San Francisco Vacation: Day 1

Well, you already know that we woke up before any normal human being should be allowed to wake up for our 6am flight. There is an upside to that, though. We arrived in San Francisco at 10:30am!!

We got to see a pretty fantastic sunrise on our flight out.

 It took a while to get off the plane (we were in the second to last seats in the back), we grabbed our luggage and hopped in a cab that took us down to Fisherman's Wharf. We were staying on Hilton points at the Hilton Fisherman's Wharf San Francisco. It's an older hotel but our room was clean, comfortable and a decent size. The hotel front desk staff and the concierge staff were all extremely friendly, helpful and accommodating. It's nice to stay at a hotel where you always feel welcome. This hotel gave us that feeling.

The average King size non-smoking room:

Yes, the TV gets turned on the nano-second we enter any hotel room (not my doing). AND yes, it's tuned to The People's Court (again, not my doing). Side bar: I DESPISE court TV shows. They're such crap. I believe the comment 1 minute after this was, "I know, I know, it was just on when I turned on the TV!" Mmmm hmmm.

After we dropped our bags off and got changed, we walked down to the lobby. I wanted to check with the concierge to see if they had any tickets to Alcatraz. We had tried to buy them at home about a week before the trip. They were sold out for a week and a half. This really bummed Hops out because one of the main things he wanted to do in San Francisco was go to Alcatraz. I was going to make it happen if I could. I chatted with the concierge and lo and behold, she had some tickets for us for ... that day! Yay!! We bought those tickets and we bought tickets to a tour the next day on a double-decker bus. Yes, we had planned on biking the next day but after looking at the weather, we decided to take the double decker bus instead. Best. Decision. Ever.

We left the hotel and went over to the wharf for lunch. Our snacks had held us long enough. we wanted real food! We walked past all of the vendors, smelling the delicious scents. We ended up stopping at one of the restaurants at the wharf (yeah, I forget the name). We got a bread bowl with some clam chowder, a Crab Louie Salad and...Anchor Steam, of course!

From the wharf area, we walked down to Pier 33 to pick up the ferry to Alcatraz. Oh my gosh...the trip over to Alcatraz was sooooo windy and chilly! It was overcast by the coast the whole time we were there so the sun wasn't out to help warm things up. I might have ended up lending my husband my scarf for a portion of Thursday and Friday.

Your eyes immediately go to the blue skies, right? Ok, now look down. Check out the haze over the city. See the layer of fog on the bottom right? That was over where we were, as well. It looks so pretty over there! Come this way!! :)

With the gray skies and the gray look of Alcatraz, I decided to go black and white for our photos of the old prison.

This was as we were coming up to the island.

Once you are inside the prison, there is an audio tour. It is absolutely fantastic. I would definitely suggest it to anyone who has time or any interest in going to Alcatraz. The narrators are prison guards and prisoners from Alcatraz. There is also background noise that makes it sound like prison cells being opened and closed, prison fights and more. All very interesting. I know, a prison cell in pictures really doesn't look that interesting, but I liked the fact that they tried to keep a few in tact for the tour.

I like little doors.

Of course, we had to pretend we were prisoners. Because we're 12. Seriously, though, these solitary confinement cells were right below the windows that led out to the bay. I can't imagine how cold they must have gotten when the winds were blowing fierce through the uninsulated walls and windows. It was cold when we were there and we were in jackets and had our ears covered. Us pretending to be angry prisoners:

Alcatraz showers. No hiding anything in here!!

I'm so glad we got to go on that tour. It was definitely worth it. I would suggest that if you are going to visit San Francisco and all of the online tickets are sold out, that you walk down to Pier 33 to see if they have any tickets available for that day. It may not work if you have a big group but if it's just the two of you or four of you, you may get lucky if you go over early.

Once we were done with the Alcatraz tour, we were pretty spent. It was still early, so we walked back toward Fisherman's Wharf and walked down Pier 39. I figured we had to stop in on the sea lions. We walked past a few restaurants and coffee shops and came to the most fabulous place ever. I'm not joking.

They have mini sugar-covered donuts. Deliciousness. We got a small container of just 5 donuts. We should have gotten the bucket. Or two buckets, considering what we did decide on for dinner. Alas, we continued on past the donuts to the pier where the sea lions were.

They seem to bellow for fun and out of frustration. Either way, so cute.

Smooshed sea lion. He didn't seem to mind much, though. He actually looked pretty comfortable and warm, tucked in beneath the rest of them.

Show-off.

