Mid-seventies and sunny...all the time.

I'm in California again, and it's great to be back. It's easy to forget how nice it is here--it never gets too hot here. Low humidity (almost nil), sunny blue skies everyday, chilly in the evening. It was 55º when I woke up this morning, and when I went home last night after a little shindig I found I needed to put my coat on. If I were to send up an order for perfect weather, it would be fulfilled with Santa Cruz's weather. I can see why people stay.

My trip was interesting. From leaving my parent's home for the Detroit airport on Friday night (after an hour's sleep), it took me 23 1/2 hours to get to my host family's house. As the boarding time approached for my connection flight out of Cleveland, we heard that Continental was in need of six volunteers. They were offering a $300 travel voucher for anyone willing to take the 7:00 PM flight. I've taken advantage of an offer like this in the past, and in fact I once got three flights out of one ticket purchase because of these types of offers. I really wanted to get to San Francisco though, and had plans on bopping around the city, so I decided not to take the bait.

About ten minutes later, they still needed two more volunteers, and they had bumped up the offer to $400. I began mulling this over some more, thinking about the time line and realized that I had the buffer to do this. But I was really, really tired and didn't relish staying in the airport for twelve hours. I decided that if I could have a place to sleep, I'd take the offer.

I walked up to the counter, offered to take the later flight, on the condition that I have a place to sleep. I anticipated a company break room or something, but they agreed to give me a hotel room. Bonus! While I was on a roll, I mentioned that what would really seal the deal would be upgrading me to first class for the later flight. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I think the guy behind the counter liked my gumption to ask, and he said, "sure...why not? Let's see what I can do."

It took him awhile to get everything lined up in the computers, and I was the last person he gave the printouts to. When he sat down next to me, he said, "well, we've got all of the goodies for you." We had been chatting up at the counter about destinations, and I mentioned that the selling point for me on taking the offer was the plan I have to go somewhere warm in February next year, possibly in the Caribbean or even South America. The guy got a sparkle in his eye as he recalled the free flights he had taken when he was a single guy working for Continental. He said he planned to do that again when his kids were grown, but that he envied my ability to do so now. His recommendation to me for next February was Buenos Aires, and I'm going to seriously look into it.

I've never flown first class, and I have to say I've become a fan. I sort of felt a twinge of guilt as the other people who volunteered to be bumped walked back towards coach. (But that quickly passed. Is that a character flaw?)

I think from now on, I'll always ask to be bumped into first class when I offer to go on a later flight. I've done this probably at least five or six times now, so I'd imagine it will happen again. This is the first time the thought to ask popped into my head, and it panned out. All they can do is say no, right?

Anyway, enough of my rambling narrative about a plane flight. There are things to see and do, so I'm off.