Returning to Oakland

In the morning, we ate our last breakfast at the Premier Inn. I again selected the "Continental Breakfast" while Inna and Alex ate full hot breakfasts. I mainly ate cold cereal and a few pastries with coffee, while Alex and Inna ate some scrambled eggs.

After breakfast, we quickly packed our belongings and checked out of the hotel. Once outside, I ordered UberX for Inna and Alex, who were headed to London's Heathrow Airport. Once they were on their way, I headed to the bus stop to take the bus to Victoria Station, where I took the train to Gatwick Airport.

After arriving at Gatwick, I walked over to the Norwegian Airlines booths. I had to stand in the regular Norwegian Airlines line because their electronic check-in kiosks do not recognize US Passports. Once I received my airline ticket, I got lunch at the Wondertree restaurant.

I ordered a Wondertree salad, but the service was prolonged. However, I had a lot of time to kill since my flight was delayed by two hours.

Once I boarded the plane, I watched a movie: "The Accountant." I finished reading the book "Three Days in January" on the Eisenhower administration's handover of power to John F. Kennedy.

Overall, I had a relaxing flight to Oakland.

On landing in Oakland, I had to wait another two hours. One additional hour was spent on the ground, waiting for our gate to open up (there was a Southwest jet parked in our designated spot). In addition, the customs area is relatively small, and we were told to wait another 30 minutes to allow other flights to enter.

I finally ordered an Uber ride to take me home at around 8:10pm - a three-hour delay.

I arrived home at around 9:00 pm. Inna and Alex landed in San Francisco on Virgin Atlantic and came home around 10:00pm (using Uber). All of us were very tired from our long flights.