biggest Trip Yet
Pre Amble
It had been a long gap between our last trip and this one. With the hangover from COVID-19 travel restrictions behind us, we were more “caught up” and traveling at a more normal rate. With just 1-2 BIG trips a year. in 2023 we had done 2 huge adventures. With our May trip all over the West Coast and then our Halloween madness trip on the East Coast in October/November our travel adventures had been pretty hectic. So we were slowing down a little in 2024 with just one small trip planned.
Well as we were only hitting the road once this year, we needed to make sure it was a worthwhile trip, with lots of content opportunities and heaps of experiences to share with you guys to keep you all entertained for a whole year. So our short trip turned into an absolute beast. From June 18th right up until July 10th a whole month off exploring our favorite spots in the USA along we a few new experiences.
This was also a BIG year for us. On June 22nd we would celebrate our 10th Wedding anniversary. So we need to make this one epic for that reason too. It was our Honeymoon trip to Maui that had pretty much started off our incredible Blogging adventures and we could only think of one place in the world to celebrate that momentous occasion. So we were heading back to Maui to Relive our Honemyoom memories, catch up on old haunts, and then hit out at a few new spots we were yet to visit in the Hawaiian Islands. We had a week in West Maui at Napili Shores, 5 days in Wailea to take in a little luxury, and then a week on the Stunning Garden Island of Kuaui, and finally a trip to the Big Island.
Stunning Scenery, amazing Beaches, Incredible Wildlife, crystals Blue Oceans, and jaw-dropping experiences all in the Amazing Hawaiian Islands…But first, we had a little visit to California to take in, again heading back to one of our all-time favorite places Monterey California, and the Pacific Coast Highway. However, we had a bit of a journey to get there first.
T-Minus 1Day
We start out the day before as we head down to London Heathrow for our flight out to the States. We normally fly out of here as the flights are just better scheduled and often a lot cheaper. We had managed to get a really cheap deal on Premium for this flight. Forgoing our recent dalliance with Upper-Class we would be traveling a bit more like mortals this trip, but still not in economy so would have some level of comfort. Important for our 11-hour legs right across the Atlantic and the Continent over to the West Coast.
We made the 4ish hur drive down the M1 from around midday arriving at the Airport area around 4pm. We had booked a parking space on a driveway via the YourParkingSpace.com app as we were finding Airport parking for a whole month to be pretty costly. This option was only coming in at around £130 for the month, a bargain compared to the £3-400 our usual providers were offering. We then booked into the Renaissance Hotel which offered a fantastic Runway View Room where we could relax and get ready for tomorrow. We bagged a free upgrade to the Executive Lounge as they were unable to honor the free room upgrade we got without Gold Status at Marriot.
This got us some free snacks and several free drinks to help keep the cost of this part of the trip nice and low. We planned on this being as frugal a trip as possible as we had some mighty expenses coming up as we were paying for a whole month in one of the most expensive places in the world, Hawaii.
The Centurion Lounge London Heathrow.
The morning after we awoke nice and early, around 7 am for our 11:45 flight to San Francisco. We were all ready and prepared so simply grabbed our stuff and headed on over to the Airport. A £12ish Uber taking us the 10-15 mins over to T3 Virigns home Terminal.
Here we found Check-in had become a bit of a faff as they have replaced people with automated machines. These are really clunky, and we are not professional check-in agents so it takes us a while to input everything, all the while the agents are still sitting at the desks waiting for us to drop the bag, it really feels awkward and an unnecessary step in the process. We will remember to Chick in line from now on as it is much easier, it’s just the last few flights we have been upper so had not experienced these new terminals yet.
Another step in these transatlantic carriers becoming just another Budget Airline!
Anyway, Security seemed a bit of a mess, but the queues seemed to actually be worse outside the main hall, and once through we pretty much just got straight through with no issues. A quick look around duty-free and then we headed to the Centurion Lounge.
We get lounge Access through Our Amex Platinum Card Holder Status and were really pleased to have this as the main terminal area was total chaos. Heading into the lounge all that simply melted away.
