RTW Day 1 - Bournemouth to San Francisco

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A dream start to our trip. The taxi is early and traffic is light. Similarly with the airport bus and there’s no queue at check in. What is going on? 17 minutes after we were due at Heathrow, we’re sitting in the departure lounge. The only hitch so far has been breaking 2 nails getting my case onto the luggage belt.

I knew it was too good to last. Once on board the cabin manager announces that there are 3 nut allergy sufferers so can passengers please refrain from eating nuts. So imagine my surprise when tea is served and consists of a Nutty Nougat Bar. Virgin Airlines have literally turned my nightmares into a reality. I am, in the words of Bowie, sitting in a tin car far above the earth, surrounded by literally hundreds of people all simultaneously eating nuts. I complain to the cabin manager. He explains that Virgin have changed their policy from being nut friendly to being peanut friendly and if I check the small print of my booking, it says that that when they refer to nuts this means specifically peanuts. I explain that the route operates as a code share. When I booked I didn’t even know it was a Virgin flight let alone that the airline has rewritten the English dictionary. There is a full and frank exchange of views (mainly mine). The upshot is being moved to first class for the rest of the trip.

Thankfully this isn’t too long as we land an hour ahead of schedule. And even more exciting, through immigration in 20 minutes. A US record by well over an hour. 19 hours door to door, and sitting in our room at the Lombard Plaza Motel. Not bad for a 6000 mile journey involving a taxi, a coach, a plane, a train and a bus.

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