Honestly, by now we were pretty much done for the day. We had been up since 4am and it was 7:30 on the West Coast, so it was acceptable. We headed back to the hotel to think about dinner. When we got there, neither of us were really in the mood to do much. I walked over to the Safeway a few blocks down the road and picked up a bottle of wine. We ordered pizza that was delivered to our room and were asleep before 9pm. It was a good day.

Travel Tips: What To Do When Your Connection Is Cancelled

Honestly, I wasn't planning on having a Part 2 of my Travel Tips blog post. Maybe I'll have to make this a series after I run into various issues with travel and explain how best to resolve them. This blog post is brought to you courtesy of Hurricane Irene.

As you know, I have been out in San Francisco for a while. We left on Thursday of last week (I do apologize for being sneaky but with us both gone from the house at the same time...you know...creepers, robbers and all that). My original flight home was scheduled for 10:45pm this past Friday night out of SFO, otherwise known as the Red-Eye flight. On Wednesday, I started monitoring Hurricane Irene a little closer. Things were not looking all that great for getting home. On Thursday, I started getting emails and text messages from Orbitz telling me that there would be no change fees if you were flying to certain airports. My airport was one of those. I decided to change my flight to an earlier flight on Friday. As I mentioned above, I was getting text messages and emails from Orbitz. I highly suggest booking through Orbitz. You don't have to deal directly with the airline unless you are at the airport. They send you updates about your flights as they come up - cancellations, delays and gate information. It is a great resource.

I called Orbitz on Thursday and knew I was in trouble when the recording that put me on hold said my wait time was greater than 30 minutes. At least they're honest, I guess. I waited for 44 minutes to talk to a representative. The rep I spoke with looked up my flight information, contacted United for me and 45 minutes after I started talking to him, I had a new flight that was scheduled to leave SFO at 11:55am on Friday, connecting in Chicago and landing in Raleigh at 10pm. Great. I am going to get home and get home earlier than expected.

I got on my flight at 11am and everything looked good for my layover. When I arrived in Chicago, I turned on my phone while I was still taxiing on the runway and .... bad news. Text from Orbitz - your flight to RDU has been cancelled. Whomp whommmp. The only good news about this is I knew this before getting off the plane because there is no way the airline would have texted me that information.

I started trying to figure out other plans. Being stuck in Chicago and needing to get home to Raleigh is bad news. You can't just rent a car and drive from Chicago to Raleigh. I texted my husband who asked how he could help. I asked him to get on the phone with Orbitz. He could call them and I would see if I could find someone inside the airport to help. Whoever got a hold of someone first wins.

Here's the annoying thing that I found at the airport, there was no one at the Customer Service desk. Grrr. I decided to go find an empty gate somewhere and hunt down a customer service rep on my own. I walked 10 gates down from where mine was and finally found a gate where there were some customer service reps. I chatted with one who told me that all flights to RDU out of Chicago were cancelled until Sunday evening. Seriously. So, the agent asks me where I would like to fly into. Uhhhh...the only airport I could think of was DC. There were no flights to Charlotte that evening. The agent got me on the flight to DC and I called a friend who lives there. She offered to pick me up and put me up for as long as it took until the hurricane had passed. I love her.

So, I flew into DC. Our plane's luggage came out. Guess who's bag wasn't on the turnstile? Yup. My bag didn't make it. I went to the customer service desk and they looked up my bag. It was still in Chicago. Of course it was. I walked out to my friend's car and we stopped at Harris Teeter for hurricane provisions.

Source: Google Images

In the morning, I called the United Baggage Claim information line. They looked up my bag's current location. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Hopkins but we're not sure where your bag is right now. It has not been sent to Dulles yet, though." Okaaay. The good news is that the agent I was speaking with asked if I would need money for toiletries. I asked if toiletries meant clothing. It did. SCORE. I asked for $150. I don't need a lot because I was driving home on Sunday. I just needed some clean undergarments and an outfit for the day. My friend took me to the mall and I got 2 t-shirts, jeans and a sweater, as well as the other necessities. I stayed under $120. The luggage agent said if I had a need to up that amount before my bag showed up, to just let them know.

All weekend, I was told that my bag could not be located. At 1pm on Sunday, I received a call from United Baggage Department. They scanned my bag into the system and they will expedite it to Raleigh. That's good news. Now, shall we talk about the best things to do when your flight gets cancelled?

