Travel to San Francisco - Some Obversations

I like flying out of Wilmington. A small airport is nice - you can park close to the terminal, the cost is low, and the crowd isn't. Passing through security is fast and the people are generally cordial (they might know you socially).

The flight to Atlanta was only about a third full - when did you last experience that? The flight to San Francisco was a totally different story. Delta now charges for bags. They call it an excess baggage fee - I guess they think you should have no bags. Actually that is what many tried to do by taking their luggage on the plane. I understand that if they then had to check their bag they wouldn't have to pay the $20 bag fee. So, we had a line on the gangway checking their bags - they never intended to carry them aboard, and another line trying to get off the plane because all the overhead bins were full. That in turn meant we were supposed to keep our coats and other smaller bags in our laps and theoretically under your seat. Ha!

We arrived around 11am on a flight that was 30 minutes early. I was truck again how clear the air is in the fall. The low humidity makes the air sharp and especially clear, something you rarely see in Carolina.

It took me nearly a half hour to acclimatize to driving in the bay area. There is a totally different feeling that I do not experience in other major metropolitan areas. It is sort of like driving in the Grand Prixe. Motorist know that they really have to be to be reckless and driving WAY over the limit to be nailed. That means people drive to the level of what they feel is reasonable safety - not what is written on a sign. That translates to 70 mph in the slower lanes and 75 to 80 in the faster lanes (65 mph speed limit). I see them traveling at 70+ around Raleigh but those are more likely to be the exceptions or at least the top speeders.

California has a 12% unemployment rate but that dose not seem to be the case in high tech. In fact there may be some signs of hiring in that sector. I thought I saw some suggestion in some of the freeways being a little less clogged but that was not the case at the In-N-Out Burgers - crowded as always.

Speaking of In-N-Out Burgers - they put fast food restaurants like McDonald's and Burger King to shame.