A girl was tired after five nights of entertainment and food in Las Vegas. She used the last of her energy shopping in downtown L.A., meeting Mickey at Disneyland and exploring The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal.
A girl felt a little like Game of Thrones’ Arya towards the end of her time in Braavos – defeated, lost and desperate to go home.
But unlike the needle-sword wielding Stark, this girl mostly needed some alone time, some quiet, and a little space before she was forced to sit next to a complete stranger for 14.5 hours on a return flight from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Sydney.
Thankfully, a girl didn’t need to outsmart any faceless men to get what she wanted. No, all she had to do was check-in at LAX and stroll on over to the United Airlines Club Lounge.
That’s right, this girl was recently granted access to the exclusive United zone, which is usually reserved for the carrier’s frequent flyers and business class passengers.
And she couldn’t have been more grateful.
*Switches to first person*
As mentioned above, the journey from United Airlines check-in to terminal seven’s Mezzanine level was efficient and fast, as was locating United Airlines Club Lounge, which has two entrances – one between gates 73 and 75 and the other on the Concourse level adjacent to gate 71A. Both entries are clearly marked with large signage.
The lounge was busier than expected on this particular night, however, charming staff at the front desk handled the rush of pass holders with ease and smiles.
I’ll admit, my heart dropped upon seeing the intimate size of the lounge, which I later learned was actually reduced due to renovations.
But it was okay. I didn’t need much space and neither did my lounge brethren.
All I needed was somewhere to drop by carry-on luggage, pull out my iPad and chill. And I did.
The Club Lounge is equipped with free wi-fi, which was so fast I could download three movies, surf the net and catch up on Facebook at once.
After an hour on the internet, I turned my direction to my growling stomach.
The United lounge buffet offered a generous choice of salad, soup, dips, cheeses, bread and everyone’s favourite, chocolate-coated nuts. I loaded my plate with bread, humus – which was so smooth and tasty that it met and exceeded my high standards for this particular Middle Eastern dip – and two handfuls of chocolate-coated nuts.
Wisely choosing a spacious lounge by the floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the runway, I was able to eat and enjoy the view of planes taking off and touching down.
A shout out goes out to staff within the lounge, who were so attentive that despite the quantity of guests, they had cleared my plate before I even placed it on the table in front of me.
Having sped through two hours of my wait, I decided the lounge was quiet and secure enough for me to take a quick nap before sadly saying goodbye and making my way to my departure gate.
Although the lounge was missing a few elements of a modern day frequent flyer space, it had all the basic needs for someone looking for a quiet place to relax, waste a little time on wi-fi and enjoy a light meal.
I’ll definitely be visiting again once the carrier completes renovations next month.