Sunday 1 January 1984 – New Years Day to California
The alarm
going off at 06.30 wasn’t the greatest sound in the world after our late night,
but we were all ready to go by 08.00. Despite Nora’s somewhat gloomy forebodings,
there was very little traffic about on our way to J.F.K. although we saw a
number of badly damaged cars along the way.
One of the
reasons we left so early was that we wanted to drop off two of our cases with
our heavy winter gear at the airport to be collected on our way back later this
month. We found the storage area in the end but got a bit of a shock when we
found the cost. This had been said to be “about $5.00 or $6.00” which turned
out to be the per diem price. So we are going to have to pay up about $66.00.
Mind you I think that will be money well spent, as I would hate to hump those
two monsters around California.
Having
accomplished this we drove over to United Airlines to check in for our flight
only to be told that the flight had been cancelled – no reason given. But not
to worry. Another flight, leaving from La Guardia, unfortunately, would take us
and United would pay the taxi fare of $14.00! We forewent the contribution and all trooped
back to the car for poor Uli to take us across to La Guardia. Thank goodness we
were early.
The Schafers
dropped us off there – perhaps heaving a sigh of relief since we had broken the
basic rule – “Guests, like fish, stink after three days.” It was great seeing
them again – nothing like old friends. In no time at all we were aboard a brand
new 767 which was a most comfortable plane to fly in but a bit noisy. We didn’t
have a window seat unfortunately as the seating was 2.3.2 and we wanted to all
sit together.
There was an
in-flight movie – the new James Boand with an ageing Sean Connery which I
thought was lousy. But the lunch was very nice. We arrived at Denver a little early at 12.35 local time.
There was only a small amount of snow around, much less than I thought there
would be. It was just above freezing – about 2°C. Our onward flight was due to
leave at 14.05 but there was some sort of hitch. It seemed to involve a missing
pilot – perhaps he had overslept after celebrating New Years? He finally came
scuttling along and we hoped he had sobered up! We finally got off at 14.45.
The flight
to San Diego was a very interesting one, flying
as we did over the Rockies and then the Grand Canyon.
We were in a stretched 727 and had a window seat so were able to admire the
spectacular views. We touched down at about 15.35 local time (18.35 NY time)
and the descent was great because the afternoon sun was shining on the rocky
outcrops and making them glitter. I suggested to Matt they were sparkles of
gold – not sure he believed me.
Very nice
airport and pretty warm when we landed – about 15°C. We liked it as soon as we
got into the airport and it was rather nice not having to put a thick coat on
to go outside. We phoned through to our hotel – Sheraton Harbor
Island – and in due
course our courtesy bus arrived. Marvellous hotel. Because we are on a cheap
rate ($78 per night) we could only be offered a room in one of the annexes, but
that suited us. We are right at the water’s edge and overlook the marina. We
are right between two of the swimming pools – both heated. As soon as we could
Matt and I were into that water, having missed our swims for some weeks.
 |
| Glorious sunset - and no snow in sight! |
Having
unpacked we went for a stroll in the cool of the evening to look at the lights
across the bay. We landed up at El Berto, a very nice Mexican restaurant. A couple
of margaritas and sea food tortillas made a good meal at a reasonable price of
$27.00. We got back to our room at about 19.15 local time and were all asleep
by 21.00 after a long day.
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