The Professor Errant

My first trip report, weeeeee!

My husband Rob and I are huge sci-fi/fantasy fans and every year, if we can, we try to attend Worldcon, the World Science Fiction Convention. It’s not a big media convention like San Diego Comicon, but instead is focused on literature. So no celebrity sightings, unless you consider sci-fi and fantasy writers to be celebrities. (I kind of do!) The location changes every year (voted on by convention members two years out) so it is also often a great opportunity to visit places we’ve never been before. And we have a group of friends who often go to the convention as well, which makes it even more fun.

Booking

This was not an award redemption trip, sadly. We are not as flush with points as I wish we were. So, early in the year (March-ish?), I used Google Flights to search for paid tickets from LAX (our home airport) to Glasgow. I found a round trip itinerary through Virgin Atlantic (VS), flying Virgin to/from London, with a short hop on British Airways (BA) between London and Glasgow, for a little over $1000 per person. Seemed like a reasonable price for a flight to Europe these days. I had no idea that you could book VS and BA together on the same reservation, but, yes, they do, in fact, have an interline agreement. Google Flights claimed that you needed to call Virgin to book the itinerary, but I checked their website first and was able to book it without having to call in.

LA to London is a long slog in economy (we’ve done it before), so I looked at how much it would cost to upgrade. Virgin has a bidding system for upgrades. Eventually I set up minimum (‘cause I’m cheap!) bids for both premium economy and upper class. Very low on the “likeliness of acceptance” meter, but I was fine with that.

Fast-forward to the day before our trip. I got an email from Virgin that our premium economy upgrade bid was declined. Oh well, I know it was a long shot. But I happened to look at the Chase app and saw a mysterious pending charge from Virgin Atlantic on my Freedom card (not the best card to pay for flights with, but whatever)…hmmm. Wait a minute, I didn’t get an email about our upper class bid! I checked the Virgin Atlantic app but it still had us in economy. So, I waited and kept checking. Nothing changed so eventually, in the late afternoon, I called VS customer service. The person I spoke to was polite but pretty clueless. They admitted that they didn’t handle the upgrade bids on their end and didn’t know anything really about how they worked. They saw nothing that suggested we had been upgraded so their advice was to call my credit card company and cancel the charge. I wanted to scream “OH HELL NO!” at this ridiculous suggestion but I simply thanked them and hung up.

What I thought was happening was what was indeed happening…we had been upgraded to upper class, but it hadn’t fully processed yet. Hence, no update on the app. (Or in whatever the CSR on the phone was looking at) Around 7 or 8 pm, roughly 24 hours before our VS flight was scheduled to leave, our reservation updated and we got to choose seats in upper class. Rob and I don’t get to fly in the premium cabins very often, so we spent the next day getting psyched up for our treat, which set us back ~$900 per person (low ball bid, but still yikes!).

Off to Scotland!

As per a notice from Virgin, we had access the new Delta One check-in suite at LAX. I knew premium classes have separate lines; I’ve even been in a few. But this went way beyond that!

We flashed our VS Upper Class boarding passes at the private, guarded doors on the Arrivals level of Terminal 3. After confirmation of our access, we were whisked into this lovely lounge (?) area where friendly Delta employees checked our bags (we will always be Team Checked Bags, no apologies!). They told us we had a choice of two lounges to go to to await our flight, the Delta Sky Club directly upstairs or the Star Alliance business lounge in the Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT). The Delta Sky Club is the better lounge, they assured us (probably true!), but the Star Alliance one would be very near our departure gate in TBIT. We chose the Star Alliance lounge, less stress when our departure time loomed, since it is quite a hike from Terminal 3 to TBIT.

Now, why do Delta and Virgin, two members of the Sky Team alliance, send people to the Star Alliance lounge? There is a Sky Team airline (Korean Air) with a lounge in TBIT, but it’s so notoriously bad, from what I hear, that other Sky Team members contract with other alliances to use their lounges instead. Air France (also Sky Team) used to send its passengers to the OneWorld Business Lounge before the recent opening of its own lounge in TBIT. Virgin Atlantic previously had their own Clubhouse lounge in Terminal 2 but it closed in 2021. They are actually building a new one themselves in TBIT, opening in 2025.

So, after a quick zip through their private TSA checkpoint (so cool!), off we went to find the Star Alliance lounge. Since we rarely fly premium and our short time holding a Priority Pass was mostly during the pandemic (dammit), our experience with lounges is minimal. Again, a big treat for us. (Always hoping for more treats in the future!)

