Sojourn

I don't specifically remember anything peculiar about my flight into Oregon, except that I was lucky to be flying into Eugene and not Portland. My family made it out of the Portland area, but only after grinding down I-5 with snow chains. I did, however, have lunch at the San Francisco airport. And for some reason I always go to the Boudin Bakery and get clam chowder in a bread bowl. I could claim that it is only a San Francisco thing, but I often get the exact same thing here in San Diego at the Boudin Bakery. 

On the return trip though, many notable things happened. For starters, when the Chargers game was 'flexed' to the Sunday night game, I decided to fly standby in hopes of catching the entire game, rather than flying during it. Accordingly, I got on an early flight into San Francisco and decided to watch the game on my layover. On the flight down, the couple in the seats opposite of me had sat down in the wrong seats when someone confronted them. They said they thought they were in their row, which was 2. Now I understand someone miss counting or miss reading a sign, but when you are in the second row, it is pretty easy to find - right behind the right. 

At the San Francisco terminal, I decided to head down to the international wing to catch the game. I figured international travelers wold probably be less interested, and thus less crowd, the bar areas in the international wing. I also love being in the international wings. It is just so exciting looking at people and planes that will soon be in far off places like Auckland, Taipei and Mumbai. It is really amazing how small our world has become and the sheer mobility provided by airports. Yet my clever plan to watch the game was foiled when the venues with TVs were showing the Sound of Music. Although I had a weird craving to watch the movie that I was forced to watch when I was young, I needed to watch the big game. 

So I headed back to the Yankee Pier grille, which, although spendy, had a good TV and an open seat at the bar for me. I stupidly drank Coors Light (kind-of implicitly supporting the Broncos) and had the fish tacos, which were actually very good. When my tacos arrived, a kid in a SF Giants jacket asked me what they were. He soon ordered the same and sat down next to me, placing his McDonalds to-go salad on his lap (presumably for his girlfriend/sister). He asked the bar for a Hennessey, and when they did not have it, he ordered Courvosier. Actually he ordered a double. After downing that, he asked if they had any cabernet. The bartender held up two bottles, and the kid asked 'which is better.' The better cabernet he tried, and ordered a glass - when she told him it was $16 a glass - whereas the house was only $10. After he ordered the house cabernet, his food was ready and apparently it was his time to go. So he pounded the glass of wine and looked at his bill - which was over $50. If it wasn't near Christmas I would think it very dubious that he paid with a $100 bill. The Christmas gift was confirmed when he only tipped just over $5, or 10%. 

Once the Chargers started blowing out the Broncos, I saw a man in the restaurant grow visibly upset. It was the idiot who sat in row three on the plane. Go figure. 

When I arrived in San Diego, I received a call from United. Apparently my original flight from San Francisco had been cancelled. Providence or coincidence?