There’s nothing like a morning departure to make you feel like you’re going on holiday! Our morning wasn’t TOO early, just a leisurely 8.30am flight to Auckland, which was nice but early enough to still get the holiday vibes. We had a three hour transit in Auckland, which we spent in the Air New Zealand Lounge – last time we were in there it was absolutely chocka and finding a seat was quite the trick (it’s soon to be renovated and extended), but because the flight to San Francisco leaves at 1:50pm, it was nice and quiet – we sat out in the conservatory area and looked out at the tarmac where our bird was sitting:

Craig won these flights at a United Airlines event – we got to pick anywhere on their network, AND they are Business Class (Polaris). We are extremely fortunate and grateful! I’d seen these seats before, during a plane visit when United recently re-started their route to San Fran directly from Christchurch (this is during the northern hemisphere winter, which is why we flew via Auckland), and I was so excited to get to experience them. They’re really well laid out (good privacy) and the middle seats have a divider between them, so if (when) Craig starts snoring, I can just put the divider up and my earplugs in 😉. 

Their travel packs have nice amenities in them – their current partnership is with Therabody, and it includes face wipes, face mist, hand cream, eye serum and lip balm, plus the other standard items – eye mask, ear plugs, tissues, pen, dental kit. It’s like getting a little present!

The food is pretty good, and their bedding is super cozy. 

My problem on planes is that I get too hot, and end up not being able to sleep… which sounds ridiculous when you’ve eaten, watched some shows, and then get to lay completely flat with blankets and pillows, but it just always ends up being the case. I think I might have got one or two hours in, intermittently, and I’d clearly slept with my mouth open as my tongue had turned into a raisin. However, we were both energetic enough to decide to go into San Francisco during our 8 hour transit time, which was easy after picking up our bags (after a half hour wait with the conveyer belts not working – people clapped when a maintenance man came and fixed it… how very American) – you just go through Immigration and then immediately re-check your bag (which is just someone with a scanner and a conveyer belt), and off you go!

We took an Uber into Crissy Field, which took about half an hour, where we could get a good view of the Golden Gate Bridge (well, of the bottom three quarters – the rest was covered by “Karl” which is what our colleague has told us is the name the locals have for the regular fog that descends on the Bay area.

It was only about 7.30am by the time we got there, so after we’d had a good look at the bridge and Alcatraz, and taken some photos, we headed up a hiking pathway, surrounded with wildflowers (very beautiful and a lovely view) – apparently there are also coyotes, but we didn’t see any of those – and got picked up by a WAYMO that Craig had ordered. I first saw these on Travels with my Father with Jack Whitehall, so I knew they were a thing in San Fran, but I didn’t realise just how common they are now – it just works like an Uber, and they are everywhere! It was so odd seeing the car pull over with no driver, and then climbing into it and watching it pick up on potential hazards etc on the screen, which you can see from the back seat – it’s so clever, it even stopped for some pedestrians waiting to cross at zebra crossing (who then waved thanks to it). I thought that I’d be quite nervous, but I wasn’t at all, even though we were going along windy and steep roads. I’m not sure how I’d feel on a motorway, but it doesn’t feel unsafe in any way. Craig absolutely loved it. 

We had the WAYMO (which was a Jaguar) drop us down at Fishermans Wharf, where we went and got a coffee (somehow due to things getting lost in Kiwi vs American translation, we ordered two venti-sized filter coffees… we just couldn’t do it, so they went to waste and I managed to figure out how to order a white coffee and a snack, and do some people watching. As is often said of San Fran, there were quite a few homeless, who were clearly high, accosting people on the streets, but we somehow managed to avoid being approached (maybe we looked a bit wild eyed ourselves after our long flight). We walked along the piers a bit and spotted the many sea lions who hang out around pier 39 – they were quite chatty. I think the whole area would be magic at night time when it’s all lit up. 

After a bit of a wander around, we got another Uber back to the airport, and with plenty of time to spare, we both had a shower in the lounge (bliss!) – the Polaris Lounge in SFO has been declared the best business class lounge in the world, and it was very lovely – clearly quite new. It had two levels, sleeping areas, shower areas, different seating options, a buffet and a sit-down restaurant (which we went on the waitlist for – 45 min wait, but worth it) and a lovely bar, which you can sit at – this is where we waited for our restaurant buzzer to go off. It all had a good vibe, and the food in the restaurant was lovely. Top notch! 

Towards the end of our transit, we were both struggling to hold our heads up – you know that crazy tiredness you get when you’ve been up for a very long time, and you feel a little bit sick? We knew we would get a good sleep on the next leg! We both managed to have dinner first (though I skipped dessert this time to be done a bit faster), I got my mattress pad ready (which I skipped on the first flight and regretted… they make it SO much cosier!), made up my little bed, put ear plugs in, eye mask on (plus a scented and heated eye mask I brought back from Japan (love!!!)) and passed out for, I reckon, a good six hours – with a couple of turbulence-related wake-ups in the middle (things got a bit wild over Greenland, and the flight attendants were called back to their seats, but I was too tired to be very bothered). This was ideal, because we landed in Paris at 10am, and of course our hotel room wouldn’t be ready until three.

It was pouring down on arrival… but that’s a story for tomorrow!

À demain (see you tomorrow)!

❤ Laus