If your connection is cancelled:

1. Before you leave for the airport, double-check your flight information for all legs of the flight. 
2. If you are flying during a possible weather event, pack an extra t-shirt and undergarments in your carry-on luggage. Ps...I did not do this. I learned.
3. If you find your connecting flight cancelled, start by searching for the nearest Customer Service counter for your airline. If you do not see one, walk down the aisle in the direction of the most airline gates. Find one that is not busy that has agents available. 
4. Let the agents know your problem and they will work with you to find you a flight out. If you cannot fly into your airport, see if there are any flights into airports nearby. You could possibly get someone to pick you up or rent a car from that airport. 
5. If you can't get on a flight that day but do get one for the following day, walk out of the security gates and find the tables near baggage claim. They will have phones that will directly connect you to the local airport hotels. This is the best way to find an airport that will be able to bus you to and from the hotel.
6. If you have friends in the area where you are stuck, call them. If they are home, they will probably take pity on you and ask you if you want to stay with them.

Luggage Issues

1. If your luggage does not show up, report it immediately while you are at the airport.
2. Find out where your luggage is. Is it delayed, still in another airport or lost?
3. Make a report and make sure you have the document receipt. This will be your contact to your airline's luggage department and your luggage.
4. Call the 800 number you are given every 8 hours or so. The recording will be able to give you the information you need. If you need to change anything, you will have the option to speak to a representative. 
5. Ask for a stipend if you need anything. I was able to borrow some items from my friend. I borrowed all the items you would normally get at a hotel. These are the items I felt were necessary purchases since I was without any of my clothing or toiletries (I did have my make-up and face lotion with me):
1. Two t-shirts
2. 1 pair of jeans
3. 1 pack of undergarments
4. 1 hair brush
5. 1 toothbrush and 1 toothpaste
6. 1 deodorant
6. To go along with the above, if today had been a work day, more items would have been needed:
1. Shoes (I wear flip flops on airplanes)
2. Curling iron
3. Hair Dryer
4. Possibly socks
5. Razor
6. Possibly more days worth of work-appropriate clothing.
7. If your destination changes, call the number on the luggage receipt and give them the new address. The airline will deliver your luggage to your house, you do not need to go back to the airport to get it. They messed up, so they will take the extra effort to get the luggage to you.

As of 4pm on Sunday, my luggage had been found. It was in Chicago. It will not be in Raleigh until at least late Sunday or Monday. No big deal considering I'll be home by then. Big deal if I wasn't going home! Speaking of which, I got home at 3pm on Sunday. I ended up renting a car one-way from Dulles that my company will pay for. I don't know what time I could have gotten on a plane back to RDU, so the best bet was just to drive home. It's SO nice to be home!! 

Five Things Friday

My five favorite things from our trip to San Francisco and Monterey, in no particular order.

1. Seeing the Sea Lions at Pier 39. It's such a touristy thing to do, but how can you not. I love animals of all types. Seeing wild animals in person is just awesome.

This guy on the end here? He slept through a lot of commotion. The other sea lions were wrestling for the best spot and he just stayed still. Finally one of them started bumping into him and man, he got angry! He hardly opened his eyes but he started bellowing his annoyance of it all. It was hilarious to watch!

#2: Seeing how happy this guy was to get to go through Alcatraz. 

#3: Taking our time driving down Route 1 to Monterey. We meandered through many towns and beaches where we got out of the car to take pictures and once, to put our feet in the water. That was special. It made it even better that as we were walking down to the water, we saw a little seal pop his head out of water and look over at us. Ok, it looked like he was looking at us. Either way, we were both too stunned to take pictures. These will have to do.

Woooooooooooo Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee that's cold!!!!

#4: Eating dinner at a restaurant where we had panoramic views of Monterey Bay. We ate at The Fish Hopper. I had the best Cioppino ever created and we shared the appetizer of the most amazing baked artichoke and calamari. Hops had the best Clam Chowder we have ever eaten (yes, better than anything we had ever had in Boston) and fish and chips.

You guys, I had to crank my settings down so low for these pictures, even using my 50mm lens. I swear, once the sun went down, we had no light other than the light from the fire pit you see below and the candle on the table. Anyone who has suggestions on how to take pictures in the lowest light EVER, feel free! I'd love to know what to do better for next time!

 Proof - candle to the right of the clam chowder. :)

Our views before the sun set. Panoramic views of Monterey Bay. So amazing. So wonderful. So...perfect.

