The US Bonanza – Day 5
>Still Out in San Francisco
Our flight back to Boston wasn’t until 1pm, so when I got up I decided to hire a taxi to go to the Golden Gate Bridge. It was about 20 minutes drive from the hotel, and when we reached the bridge we drove over it and pulled up at a look out point.
While the lookout point was great for views of San Francisco across the water, it was crap for looking at the bridge as it was so close to it. I peered over the edge and saw a marina down below, and with a bit of trial and error directing the driver we managed to get down there. This was a much better place to see the bridge, as you can see below. It’s a shame the weather wasn’t a bit better.
The whole taxi trip (including him waiting) lasted a little over an hour, and was a very reasonable $50. When we got back to town, I asked him to drop me back in the North Beach area, as there were quite a few cafés in that area that would be good to grab some breakfast in.
I stopped at a great little café called “Caffe Trieste” on Grant Street. It doesn’t look much from the outside, but the staff were a good laugh and very friendly. I’d definitely stop here again.
After a bagel and a latte, I started the walk back up to the hotel. I met up with Phil (who was feeling slightly worse for wear after his night out) and we went to check out. I had no problems checking out, and my mini bar bill had already been removed from my account. When Phil checked out, they denied all knowledge of free internet access, and refused to remove the charge. Fortunately I’d printed out the website page with the offer, which saw the charge being removed with an attempted apology.
San Francisco – Boston in American Airlines First Class
Following a bouncy ride back to the airport, we checked in and made our way through security and on to the Admiral’s Club. It seemed like only a couple of days since we’d last been there, which to be fair, it was. We used our vouchers for a few Anchor Steams, and waited for our flight to board.
We boarded and took our seats for what was to be the last flight of the YUP run. We were in 1A and 1B so that we’d have first dibs on the food. Today’s meal was the lamest yet – a cold chicken salad. However, desert was an ice cream sundae, which was very nice, and made up for the main course.
Yet again we had a friendly crew, and overall we were impressed by all of the crews in AA First. The crew were always present – they never went off to hide in the galley. Having flown on AA Domestic Economy last year (see previous trip report!) the difference between that and AA Domestic First is HUGE.
The flight time passed fairly quickly, and this was largely due to the fact that it was our only flight of the day. We arrived into Boston a little ahead of schedule, and for the first time on the trip we went to look for a taxi in the rain. $25 later we found ourselves back at the InterContinental Boston.
The InterContinental, Boston. Again.
For this stay at the hotel, I’d made the reservations for both Phil and myself. This turned out to be very handy, because it meant that both of our rooms were upgraded to suites as a result.
My room was identical to the one earlier in the week (a Harbour View Junior Suite) and the staff also recognised us.
Since it was now the evening, we decided just to watch a film, have a few drinks from the mini bar, and crash out. We did just that, and made a respectable $300 dent in the mini bar contents.
One thing to note‚Ķ I am a fan of a good burger. By good, I mean proper beef, pink in the middle, fresh ingredients, and superb taste. I bravely ordered a burger from room service for dinner and‚Ķ it was excellent. So good in fact that I took a photo. Would stay here again just for the burger 🙂
