Travel Day: OC to San Jose and Cisco

Today I had to travel with one of my students to San Jose for a state meeting at Cisco in Santa Clara. Of course, we flew on Southwest Airlines and the flight was supposed to leave John Wayne airport at 2:30pm, but I was notified by text message by Tripit Pro that my flight was delayed by 45 minutes. They let me know this around noon, so it was in plenty enough time for me not to rush to the airport. (Side note: Tripit Pro watches your itineraries for you and lets you know about schedule changes, gate assignments, and baggage claim information. It is worth the money to subscribe to Tripit Pro and you can choose whether you want to get messages via text or email). I parked quickly at John Wayne airport and checked-in even faster. Security was a breeze and we soon headed over to Starbucks. I tried the new lime refresher drink and it's really good. It tastes like a margarita but has a tinge of coffee, which sounds strange but it really is good. We found other state officers from another local school that were on our flight and waited with them. 

Our flight did end up leaving exactly when they posted at 3:20p and it was a short 59 minutes up the coast to San Jose. As soon as we picked up our bags we called the Doubletree hotel to inquire about the free shuttle. As soon as we got out to the curb, it had arrived and we were off to the hotel which can't be more half a mile away. 

There was quite a long line to check-in and when it was my turn I found out that I was to be roomed with another advisor. Oh HELL NO. Hell to the N to the O. I told them to book me in my own room. The advisor from the other high school was in the same boat. We had to find the section director to sort out our rooms because she told us earlier that we would have our own rooms. Eventually they sorted it out. 

Since I am a Hilton diamond member and Doubletrees are part of the Hilton family, I was given a room on the executive floor which was on the 10th floor. My room has a nice view of the freeway and the mountains behind it. 

The room has been renovated but the hotel itself is quite dated and is showing its age. There is a concierge lounge right when you exit the elevator and to keep the riff raff out you have to use your key card to just to get to that floor. When I arrived there was nothing in the lounge but I can see where they have refreshments set up. There is a little fridge with some sodas in it too. We will see what the rest of the weekend brings.