Travel Diary

Just a quick trip to Cali and back.

Woke at 5am after bedtime being 3:30am. So yeah, not much sleep.

That said, I wasn’t too tired waking up. I drove to SeaTac this time and parked nearby. Then I walked to the terminals. The train area was almost deserted at 6:30am. Security was a breeze. I had touchless entry, but didn’t need it as no one was in line in front of me. Then I went to the gate and waited.

Shoot, no upgrade for this trip. I was in 13th place. Lost my good status even before the year was up it seems. Maybe due to using miles for the ticket?

The flight was about two hours. I got my chocolate and pretzels. I forgot I had free WIFI passes, which is too bad as I could have used it. Coffee for my drink. Probably could have slept but didn’t truly try that hard. Not much point really.

Then landed in San Jose. Had some time to kill so walked around the airpots, and just studied Spanish. My friend Tenaya picked me up and we drove to the dinner show. The place was near Los Gatos or something. Not driving, i just had no idea where we were at, but it was a country club in the mountains or something. The room would be small, with only three tables, so maybe 25 people or so.

Our green room was the normal banquet room and that was huge. So yeah, a tremendous amount of space to relax. I had worn my costume for the flight, which was black slacks and a white colored shirt. They had a tie for me, which was festive. Simple costume but easy to procure.

This would be our first performance of the new mystery. Two of the actors were also making their dinner theatre debut as well. We rehearsed things and prepared for the first scene. I was set on lines so I was all pretty relaxing for m.e

I was going very easy on eating too, since Thanksgiving had done so much damage. Definitely skipped the free bread and butter.

The first scene had some hiccups, but things went better after that. The audience was a little quiet, with mainly one table really being into solving it. I could see a lady with a notebook and she was taking it all in.

The meal we got was fairly good, although I only had about three bites. I gave the rest to my carpool friend. same with the cake.

Overall, it was quite fun. After the show I got a ride to SFO. I was three hours early for my flight, but checked the app and found a flight at 6:20pm instead of 7:20pm. I took that, knowing I would lose my seat, but just hoping it was not in the middle seat.

I did have to check in with an agent. He ensured I had an aisle. After that, I still had an hour to kill, so I explored some and then returned to Duolingo. Then it was time for security. Wow. Like no one in front of me again. I wasn’t sure if it was just due to it being evening time at Terminal 1 or that most people had just done all their traveling a week prior. Either way, it was nice to have such and empty airport. I explored some more and then decided to check on seats. In the back, there was a completely empty row. I asked the gate agent if I could switch into it, and she let me, saying that it still might get more people it, but I was okay taking that chance.

Then I boarded. Quite a lot of people before me since I was group A. I was also in 19th place for an upgrade now. Yeah, no chance of getting that perk. But a full aisle would be nice.

In the back, I enjoyed my row for a while, but at the last second, a young lady approached and yup. she entered the row. I noted that she must have bought a last second ticket and she said yeah. Oh well. It was worth a try. The middle was also still empty too that was great. Only downside was being next to the bathrooms, but it actually wasn’t that bad. No huge lines at any point.

I got my free pretzels and chocolate again, and a diet coke this time. The flight was long but we landed in Seattle. I walked to the car parking and then drove home.

It was a busy and tiring day but fun. I then saw that I had paid for one flight though, so the poor upgrade position was even for paid flights. Just so odd to be so low down after flying 90,000 miles last year. MVP status isn’t as good as it was in years past. Good to know I guess.

Anyway, it’s not a thing I want to do often, but once in a while a day trip is just fine.