After a stressful few weeks and lots of emotional goodbyes, it was time to begin the journey home. Monterey to San Francisco to Los Angeles to Sydney. The weather was fine, so no problems with delays. The marine layer had come over the coast, which meant I wasn’t able to take one last look at my home for the last ten years. Arriving at SFO I made my way to the United Club, only to discover that the bar wasn’t operating. That was certainly not in my plans!
The next indication of how COVID-19 has changed travel was the flight from SFO to LAX. In business class the cabin crew would mix drinks and serve them in a glass glass; now there is no handling of anything edible. That includes the provision of lime slices.
LAX was very quiet when I arrived. The only operating Club closes at 6:30pm, so I just had to wait in the gate area.
There’s fifty plus business class seats in the 787 I was on; only eight were occupied. The same drinks rules applied, and similar for the meals. Dinner would normally be served as separate courses, but now it was a single tray. The beef short ribs I had was pretty tasty though.
We arrived about thirty minutes early, seemingly the first arrival of the day. I was first off the aircraft, quite strange walking through the arrival areas with no one but airport staff around. Had my temperature taken, answered the standard symptoms questions, went through immigration control, and the bags were already arriving on the carousel by the time I got there. Customs showed very little interest in us, then it was another record-taking station, and a short wait until our coach arrived.
A bunch of Army and Navy troops were there to act as porters loading our baggage. I overheard our driver talking to the Highway Patrol escort driver, so I knew we were heading to the Parkroyal at Darling Harbour. I hadn’t read anything negative from there, so that was encouraging.
Being a clever boy, I sat in the first row, which meant I was in the first pair off. Once again, there were troops there to take care of the baggage handling. Checked-in, had a police interview, got a bag with breakfast handed to me, and it was up to my room.
I don’t have much of a view, but the food has been decent. Dinner was salmon with a mustard cream sauce, rice, and veggies. Got unpacked and semi-sorted, then spent most of the rest of the day in a stupor! Didn’t even have the enthusiasm to open any of the bottles I brought with me.