Planning and packing for a holiday adventure can be routine. Pre-booking, researching, planning. A hat, sunglasses, toiletries, clothing, the “right” number of underpants, a guidebook, camera, computer, the correct country plug to charge or power what you take. Most items are either on a list or in a drawer. What is different this time is back to back “adventures”.
We return to SFO from South Africa on July 18. Without going home, we drive north to Eugene, Oregon for Greg and Lacey’s wedding on July 20. Different suitcase, different clothes, more underpants. What did we forget? We won’t know for three weeks!
Speaking of forgetting, when we rolled into the Travelodge by SFO for our park-and-fly, there was NO reservation to sleep one night and park for 17! It was 9pm, this was not good. In all my “careful” planning I had booked the one sleeping night for June 30, not June 29. When the deskman told me that, I quickly pulled up the reservation on my phone to show him otherwise, and he quickly pointed to My Phone to show me he was right. Jokingly, I asked if we could check in at 12:01am, June 30. He smiled and gave us our room key and didn’t charge for the extra day of parking.
Due to a “perfect storm” of frequent flyer miles, Gloria ended up in Business Class and I in First Class. Along with that, Admiral’s Club before the flight is thrown in. Oh, wow. So this is how business travelers of the world move about the planet. This is a rare experience, not to be duplicated in our 15 hour flight in economy from JFK to Johannesburg. So please pass the breakfast-to-order, cappuccino, warm nuts, hot towels and freshly baked cookie. To “honor” this experience, no movies for me. Getting caught up on journals and magazines, some writing and listening to the 90+ year old WWII vet in the seat ahead of me (complimentary upgrade—no, it didn’t work for Gloria) who was telling the flight attendant that he was flying to Pamplona, Spain for the “Running of the Bulls”, something he has been doing since 1970!
After landing, dinner was across the street from the Howard Johnson by the airport. Kinda a sketchy neighborhood, so across the street was good. As we left the restaurant a police cruiser sailed by and a plain clothes detective ducked into the shop next to us, handgun on his belt. The Chicken Shack, (check my review on Yelp), was great. All the locals eat here, (we were the only tourists). A half bbq chicken and two sides for us to share--$9. They threw in a bottle of water. Felt like we had already left the US! We overnight in NY, then fly out tomorrow, late morning.
