Business Trip to San Francisco

Fourth business trip of the year took me to San Francisco, California. I flew out on a Sunday afternoon, and it was a going to be a long, crowded, “Damn! Only middle seats?” flight. I was at Newark Airport on time, but I was stuck walking around the concourse looking for edible lunch options (to eat on the plane) at 10:30 AM. Trust me, there is nothing that looks edible or appealing to eat for lunch at 10:30 AM. I’m not thinking about lunch at that time normally. I eventually settled on a chicken sandwich to hold onto and save for eating two hours later. I occupied myself by working and reading.

Landing at San Francisco International Airport, it’s certainly a lot nicer out there than Newark. Waiting for the train to take me to the car rental center and looking at mountain ranges? Wow. As a matter of fact, my entire drive into San Francisco and to my hotel was extremely picturesque. The only word I could find was, “Wow.” My room at the Intercontinental San Francisco was so nice, I felt the need to capture it in pictures. I was mostly amazed by the room view and the shower door – less shower. That was some interesting engineering. I met a friend soon afterwards to do a little sightseeing and dinner. We drove around to Twin Peaks, saw Dolores Park, and a simple dinner in the Mission District.

Monday and Tuesday were quite a blur at work. Imagine my surprise late Sunday night when I got a message from another friend who had just landed at SFO, and would be working in San Francisco that same week. Monday evening after work, I met her for dinner. Not a bad coincidence.

Tuesday night, I was at SFO on time, clothes changed, and ready for the red eye flight home. While at the airport looking for dinner, I saw a pretty neat art showcase around Japanese toys. Among the many display items, I saw two of childhood favorites — Tranzor Z / Mazinger Z, and all things Godzilla. I would have stayed longer to gawk, but I had a flight to catch. It was a long flight, but at least I didn’t have another middle seat. I haven’t done the red eye in over a decade, and now I remembered why people don’t like them. You can’t sleep restfully on a red eye. I don’t know how it is for you, but I was constantly waking up throughout the flight, including during an in-flight emergency around 4 AM EST. I couldn’t sleep after that, so I booted up the laptop and worked some more.

Eventually landed around 6 AM, eventually found my car in the airport parking lot, and made my way home after 7 AM. Long day and a long night.

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