I woke feeling anxious, as I am now prone to on long, complicated travel days. Not a debilitating amount, but I could feel it nevertheless. There are just so many component parts that have to go smoothly before, in about 22 hours’ time, we finally walk through the front door at home.
So I was up at a leisurely 7.30am and pottered around quietly for a bit.
By 10am, packing and preparation were in full swing. As I was ready, I decided to take my bags down to the car and clear it of anything else, including the rubbish we had left in it.
It wasn’t until we were fully loaded that Neil realised my clear-out had included throwing into a rubbish bag the small clear plastic tab we used to open and close some of the security gates in the basement garage. Fortunately, I knew where I had dumped the rubbish, it hadn’t yet been cleared away, and we soon found it.
With that, we were off for the 50-minute drive to LAX. The traffic wasn’t great and it was a tough drive, even if we did pass the SoFi Stadium, which had been used for some of the World Cup matches.
After filling the ‘gas’ tank, finding the car rental return was far more difficult than it should have been, and we somehow managed to do a complete circuit before finally finding the entrance.
It was then a hot shuttle ride to the airport. The driver claimed he couldn’t get close to the British Airways check-in area, leaving us on the wrong floor and facing a long walk both inside and outside the terminal. Karen complained a lot, especially about having to carry her hand luggage. I took it from her and could hardly believe how heavy it was. As ever, the light-packing Karen had excelled herself. Goodness knows what was in those bags. I think they were heavier than the one she was checking in.
There was no queue at either check-in or security, which was a bonus as by now we were getting close to kick-off time for England v Norway in the World Cup quarter-final. There were a few bars showing the build-up, but nowhere to sit. Eventually we found a lounge area which was showing it and, after a short wait, managed to get some seats and a table close to a screen.
I must admit that at this point we ate the rolls that Karen had made us buy under duressa couple of days earlier.
There were a few other English people watching, a few cheering for Norway, but most were simply passing the time while waiting for their flights.
Our screen was also a few seconds behind the feed further up the terminal and a few seconds ahead of the ones beyond us. We quickly learnt to distinguish between Norwegian groans and English cheers in anticipation of what we were about to see ourselves.
We didn’t want extra time, as we weren’t sure how much of the match we’d be able to watch before boarding.
Of course, it went to extra time, but we managed to see the winning goal before leaving and almost walked straight onto the plane. I followed the updates on the BBC website from my seat and then the final result was announced over the aircraft’s PA system to loud cheers from around the cabin. However, we wouldn’t know our opponents in the semi-final until we landed.
The flight was smooth and the food and drink were passable. I watched the film Michael, which was better than I had anticipated, even though it was obviously sanitised. The music was excellent. I managed some fitful, but not particularly good-quality, sleep.
It was a relatively smooth passage through Heathrow and Sunny provided his usual excellent, cheerful service returning the car. He also thoughtfully supplied us with a couple of bottles of cold water for the journey home.
Karen and Neil, as expected, were soon asleep. The M25 was horrible, as normal, and the journey home seemed to take forever, not helped by my own lack of sleep.
And that was it. Our long-awaited and rescheduled trip was complete. The incentive driving Karen to recover quickly with her bionic hip was over. She had done brilliantly with it and it had not really impacted us at all.
I have a list as long as your arm of admin tasks to sort out once I’m feeling a little more human back at home.
It had been great. Spending time with Neil had been great, and his planning and contribution had played a massive part in making the whole trip such a success.
Home for a couple of weeks now before some much shorter and much closer days away.
And for now, I won’t think about what this month’s credit card bill will be. That can remain Future Karl’s problem.