Another flash of our boarding passes, and we were in. There was very nice buffet, with a noodle bar. Plenty to eat and drink. My favorite part of the lounge, though, was the outdoor terrace. Sure, you don’t get a great of view of the runway and there is an ever-present smell of jet fuel but it is nice to get a little glimpse of what goes on outside on the ground at an airport. We’ve been to the OneWorld Business Lounge once (before our trip to Tokyo on JAL) and it’s nice enough but the Star Alliance lounge is definitely superior.

After a couple of hours of relaxation, it was time to get on the plane…

The Flights

Our flight to London Heathrow was an over-nighter (always the case when coming from the West Coast) on a VS 787-9. Not a new plane and there’s a lot of complaints online about the Upper Class seats on these being not that comfortable. I would have to agree; I have a bad back and couldn’t get comfortable in the seat when in the lie flat position. And it’s a bit tricky to get the seat into lie flat mode…you have to flip part of it. I (and most people) needed help from a flight attendant to do it.

Still, almost any premium seat is better than economy on a long haul flight. So we were happy to be where we were (plus Rob sleeps much better than me on planes in general). The food and service were both great. I always have a nervous stomach while flying, so I sometimes can’t eat as much as I’d like, but what I could get down, I enjoyed.

787’s, in general, I love. Every time I’m on one, it feels like such a smooth flight. This one was no exception.

We arrived at Heathrow around noon London time and had a layover of a few hours. Which is a nice cushion, considering there’s an interminable bus ride to go between the terminals. Plus we had to go through customs/security. Terminal 5, which we were leaving from to go to Glasgow, isn’t all that spectacular and, to make it worse, BA doesn’t tell you your departure gate until close to boarding time. You just have to mill around and hope you don’t have to scramble too far to get to your gate when the time comes.

We got some snacks and our gate was eventually called. Our short hop in Economy to Glasgow was on a brand new A321neo, so that was nice. The flight was only marred by some turbulence, which precluded us from getting hot drinks (Rob was denied his coffee!).

Arriving in Glasgow

It was cold and rainy when we got to Glasgow. Imagine that! I had bought tickets for the Glasgow Airport Express bus ahead of time. I was a little nervous because all the tickets in the First Bus app (2 for arrival and 2 for departure) seemed to have my name on it. There was nowhere in the process of buying them that allowed me to enter Rob’s name. But it was fine; I just scanned 2 tickets when we got on the bus, nobody cried foul, and off we went.

Our drop off point in the city center was about a 20 minute walk from our hotel (Hilton Garden Inn Glasgow City Centre), which was one of the convention hotels. The walk would have been fine, but it started to rain full-on, and it turned into a miserable trudge with our suitcase and bags. Should have gotten an Uber, learned our lesson there.

The Hilton seemed nice enough but we soon realized that, though we had air conditioning (a rarity in a lot of places in Europe) in our room, it was not working. A full hotel of convention goers meant that there was no changing our room to one with a working AC. So we had to tough it out for the week. No biggie. What made it worse, though, was the indifferent service of the employees. We saw it in the restaurant (great food, slow service) and when we asked the front desk for more towels and toilet paper. We had to ask multiple times to get what we needed. The employees acted very put out about it.

We had friends staying across the street at the Radisson. We had dinner with them a few times there and it made me wish we had stayed there instead.

Sightseeing

We usually get to Worldcon a couple of days early to get some touristy things in. So I booked two tours for us through Viator.

The first was a short guided walking tour of the city center. I thought it would be a nice way to get our bearings on our first full day in Scotland. If I’m reading our booking notes correctly it was by Walking Tours in Glasgow. The name of our guide escapes me now but she was quite friendly and knowledgeable about the city’s history. Lots of funny (and salty!) stories. The tour started in George Square and went all the way to Glasgow Cathedral and back. Would have loved to have seen more of the Glasgow Necropolis. Maybe next time!

Our second tour was really a day trip, to see Loch Ness. We’re in Scotland, right? So we had to see the famous home of Nessie! Timberbush Tours took us on a bus tour to Glen Coe and the Scottish Highlands. It was a bit windy and rainy that day but that didn’t dampen the views of the green mountains and countless waterfalls.

