Trip to San Diego (long version)

I'm writing this on Saturday at 18:15 (that's 6:15PM) and I'm falling asleep. I'm trying to fight it to change my rhythm, but it's not easy sitting at the computer.

Anyway, the trip yesterday was long but mostly uneventful. I woke up at 5:00 in the morning, stepped into the taxi at 5:30 and was in Dusseldorf Airport 40 minutes later. The first flight from Dusseldorf to London was routine, it didn't take too long. To come clean, I've no recollection of it.

The second flight was the longest of the whole journey. London-New York. Estimated flight time: 7 hours 45 minutes. 3452 miles. The plane was almost empty; I counted that only every fifth seat was taken. The room came in handy later when I tried to sleep. I could use three seats and really sleep horizontally for a couple of hours. I used my laptop for the first time on an airplane after I woke up. I had a few DVD's to watch so I did. I was again positively surprised by the picture quality of QualiBook (Apple iBook G4). David Attenborough in Living Planet, episode 3, The Northern Forests and Crusade, episode 1, War Zone couldn't be visually improved.

Next in the program was a six-hour wait at the JFK International Airport in New York. I had contemplated the idea of going to Manhattan or just somewhere downtown but decided against it. There's just not enough time to wander about. There's a very convenient AirTrain system at the airport. Three lines connect all terminals with a few railway, subway and bus stations. I made at least three full circles during the stay to find different things. My own terminal was 9, but everything interesting seemed to be in terminal 4.

Houses located near the JFK International Airport in New York. Photographed from the AirTrain.

For example, I went to terminal 9 and asked the information for a post office. She said that "there is a mailbox, but it's in terminal 4". Well, I had the time and I needed to do something so I wouldn't sleep. I didn't just find a mailbox, I found a whole post office desk, where I could buy stamps and all. Before I had been to terminal 4, because they had all the stores and many restaurants, which were actually snack bars and I didn't eat there. I was getting hungry, though so I went to terminal 9, noticed that there's nowhere to eat, asked at the information and got the answer "in terminal 8". So it was off to terminal 8. And so on. In the end, I settled down, read my book, "The Eyre Affair" by Jasper Fforde and waited.

The plane to San Diego was packed. I had decided to try and sleep so that I wouldn't be overly tired at the time when I had to drive to the hotel. The in-flight entertainment was, of course, this time something truly new and interesting, namely the movie about Johnny Cash called "Walk the Line". I would have liked to see it and I still do because I kept my promise and tried to sleep. Unfortunately, there wasn't too much room in one seat, and the backs of the seats didn't seem to go back at all. So I slept vertically as much as I could. The flight took almost six hours and one and a half hours before landing I decided to start watching the Eagles Farewell Tour I DVD, which woke me up by being a very good quality concert recording. The old men seemed to enjoy being on stage in Melbourne. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of it.

In San Diego International Airport, a courtesy bus of the car rental agency was waiting and took me alone to the office. Everything's so BIG in America. I rented an intermediate class Chevrolet Malibu, with two criteria: it wasn't white and it had a sun roof. Almost all the other cars in offer were and didn't have.
The next challenge was learning to drive a strange automatic. After a twitching start at the parking lot, I started to get the hang of it. The car was comfortable to drive and I could concentrate on the route. That was what concerned me maybe the most. How would I find to a hotel in the dark somewhere I had never been? I had printed a route from the airport to the hotel using Google Earth. The problem now was that I wasn't at the airport anymore (remember the courtesy bus?) and as it turns out, the hotel wasn't my destination after all, either.
After some route reading in the dark (why can't they have lights on the interstate?), I arrived at a Marriott hotel. I wasn't sure that this was my hotel so I decided to ask the reception before lugging all my luggage to the reception. Halfway across the yard I noticed that the street number matched with the one in my itinerary and I turned back. I unloaded my luggage and dragged them to the reception, now tired as a bear in November. Imagine my surprise when the receptionist couldn't find my reservation!
It turned out that I had been "upgraded" to the nearby hotel (I had first driven to it) because it would be more comfortable to stay in for a longer time. The rooms have their own kitchens, etc. Like it is a treat to be able to cook myself. Maybe for people who can cook, it is. I can boil spaghetti and fry minced meat, that's it. If I have to cook for a fortnight, I'll have minced meat pouring out of my ears.
Anyway, I dragged my luggage back to the car, loaded it, drove to other hotel (maybe 300m away), unloaded the luggage and dragged it to the reception. Right when I entered, I thought I was making the same mistake again. "I'm surely going to get a room at the other end of the hotel. I could have driven closer, probably." That could have happened but luckily it didn't. I got to my room, found out the room has a complimentary high-speed internet access, read an email and wrote a blog post before crashing.

I decided to try and wake up at 9:00AM so I would have time enough for breakfast. I woke up already at 7:30 and when I got to breakfast after a little exercise and a quick shower, the forgotten alarm on my mobile went off. I had even had time to write a list of groceries, which would be delivered later to my room. I ordered among other things spaghetti and minced meat.


After the breakfast I drove to check where the Nokia offices in San Diego are.

Then I drove to San Diego downtown and eventually found a parking spot. I walked around town wondering how different everything is. There's a cheerleader competition or event in town, and it's hard to miss, there are girls in cheerleader outfits everywhere. One group was even practicing in a park.

Here's a picture of a statue called Flame of Friendship, which has been "presented to the people of San Diego. As a symbol of international goodwill and friendship that exists, and shall always prevail, between the people of Mexico and the people of San Diego." Just goes to show how close to the southern border of US this place is.


Here's one picture of many I took from the San Diego skyline. This kind of houses I haven't seen in Europe. To me they are very American.