#5: Being on vacation with my husband. We hardly ever vacation. Honestly, we took two vacations the whole time we were dating that were not family-related trips. We just don't feel like we have the money to spend on a big vacation. To be honest, this trip was mostly paid for by my company. We get a stipend for each day we spend onsite a customer. I will get that stipend for my 5 days at KTSF this week. That money will go straight back to our savings account that we drained a bit for this vacation. It made the trip more manageable knowing we were really only paying for food. While the flights were expensive, mine was covered by my company for my onsite trip. Our hotels were covered by my Hilton points that I accrue while traveling. I'll do the math when I get home and figure out exactly what we ended up spending out of pocket for food, souvenirs and activities. I'll add that to one of my recap posts later on. What I know is if the company wasn't paying me a stipend for working onsite and I didn't have Hilton points, we could never have had this vacation. I do understand how lucky that makes us and treasure the trip even more because of it.

We did so much in just four days and we still feel like there was so much more we could do. That being said, we do not regret anything, we had just an amazing time. I can't describe how happy we both were by the end of Sunday. I did have to put my husband on a plane back home while I stayed in San Francsico on Sunday evening and that bummed me out a bit. I would have much preferred to have snuggled up against him for the red-eye flight back home and taken a nap together when we got there. I'm so looking forward to seeing him tonight!

Wordless Wednesday: Monterey Bay Aquarium

Have a great Wednesday.

Travel Tips: How To Pack and Fly Like a Pro

After I wrote about our travel snacks and how airline travel has changed, it made me think about how I prepare for my trips. I mostly fly for work trips. If my husband and I are traveling for pleasure, we drive unless we have the opportunity to turn a work trip into a vacation like we did in San Francisco. While I was sitting at dinner tonight, I thought about the tips I use to keep myself sane while traveling on airlines.

• Pack Accordingly. If you are traveling for 3 days or less, take a carry-on suitcase. If you are given a boarding section of 4 or 5, be prepared to have to check that suitcase. If you are traveling for more than 3 days, take a suitcase you can check. Take a few extra pairs of undies and a few extra shirts. You don't want to have to buy something unexpectedly while you're away. You also don't want to have to pay for hotel dry cleaning. It's a rip-off. One more thing, if you're going to a town that is known for having different temperatures than your town, pack accordingly. Example: If you are going to San Francisco in the summer, take a jacket, a scarf and a hat. You might just will need it. You also don't want to walk around screaming "I'm A Tourist!" in your I Heart "Town I Am Currently In" sweatshirt. :)

• Weigh your bag before you leave home. Get a suitcase scale and store it in your suitcase. It’s light enough that you can take it with you on your trips, so you can weigh your bag when you’re in your hotel room, as well. I have this one and it works great.

American Weight Digital Luggage Scale

• Get to the airport early. I cannot stress this enough. Over and over I hear people complaining that they had to run for their flight or got scolded by the folks at check-in that they wouldn't have time to catch their flight. Yes, airline travel is a hassle today but it's the way things are and it's not changing. You need time to check-in. You need a lot of time to get through security. You need time to get to your gate. Every airport is different and every airline is different. Sometimes you will get through check-in, security and get to your gate in a half hour. Sometimes, it can take over an hour and a half to get to your gate. Give yourself two hours if you are flying at prime time - think rush hour on the weekdays. Always give yourself 2 hours if you are flying out of a large airport. Give yourself an hour and a half if you are flying at any other time.

• Please, be prepared. Walk into the airport with your suitcase and carry-on ready to go. Make sure your ID is easily accessible and be prepared to enter your flight number or slide your credit card into the machine where you will be checking in. A lot of airports are moving away from using employees and towards using machines for checking people in.

• Take out your ID to check into the flight. KEEP your ID out until you are putting your luggage onto the security belt. At that point, put it away somewhere safe.

• Some airports ask you to carry your boarding pass with you as you go through the security scanner. Some airport officials will look at you weird if you try to carry it through with you. I have no suggestions here. Just do your best by keeping your ears and eyes open and paying attention to what other people are doing.

• Take your laptop, iPad and/or Android Tablet out of your bag and put it in a bin. Do not put anything on top of it. Take off your belt, your jacket, your sweater and your shoes. Put them in a bin. Do not put your purse or your laptop bag or your overnight bag in a bin. Don't worry about pulling out that baggie of liquids. They don't push it anymore and I have never been asked to remove it from my bag. 

• If you are going through a security line with one of those full body scanners, clear your pockets of EV.ER.Y.THING. You cannot leave a receipt, a penny or a rubber hair tie in your pocket or you will fail the scan and have to be patted down. Do everything you can to avoid being patted down.

• After you are through security, check the monitors to make sure your gate assignment is still correct.

