Greetings from San Francisco

Airline employee stand-by travel can hardly be called a “benefit” these days.  Routes have been reduced to the bare minimal options, and loads are so over-sold that it seems volunteers are being bought off every flight.

None-the-less, my seven-year-old daughter and I attempted to fly with my husband from Chicago to San Francisco yesterday.  This would have been her first flight on an airplane that her Daddy flew, and she was so excited.  Unfortunately, the ordeal ended in sad silent sobbing tears when he backed the 747 away from the gate area where we were still sitting.

She recovered quickly, however, and then insisted that we stay at the airport and try every other flight option to San Francisco before giving up.  As we hauled ourselves and our luggage from gate to gate, waiting patiently for our names to be called from the stand-by list, she kept her chin up and her attitude positive.

At one point, I told her, “You’re a good little traveler.”

She replied with a wry grin, “No, I’m a good airport walker and waiter.”

I would have given up and gone home earlier, but she begged to try for the last flight out at night.  Our luck finally turned, and we got on the plane and actually even got to sit together.  (Bonus!)  We got to my husband’s layover hotel around 1:30am California time, which felt like 3:30 to us, and my daughter was still giddy just to have made it.

The plan was to go on from San Francisco to Tokyo with him tomorrow morning, but even if we were to make it there, I’m having second thoughts about repeating the stand-by travel game from Tokyo back to Chicago.  Getting stuck at home or in a familiar city like San Francisco is one thing, but getting stuck at an expensive destination in a foreign country with my daughter shortly before her school year starts might not be so hot.

Wherever we end up, wish us luck that we make it home!

Wedded Bliss

My official job as matron of honor at my best friend’s wedding was to get her to the altar.  I am happy to report that she made my job easy, and I did not have to drag her back from fleeing to Mexico before the ceremony as she jokingly threatened to do if she got nervous.  Both she and her betrothed looked very beautiful, happy and relaxed on the day of the big event.

The ceremony was held in Sutro Heights Park overlooking Ocean Beach and Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, CA.  The forecast called for chilly weather and rain, but it turned out to be clear and sunny with blue skies and a gentle breeze drifting in off the ocean.

My daughters relished their performance as flower girls and enjoyed the honor immensely.  The happy couple will be leaving soon for their honeymoon in Barbados.  Congratulations Simone and Spike!

Greetings from San Jose

I am writing this from a suite at the Fairmont San Jose.  Tomorrow, I will be the Matron of Honor and my girls will be Flower Girls for my best friend’s wedding.  She happens to be the manager at this Fairmont Hotel; thus, the complimentary suite.

This wedding weekend coincides with another event that is taking place here in San Jose, CA at the moment – a big anime convention called FanimeCon.  The city is currently overrun with people in costumes featuring hair of every color (orange, blue, white, fire engine red) and elaborate outfits typically accompanied by sword props.  It’s fantastic!

I spent the day yesterday as tour guide to a German friend living in Barcelona, Spain, a Norwegian friend currently residing in Hamburg, Germany, and two friends who hail from Boston, MA.  There was quite a representation of international accents (including the Bostonians).  We’re all in town for the wedding, and it was great to catch up with old friends.

We spent a surprisingly sunny day in San Francisco where we ate Chinese food for lunch, and then drove part of the scenic 49 Mile Drive.  Enjoying views of the Golden Gate Bridge, the Oakland Bay Bridge, Alcatraz, Coit Tower, the Transamerica Building, Ocean Beach, and the Bay, we drove around the city and spent the afternoon as tourists.  I drove them down the crooked brick-paved Lombard street, past the Embarcadero, Pier 39, Fisherman’s Wharf, and Ghirardelli Square before continuing on to Golden Gate Park.  We didn’t have time to hit every spot I would have liked to show them, but we did see enough for them to get a feel for the size and sites of this interesting city on the Bay.

We ended the day at the Polterabend party for the wedding couple.  It was my first Polterabend, a German pre-wedding party tradition where guests throw and smash ceramic dishes to bring luck to the betrothed.  The couple uses brooms to sweep up the mess, which symbolizes their working together as a team to build a long and happy marriage.  I brought a little ceramic frog.  The bride happens to have an irrational phobia about frogs (one of the only things that scare her), so we smashed it to bits, demonstrating that she has nothing to fear in her future.

Greetings from Sacramento (Finally!)

My travel day yesterday seemed to mimic a chapter from Ruinair, one of the books I’m currently reading for review.  It started at Chicago O’Hare airport in the early hours of the morning with a transfer through Los Angeles (one of the world’s most ill-designed airports), continued on through San Francisco airport around midnight, and eventually ended with a rental car and a drive to Sacramento.  We arrived in Sacramento around 3:30 a.m., grateful to finally be at our destination and call it a day.

The pleasant surprise of the marathon travel misadventure were the happy attitudes of our two young daughters.  With only a couple of momentary exceptions, they were patient, optimistic, and agreeable throughout the greater part of the long day and night.  I suppose it helps that they’ve both been veteran travelers with their own passports since they were each less than a month old.  Our four-year-old even had to sit in a middle seat between two strangers by herself for one leg of the flight.  Even though it was the middle of the night and she was horribly sleep deprived, she just sat there with her seatbelt fastened, perfectly behaved, and wrote in her journal.

As with many things in life, when you’re travelling, it’s always the people with whom you interact that make the experience positive or negative.  Our girls played and made friends with a few other kids at the airport, which helped to pass the time.

The person who receives the big shame-on-you-for-being-so-nasty critique is the United gate agent at LAX.  He seemed to make it his personal goal to twist the term ‘customer service’ into as bad an experience as possible for everyone, co-workers and passengers alike, who came within six feet of him.

The people who receive high marks were the staff at Alamo rental car.  Even though we were very late picking up our car at the end of a long day, they were courteous, helpful, and professional across the board.

Greetings from San Jose

I flew to San Jose, CA this morning for a quick weekend trip. I spent the day in San Francisco with my friend Simone, assisting her with some wedding planning errands and enjoying the company of a good friend.

On my way out, I had the pleasure of flying on one of United Airline’s new Boeing 767s with the upgraded seat configuration. Oh baby, talk about luxury! In business class, where I had the privilege of sitting, the seats fully reclined into beds. The video console system featured a large screen with a variety of entertainment options, such as:

• At least 30 different movies from which to choose that can be started, paused, fast forwarded, etc. at the leisure of the individual passenger
• 20+ on demand TV shows
• Audio books
• Dozens of video games
• Music channels
• Flight and airport updates

The road warrior business traveler who sat next to me remarked about how impressed she was, not only with the new business class seats, but also with the courteous and engaging crew, from the gate agents to the pilots to the flight attendants. I’ve been fortunate to enjoy many good flight experiences, but this particular flight was an unexpected delight. United already had an impressive airplane fleet, but the new ’67s are truly an indulgence for passengers!