Travel luck

[ocelot]

Those of you who know me most likely have heard the story of my travel adventures surrounding the DC meet in 1999. Well, getting to San Diego definetly rivalled that, in terms of things that can go wrong...

The plan was that koyote would drive me to the airport at 3:30 in the morning, so that I could get there two hours early for my 6:05 flight. Last night his car broke down.

This was an adventure in itself. I'd just got out of class, and we were heading home, when we discovered the car wouldn't start. So he crawled around on the wet pavement under the car, trying to fix it. Some guys stopped by and let us use a flashlight, which was helpful. He thought he had fixed the problem, so we tried to start the car. This time, the battery was dead. He got a jump start, and tried again. This time we got about a block before it died when we slowed down to turn, and this time he couldn't get it started again.

So, we decided to take the bus home and figure out what to do from there. Unfortunatly, night service apparently doesn't run on the evening before Thanksgiving. I realized later that there is another bus we probably could have caught, but didn't think about that until we'd already walked most of the way home - 3+ miles at 10:30 pm on a rainy (well, not really rain, more like mist. Still miserable) night.

I called the Davis Airporter, and airport shuttle service, and they agreed to pick me up at 3:30 in the morning - there were apparently several people taking the same flight as me who had to leave at that time, too.

I slept from 12:00 or so until 2:30, got up and showered, and was outside waiting for the shuttle at 3:30 as requested.

And I waited...

And waited...

And waited...

At 3:45, I called to inquire about the status. They said that the driver was on the way as we spoke.

At 4:00, I called back and said he still wasn't here. They kept me on hold for ten minutes while they tried to figure out what was going on, then apologized and told me that there was a new driver who was still trying to learn the ropes, and he'd be there within 10-15 minutes. I mentioned that I was supposed to be at the airport now, and they said to call them between 9 and 5 if I missed my flight.

At 4:30, I was just about to call again, when it finally showed up.

Rather than going straight out to the airport with me and the other person (who was on the same flight, and therefor also late at this point), they sent the driver 20 minutes out of his way to Woodland to pick up another group.

I think both the driver and the dispatcher were new. Neither seemed to know where anything was. There was also apparently another pickup in my apartment complex at the same time (or perhaps at the same time that I was originally supposed to leave), and they didn't bother to take both of us at once. Never did get the full story on that.

We got to the airport at about 5:10, 55 minutes before my flight was supposed to leave. I waited in line to check my bag for 25 minutes or so. Once that was over and done with, I figured I was safe. Until I got to the escalator, at least...

There was a huge line, just to go up the escalator. I waited for a bit before deciding it wasn't going fast enough, then made a deal with a guy near me who was in the same boat - he held a place for me, while I went to find someone to let us through the line. The lady checking IDs at the front of the line said she'd let us through, but once we got up there, she ignored us for 5 minutes or so. The guy gave up and went back to wait in line. She let me through, along with the flight crew, a minute or two later.

Once I got up the escalator (which was essentially crowd control for the security checkpoint - they didn't want to let too many people up at once), there was the line for the security checkpoint. Again, I waited for a while. Asked a sheriff if there was any way I could get through, since my flight left in 15 minutes. He munched on his donut (really!) and said no, I'd have to wait. I waited a bit longer, and they announced the final boarding call for my flight. Another girl on the flight and I cornered another security person, who let us go ahead and go through. They stopped the other girl for further security checks, and I ran off towards the gate.

Or at least I thought I did.

I've been to this aiport 60 million times, almost always flighing Southwest. I know which gates belong to Southwest. However, I thought I'd been told that this flight was at A-6. It was really at A-16, which is in the other branch of the terminal. Luckily, they aren't that far apart. So I ran back to the other branch, and got in line behind a bunch of other late people.

At this point, they were trying to decide between going ahead and letting the plane go, or delaying it to let the people in line get on. They decided to hold it. The girl who'd got stopped at security showed up (apparently they decided that since she seemed to be in a hurry, she was obviously suspicious), as did the guy who I'd been in line with before.

I got to the front of the line, answered their security questions (tangental side note: They pay less attention to your answers to these questions now than they used to - it's down to "Read these questions, say "no" twice, and get out of here". Perhaps its just because they were in a rush this particular time), and got my boarding pass. At this point, they decided that I was the last person, and they were going to go ahead and go, despite the other 10 people in line behind me. This bugged me. I know they're trying to keep a schedule, but the flight was not full, and we got into San Diego *early* (though I guess they couldn't have known that ahead of time).

The flight was uneventful. I managed to keep myself from having a panic attack. We got into San Diego, and it was beautiful, bright, and clear. Above the clouds, anyways. Once we landed, it was overcast and a bit misty. Ah well. Cleared up quite a bit later in the day.

San Diego airport was spooky, with the National Guard standing around with big old machine guns. If they were at the Sacramento airport, I didn't notice them. The military presence in San Diego as a whole is much more pronounced than I've seen so far in around Sacramento. That's no huge shocker - it's a much bigger city, with a larger airport, which has had threats directed against it. It's just strange - there's much more of a feeling of things being different. Going over the bridge, there were military patrols and police cars watching at both ends.

Spooky.

Got home and crashed for a few hours, after hugging the cats and sending an email to koyote so he'd know I'd made it. My brother, who had got here from Santa Cruz via a 14 hour train/bus ride, was doing the same.

We got up about 1 and headed over to some friends of the family for Thanksgiving dinner. Quite yummy. I ate too much. Pecan candied yams should be illegal. My brother and I were the only people there under 40, and most were 70+ (my grandparents and their friends have at tradition of eating together every Thanksgiving). Not a bad thing, really. I found it much easier to talk with everyone this time than it usually is.

And now, I'm trying to decide what to do next. I'm utterly full, and so tired I can barely see straight (though whether from turkey, lack of sleep, or a combination of both, I'm not sure). I think I need to get out and take a walk - if I fall asleep now, I'll just end up throwing my sleep schedule completely out of whack.

Besides, I'd like to take a look around. Even being gone for four years, this still feels much more like home than Davis. I suspect that, at some point, I'll move back to San Diego. Perhaps not Coronado - I have enough bad associations with this place to last a lifetime, and don't need the housing costs, but somewhere in San Diego.

Tomorrow, my mom, her husband, and apparently his 16 year old daughter are coming down to have brunch with my brother and I. That should be interesting - neither of us have met any of our new "siblings" yet.

Comments

[theducks.livejournal.com]

Hmm I don't remember the story of your DC trip actually. I remember you there ;) Just not hearing about your hassles getting there. Air travel in the US sounds nuts right now. I'll probably only be making a brief incursion, by trian, to the US next year when I go back to Canada :)

[funjon.livejournal.com]

You'd better come visit us, dammit!