We lucked out today in so many ways. Our weather has been abysmal (for us. Wetter parts of the country might think it quite normal) and we have all been complaining to anyone who would listen about how grey and wet and cold it’s been for at least three weekends in a row, but there was a tiny bit of clearing when we took off, and though we were about 40 minutes delayed and had a pretty rough climb through the clouds, we made up time, the flight was smooth and, most astoundingly, there were 29 empty seats on our plane and we scored an empty middle between us. I’ve been making a lot of short trips recently, and can’t remember the last time that happened. Oh happy day!
G and I have notably different approaches to travel days, with me keeping my head down, avoiding eye contact and screwing Air Pods into my ears and hoping they last the day, while G talks to everyone (!) along the way. Today he approached me with a man I didn’t know; he was the head of Southwest operations at our airport and they had been chatting and he wanted to introduce me. 45 years of air travel and I’ve never met the head of any airline operations while flying. Or at least known that I did, because I’ve never asked. I think he was just thrilled to talk with people who weren’t unhappy about something.
Yeah, it’s exactly like that. 😆
We were finishing up spring planting between rain drops yesterday, with G literally making use of a short dry period to mow the wet lawn one last time and me putting down bags of fresh mulch (I’ve left for a cruise without a manicure before, but never with dirt under my nails) so simply sitting for a few hours on our flight was a welcome respite. Once in San Francisco, we claimed our luggage (but our Air Tags told us our bags were right where they should be, always a relief) and followed the signs for Uber/Lyft. I don’t recall we’ve ever used one of those services at SFO before. It was a $70 trip to the Hotel Zoe Fisherman’s Wharf where we spent the night.
Our choice of hotel was harder than it needed to be. My research had indicated the Hotel Rui was a good choice (it’s literally right around the corner from the Zoe), and I made a booking, and then G read something more favorable about the Zoe, so I cancelled the Rui and booked the Zoe, and then G read about a happy hour other cruisers were having the night before the cruise at the Rui and asked if we wanted to stay at the Rui after all and…well, his booking agent (me) resisted. I need to start charging a change fee! We’re at the Zoe but stopped by the Rui. They’re both fine.
We took a quick rest in our room, charging our phones while we were there and then headed out in search of food and Fisherman’s Wharf. Food was a tuna sandwich from Subway across the street; we were joking about our seafood dinner in San Francisco, but we didn’t have the energy for more than that, and then we set off in search of stinky sea lions. They’re not hard to find, more than a hundred of them in one spot on piers in San Francisco Bay. We were quite taken with the number of Waymo’s, the self-driving taxis on the street. There are far more than there were just two years ago. We have been seeing videos about the experience, and had hoped to fit in a ride, but I don’t think it’s going to work pre-cruise. Maybe after…
Cute. Noisy. Smelly.
Perfect day, but sooo chilly by the water.
Some things never change.
And that was our day. It’s nice to have the travel behind us, and know that we have only to get as far as the ship tomorrow morning. And then, 22 days of bliss.
Life is good. :-)
