Thursday, June 27, 2019

Hampam Trip - Travel Day 1

Jet lag is real.

Traveling to Ireland was terrible, but this flight to California ranks second. It might have to do with my late nights with Madison, but the five a.m. wake-up call and the airport run definitely added to it. Our flight from Florida to Arizona seemed to last forever. I had an aisle seat and took advantage of it more often than I've ever done visiting the bathroom three times just for something to do.

We flew American. I'm a Southwest Airlines woman, but I think the grounding of the Max 73 in March increased the prices on flying west via Southwest for those of us on the opposite coast. But don't quote me on that. I couldn't afford the Southwest flights to CA and American offered the cheapest although not the best schedule thus the early 7:00 a.m. flight.

This aircraft did not offer complimentary beverages but we did get Biscotti which we agreed earned them a thumbs up. We love Biscotti in place of the standard peanuts. Darcy had a little run-in with the stewardess when she attempted a bathroom run. As she stood in the line the seat belt sign went off and the stewardess made Darcy and another woman sit down in some vacant seats and then proceeded to make snide comments when two men then came by and used the now vacant bathrooms.

Her: "See that? Men. They ignore the signs. Typical. Oh well, the world needs less of that sex anyway."

It wasn't a full plane and we had an empty seat between us but I couldn't sleep. Restless. That's all I can say. When we landed we had only a small amount of time before we boarded the second leg from Phoenix to San Francisco. This plane was HUGE. Like international travel size. I felt like I'd walk two city blocks by the time I got to my seat which this time was the middle. Ugh. Darcy had the window and a very nice man from Greece had the aisle. We chatted some and played you take it, no you take it, with the armrest until he gave it up to me like a gentleman. The pilot played tour guide telling us periodically to look outside either to the right side or to the left side at points of interest. No Biscotti on this flight, but we were offered complimentary beverages.


San Francisco was nippy. Having not packed my trusty black sweater on previous vacations, it was the first item to be packed in my travel bag. I also purchased on clearance another wrap with a hood that I also brought with me. Good thing I did this.

Our Uber driver wasn't chatty or particularly friendly especially since Darcy had added a stop to an In and Out Burger drive-thru on the route. It was packed since it was lunchtime and we sat forever before Darcy got her food which she couldn't eat in the car. She ended up eating it cold in the lobby of the Wyndham Canterbury since our room was not ready upon check-in despite the fact that it was 2:00 p.m. and I'm a Presidential owner.

I declined the sales pitch. I was not traveling with my husband. I was not with either of the other two owners. Why would a salesperson even want me? I truly don't get it. But Henrietta worked her magic and convinced Darcy that the breakfast would be topnotch the next morning and so I gave in to the $75 promised and signed up.

Darcy: "This way we avoid having to get groceries we won't even finish by the time we leave."

I blame the jet lag. All I wanted was to lie horizontally on a bed. Instead, we hiked the city in search of a Starbucks. The first one was--are you ready--out of coffee. Not really, but their grinder was broken and thus no coffee. What? That was a first and since there was another on the GPS not far, we hiked to it, caffeinated, and hiked back where we were able to get into our room, the same one that we stayed in last time, and Maddy and I collapsed on the couch while Darcy changed clothes and went to the fitness gym for her daily exercise.

Dinner was takeout that Madison walked to get and we were in bed quite early eager to meet up with the family the next day.



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