Tuesday, our last day.

In reality we only had half a day as we were being picked up at 2.20pm. We had requested a late checkout and had been given leave to stay in our room until 2.00. 

After a fairly leisurely breakfast we headed off to the Beverly Centre again only to discover as we arrived at 9.40 am, that the shops didn't open u til 10.00. As they say open until 9.00pm you can't really blame them.

The expedition chief procurer of apparel went into overdrive and tried several dresses, trousers and tops on before making her choice. It was then my turn and I did manage to buy a couple of pairs of jeans. As a parting shot the expedition manager did manage to purchase a couple of pairs of shoes.

We purchased a wrap to eat back at our hotel and then took a cab there to make sure we were there in time to have a quick shower before we left. Obviously we also had to finish our packing and the master packer's skills were put to the test. Our new purchases were laid carefully on top of the packing that had already been done.

We left the room at 2.00pm paid our bill and lo and behold our lift arrived early, so we were suddenly on our way home. After a circuitous tour of Los Angeles we arrived at LAX airport at about 3.15. We found our way to the BA boarding area and stood in the queue. We were highly surprised to be beckoned forward by a gentleman who was operating the first class check in. We had a brief conversation and I asked him if there was any chance of an upgrade, he looked at our travel records and said "Well you certainly have travelled with us a lot" and then continued" however, it is avery full plane", before giving us our original seats as boarding passes. We honestly felt he had looked.

We went and had a beer and bought some duty free booze, before we had to get ready to board.

The same gentleman who had checked us in was collecting boarding passes and as we were in row 49 we were called fairly early, those at the back of the plane get on first.

As I got to the desk, I said " It doesn't look as though you have managed to do anything for us then" and he replied" I am afraid not, but let's wait and see". As he put my boarding pass onto the machine it was rejected and he then asked me to wait to one side whilst he called Rosemarie forward and the same thing happened to her boarding pass. After a couple of minutes we were given new boarding passes with the words that we still had a window seat but we had been moved further up the plane.

When we boarded we were very surprised to find that we were in "World Traveller Plus", with almost fully reclining seats, foot rests, calf support, and we were then given a choice of menu. It felt like real luxury to us, and I now need to write to Los Angeles to thank them.

We even got real metal cutlery with our dinner. The flight was good and we really enjoyed the comfort and the service we were given, it made the end of our journey very special.