Day 38 - San Francisco

Sarah's travel day blog.  Alan's usual nonsense is in green

 

We had to be up at 5am this morning to make the flight from New York to San Francisco.  We didn't mind if it meant we finally got to get away from the place.  We didn't find one nice person in New York.  Not on the tour bus, not walking around, not in the restaurants/shops and definitely not in the hotel.

 

We cancelled our shuttle booking and instead took a taxi.  At that time in the morning, it was a quick trip and we really didn't want to have to deal with going from hotel to hotel picking up other people. The trip by taxi between New York airports and Manhattan has a set fee of $45. It's amazing how taxi drivers can actually find the accelerator when the meter isn't ticking! We reached speeds of 75 mph in a 45 zone. The Delta Airlines representative wanted us to try the self check-in, even though we explained to him that it doesn't work for us.  A few minutes later he was convinced and we joined the queue for the service check-in.  Before making it to the counter another Delta Airlines representative was very rude and ordered us back to the self check-in but finally allowed us a service check-in.

 

Again we were selected for the "random" secondary security check.  Yeah, random that it happens to us every time.  The line for the security check was short but it took them forever.  Alan got his check done fairly quickly but I had to wait for the Airport employee to check the person behind me first.  They spoke the same foreign language.  I guess it doesn't matter about first come first served.  Finally my check was completed and we walked away from the gate and Alan asked whether I had our boarding passes.  I didn't so we had to return.  It took about another 10 minutes before we were able to collect them from the very disorganised staff. They called for boarding at 8am, they scanned Alan's boarding pass which allowed him through but mine came up with that I hadn't been security checked.  Great!  She checked with her Supervisor and I was allowed on the plane.  She gave me a friendly shoulder rub on my way through.  I must have looked pretty annoyed.

 

We were supposed to take off at 8.25 but it was after 9.15 before we got underway.  Just after take off it was announced that we would get beverage service on the flight but we would have to pay for the food.  A 5 1/2 hour flight with no food.  Unfortunately we had little to no money as we'd been unable to get a travellers cheque cashed and places in Manhattan charge you to use an ATM.  Do you believe that? Hmmm, supposedly everywhere accepts American Express travellers cheques. Yeah right, not in New York. Also, to watch the movie on the plane we needed to pay $2 for headphones.  We were planning on sleeping but then Alan found a pair of headphones in his seat pocket and we were able to share an ear each, for Evan Almighty. Pretty funny. We did at least manage a couple of hours uncomfortable sleep each.

 

An uneventful flight and we arrived in a reasonably cool San Francisco. Another SuperShuttle trip with an Asian driver who spent the majority of his time driving at 70 miles an hour whilst looking at a street map.  God we hate shuttles. I think they'll just employ anyone for their shuttles regardless of whether or not they actually have any driving ability.

 

The hotel is, well one word, dreadful. It is very reasonably priced for San Francisco and well located and although we weren't expecting much, this is a lot less than we were expecting.  Firstly, it smells.  It is like someone used about 10 bottles of very strong air freshener trying to cover something up which didn't work.  It is a non smoking hotel so that isn't it. It doesn't smell like air freshener to me. It just smells like stinkiness.

 

The room is OK.  There is paint peeling and we have no fridge and there is no ice bucket. Great, we can't have a cold drink. Instead of the sink being in the bathroom it is right near the bed.  I had to go and ask for some more pillows and thankfully we got the last two to spare.

 

We took a short walk and had some lunch of fish and chips at a local cafe and came back to the room.  It is at the end of Fleet Week in San Francisco and we were able to see the Blue Angels perform acrobatic manoeuvers from our room. I'd never been to an airshow before.  We could have got premium seating tickets for US$26 but we felt free from our room was a good price.

 

It is a really beautiful day in San Francisco.  I've been here three times before and it has always rained.  We just know that is what will be on the cards for us the next two days.

 

My friend Christie's parents arrived in town from Tacoma, Washington today.  We were going to catch up with them tonight but after our 5am start we are pretty tired.  We have arranged to meet up tomorrow afternoon.

 

There are no photos today, unless you want to see the ones I took of Alan sleeping on the plane with his mouth open. I could have taken similar photos of Sarah but I would have needed to wake her to get the camera.