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October 10, TravelFirst Impressions - arriving in San FranWe were in row 38 on the plane, and our window view was mostly consumed by engine cowling, but we could see out ahead of the engine and behind the wing and saw quite a nice view of the bay and then the Pacific Ocean as we flew in from the North, passed over San Fran and then landed from the South. We arrive at 4:30, and proceeded to Thrifty Rental Car, where Connie had made a reservation using some credit card points. The car for the week was only going to cost $53. After adding the insurance, it is $230 for the week. Welcome to the rental car business. By the time we were on the street, it was a little after 5:00PM and we are in the height of rush hour. Oh well, been there before. We finally arrived at the hotel, and realized what I had suspected the week before when I looked at their Web site. This was no luxury hotel. More like a a Motel 6 or 8 only this one run by the typical West Asian Entrepreneur. It isn't dirty, but the room is small, we have just two towels, one wash cloth, and one hand towel. One package of coffee, not two, and "breakfast" isn't served until 8AM (the one guy that runs the place can't get up any earlier I guess). We get a room on the "first floor." It's really on the second floor above the garages, but it's called the "first floor." No elevator, just wooden steps on the outside.
So the hotel is a disappointment, but it's better than the accommodations we had in the Dominican Republic, and we were happy enough there. As a good friend says, "Get some wood, build a bridge and get over it." So we resign ourselves to the accommodations and decide to find someplace to eat - I hadn't eaten anything except Delta Airline peanuts since 6AM EDT. We go around the block to Chestnut street where all the restaurants are. None of them seem anything too great. We see an Italian joint and decide to try that. The place is small, but there are plenty of seats. We are seated right away and wait for someone to take our order. Can't they see I'm famished. Long story short, the food was good, the service very slow (I think this is standard for San Fran) and the prices about 1 1/2 times what they would be in Ohio. OK, sorry for all of the griping, but this sort of illustrates our mood when we went to bed on the first day. |
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