Day 1 - Northern CA

After the disappointment of not having J coming on the trip (it was just 2 friends going on a trip together, but who knows where it might have lead), I drove up to the hotel, which was just a wee bit further than I thought it was. OK, it was a lot futher. It was close to 300 miles from SFO. It was a beautiful ride up Hwy 101, over the Golden Gate Bridge, and the road went on forever.


Finally around 10:15pm PT, nearly 22 hours after I left my apartment, I arrive at the hotel. This hotel was more like a trailer park. They had cabins, and I got a deliverance vibe as I pulled up. I found the place on the internet, and needless to say it didn't look nearly the same in person as it did on the website. Exhausted, I crawl into my cabin/trailer and go to sleep.

When I awoke, I went of exploring the town, and find that it's a small fishing community nestled in with the Redwoods.

I walked down to the water and found a beautiful little beach.
After an hour or so of walking around, I headed back to the trail, and off to the redwoods.

J Pulls a "Kevin" plus a bad start to Vacation

I guess that it was a long time coming. I finally got burned by someone doing what I do so many times. C always used to say when something didn't happen because of a lack of planning or an assumption of time off that it was a "Kevin". J and I had planned a getaway. It was planned for the time between the end of the MLB Regular Season and the start of the Championship series. Because of the one game playoff, she ended up having to work. She planned to the come out a day later. Not so bad. The planned trip was to fly to SFO, drive up to Redwood National Forest, stay at a lodge on the water for a few days, tour around the redwoods, drive down to Napa, hang out in wine country for a few days, then head to SFO and fly home.

Now to the bad. I fly predominantly on one airline for work. I take advantage of this when I go on vacation and use the miles that I earn to fly for free. That airline changed the type of aircraft 2 days before the flight, and I ended up bumped off that flight and accommodated on a partner airline of theirs, albeit with a connection. Not too bad, I'm still flying in First Class for free. I knew it couldn't be that easy.

I went to check in online and couldn't. This has happened before, so I'm not worried. I go to the ticket counter the morning of the flight and find that I'm not in First Class, but in 23C to Atlanta and 44B to SFO. I'm able to get to change my seat to 44C, so not nearly as bad. The next shock comes that I have to pay to check bags. When I fly my carrier of choice, I don't have to pay for the first 2 bags, up to 70lbs each. Now I'm paying $50 to check bags on what was supposed to be a free first class ticket. I question the Delta agent, but it's not her fault and there's nothing that she can do. She's just following the rules. I'll save that for when I get back.

I fly out to ATL and sleep through most of the flight. On our decent, I wake up and realize that I have Dish Network for free on this flight and think things are looking up. I deplane and head for my connection (40 minutes to change terminals at ATL) and didn't have time to pick up something to eat.

I get on the plane, and see once again, Dish Network in front of me. This Delta thing isn't so bad. Then come the announcements. There will be a meal, available for purchase. Then, since I'm in the last row of the aircraft, by the time they get to me, they don't have what I want. They ran out. I purchase my $3 mini pringles can and consider myself lucky for getting anything (and a free drink). The Flight Attendants come through again, and start at the front of the Cabin again, and once again, the person in row 43 bought the last of what I would have wanted. To myself I think maybe they should have started in the back of the cabin this time so we got first pick instead of running out AGAIN before getting to the last row.

I deplane in SFO, and hear that J thought that she was off from work, but didn't take vacation and now had to work during the week. She was very apologetic, and truth be told, I understood. I also now truly understood how so many others felt when I put them in the same situation. It just wasn't after they spent 10 hours flying.