We really like the LHR Centurion. It’s not the biggest of lounges but there are varied seating options and great food and drink on offer. There is no natural light so it’s a touch dark and dingy, but the vibrant modern decor is quirky and their styling really nice with lots of varied seating options.
We got a nice quiet corner rin the cozier section of the lounge and waited for the flight in style. Starting off with some Bubbly we then tried out the breakfast. This was a Buffet Style, but it was really high quality for a Buffet, and the food itself was still fresh and hot. They also had some amazing French toast that came with some divine Maple syrup that had wonderful smoky notes and was some of the best French toast we have had.
We then worked our way through the drinks menu happily sampling a few of their excellent cocktails, until after a while we approached the boarding time of our flight and headed out to the gate.
Virgin Atlantic Premium London Heathrow to San Francisco
As we had Premium Boarding we simply strolled straight onto the flight and we settled into our large comfy seats. This was one of Virgin’s older 787 Aircraft, but these are still really modern and the seats are super comfy, with some of the newer aircraft offering more ergonomic seats, these are still plush and offer a huge amount of legroom in a nice 2-4-2 layout.
We got a Welcome glass of Champagne and then just waited for takeoff, which was prompt and on time.
Once in the air, we got our one and only drinks service! This was a little weak for an 11-hour flight, however whenever we asked for drinks they were happy to provide us one, but they really are locking down how many drinks are offered.
After our drinks, the Main Meal service was offered. We had pre-ordered our meals and got a choice of Pork Chilli, Breaded Chicken, Or Truffle Mac and Cheese. Kate is obsessed with Truffle, and I wanted one last spicey meal before a month of Bland and Baige food in the States, so we had the mac and cheese and the Chilli/ The Chilli was ok but a little overcooked and obviously a little on the bland side as is per usual with Airline food, But Kates Mac And Cheese was really nice with lots of earthy notes form the Mushrooms and Truffle.
This came with a really light and fresh Cous Cous Starter, a decent little Cheese Board, and a sharp and refreshing Lemon Posset for dessert. The food is not going to win any awards, but it was all perfectly edible and came on real plates with proper cutlery and is several steps above the overcooked ready meals served in Economy.
The Main meal came with a choice of drinks but the Wine on board is still being served from cans which is our least favorite way of providing wine…
There was then a Coffee Service, which we tactfully requested another Bar-drink instead, and then the whole plane transformed into Night Mode. We found this really odd. This is a day flight leaving at 11:45 and landing at 14:15 in the afternoon. However, it was being treated as a Night Flight. The Window Shades were plunged into darkness, all lights off, and the Cabin Crew doing Minimal Service.
This always seems to be the case on San Francisco Flights, but not other USA and West Coast destinations, Some Vegas Flights turn into all-out Party Buses! Most people went along with it, but we raged against the machine and refused to just fall asleep and miss the entire flight, however, whenever I overrode the window blind a Cabin Crew Member would ask me to close it again. I like being able to see out, and this is the main reason I choose a window seat, especially on this route as we pass over Greenland, Northern Canada, the Rocki Mountains, and the North West Coast of California, It’s a really beautiful flight, and I really did not like being denied the view simply because someone had pre-ordained out MIDDAY Flight to be Midnight!
Maybe they do this as they have completely ruined the once great IFE system, Vera. Our screens were excellent, better than we even remembered, and the system is smooth and slick, even though some of the Navigation choices are a little Style over function. We really would prefer a grid layout over the endless scrolling, but still, it does look cool. But the big problem was the actual content.
It really was light on anything at all really. The new releases were really poor and they had even dropped one of the most lucrative films of the year after only a couple of months on the roster, namely Barbie. It was even featured in the Pre-Takeoff adverts on the screens but was not available once the actual IFE started. The Back CAaog was also really weak and between us we really struggled to find 2 films each to watch. We used to look forward to these long flights as a way to catch up on films we have missed, but this trip the selection was really poor.
