CaliforniAdventure Day 1: Everything Chair
OK, so Leo and I finally did succeed and are now already in a bus, on our way to Longbeach. Yesterday was not really overwhelming in providing events that would be worth being bloged about, but still there were some surprises here and there.
The object of this Tuesday for us was definitely The Chair or the seat. From early morning to latest evening, I had the oportunity to claim the ’service’ of dozens (feeling like hundreds) of them and to wait for something, me sitting on, Leo lying under them.
After the front-passenger seat of my dad’s car, which brought us to the Thun railway station, we got to experience the chairs of the Swiss Reilway System for about 100 minutes, until they managed to arrive at Zurich Airport - I hardly remember anything of this train ride anymore though, since I spend most of it sleeping. At the airport, there were first the sensationally strict security checks, then the procedure of checking in and finally alltogether three chairs on which we were placed while waiting for someone who would assist Leo to his bathroom and the two of us to the airplane.
Following, we made a trip outside the building, where Leo got his very ultimate chance to mark the airport’s wall; then, we were placed - of course on a seat - in a bus which brought us close to the gate, where we continued our waiting - while sitting. And some minutes / hours later, the great moment finally came and the doors of our plane opened. The seat next to mine was kept free, so that Leo and I could sit down without getting bruises. We stayed in this row oof seats for something more than eleven hours - except for Leo who was once taken for a walk by a flight attendant who wanted to show him the aircraft.
Besides, we spend most of the flight either sleeping, eating or starving. Let us therefore use the time until our arrival to finally write down the actual purpose of our trip:
It all started with the invitation to the wedding of my friends Melissa and Mike, who will get married on March 31st 2006 in Ensenada. This wedding was the main reason of our flight to San Diego, which is located kinda close to Ensenada and for which I got the flight ticket already negatively mentioned in the previous post. To make the trip somewhat more eventful, I decided to go up to Longbeach on March 29th to visit Daniel Kish, executive director of World Access For The blind to discuss possible seminars to be held in Switzerland. And then, there were some other friends in the San Diego area which I hoped to have a chance to see again as well throughout my stay - so one can say that there were multiple missions which Leo and I had in our heads to acomplish.
The first problem we had to face was the one of spending the night in San Diego. Although my people in Ensenada promised me to take care of this and that they would let me know as soon as they had found something for us, but unfortunately, this was about the last thing I heard from them; no new messages were arriving, neither by email, or by phone - this was kind of anoying, since I did not really know whether I was supposed to find us lodging spontaneously myself or if there was everything ready in San diego and it was just the message that failed to be delivered.
Brooding over such and similar thoughts, our plane finally reached Dallas, where we had to immigrate into the United States and then change to another airplane. While Leo, acting very nervous and pulling on his leash like crazy, communicated his urgent need to go to the bathroom, we now got to most detailedly and purely enjoy the U.S. Immigration Procedure. Of course, our suitcase had to go through extended screening since they did not believe my promise that Leos food I brought with was compatible with all American Anti-Terror-Laws. Besides, I got to leave my finger prints once more - although they did not care about Leo’s paws. This whole procedure was extended by us having to wait in many lines, by the airport assistants beingng kind of overwhelmed and by the impressedly high number of other disables passengers longing for assistance. Then, FINALLY, Leo got his Bathroom Trip, which we had to keep very limited though, for at this time, I still believed in the ilusion of me actually catching my connecting flight, which was supposed to leave in ten minutes.
To make this definitely impossible, I was more or less totally being taken apart at another security check now. Although the officer, scanning me with his happily beeping metal and drug detecting device, was in a friendly and even funny mood (and, by the way, even had another chair to offer), he could not change the fact that his fuss ate up another about 15 minutes of my precious live. When he finally would let us go, another chair was waiting for us: It was attached to a Dallas Aisport Transportation Car and sitting on it we got to taxi through the building for some more minutes - and before we actually reached the gate, the message came by radio: “The Plane Had Already gone.”.
remarkably fast and even without additional costs, we were re-ticketed for the next flight. Also, David, a friendly man who obviously had to face the same fate as us, took us with him into the American Airlines Admirals Club Lounge, where we not only found another chair, but also wireless internet access. Thanks to this, we found out that there were still no messages from San diego or Ensenada; so I had the pleasure to find us something on my own and not really for a small amount of money. Starting off at Hostel World, my query got refused with the reason that I was trying to book to far ahead. I then had my success on the american Airlines Hotels Page, if one can call a room for $59 excluding taxes a success.
It won’t take much time to tell the rest: On the flight to San diego we met Francis, who lived there herself and offered us hef help, should we have any problems finding public transportation or similar during our stay. After the landing, Leo made me and many others very happy by placing one of his piles onto the carpet of San Diego Airport. Stepping out into the open air was disappointing: After feeling the sun in Dallas, San Diego now welcomed us with a windy and very rainy evening; so while the water made its way through my sweater and Leo’s coat, we waited for the shuttle service to bring us to the hotel.
In my room - which by the way was equipped with only one chair - I was excited about having free wireless connection to the internet, which made it possible that I could tell all the world that we were still alive and stuff. I even managed, by dramatically topping up its balance, to get my phone to work again - so if anyone wants to call me, just dial +1-888-675-7494!
At eleven, a sudden tiredness seemed to overcome me again and since Leo did not want to go for another walk either, I went to bed right away. I had planned my trip to Longbeach for the coming day. This required me to catch a bus at 10:30 am from San diego.
To not run out of time before and to be able to enjoy the complimentary breakfast in any case, I set my alarm clock to seven in the morning - although I actually expected me not to sleep that long due to the time difference.