Half hour more

Four more hours to my flight to San Francisco, and I'm feeling more and more excited. The not-so-exciting part is having to check out of my cosy hotel by 3.30am, catch the Met by 4am, get to the airport by 4.45am, so I can check in for my 6.40am flight. I'll reach SF in an hour and forty minutes' time, which still leaves me with a good whole day to start exploring the city, but I suspect I might just zonk out sometime in the daytime.

Just managed to book my hostel lodging this evening. Because of my procrastination, I now could not get a 2-bed dorm, and have to settle for a 4- or 5-bed one. Which, of course, is cheaper, but for a first-time 'backpacker' (with a luggage in tow), I worry a little about the other 4 girls I'll be bunking with. As part of my 'budget travel' plan, I'll be taking the Metro again from the airport into downtown, and lug my luggage along the streets towards the hostel. Green Tortoise (don't ask me why the name) is great (at least on their web site) because they offer free wireless internet access and free dinners on Fridays (Mondays and Wednesdays as well) - again, just perfect for my 'budget travel' plans!

It's been work, work, and more work over the past couple of days. The days seemed to drag on longer this trip. Didn't do much shopping either. I just couldn't wait for this Frisco trip.

Of course, life is never easy for me. At midnight, shortly after I returned from a bowling session organized for our group, I realized I left my contact lens case somewhere unretrievable at that ungodly hour. Panic, panic, for I can't do without it. Put on my jacket again and hurried to the convenience store, but it was already closed - dang, I thought it was run 24-hour. Back in my room, pondered and worried for a while. Then ingeniously, I decided to use 2 empty bottle caps (one of my 'in case' goodies ) to contain my lenses. I just hope they are clean enough and don't cause my eyes to puff up later.

Time to start packing. I was supposed to travel light; I told myself that. But I don't think I achieved that. The luggage weight limit for a domestic flight is usually about 20lbs less than what we normally get for an international flight, and I think I might have a problem with that. The last time it happened to me, I was flying from Portland to Seattle, to visit my cousins. My luggage was overweight, and my pleading failed. The counter staff simply threw me a gigantic plastic bag (think the clear plastic bags that you use to contain the fish you buy from the market, yes that kind, except the one I got was a much much bigger version) and I had to throw some excess stuff into it. Gawd, imagine me towing a luggage and lugging a plastic-bag-full of stuff out of the airport... so unglam!! But luckily, my cousin was right out there waiting to pick me up in his swanky Acura RSX, so I was spared the embarassment.

But I cannot afford such embarassment and inconvenience this time, because I do not have a swanky car waiting to pick me up, and instead, I have to take the public transport! So, I stuffed and I squeezed and I decided to hand over the heaviest stuff to my poor colleague, so she can help me carry them back. Poor thing. Too bad.

Ok. Half an hour more to go before I check out of warmth and cosiness...