Thursday, April 12, 2012

Travel Day: Sacramento to OC

I arrived at the airport a little early because I needed to return my rental car. Returning my car went very smoothly and only cost me $1.20. I used my Hertz points which saved me a whopping $240 for a three-day rental. Totally worth spending the points. My airfare didn't even cost that much. Once I arrived at the United counter and checked in, it was a matter of minutes by the time I was through security and the daunting body scanners. They no longer show you in your birthday suit, rather they show your outline like a cartoon and the computer screen shows where you might have metal or something else on your person. I stopped in to Starbucks to get a coffee and took my chocolate muffin from my grandpa's to a table right near the window so that I could watch the planes take off and land. After a minute a server walked up to me and asked what I wanted and I said, "what?"  I thought I was sitting in a food court. She said I was sitting in a restaurant. I didn't realize that I was sitting at a table for either the bar or the California Pizza Kitchen. She said it was fine as long as I picked up my mess. I thanked her and continued to enjoy my coffee and muffin. 

My flight was connecting in SFO once again and I was on a puddle jumper. The flight was relatively light and there were three or four employees on the flight as passengers. This was the plane.
Even though these EMB-120s tend to feel a little unsafe or unstable or something, I think it's fun walking out to the plane. I do not like not being able to stand up completely inside. It's a good thing the flights are short enough that you don't need to get up. TRAVEL TIP: If you ever have to fly on one of these, sit on the side with only 1 seat or sit in row 9 on the side with 2 seats because it is an exit row on that side only. There is unlimited leg room and it makes the flight much more comfortable. There is an exit row in row 6, but there isn't any extra legroom, so go with row 9.

Our flight path was less direct today than the flight to Sacramento. I think the total flight time was all of 30 minutes. I had about an hour to wait in SFO for my next flight to Orange County and I made my way to the gate to see that everything was on time. I love that the United terminal at SFO has a bunch of Ghiradelli chocolate stores because they will give you a sample. I wanted to try the sea salt one even though that wasn't the one I was offered, so I asked anyway and got to try the new flavor. 

My SNA flight was on a CRJ-700 (CR7) that has really nice large windows. The row I was in had the windows a little misaligned but it was fine. On this flight they actually served refreshments unlike the previous flight. It was an uneventful 58 minute flight down the left coast. We arrived at the end of the terminal where the small planes park and deplaned via a ramp. It was nice to be back home where it was much warmer than it was up north. 



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