Yes. Wonderful views over the Arctic. A nine-hour flight and Alaska being nine hours behind UK time meant arriving the same time as we'd departed. The aircraft continued to FUK*. At most, a dozen of us deplaned at ANC. US immigration has never been quicker.

I had done my share of travelling, even back then, but it felt odd having got off a direct flight from LHR to be surrounded by beautiful scenery in the middle of nowhere with hardly anyone around. But it turned out to be probably the best trip I've ever had - run a close second by the return a year later.

*Fukuoka, Japan