Traveling

Written just after Thanksgiving......

We are back in the US. I have things in mind to write about, but with the whole family here including three young grandchildren, there is minimal quiet time. You can credit this writing with being on the west coast with the tree hour time change, and today I am up before the rest of the family. (For 10 minutes as it turned out, so excuse any disjointedness in the rest of the post)

The trip here is always long but usually uneventful. We started with the long bus ride on Monday. The buses are big and comfortable though, and stop in Santiago so you can stretch your legs and get something to eat. There are usually movies on the bus, usually action adventures movies, but this ride was quiet which is fine too.

We stayed at the Costa Inn in Panama City, our usual place. It’s an older hotel with occasional unusual features, like the room with two bathrooms, but it’s always clean and the people are nice. There is also a very good 24 hour restaurant on site. At $38, with breakfast and an airport shuttle it’s a great deal. But, we had to catch the 5am shuttle to make our flight so it was a short night and too early for breakfast.

We flew Delta and I had downloaded their app on my tablet. Technology does some cool things these days. I checked in with the app and tracked the status of the flight. It even sent me a message when my luggage was loaded on the plane, and unloaded at baggage claim. How cool is that.

I have flown on Delta the last few times because they had a good price, good travel times, and I really like the free movies and electric outlets for your devices. With a 4 1/2 and 5 1/2 flight to San Francisco, the movies really help pass the time more pleasantly.

An aside, we qualify for the jubilado (retired people) 25% discount on airline tickets which is a significant savings. You have to go to the airline’s office though, or use a travel agent. Our agent, Andrea Cook, makes the whole ticket buying process super easy. [email protected]

So, we made it to SFO without incident, hopped on the Airport Express to Santa Rosa where my daughter and grandson picked us up. Now my other daughter has arrived with her husband and little girl, so the whole family is together. Thanksgiving was yesterday at the in-laws. What a beautiful time with the whole family here! It is enough to totally melt a Grandma.

Now though, people are getting dressed and ready for this morning’s adventure, an adventure outing to the children’s museum. It’s going to be fun. Hasta lluego.