My flight was supposed to get in at 10 PM on Friday, but we didn’t land till almost 11. The weather was terrible in New York that day – rainy, windy, and cold – so we sat on the tarmac for an hour, waiting for the 40 other planes in front of us to take off.
When I got on board, I realized I had forgotten my iPod and headphones, and I had to buy Jet Blue’s crummy ones for $2. The left side worked only sometimes. Jet Blue has gotten kind of ghetto, at least compared to Virgin America. You even have to buy blankets and pillows, and there’s almost no food. I loved being able to buy eats any time I wanted on Virgin, and not having to wait for the damned cart.
On the other hand, Jet Blue has more leg room and comfier seats. Most seats have that annoying head rest – who ever wants that? It pushes your head foreward so that you get a crick in your neck. Jet Blue’s doesn’t have that; it does what a seat should – dips back and contours to your head.
At SFO I thought I’d have to wait forever for my bags, but they came out lickety split. I think it’s only New York airports that are so awful about getting luggage out in time. By the time my taxi pulled up to our place, it was midnight, and I was pooped and hungry.
While there seem to be fewer places that are open late in SF, there are still a few. We went to Grub Steak, kind of like a diner but nicer. I had a cheeseburger for about $8 – not bad! The fries were an extra $2, kind of a rip off, but I usually only eat a few fries anway so I didn’t bother getting any.
MB gets fed at work so he had virtually no food in the apartment (pasta, cream of wheat, tomato sauce, parmesan cheese, spoiled milk, and of course coffee). I wanted stuff for breakfast so we stopped at Bob’s Donuts. It looks like a hole in the wall, but who cares when fresh-baked donuts and pastries are melting your mind with their good-smellness. We got a couple of croissants and old-fashioneds, all for about $5. The croissants were just right – huge and fluffy, better actually than the ones we used to get at the more gourmet pastry shop near our NYC apartment. Next time I’ll have try the apple fritters.
The next morning was peaceful and lovely. I unpacked and did some rearranging while MB practiced piano (he bought a keyboard!) and fooled around on the computer. We spent the rest of the day just walking around. For lunch we grabbed crepes at Honey Honey (again!) since we were on Post and I was STARVING, then we wandered through Chinatown.
I have to say SF Chinatown is about a billion times cleaner than New York’s. Canal Street is a chaotic, fishy mess of markets selling, well, fish, weird seafood, and even weirder dried substances; old Chinese ladies pushing you out of the way to get their grocer shopping done; and clueless tourists trying to get their picture taken in the midst of a Mandarin (well, Cantonese really) maelstrom. SF’s Chinatown is very neat and calm in comparison. The only crowd I saw was in front of the very popular Golden Gate Bakery, which I will have to try next time.
Eventually we ended up near Coit Tower, and decided to climb up. The hill was by far the steepest I’ve climbed so far. There are steps in some parts, but I’m not sure they’re so helpful. Once at top, we got a very nice view.
Chilly off and on the whole day, I was in the mood for hot noodles come dinnertime. MB did some Yelp-searching and found Chai-Yo Thai Noodle. It was really good!
I had the Yen Ta Foe, a “combination of seafood with red bean curd in a spicy and sour soup” and your choice of noodles. I got the vermicelli which was probably a bit too delicate, but the dish itself was amazing. There was plenty of seafood – shrimp, fishcakes, squid, and this thing that had the consistency of a jelly fish but looked almost like an anenome. I have no idea what it was but it was tasty. Plus the soup was nice and sour, and just a little spicy. A bargain at $8.95. In New York the same thing would have been $12 or more.
That night we saw 9. We had heard it was hokey, but we liked it. The preview did make it seem very dark so it was good to adjust our expectations. Plus we loved the theater we saw it in. It was huge and so non-ghetto. Going to the movies in New York is often a ghetto experience – people talking in regular voices the whole time, a mess all over the floor, cell phones going off and mofos answering them. Hopefully on the west coast it’ll be different.
The next morning I had to leave! It was tough although we’ll be seeing each other again in just a few days. My flight back was much easier than my flight in. I breezed right through check-in and security.
“Where is everyone?” I asked one of the security guys.
“September and October are the best months to fly,” he told me. Kids are back in school, and the holidays are not yet upon us. Plus that time of day was before the international flight rush hour, which was what we hit last time when the line stretched all the way across the terminal.
The flight left on time and for most of it, my rowmate and I enjoyed an empty seat between us, till some guy just *had* to watch TV and squeezed in. We were both annoyed, though I probably wouldn’t like not having TV either. Next time I’m bringing some DVDs. Hopefully I’ll get the next Dexter soon from Netflix.
Plus it was so nice to have almost no luggage, having dropped everything off at our new place. All I had was my computer, purse junk, and an almost empty duffel bag. Since I was carrying almost nothing, I took the Air Train and subway home, which took about an hour, including wait time. I’m thinking about taking it for my trip out as well this Friday. Although I’ll be carrying stuff, I may just suck it up since it’s so cheap.
I’m totally taking Friday off. I thought about changing my flight to earlier in the day, but last night I took a gander at our still mostly unpacked apartment, and began to panic. I’d rather take the day to organize and throw stuff out instead, before heading out around 3.
Work was pretty calm today. I had time to mail out a whole bunch of Amazon orders (keep ‘em coming!) and a box of MB’s stuff, the first of several shipments. Tonight I may start trying to organize. I’m thinking about taping up signs around the apartment – Toss, Donate, Keep (NJ), Keep (SF) – and just throwing stuff into piles.
See all my SF pics.