Flying the friendly skies

When we left off, our intrepid travellee was stuck in sfo airport awaiting news about united's 777 fleet status. During that time I had grabbed and devoured a big 9 oz bag of trail mix (note: must gain willpower back - in meantime, buy smaller bags). Well, it turns out the faa wasn't going to bend and let united defer their maintenance check (it was a check of the fire retardant tanks used in the cargo section, according to united it was a failsafe not necessary for atlantic flights). So, they herded us to the domestic lobby so that they could service 2 planes' worth of people. It took over 2 hours to get through the line in front of me (with at least another half hour's worth behind me). They gave me a ticket on another flight the next day, one which had a connection in denver, and a hotel accomodations at the best western el rancho inn in millbrae, and meal vouchers for the next day. Oh and a toiletry kit, because they weren't giving back the bags. One thing about being in a line with a bunch of old brits is that they seem to have little grasp of personal space when they have their knickerbockers in a bunch. The gentleman, a term I use loosely when applied to this fellow, behind me kept bumping into me as the line moved forward. Where's the fire?! In any case, I hopped on the hotel shuttle and arrived at el rancho inn around 12:30 am. 'the rancho' is a standard 2/3 star joint. Similar to one we stayed in in morro bay. I had breakfast at the café there. A scramble with potatoes - it was ok. Then I grabbed some snacks at the local safeway (granola and powdered drink mix) and also some more dramamine at the walgreens. There is another motion sickness drug called bonine which I will have to try sometime. I got on the shuttle to the airport at 10:30, went thru security, and wondered what I should do for the next 4 hours. Well, one option was wander around looking at books and food and another was to go talk some more to united. Luckily with some good sense, I chose the latter, because they put me on a direct flight leaving at 1 and gave me a voucher good towards my next flight with united (and possibly my last - I plan to do a little airline research when I get back). <break in time: I had been writing this on the plane, now we're back to now> the plane ride over had its good and its bad moments. The aircraft was an older 747, with seats in a 3-4-3 configuration and a projector for the inflight movies (becoming jane, alvin and the chipmunks, and the golden compass - none which I watched). I was seated in the middle seat on the right (starboard?) side of the plane. To my left on the aisle was a college graduate going to backpack around europe, yet he had a nasty cold and to my right was an older cranky friendly (you know the type - extroverted but always pessimistic) expat brit. Some lessons learned from the experience: pack earplugs and a sleep mask, and sometimes its better to choose sleep over food (especially food found on an airplane). The earplugs would have helped because the brit wouldn't let up about how she couldn't sleep on planes. There was a good moment when the plane flew right along the thames and we got a nice view of the london skyline. The plane touched down and we went thru customs and made it to baggage claim. Unfortunately due to the fiasco the night before my luggage didn't make it on the same flight. So I put in a request to have the bag delivered to the hotel in london. I stopped at the atm in terminal 3 just outside of customs, grabbed my heathrow express ticket, and got on the train. The train ride is pretty quick into london. Then its a few hops from paddington to king's cross (however it was quite costly - the tube ticket was 4 pounds). At king's cross I got on the cambridge express on platform 9a, just passed harry potter's platform 9 3/4. The train to cambridge was fast and smooth. There was a taxi stop there, but I decided to do as the locals and walk. Canbridge is a college town. After arriving at the hotel, getting settled in, setting an alarm for 20 minutes and proceeding to sleep for 5 hours, I got out and walked around. There isn't much to cambridge. The colleges are not really open to the public and its fairly quiet (school's not in session now). I wandered around and saw the river where students were picnicking on its banks (it was still a little bit light out at 7:15). I saw the king's college chapel and found a borders bookstore (i need to get a book for the trip home since I finished my book on the way here). I found a book on best pubs and it listed one on gwyder street and another on mawson, but those were on the other side of town so I didn't go. After walking around (maybe a mile and a half), I came back to the hotel and watched some telly, the apprentice british version was on. I ate some leftovers from the business dinner jadine went to. Today we plan to stay a little longer in cambridge (probably take a punt out on the river) and then head back down to london.