A Long Way Back To California

So my trip back to California was quite long and tiring. It all started when I got to Victoria International Airport at 10:20am, 1h 20m before the flight left. I go to the check-in counter, and there's a huge line of passengers. That's a bad sign. Eventually I figure out from people's murmurings that my flight into Seattle was canceled because there was too much fog on the Seattle side. The attendants at the check-in counter were busy trying to book new tickets for passengers. For those keeping count, yes this is the dreaded Victoria-Seattle route operated by Horizon Air / Alaska Air, the route that is perpetually delayed whenever I take it.

As time moved on, people in the line grew increasingly impatient. This was partially due to the fact that one of the attendants decided to leave, which left only one person working the counter. The other reason was because Air Canada was able to get a flight out to Seattle at around our departure time, so what gives?

After waiting in line for an hour, I finally get to the attendant. She informs me that the next flight to Seattle is at 4pm, and the connecting flight to San Jose departs at 8pm and arrives at 10pm. This was no good because that meant that I would be waiting at the airport for five hours, and the bus routes I rely on in San Jose don't run at 10pm.

Luckily I recalled that United Airlines runs a direct flight between Victoria and San Francisco, so I inquired about that flight. Departure at 2:40pm, arrival at 4:40pm. If this was the amazing race, a move like this could put my team in the lead. This meant waiting at the airport for three hours, and getting into the Bay Area a full 6 hours earlier, so I opted for this flight.

The United plane was actually not bad. It's smaller than the one from Seattle-San Jose, which meant loading times were much faster. The chairs were nicer, and I had way more leg room. The view was also much nicer when approaching San Francisco.

This was the first leg of the race. The second leg of the race was figuring how to get down to San Jose. I managed to do it with public transit for $11. The route was:

1. San Francisco Airport - Take BART Train Northbound to San Bruno
2. Transfer to BART Southbound to Milbrae
3. Transfer to CalTrain Southbound to Santa Clara
4. Arrive at Santa Clara transit station, transfer to Bus #60 Southbound
5. Arrive at Valleyfair Transit Center, transfer to Bus #23 Westbound

Yes, this took five transfers to finally get home. I have to say that the train system there is absolutely ridiculous. The BART is one train system, and CalTrain is another; they should really just harmonize the two train systems. My assertion that the Bay Area's public transit is awful still stands.

Anyway, I managed to finally get home at 8pm. So total travel time + waiting time = ~10 hours. It was a long and tiring day. On a positive note, I managed to finish reading Sun Tzu's Art of War in only one day. First book of 2009 completed.