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Published: September 1st 2013
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Do you ever wake up and can't remember what day it is.. happens to me loads... at the moment I have no idea what time it is let alone what day it is we have moved over so many time zones
Up at five thirty this morning as I woke up in the night and remembered I had packed my flight socks on the bottom of my case and it was all locked and ready to go and I would have to get in there and fish them out to wear on board or my legs would probably explode. I don't like flight socks I feel like a granny and they crease around my ankles and make my legs look like overstuffed sausages but it's that or the risk of DVT so it's a no brainer. We were all pretty much on the ball and after an early breakfast we jumped into the lovely Lincoln Mike had booked to chauffeur us to the airport. As we left New York I wasn't sad to go.. I had a ball and was so glad for the opportunity, sensory overload?.. yep it was crazy but colourful and I loved it .. for a
few days.. couldn't live there and the tipping culture annoys me so much.. always asking for tips and shaking their jars at you.
We checked in at JFK and flight was on time , went to buy some snacks for the flight stupidly expensive $3 for a packet of crisps?... as you checked in you were allocated a group at random for boarding and typically Martin and I were left until last to board.. RANT ALERT... What's with hand luggage these days.. bloody full size suitcases that take up all the overhead lockers.. the situation is crazy We were at the back and the shortage of available overhead storage was causing all sorts of problems as the last group had nowhere to put their hand luggage and it had to be taken back and stored in the hold.. Jackie had seen this coming and had packed he bag in such a way that when I arrived I could move it and squeeze mine in ... result.. Martin wasn't so lucky
Flight UA642 wasn’t so bad.. the Lady First Officer announced that we had arrived early but couldn’t make the most of it as there was no available gate
and so we had to sit on the tarmac until one became available...as per usual the bing bong message from the flight deck to cabin crew was like a starting pistol followed by a hundred seatbelt clicks and everyone to getting to their feet and recover there personal belongings out of the overhead lockers as quickly as possible..some have made it to a prime slot in the aisle where they can actually stand upright others bent over all trying to disembark as quickly as possible as if they were on a timer and if you didn’t make the exit doors in 30 seconds you would not be allowed off. this is one of my favourite people watching situations, there is always someone who reaches for their hand luggage and does the “bag bash”.. throws their bag over their shoulder and floors the person behind!!.. I have actually seen one man do this on a flight back to the isle of man where he knocked 3 people on the head on his way to his seat and then on the way off did the bag bash, turned to apologise with his duffel bag over his shoulder and nearly knocked out the
guy in the row opposite!..
On arrival in the baggage reclaim we waited by the carousel for a while ... longer than expected when a tannoy announcement told us our bags were stood at the back taken off the carousel... good job the guy noticed us waiting by an empty carousel of we would still be there now. Mike had a plan for us to get to Sheraton Fisherman Wharf by local transport and we took the skytrain monorail to the BART station to board the train to the hotel.
All was fine and Jackie deciphered the train map and wetn with Martin to buy our tickets from the automated machine. We went to exit on to the platform which was like the London underground where you put your ticket in and dash through the pinball style flippers to the other side.. but these were vicious little buggers and my case went in front of me and as I attempted to walk through the flippers smacked me in the belly ouch! Jackie was a bit quicker than me but still got one in the hip, there I was stuck mid flow cases one side of the
barrier and me the other with a queue building up behind an a sign flashing Call Agent, J&M had moved on down the escalator and were oblivious to my predicament..but thankfully Martin rescued me and the agent came and released me .. I was not impressed and if I had the time would have given them a piece of my mind if I had been a pregnant lady that belly blow would have been dangerous...
Anyway train came in no time and we sat at the back on our way to San Francisco!.. woo hoo! we exited onto the main drag and a beautiful blue sky and sunshine..Mike was sure we just had a short distance to the hotel until he asked a street vendor for directions and was told it was a 45 minute walk!..what you kidding me?.. we hailed a cab and the driver was full of the joys of life, it felt like we were in the caribbean and he was joking with Martin all the way to the hotel... man we is blessed with this booootiful day,, and this booootiful place! don’t worry be happy man...
Our ground
floor room at Sheraton 1416 was unlike any other I had stayed in we had a window but it was completely covered by the massive bamboo growing outside so it was dark and felt like we were in the jungle. Martin made me laugh with his David Bellamy impression.
Jackie as everyone will know is a pool bunny not water she (doesn’t like to get wet) but first sign of the sun and she is "Chillax Murley" always stretched out on a sunbed strategically placed for optimum sun often book in hand - no wait it's kindle fire these days..head buried in a mystery of some kind the within minutes was in her costume poolside on a sun bed worshipping the sun God, Martin was hungry - (there’s a pattern forming here - Jackie likes to chill - Martin ia always hungry) and so we went out of the hotel to find him some food.
That evening we found a fish restaurant by Pier 39 I had a seafood salad which I couldn’t eat it was so big it put me off before I started and the added mixture of apples oranges and boiled
eggs in with the mountain of crab meat and prawns and a huge hairy crab leg on top turned my stomach a bit terrible waste of $30 - eating out is very expensive and I have only had one evening meal that I can honestly say I have enjoyed and that was at Bubba Gump,, but I am a fussy eater I prefer small amounts of good food.
Nice stroll home Jackie and I sat in the lounge to use he wifi and Martin and Mike headed out for a beer. We joked how we both our rooms had two double beds and we both had said to the guys this is mine and that one’s yours... it’s nice to be able to have a big double bed all to yourself occasionally where you can be a starfish with getting a poke in the ribs to get back on your own side!!!
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