As the long night in the middle of the day drew on and we tried to eek some amount of entertainment from Vera, we utilized the Planes wander-wall for snacks and drinks and requested more drinks for Kate from the Galley (I would need to drive once in San Francisco) until finally, the Dawn Broke at around 6-7pm in the evening, and the CAbin crew returned to offer us Afternoon Tea…for Breakfast, or dinner, who knows at this point…
This was Virgin’s 40th Birthday and they have prepared a special Afternoon Tea to celebrate. This was really cute with lots of 40th styling and cute little cakes with special 40th motifs. It was a lot of fun and everything tasted great with the Scones easily passing the twist test and copious amounts of Cream and Jam provided. An excellent treat.
With this served the Cabin was allowed to be illuminated again and we could watch the final few miles out of the window as we passed over the Rockys, Crater Lake, Sonoma, and Napa Valleys, and finally down the coast to San Francisco. Our arrival was a little early and we were on the ground before 3 pm.
Skipping San Francisco
For some reason, San Francisco Airport seems to HATE Virgin Atlantic. Every time we have flown here, there seems to be some kind of awful hold-up on the tarmac with is queueing in the exact same spot for 30-45 mins. This trip was no exception and we were stuck in the Apron, just waiting for a parking spot, uber annoying after we had made great time in the air.
Once we finally were allowed off the aircraft we headed to Customs to find a hideous queue awaiting us. This was doubly annoying as we had meant to use the new MCP app to skip this queue but had completely forgotten the week before our flight. This was doubly compounded by the fact there was ZERO queue at those entry points and we could literally walk through is had used the APP.
Infact the queue was so grotty, and we estimated a good 45-1hr wait, we figured, let’s just try the App NOW. So after a little fiddling on the Airport Wifi, we added all our trip info and then exited the usual Queue and straight onto the MCP (Mobile Passport Control) Line. We were through the line in literally 5mintues and off on our way. It is so good we cannot possibly recommend this to anyone as if everyone works this out the Queues will be just as bad as the regular queues as everyone will be in the MCP Line.
The next stop was the Rental Desk and we were a little worried about this as we had taken a gamble. As we are doing one way, we had a little trouble getting a good price and in the end, only Budget offered us the car we wanted, on the terms we wanted at a price that was decent. We have had a bad experience with Budget in the past so were wary. However, we arrived at the desk with no queue and a really happy and helpful agent who checked us in in no time with only a minimal low-pressure upsell, before directing us to our fantastic Rental car for the next few days. A stunning White Mustang Cabriolet…one of 4 cars we would rent for this trip!
We then the road and headed out into the fantastic California Sunshine. Heading Straight out of San Francisco with so much as a howdy Doody! Why, well it’s nothing personal, we just did San Francisco last May, and were a little pushed for time on this itinerary. So it was straight down to our first stop Monterey.
Pacific Coast Highway
With the top down and the sun shining we headed straight across to the coast to pick up the PCH. This is one stretch of the highway we are yet to drive and follow it along the coast from Pacifica, through Half Moon Bay, then Santa Cruz, and finally into Montery. With the top down we got the full experience, wind in our hair, and the smell of Pine Forresrs and ocean breezes. I was a wonderful 119 miles before we arrived in one of our favorite small Cities and checked into our pretty basic Motel.
Monterey
Our base for the next couple of days would be the pretty basic Stevenson Motel. This was one of the first Motels we ever stayed in, and while it’s early pretty ugly located with a stunning Petrol Station View, it’s a great location and has everything we needed and was at least really cheap.
It was getting pretty late now as we had taken a long time getting out of San Francisco Airport so we just headed down to Fisherman Wharf to grab some food and try and spot some Otters, but really all we found were the abundant Sea Lions whose population really have exploded in recent years.
We grabbed some Clam Chowder from Crabby Jims before admitting defeat and heading to bed after a really long day of traveling. The time now was 10 pm and we had been on the go since 7 am, but in reality, it was 6 pm on our body clocks so we had been on the go for just short of 24 hours. and things were not going to get easier tomorrow!
In our blog tomorrow we are going to give a little bit more info on this part of the trip, why we are doing things the way we are, and what is coming up. Along with a HUGE day right off the bat.
Day 2 – Whale Watching and the Pacific Coast Highway >>>
