Baja Birthday Sideways 2010: Day 7
Loris Scagliarini - Photograps: Loris & Brigit Published - October 22, 2010
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Friday, October 15, 2010
After breakfast we pack our bags, then Brigit goes to the swimming pool to take advantage up to the end of the gorgeous hot sun and add the last layer of tan before we head back home to the cooler climate of the San Francisco Bay area. I answer e-mails and chat on Skype with business associates, then we prepare sandwiches to take with us to the airport and, at around 3PM, check out and drive back to the Alamo rent-a-car by the airport.
The drive is pleasant and uneventful and by half past four we have already returned the car, reached the airport with the complimentary Alamo shuttle, checked our luggage and passed through Customs. We enjoy our sandwiches and the cold hibiscus tea that I had prepared earlier this morning and cooled in the fridge. Afterwards we have time to peruse the duty free stores while we wait to board our flight to LA.
When we arrive in LA. the airport is in chaos. There are multiple arrivals all having passports stamped, picking up bags, going through customs, dropping the bags again at connecting flight hubs. It takes us about two hours to go from terminal 3, where we have landed, with American Airlines, and run to terminal 7 where we have to get our United Airlines boarding passes at the do-it-yourself station. Luckily we have well over two hours stop -over and have landed 10 minutes earlier than expected.
In addition, the boarding passes we are issued are five aisles apart, so when we reach our boarding gate I ask if it would be possible to switch one of the seats, but without much hope, as they are actually looking for volunteers to give up their seat on the 10:15PM flight we are to board and fly off tomorrow morning at 6:20AM. Against the odds, minutes before they start boarding we are called and both our seats have been switched and we'll be sitting across the aisle from each other.
Since our new seats are on aisle 10, we board with the last seating group and board toward the end. As we sit down, I notice San Francisco mayor and current candidate to the seat for California Lieutenant Governor in the November 2, 2010 elections, Gavin Newsom, and his wife, the actress Jennifer Lynn Siebel, who are behind us and actually take the 11A and 11B seats behind me, while two members of his staff sit beside me on 10A and 10B. They were probably the cause for earlier request for volunteers to switch flights, as I don't think they usually fly economy from LA to SF. They are practically the last people to board the plane and, after setting into their seats, they start wolfing down McDonald burgers and fries with gusto, while the flight assistants instruct the passengers about what to do in case of emergency. As it happens, Newson is sitting by one of the emergency exits so, should something happen, he will be partially responsible for taking appropriate action.
San Francisco mayor and current candidate to the seat for California Lieutenant Governor in the November 2, 2010 elections, Gavin Newsom, and his wife, actress Jennifer Lynn Siebel. The flight lasts about an hour and we don't have to wait too long at the carousel to get our bags. As soon as we walk out the airport and reach the parking shuttle stop, the Park SFO shuttle pulls up and, since we are the only passengers, it takes just minutes to get to the parking facility, pick up our car and head home.
By now it is 15 minutes past midnight and traffic is very sparse on Highway 380 to Highway 280, and all the way home, so much so that about 10 minutes to 1AM, I am backing in our driveway. Both Brigit and I are tired and ready to crawl into bed to wrap up this latest 'Baja Birthday Sideways.'
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