San Francisco
We were hoping for a leisurely few days in San Francisco. There were all kinds of things we wanted to do and see. However, our top priority was a reunion with Tom's childhood friend.
Our plane ride there was fairly uneventful with one exception. This leg of our trip was a domestic flight. The extras to which we had become accustomed no longer existed. For instance, until now the earphones for music and movie viewing were free. Now they wanted to charge $5.00 for each of us. We passed. Even though it was going to be a long flight, we just couldn't see the point of paying that fee. We were assured that it was the regular policy for all domestic flights. We obviously were back to "no frills" flying.
We arrived at the airport in the late evening, were very tired, and began looking for transportation to our hotel. We were sort of numb and couldn't find anyone to ask. The one man at the information desk was busy on the phone and it looked like it would be a long time before he could help us. We went back and forth between two floors looking for the correct place to get a cab, and trying to see if other less expensive transportation were available. About that time, a young man approached us, told us if we would go back downstairs to the other side of the terminal to a specific waiting area, he would transport us to our motel in his van for $17.00. He was in the process of dropping people at the airport and was not allowed to pick passengers up at the same place he dropped them off. We were too tired to bargain and agreed, although something didn't seem quite right about the whole thing. (When we arrived at our hotel and arranged for transportation back to the airport, via the same outfit, we were informed that we had been overcharged. However, at that point we just didn't care.)
While driving the half-hour from the airport to the Days Inn, our driver ate his Chinese food and regaled us with colorful stories from his life and tales of San Francisco. One of the things he told us was that he had hoped to visit the "red light district" of New York City but was disappointed when the mayor had closed it down. We were really tired and very hungry. The food smelled awfully good, but our complaining stomachs were diverted by his entertaining conversation.
When we asked him about the location of our motel, he told us that it was in a bad section with a lot of drug dealing and many shady characters and that we should be careful. That was just what we wanted to hear!
We had chosen the Days Inn on Geary Street because we thought it would be easy to explore the city on foot from that location. Besides, Marie thought it was the same place where she had stayed before and had liked. Either the place had changed, the area had gotten worse, or she was wrong. It turned out to be the latter.
On arriving at our motel we discovered that it was an old-fashioned motel where there were outside doors to the rooms, rather than rooms within a building and entrances from an inside hallway. That didn't lend itself to feeling more secure. Also our room had a front row view of the glaring, flashing neon sign " LIQUOR" outside our window. Also from our window we could see all sorts of interesting activity on the street. There were many homeless people and some obvious drug dealers.
Since we were so hungry the first item of business was getting food. We asked the friendly and helpful desk clerk where we might find a place to eat. He recommended one of two places two blocks away at the corner of Geary and Van Ness and said it was quite safe to walk there. The one restaurant was "Mel's" and the other was across the street -- both interesting places with good food. We chose the second (can't remember the name), a bustling place that obviously is a favorite among locals and tourists alike. We were joined at our table by a man who had moved to San Francisco from Minnesota, which he described as "too cold and too white." We clearly followed what he was trying to tell us. We enjoyed the conversation and the food was great.
After eating we headed back to our hotel and collapsed onto the bed. It was a night of sleep interrupted by various sirens and other street noise.
In the morning, we decided that this would be a very interesting city to explore on foot and planned the routes that we would like to take to see the sights. However, after walking only half a block in this hilly city we realized that Tom simply did not have the stamina or strength to do any walking. It was very frustrating to both of us as he was used to walking between 2 and 5 miles daily under normal circumstances. Something was very wrong. Daily, his condition was worsening.
It was time to interrupt the trip and return home. We contacted American Airlines to try to change our tickets and were informed that we would have to contact the "One World" desk. With them we managed to change our tickets at no extra charge. We arranged to take a flight out later that night. We also decided to skip the few days that we had hoped to spend with Marie's brother and his family in Chicago, as much as we had been looking forward to that visit.
Maybe the time we had planned to spend in San Francisco was not to be. Tom really needed to get home at that point to get further medical care. Meanwhile, we were determined to have lunch with Tom's friend, Ken and his wife Sonya, whom he had known since elementary school and hadn't seen in more than 30 years. We are glad we did. It was great to see them again. This is a friend whom Tom might not see for years at a time but when he does see him it feels like it was "only yesterday" when they last met.
They took us to the "Chinese Empress" in Chinatown and we had a superb meal, wonderful company and easy conversation. There was lots of reminiscing. It was a heart-warming reunion and we all vowed to see each other again soon.
From there we returned to the Days Inn, slept off and on through the day, placing many phone calls to make arrangements to be met at the airport upon our return, and awaiting the shuttle back to the San Francisco airport.
Once there, Marie borrowed two blankets from an airline attendant and wrapped them around Tom as he sat at the gate with shaking chills. We both would worry throughout the last two flights before returning home and straight to the hospital emergency room. (For what happened next you might want to look at our Hospitals around the world section.) As of this writing we are trying to get Tom's health, our ponds, gardens, lawn and life back to normal.
This time we couldn't see much of San Francisco and but we have vowed to return and to spend more quality time there.
In retrospect, we must say that it was an interesting end to a fascinating trip. To those of you who think we are nuts for not cutting the trip short at an earlier point, we respond that Tom never wanted to do that , never really felt that bad until the final days, and one can get sick anywhere, so we "might as well be traveling." Even as we were at the lowest points of our trip, we couldn't keep ourselves from planning the next one. Maybe with an emphasis on the southern hemisphere -- South Africa, parts of South America, New Zealand and back to Australia to the Outback....