A cruise on the Loch cost extra but how can you really go to Loch Ness without going out on the lake? Come on! So we paid up and kept our eyes open for a glimpse of Nessie. Sadly, she did not make an appearance. We had to settle for views of the cruise boat’s Nessie-shaped window decals and a cute stuffy from the local gift shop. (Note: I don’t actually believe in mythological cryptids!) Loch Ness was, of course, very beautiful, though Rob was of the mind that it looked like any other lake…

On the way back to Glasgow, our bus took a rest break in the town of Pitlochry. We were told by our guide that a shop nearby had ice cream made with whisky. I’m not a whisky drinker myself (I prefer cocktails made with tequila, vodka, or rum!) but Rob couldn’t pass this up. So he tried the whisky ice cream at Scotch Corner, while I stuck with normal (non-alcoholic) chocolate. Verdict: great stuff! (I realize the tour people and the businesses are in cahoots for things like this, of course…)

Worldcon

Rob and I are both big sci-fi nerds but Worldcon has always been more my thing than his. We also go to a Doctor Who convention every year, which is more his thing. At Worldcon, I love going to author readings, panels, and the art show. Rob enjoys the dealer’s room and going to the Hugo Awards, which are arguably sci-fi/fantasy literature’s biggest awards and given out at Worldcon every year. And of course, there’s the meetups with our friends who are also attending. This year’s convention was held in the enormous Scottish Events Campus (SEC).

Three of my favorite authors were in attendance at the convention. John Scalzi always does great readings of his work. This year he read from an upcoming novel of his that seemed to be a comedic story about the Moon suddenly turning into actual cheese (!). My friend Laura and I made sure to line up early for Mary Robinette Kowal’s reading, so we were assured a seat. We weren’t disappointed. Laura was, in fact, tapped to host a fan meetup of Kowal’s Lady Astronaut Club. I came along to help her out. Fun! The third author I wanted to see was Martha Wells, writer of the Murderbot Diaries series. She’s wildly popular, wins all the awards, and they saw fit to put her reading in the tiniest room possible, it seemed like. So I didn’t get to go to her reading this year. Oh well, there’s always next year. (She’s the guest of honor at next year’s convention in Seattle. They better put her in a bigger room!)

There were lots of cool panels. My friends Laura and J.A. were even on a few (science panels, since they are scientists, not authors!). They did a great one on terraforming. My favorite non-science panel was on cats in sci-fi and fantasy. Rob and I are owned by three feline overlords and it’s always fun to talk about how they are used in books, movies, tv, etc.

The Hugo Awards are always held the night before the last day of the convention. Rob and I look at it as fun night to get dressed up and (hopefully) see our favorite authors be honored. We weren’t disappointed this year. Ann Leckie won for best series. Naomi Kritzer won for both Best Short Story and Best Novelette. Kritzer’s speech for her Novelette win was particularly moving for me, as she highlighted the life of Caitlin Thomas, the daughter of editors Lynne and Michael Damian Thomas. She passed away earlier this year. I didn’t know her or her parents personally but I had seen and sat near them at many a convention. The winner of Best Novel was Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh. It’s a space opera set after the destruction of Earth by aliens and shows how children can be radicalized to fight for a seemingly just cause. The book hit me pretty hard and I was happy to see it come out on top.

Heading Home

And then it was finally time to say goodbye to friends (and Scotland) and make our way home. Glasgow is definitely a city I’d like to return to. Some of my ancestors on my mom’s side probably came from the area, because the city sits on the banks of the River Clyde, which is my mom’s maiden name. It was funny to see the family name all over the place. And of course, there’s the rest of Scotland as well, which I’d love to see.

Our flights home were a reverse of the way there. Just without the Upper class upgrade for the long leg between Heathrow and LAX. The Virgin Atlantic terminal (3) at Heathrow is much nicer (though very crowded) than the BA one. We managed to get seated at a conveyer belt sushi place during our layover and had some nice sushi. The flight home felt longer in economy, though the food was still pretty good. Rob is a window seat guy, so I’m usually stuck in the middle seat when we travel economy. On this leg, I forgot to put on my compression socks and was subjected to a very sore butt and legs by the end. Not to mention my poor back… We were welcomed to LA with a long customs line stretching to nearly the far end of the arrivals hall. After a little time inching forward, the dam broke and we were able to get to the main customs area and go to the Global Entry line (which only takes 30 seconds with their facial recognition system, I swear). Then we were home free (and free to get our bags).

One last note: Virgin Atlantic’s app had no trouble checking us in for both flights on the way to Scotland and supplied us with both boarding passes. But on the way back, I checked in with BA, since they were the operators of the first flight we were on of the day. They were able to give me a boarding pass for the BA leg, but kept erroring out at doing the checkin/boarding pass for the VS leg. I’m not sure which airline’s app/system was the true culprit but I was eventually able to check in for the VS leg at the 24 hour mark on their website. I always get a little nervous about losing seat assignments if we aren’t checked in early and properly. BA gave us no trouble when we got to the airport in Glasgow and printed both passes for us.

So there we go! My first trip report was a LONG one. Sorry if that was a chore to read. But I hope it was fun and/or useful!