Waking up in the Sofitel, we decided to have breakfast before we hot-footed it into central London to get a few essential.
Checking out of the hotel we left our luggage with the concierge before making our way to the Heathrow terminal 5 tube station for the Picadilly line into central London.
The ride into the centre of London was smooth and we knew exactly where we wanted to go. I need Neal’s Yard, and Cedric, Forbidden Planet.
After the essentials, we had time to wander a little before heading back to Heathrow with the Heathrow express. We then went and collected our luggage and met up with my sister who had decided to have a long lie and sort out the car in the car park before meeting us just after 12:00 outside the first-class check-in area of T5.
We had had confirmation that the last member of the party was on her way from Glasgow, and she had boarded her flight.
Checking-in the luggage for the trip to Los Angeles the staff offered to have a porter come and collect my bike to put it on the oversized belt just outside the first-class check-in area. I declined the offer and wheeled it over there myself and ensured that it was accepted into the LHR baggage system. Then I could only take one passenger through the first wing so took my sister this time.
Knowing we would be flying on an A380 I decided that we may as well head straight over to the much quieter lounge in the B concourse of terminal 5. It was a good bet, and we easily found seats for the 3 of us with space for mum when she arrived from Glasgow.
Tracking the flight on Fightradar24 I could see it starting to approach London. So I went to the desk at the entrance to the lounge and asked which gate the plane would arrive at. A5 was the answer so I walked back through the tunnel to the A concourse and got in a position where I could see the passengers walking up the jet bridge to the terminal. Once I had seen mum getting off the plane, I walk around the corner and waited for her to come through the door from domestic flight connections.
Having met up and check she had everything, we headed back through the foot tunnel to the B concourse and the rest of the group for some bubbles before it was time to board the flight to LA.
After some food and drink and a comfort stop, we walked on to the C-gates and our A380 was sitting there at gate C 57. It had been sitting all afternoon at the same gate, which made the announcement that boarding was being delayed because the flight was being catered a little surprising. But it was really a non-issue.
The boarding was a bit of a scrummage, to be honest. But we were soon on board and found our seats.
Arriving in LA was not a bad as I had expected. We were relatively quickly through immigration and the luggage was soon on the carousel. My bike appeared in the belt for outsized luggage. With all the luggage piled on 3 luggage carts, we made our way through customs and out into the arrivals area of TBIT.
We decided to walk over to terminal 3 to wait for the hotel shuttle and it proved this was a good move.
Checked in at the hotel we were all in bed less than 2 hours after landing.
Our Holidays 