• Get to your gate and check your flight status. Relax. You made it. Now pray your flight isn't delayed because your pilot's alarm clock didn't go off. :)

Do you have suggestions I might have missed? I don't have much experience with international travel, are there more tips if you're flying overseas?

Travel Treats and Changes in Air Travel

0400 wake-up call. Grum-ble.
0430 travel from home to RDU.
0500 arrive at RDU, park and check in for 0600 flight.

0610 - 0716 RDU to DCA
0807 - 1102 DCA to SFO

1 hour flight.
45 minute layover.
5 hour flight.

On that 5 hour flight, we're going to get hungry. We like food. We like to snack. We get bored really, really easily. We will have fully charged iPods, a fully charged Kindle and some magazines we have been waiting to read until we were on the plane. We are prepared with our gadgets and other ways to pass the time. Now, we need to focus on food and the trip itself.

Many years ago, the airline industry changed their food service, how they do business and many other good things. I remember when I was a kid, we would be so excited to fly! We would scramble onto the plane and find that for the four of us, we had 2 full rows all to ourselves. Mom and I would sit on one side, Dad and Drew would sit on the other. Yay! Open seats to stretch out into! We would scramble around, getting pillows and blankets to get comfortable for a long flight. Once we were in the air, the flight attendants would come and find us and take us up to the cockpit. We got to meet the pilots and we got airplane wings for being good kids on the flight. We would get fed. Our parents didn't have to pay. We just got to choose what airline meal we wanted to try during the flight. As kids, airplane food rocked. Flying was so much fun. I remember one flight where my brother and I got to sit in first class because it just wasn't full. We didn't get the champagne first class treatment, but we did get to sit in big, comfy seats for the long flight from LAX to BWI.

Today, things are a little bit different. You still get free non-alcoholic drinks. That's it, though. There are no blankets or pillows to be found, except maybe in First Class. Who can afford First Class? As for food, expect to pay and pay a lot for a very small amount of food. Since we are both big eaters and don't like to pay an exorbinant amount for snacks at the airport, I've made a lunch bag to take with us for our 9 hour (barring any delays) trip.

Breakfast

Lemon Blueberry Loaf. I got my recipe from The Realistic Nutritionist. I have made it three times already and each time it is absolutely delicious. It's the perfect breakfast for on-the-go. I can place a couple of slices in a baggie and put that in my purse so it doesn't get crushed in my laptop bag.

Snack
Some Favorite Granola bars

I carry these with me wherever I go anyways in case we need a quick pick-me-up. They're perfect to throw into a purse or carry-on for a snack if you feel like it.  Ps....have you ever had a Mojo bar? They are absolutely amazing and delicious. They're definitely my favorite of all three of these bars.

Lunch
Apples and Peanut Butter. 

Honestly, I'm not sure if the peanut butter will make it through security. I'm taking it in a small Tupperware container, but we'll see if security lets me carry it through. I'm taking an apple corer/peeler with us to create slices of apple to dip in the peanut butter.

Cheese and Crackers. 

I bought some yummy cheeses from Trader Joe's last weekend. Dubliner Cheese and Smoked Gouda. I cut it into small slices to top Wheat Thins. Another option - especially if the peanut butter is confiscated - apple, cheese and Wheat Thins. Mmmm.

Sweets
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies and Harbo Gummy Bears

The cookies offer an escape from the chocolate craving the gummy bears give you sweet with a chewy texture.

I figure we're saving about $16 by taking our food on the airplane with us. On the airline we're traveling, snack packs are approximately $8 each. Small containers of chips, nuts and candy are $4 each. This can add up fast. We will wait until we're on the plane to get coffee or juice, saving us another $10/each. Airplane coffee is no where near as good as Starbucks. Honestly, it's bad. The only redeaming factor to airplane coffee is that it is free. If we really need the caffeine, we can get soda. If we want juice, we can get that. If we want a Bloody Mary, we can get the Bloody Mary mix without alcohol. That will save us another $10. So, we're saving a total of $26 by taking our own snacks/food.

I thought about going through the costs of everything I bought to take on the trip with us, but then I realized the only thing I purchased specifically for this trip was the gummy bears. We had the cheese and crackers from a previous grocery trip, they are both something we eat daily. We stock apples and peanut butter when we go to BJ's. The cookies and blueberry loaf were made with ingredients we had in the house. I actually had a carton of blueberries in the fridge but normally I would just use frozen ones. I feel good about the items we are taking with us and think they will tide us over until we get to San Francisco and can find a good, filling meal when we get there.

When you travel, do you take snacks with you? Do you find air travel as ridiculous as I do these days?