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Okay! I feel so much better today, so I'm going to try to write a decent entry now. :3
So, yeah, yesterday's flight had that hitch I mentioned. I did greatly enjoy the Fresno airport, in spite of the smells of delicious expensive food. Part of me at the time wished I had stayed there a little longer, but really it was for the best.
Before we landed, about half an hour before we were supposed to originally land in San Fran, the pilot woke me up by telling the attendant to prepare the coach for landing. I looked out the window and was amazed at how desolate the landscape was. Certainly there were mountains in the distance, but below the ground looked almost barren. I later realized why - it was probably Nevada.
As we passed over those mountains, the scenery changed drastically. Everything was covered with snow, and again the horizon had changed; at first, I thought the new flatness was the ocean, but as we got closer it became obvious that was not the case. The texture I could make out was not changing, or at least not as rapidly as it should were it water. It didn't take too long for me to figure it out - it was fog. The entire valley of the Sierra Nevadas had been covered in fog. It really was a thing of beauty, even if it did mean we couldn't land at our destination right away. It really sucked for a lot of people who had their connections delayed or, in a few cases, canceled.
Got to the Caltrain station in San Bruno - about a mile walk from the closest AirTrain stop - just in time to watch the train leave the platform. Even so, I relished the opportunity to rest for the hour before the next train came, breathing in the air and looking around at the scenery. It really was quite lovely, especially for being in the vacinity of a casino. The mountains over the peninsula and to the north were stunning, similar in size and distance to Sandia, but more plentiful and much greener. Actually, pretty much everything here is greener, but that's beside the point.
I'm exhausted and sore from siting where I am; I'm in the middle of a hallway because this is where power is and also so I do not wake the other person in my room. I'm getting to that.
So after a short ride and another long walk, I arrived at the hostel around 6pm or so; I really don't recall exactly when. Anyway, a decent kerfuffle happened, wherein I was informed that I had to pay the balance for my stay in cash on the spot, unless I had a credit card myself. As my dad was the one who was going to pay, this was a serious problem. It just so happened, however, that the money I had on-hand to use public transportation was just enough to cover the first night. As such, I paid for the first night out-of-pocket, hoping to be able to make it down to a Western Union as soon as possible in the morning.
This is where I made my short-of-temper post last night. I was broke, exhausted, and had actually been moved to a second room by that point. As much as I like the architecture of this hostel, I have to say I'm not terribly impressed by its management. I mean, the manager tried to fix the problem, but there was only so much he could do; in the end, the payment issue was because another employee had told us a credit card payment over the phone was okay, when it really wasn't.
This morning went off a lot better. Found a Western Union that had just opened, got the money transfer dad had to send me, then paid for the rest of my stay.
Okay, I really can't stand where I am right now, so I'm going to stop here. I'll pick it up tomorrow after I've had some sleep and probably food.
So, yeah, yesterday's flight had that hitch I mentioned. I did greatly enjoy the Fresno airport, in spite of the smells of delicious expensive food. Part of me at the time wished I had stayed there a little longer, but really it was for the best.
Before we landed, about half an hour before we were supposed to originally land in San Fran, the pilot woke me up by telling the attendant to prepare the coach for landing. I looked out the window and was amazed at how desolate the landscape was. Certainly there were mountains in the distance, but below the ground looked almost barren. I later realized why - it was probably Nevada.
As we passed over those mountains, the scenery changed drastically. Everything was covered with snow, and again the horizon had changed; at first, I thought the new flatness was the ocean, but as we got closer it became obvious that was not the case. The texture I could make out was not changing, or at least not as rapidly as it should were it water. It didn't take too long for me to figure it out - it was fog. The entire valley of the Sierra Nevadas had been covered in fog. It really was a thing of beauty, even if it did mean we couldn't land at our destination right away. It really sucked for a lot of people who had their connections delayed or, in a few cases, canceled.
Got to the Caltrain station in San Bruno - about a mile walk from the closest AirTrain stop - just in time to watch the train leave the platform. Even so, I relished the opportunity to rest for the hour before the next train came, breathing in the air and looking around at the scenery. It really was quite lovely, especially for being in the vacinity of a casino. The mountains over the peninsula and to the north were stunning, similar in size and distance to Sandia, but more plentiful and much greener. Actually, pretty much everything here is greener, but that's beside the point.
I'm exhausted and sore from siting where I am; I'm in the middle of a hallway because this is where power is and also so I do not wake the other person in my room. I'm getting to that.
So after a short ride and another long walk, I arrived at the hostel around 6pm or so; I really don't recall exactly when. Anyway, a decent kerfuffle happened, wherein I was informed that I had to pay the balance for my stay in cash on the spot, unless I had a credit card myself. As my dad was the one who was going to pay, this was a serious problem. It just so happened, however, that the money I had on-hand to use public transportation was just enough to cover the first night. As such, I paid for the first night out-of-pocket, hoping to be able to make it down to a Western Union as soon as possible in the morning.
This is where I made my short-of-temper post last night. I was broke, exhausted, and had actually been moved to a second room by that point. As much as I like the architecture of this hostel, I have to say I'm not terribly impressed by its management. I mean, the manager tried to fix the problem, but there was only so much he could do; in the end, the payment issue was because another employee had told us a credit card payment over the phone was okay, when it really wasn't.
This morning went off a lot better. Found a Western Union that had just opened, got the money transfer dad had to send me, then paid for the rest of my stay.
Okay, I really can't stand where I am right now, so I'm going to stop here. I'll pick it up tomorrow after I've had some sleep and probably food.
