Monday, August 4, 2008

An Unexpected Upgrade

Saturday, August 2, 2008

An upgrade to Business Class on American Airlines made my flight from San Francisco to Kennedy airport in New York quite the most comfortable transcontinental one I’ve ever taken. So many things conspired to make today unexpected in every way.

The cafeteria guys on the campus at UCSC were extremely obliging in that they packaged a quantity of "Mark’s Homemade Granola" for payment of one swipe of a meal on my card! Karen, a graduate student who lived in San Francisco and who had her car on campus, volunteered to give me a ride to San Francisco airport. I was delighted to pass through the very heart of Silicon Valley and to see the headquarters of all the techie companies such as Intel and Yahoo on the highway around Palo Alto.

Then things started to go awry. My flight was delayed by a half hour and as I waited patiently at the gate waiting for boarding to commence, I was invited to the counter and upgraded to Business Class—boy, was I thrilled! The service was unbelievable and I was wined and dined like a moghul! Managed to watch two movies on my own personal portable DVD player handed to me by the stewardess. The Other Boleyn Girl starring Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johannsen was a treat to watch especially after having read the novel by Phillipa Gregory a couple of years ago and having enjoyed it.I also watched Definitely Maybe with Ryan Reynolds and Abigail Breslin (of Little Miss Sunshine fame ). Before I knew it, we were touching down at JFK airport.

That’s when I realized that my Shuttle Service had closed down for the night though it was only about 11.15 when I called them and they supposedly close at midnight. Despite having made a pre-paid reservation, I had to drag Llew out of bed to get him to pick me up from the airport. I am seated in the transit lounge awaiting his arrival in the passenger pick-up area even as I type this.

See what I mean by the day holding mixed surprises? Still I'm not complaining...at least not about the unexpected upgrade!

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