New Zealand Discoverer – Travel Days

New Zealand Discoverer

Travel Days Part 1 – 22/23 Feb 2012

Well, with the cats settled away at my sister’s house, I was free to sneak off at 5 am for the airport. It was a gorgeous sunny day and I missed a storm system by a matter of hours, so no delays. Better still, that storm system was sitting between St. John’s and Toronto so I just flew over it. This is always the problem when it comes to winter travelling from here, but this winter has been so good, the odds were with me.

Less snow shovelling for the nephew taking care of my driveway, too.

Granted, it was minus 10 when I got to the airport.

My 7 am flight left on time for Toronto. US customs was very smooth and not nearly as busy as it was last September. My flight to San Francisco was one and a half hours late, but I didn’t care since I would have time to kill in San Francisco and the delay meant I could stay in the hotel and just get ready for the next day.

I had the most interesting seat mate on this flight. Didn’t say much. Just sat there.

It was a guitar.

Yup. Buddy next to me paid to have his guitar travel with him rather than go with the rest of the luggage. Guess he’s flown United at some point.

Or saw the music video.

Well, it was one less person to be climbing over me to get to the bathroom.

Watched an interesting movie on that flight. Treed Murray I think it was called. It was about a guy stuck in a tree after being chased by a gang and how he gets out of it by making them fight it out among themselves.

I got into San Francisco at 4 pm. Perfect timing. I walked out into a clear blue sky and 18 degrees.

Minus 10 to plus 18. Yes, I was over-dressed.

The San Francisco airport is one they can be proud of. Very very nice spot. Shuttles to every hotel imaginable….including every Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express around the Bay area. Every time one came by with a Holiday Inn listed, I had to play 20 questions with the drivers. There’s like a dozen to choose from and you have to make sure you pick the right one cause not every shuttle goes to them all.

While I waited, I spent the time cheating the jet lag by soaking up the sunshine. I could feel myself come alive. The shuttle showed up after 30 minutes, so I had just missed it when I came out.

I chose the Holiday Inn Express North because it had a McDonald’s right next door. Perfect for that after flight meal, but I honestly think I ate about 4000 calories today. Something about flying and not knowing when you’ll get fed that makes you store food like a camel does water.

Only my hump isn’t on my back.

Thankfully, my jeans have an elastic waistband.

I checked in to the Holiday Inn Express and the great guy at the front desk arranged a taxi to get to Pier 33 for the Alcatraz tour tomorrow. Easier than trying to get to the public transit system and then having quite a walk from the stop to the pier.

I went up to check out my room and it was really good for about a hundred bucks.

Oh wait, wrong hotel.

The Holiday Inn Express had a television that had, without question, the most extensive selection of any television I’ve ever met. The room also had a kettle, fridge, iron and board, safe and the most comfortable mattress imaginable. I meant to check the brand name before I left. Darn. Free wifi too but my room was on the top floor at the end and didn’t get a constant signal, but they had a wired connection that worked perfectly.

I actually managed to stay awake until 9:30 which is about 2 am for me. That meant I could sleep for up to 9 hours if I wanted to. I woke at 5:30 and there was a show on about cats.

You think I went back to sleep?

Yeah. I’ll pay for that later.

Did you know that you should have one more litter pan in the house than you have cats? That means I should have 3.

So, I got my stuff sorted away for the morning prison visit. The hotel offered a basic lounge breakfast. I had a nice omelet and biscuit with orange juice.

Not that I needed it. But I’m gonna walk it off today!

I gave my luggage to the front desk and turned around and there was my taxi driver. The clerk said he was a really nice guy. She was right. Real sweat heart. An Armenian immigrant named Tigran that has been in the US for 20 years. He got me down to the pier in plenty of time and even arranged to pick me up at 1 pm. He showed me where he’d pick me up at the Fisherman’s Wharf (pier 39) and I elected to hop out there and walk to Pier 33 since I had time. Good thing I didn’t linger. The line was already started by the time I got to the pier at 8:30 for the 9:10 ferry ride. It’s the first boat to Alcatraz.

Best part of the day – brilliant sunshine and not a lick of fog to be seen. I could have so easily shown up to an island shrouded in fog or a day of rain but nope – I got sunshine and temps so warm, I got to wear a t-shirt. Good thing I brought one .

Alcatraz is an interesting place to visit.

The prison is actually quite small. Just three lines of cells three tiers high.

We could even see the cells where the famous 1963 escape took place and see behind the cells where they were able to climb up and out.

I took the audio tour and that’s the best way to see the cell block. Tells the story of the escape attempt that resulted in the death of a guard as well. Outside, you get an amazing view of San Francisco and the Golden Gate, which is a fair distance away – farther than I expected.

I spent about two and a half hours there which I heard was average. I took a walk around the west side of the island past some beautiful gardens and walked up into the recreation yard where I could sit on those steps you see in the movies.

Yeah, it’s really there – it’s not a movie set! It gave the prisoners the best view of the north end of San Francisco.

I wandered down to the dock for the 11:35 boat. That would give me an hour at Fisherman’s Wharf before I had to meet the taxi. A lot of people don’t seem to like the Wharf but it was a great spot to spend an hour just walking around.

I wandered out to the street and just as I sat down, Tigran showed up. I got a nice speedy freeway ride back to the hotel and gave him a really nice tip. (Hailing a taxi off the street risked the driver getting my Holiday Inn mixed up with the others. Apparently, that’s a real problem…LOL).

Not to mention that my Holiday Inn Express North Airport is located on South Airport Blvd.

I retrieved my luggage from the front desk and caught the shuttle to the airport. The Air New Zealand desk didn’t open till 3:30 so I got to have lunch at The Burger Joint. Great burger there, BTW.

Didn’t find any Krispy Kreme anywhere. <pout>

Nice part about being so early is that the counter isn’t open is that I get to line up the moment it does. I sat nearby and the moment someone else decided to stand in the line, I joined them. Five minutes later, there was a hundred people behind me.

I mean, how many people are there on a 747?

A lot.

I went through security where everyone gets a body scan whether they want it or not. The shopping is so-so after security, but the international terminal is joined to the United one where there is a lot more shopping.

One neat thing about the airport. There are plugs available and free wi-fi but it also has little booths and desks located throughout the waiting area where you can sit and type and plug in everything. Way to go, SFO.

Now, to battle against how many hundreds of people for some space in the overhead….

 

 

Go to Travel Days Part 2

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