If you’re going to San Francisco …

We were flying Virgin from Heathrow to San Francisco, with a later morning departure time, so were able to get up at a sensible time, 7.00 AM, and make our way to the airport by Tube. Bag drop was relatively quiet and quick, and although security took a little longer, we were through with plenty of time for breakfast before our gate was announced. At the gate we found that our ‘Economy Delight' seat choice (Virgin speak for extra legroom) entitled us to priority boarding. As another bonus, we found that the third seat in our row wasn’t taken so we could spread out a bit.

An eleven hour flight is never going to be fun, and this one was extended by a delay in taking off, thanks to congestion at the airport. But we passed the time eating (the food wasn’t bad for airline meals), reading, chatting and watching films. And it helped that for a small charge (£12) we were able to connect to WiFi for the duration of the flight. I was able to stay on top of emails and blog comments, and exchange a few messages. I was impressed with the service as the crew came round regularly with offers of juice or water and at one point with an ice lolly!

It was hard to see or photograph much from my window seat as we were directly over the wing, plus the window was a bit grubby. But I couldn’t miss spotting the Missouri at one point. As we travelled further west the scenery below us became more interesting. I spotted the waters of the Flaming Gorge NRA, the dramatic rock formations of Utah's Canyonlands region and the Great Salt Lake.

About an hour and a half before landing we were served ‘afternoon tea‘ – a couple of sandwiches and a scone, complete with jam and clotted cream. I put the jam on first, naturally!

As we approached the end of the flight I was thrilled to spot Yosemite's Half Dome beneath us, but not in a good position to take a photo, unfortunately.

The delay at take-off meant that we landed about 30 minutes late, around 3.15 PM. There was a long queue at immigration but the actual process was quick, with just two questions: the purpose of our visit and duration of stay. Then we were through to baggage claim where our bags had already arrived. We found the BART station easily but the ticket machine defeated us so we had to go to the info desk. We rather resented paying $3 each for a Clipper card we would only use the once, in addition to the fare!

We just caught a train, got off at Powell St, and walked about four blocks to our hotel, the Club Donatello. Our room was a good one on the 11th floor, large and with a bit of a view towards the Bay.

By now it was well past bedtime back at home (about two in the morning) but we pushed ourselves to stay awake, which we've found the only way to combat jetlag in the past.

We went out to eat at a nearby diner, Pinecrest, which was well-reviewed on Google and also recommended by a hotel employee we met in the lift. It had a friendly atmosphere and the food (burger for me with mushrooms and Swiss cheese, and a Reuben for Chris) was good.

By the time we’d eaten and walked back to the hotel we were definitely ready for bed!