Ah yes, kicking back in sunny San Diego! Woo! So relaxing! Yeah! Tell it to the dog who is still on eastern time and wants to be fed and medicated at 3 AM Pacific time. That's all I'll say about her.
Here's something exciting: our flight out to CA. We flew out of Boston on Dec. 20th, a day when three inches of snow was predicted for the area. We got about eight inches instead. Our flight was delayed three hours. Pete and I have been through worse. At least they kept us in the terminal for most of that time. I unzipped the top of Fay's carrier so she could have her head out of the bag. She sat there and made a lot of friends.
But here's the exciting part (to me at least) I got bumped. Up. The beautiful, darling, super-kind gate agent put me and Fay in first class! Woo for real!!!
Part of me felt guilty: there were others who could have used a shot at first class like Jim and Dina and their three kids. Every time I saw Jim he had another plastic child seat hanging off of him like a giant, unsightly Christmas ornament. But there was only one #1 seat available. Or Pete could have used it since he hates sitting in the center seat and that's where he was headed. I took it though and with gratitude. I wished I'd brought a nice bottle of scotch or an expensive smelly candle to give the woman. All I had was heartfelt thanks.
So first class... It's nice. I always smirk when they come over the loudspeaker and say "sit back and enjoy the flight." You can enjoy the flight in first class. The benefits start right away while you're sitting in your spacious, comfortable chair as other people board. There's enough space between you and them that you don't have to worry about getting bashed by someone's carry-on. You can ignore the sea of humanity as it passes by. The flight attendants take your coat and hang it up for you (unless you're me and you've already balled it up and stuffed it under your chair - how uncouth!) You get a drink right away - any kind boozy or non. Not only do you get mixed nuts, you get warmed mixed nuts in a ceramic ramekin (my brother says to say "ceramekin")
As I sat there in my cushy leather chair, listening to my music, sipping from my glass of red wine, I did enjoy the flight. The food was even high quality airplane food. There was food. They offer and offer and offer refills of whatever you want until they run out and then they offer you an alternative. But the booze does hit harder at altitude. My only regret was saying yes to a refill of my wine.
Don't worry, I didn't go berserk, hop on the service cart and do a loud, self-accompanied striptease, throwing my clothes and mini alcohol bottles at everyone. I just got a little head-achy.
You know what else? Towards the end of the flight they bake chocolate chip cookies for the first classer's. No lie. You can smell them and then you can eat a hot, fresh-baked chocolate chip cookie. Sick.
It's still a six-hour plus flight and therefore boring. But it's definitely better in first class.
Fay travelled well, doing her usual imitation of an ordinary carry-on bag. I think that was a relief to my seat-mate.
So now we're in California. They all think it's cold here. It's funny to see them in their flip-flops and down jackets. Okay, I only saw that once but once is enough to get a good laugh at. It is in the forties sometimes at night. I'll admit that's cold. Yesterday it was in the seventies though. Nice!
Mom and I hit the mall and manifested our shoe mania. More on that in another post.
California is as different from the East Coast as another country. The landscape, while beautiful, is almost like that of another planet. The hummingbirds are noisy and aggressive. The people wear really different clothes than they do in the East. Some of the men here are really tall and good-looking. A significant number of them. Of course the women are good-looking too. It's all really interesting. And I never noticed when we'd come here when I was a kid. All I noticed then was that people had really different hairdos.
I always feel weird when I come here. Northern California, Southern California - it's all strange. Whenever we come I feel like I ought to think about moving here. Everyone we know who has moved here LOVES it and urges us to move out too. Maybe someday. It would be a huge adjustment but I'm not against new experiences.
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