Mar 1, 2007

The way to San Jose

The family is on the road again. I'm typing this in the lobby of a Comfort Suites in San Jose, California. Janet got a grant to go to a Library Conference, and the rest of us paid our way to accompany her.

We didn't bring our laptop; I'm typing this on a guest computer. So it may be the only post of the whole trip, unless we run into more guest computers.

I probably won't be posting any pictures, even after we get back, because (keep track of the goofs, now), I forgot the camera at home.

I also forgot my cell phone in the car, back at the Baltimore Airport. But Janet has hers and Ethan has his, so we'll be okay.

Continental Airlines earns recognitions for leaving us waiting before takeoff about thirty minutes. That's ironic, since this was the first flight for Ethan and Emmett, and I've NEVER had a flight delay that long. On the other hand, that gave time for their nerves to settle. After just sitting for a long time, it's no longer "Whoa, we're gonna fly; I don't know if I'll survive," it's "Let's just get going already."

Contintental Airlines again: I couldn't pin down (pun intended) whether the airline gives out First Flyer pins. I asked for them for the boys. The flight attendant on the first flight (nicely) said he didn't have time. The employee inside the terminal said, "Sure! If I can find them!" But she couldn't. She sent me to a Customer Service desk, where they said they didn't have any such pins. Same story at another desk. What the heck, I'll keep asking, and if I strike out, I'll write to Continental and see what they say.

The flights went well. Plural, because we had a couple-hour layover in Newark. The six-hour flight to San Jose was nice. Roomy plane, many empty seats so we could spread out, clean. We watched "Casino Royale" and "Happy Feet." The latter had its moments, but the story is kind of jumbled, and I can't see how it won the Oscar rather than "Cars."

The goof of the day goes to Rainbox Taxi in San Jose, who kept us waiting at the airport about half an hour for a four-minute cab ride. The Comfort Suites has a nice service where they pay for a cab ride from the airport, and the dispatcher was very pleasant (sounded JUST like Michael Clarke Duncan--is that the right name? from "Green Mile"?)--but he sent out a new driver who simply could not find the cab stand. There were a lot of cell calls (to Janet's phone) involved here.

Nice room. Good sleep. Here we go.

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