We 4/23 Travel Day

 The day got off to an awkward start.   As we were driving to John and Anna’s we received a text that our flight was delayed by 30 minutes — we could have slept longer 😴💤.   It was good seeing Tanner this morning, he is just plain fun.

John graciously drove us to the airport.  This was our first time in the remodeled terminal (there is still a lot of work to be done).  There was no one waiting to check in and we had our choice of agents to assist us with luggage tags.  We walked straight through TSA pre-check and made our way to the United lounge for coffee. It’s a cute little lounge overlooking the river that is very comfortable.

We finally boarded our delayed flight and pulled back from the gate only to have to wait on the tarmac for another half hour.  The captain informed us that they had reduced the number of clearances to land at San Francisco due to fog, so we were not being allowed take off until our landing slot became available.  On this flight we were sitting in first class with large seats the reclined and unlimited snacks and beverages.

At SFO we made a beeline to the United Priority Club, a huge club spread out over two floors with quiet areas, showers, a food buffet, a large bar area, and a full service restaurant where we went to enjoy the salad bar and each ordered a cheese plate (Michelle, our waitress, told us we each wanted to order our own as they were rather small and she was right).  Again, we had a table overlooking our plane.

We then made it to our gate to board our flight to Paris.  There are 276 passenger seats on this 777-200 aircraft, and from the looks of the waiting room you could count at least that many people if not more.

We boarded on time and made our way to our "cocoons" for the next ten hours.  The seats are a lot like our recliners at home except they go all the way down to lying flat.

Dinner service began around 4 pm.  Two things really stood out about the meal.  The beef short-rib (no bones) was one of the tenderest and most flavorful pieces of meat I have had in a long time.  And for dessert they fixed us ice cream sundaes featuring Tillamook vanilla ice with your choice of many toppings (I went for the caramel sauce and sliced almonds).  My flight attendant set me up with a wine tasting: a Heitz California cabernet, a Ken Wright Pinot Noir from Carlton, a French Medoc, and a Port from Porto Portugal.  While the cabernet was very good, I objectively liked the Oregon pinot best of all.  

Around 6 pm west coast time Alice was already dozing off.  It's a dilemma as 6 pm at home is 3 am in Paris.  You're not really ready to go to sleep, but if you don't you'll want to sleep away your first day on vacation (which is never comfortable because seldom is a hotel room available in the morning when you arrive).

Alice maybe got four hours of sleep.  I think I had 5+ hours of pretty solid sleep.

Daily Step Count: 5,109 of which the majority was in the San Francisco airport trekking from Gate D to International Gate G.

  

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