Category: Domestic Travel

When I arrived at IAD, I had 30 minutes to walk (what seemed to be) at least a kilometer to get from gate C15 to D15.
Can anyone tell me why lidat?
I mean, does “shuttle” or “train” mean anything to the Washington Airports Authority? How about AirCon? Because once you crossed the line that separates Terminals C and D, the AirCon disappeared. Yeech.
Thank goodness it was at this ungodly hour otherwise there would be teeming masses of humanity (and humidity) making it worse still!
On the plane now, going to Boston.

It reads like the City of Boston dealing with an downsized Cylon. More Cylon Cillyness (erm, Centurion) here.
I’m off to Boston on the red-eye. I get to attempt to sleep on the non-stop to DC (hope hope hope the plane is empty!) and then change planes to Boston Logan. So I’ll arrive somewhere around 0830.
I’ve never “done” Boston properly, like I’ve done many of my other destinations (HKG, NRT, SIN, et al). On my previous visits, I’ve always gone there to visit people I knew out there and these trips would often be short. So this trip, I’m staying at a hostel (the most EXPENSIVE hostel I’ve ever stayed at becuase Boston lodging is just THAT expensive), doing touristy stuff and (best of all), eating local speciality food!!
Thank goodness the heat wave that’s been baking the East Coast has finally broken…Pix and food coming soon!

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day in San Francisco! It was warm, it was close to 23 degrees outside and sunny and I got comped for a day at the races at Bay Meadows, courtesy of one of my buds!

That’s how a comped ticket looks like!
Going to the racetrack is one of those things that I’ve never done before. It’s not like it has the same interest for me as, saaaay, hopping a 777 across the Pacific Ocean or having a nice dinner with someone charming in Singapore or Sydney. But the opportunity presented itself and off I went…
There was a buffet set up in the lower patio of the Turf Club.

The Turf Club entrance
The food was nothing really exciting so it’s not worth a photo or commentary EXCEPT that dessert and sweets were at the begining of the food queue. Despite that, there was a lot of cake left over.
Now if you know me well enough, you’ll know that I dun like to gamble. Gambling to me is wagering that I’ll get the upgrade to BZness Class on the flight to Tokyo Narita because I was reallly nice to that hella kawaii gate agent at SFO. Not coughing up real money that could be lost in the bet, that could be used for real things, like food. Or beer.

This follows the horses around when they race. I dun think a horse will fit inside.
But when in Rome, eat Roman (food). Going to the racetrack means wagering, so I decided to give it a shot. After reading the “so you’d like to gamble” brochure thoughtfully left on each table by Bay Meadows’ management, I decided to give it a try. I committed US$20 to gambling, no more! I lost US$2.00 on my first shot. Then, I tried a multiple bet, using the following criteria:
Odds (how much of a long shot)
Lineage (where the horse was raised)
Name (how funky is the name?)
Guess what? I picked the winner (out of three bets on the slip)!

Here’s my bet

And here’s my win!

This is the next race; I bet on #1 to win

More Winnings!
Sooo out of US$16 wagered, I won back a total of US$91.00. Wah! If only I had the guts to wager US$160 instead! Would have made US$910.00! Would be enough for a ticket to Beijing right now!
Guess that’s why I’m not meant to be a gambler…

I promise, this is the last of the entries featuring little ones…
When I dragged myself into SFO last Saturday AM for my flight to paradise, I mean, Southern California, I ran into a big friend and some little friends (his kids). We wound up on the same flight down to SNA. What a coinkydink!

Maddie and Katie.
Katie is a bit camera shy and Maddie looks upset because she missed her close up. Sooo….

“I’m ready for my close-up now!”
Here you go! This was the start of my busy LA weekend last weekend.

I got dragged shopping today! Arrrrgh!
I dun do this for just anyone…

My fren Window Shopping at Two Rodeo Drive
Of course, last time I got corralled into window shopping a few months back, we wound up at Tiffany in Ngee Ann City/Taka’s. Today we wound up, again, at Tiffany in Beverly Hills. Didn’t spend as much time inside this visit. *whew* Must be something about those little blue boxes.
Or my fren. Hmmmmm. *quizzical look*

“Heeeeey, my hand fits!”

Hmmm. My fren. Marilyn. Interesting…

As if three days in the Hunter Valley weren’t enough…
I come home on Thurs, had a good dinner with someone nice and then spend all day at the Dr’s office on Friday. Whew! Tiring! What should I do?
I know! Head up to Napa on Saturday for MORE wine tasting! Heh. hic


These are shots from the main building in the Beringer Winery just outside St. Helena. That’s a lotta wine in those barrels…
And, of course, no visit to Napa is complete without stopping off at V. Sattui for some cheese (and wine too)!

I picked up three bottles of wine and a really soft french bleu and crackers for snacking. What a hard life!

When you visit a place enough, you get into comfortable habits.
Restaurants you have to visit each time. Food you gotta eat. Katz’s Deli is one of those comfort places for me. The pastrami (along with the Carnegie Deli’s) rawks, though I like Katz’s better than the Carnegie’s (it’s not as dry as the Carnegie’s). I defied tradition this time though, ordering a messy, gooey, absolutely delicious reuben.

Katz’s is where they filmed the infamous scene in “When Harry met Sally” where Sally demonstrates how to react when you have a really good pastrami sandwich.
View image
They even point out the table they sat at with this silly sign.

So all you film geeks can pay homage (or act out the scene)!

From the frigid (because it’s 0 degrees C outside!) city of New York, in front of the W Times Square…

If you really need to get into the Xmas mood, nothing beats a quick trip to New York City! Where you can see things like this:

Only in New Yawk!

I’ve had to listen to no less then three UA drones,
#1 at the gate,
#2 on the plane (flight attendant) and
#3 from the cockpit,
go on about how “this is a very full flight”, yadda yadda yadda.
Is there EVER a UA flight that isn’t full???
Nope. Never. Ain’t gonna happen.