An R & R Day

After not being able to sleep much last night I was still up early. I decided today needed to be a rest and relaxation day and I made the most of it. 

I went to the Happy Diner for breakfast where I had one of the best breakfast burritos ever. Chock full of eggs, bacon, sausage, two cheeses, potatoes, tomatoes, onions, and cilantro with some mighty tasty salsa. Yum yum. It was so big I only could eat half of it, so guess what I had for lunch?

I spent a chunk of the day at the hotel watching trash TV. Catfish, Maury, Hoarders, 90 Day Fiancé. Took a nap. Talked to kiddo. Headed to the pool to get some sun. Today was much too chilly to be swimming, but I camped out on a lounge chair in the sun for a while. 

Spied my room from the pool deck.

Like I said, it’s a huge room. The whole bank of windows are mine as well as another couple banks around the corner of the building. As for inside the room, there’s a little hallway when you first enter.

The hallway leads to a living room. I haven’t even sat down in there yet!

The living room leads to a desk area and the bathroom (door on the left).

Past those areas you find the bedroom.

I’d definitely book this Junior suite here at the Crowne Plaza again. If the price is right, that is. Since this is the off season for cruise ships (I think?) I didn’t pay as much as I would at another time of year.

 

I also spent time watching marine traffic heading in and out of the harbor right from my room. I even caught the world’s first solar-powered car carrier, Emerald Ace, leaving on its way to Yokohama, Japan. If I’m lucky I’ll get to see my ship come in early tomorrow morning.

Island Princess, I’m waiting for you!

The First Glitch

Thanks to the first hiccup in my adventurous adventure it was almost 2 am before I got to the hotel in San Pedro last night. 

When I arrived at the Alaska Airlines counter to check in for my flight in Boise yesterday, I was immediately told the FAA had declared an embargo on mobility scooters on regional jets. Huh? There would be no way I would be allowed to fly with my little travel scooter. The scooter who would be with me for four straight months delivering me to places like Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Greenland, and Lithuania could not go with me.

It’s a recent ban, and unfortunately fliers like me were never notified. And also unfortunately for me, there were no other flights to LAX not using the regional jets today. We looked at larger planes on other airlines connecting through Seattle, Denver, and San Francisco. Nothing. They even looked into renting a scooter and sending it to the hotel for me while they held my scooter in Boise until I returned from my trip. Umm…I won’t be back home until September 9.

Southwest to the rescue. 

While I lost my business class seat on a non-stop flight to Los Angeles (boo!), Southwest Airlines was able to get me on a Boise to Los Angeles flight through Las Vegas. So Alaska refunded my precious great-priced ticket and I had to purchase a new last-last-minute ticket on Southwest. While I typically try and avoid Southwest for reasons I don’t care to mention right now, the agents worked hard at not only getting me on the flights, but getting me an extra seat so I had an empty one next to me. 

Goodbye, Boise! See you in September!

Thankfully things got better from there. I had a fascinating chat with the person sitting on the aisle seat who was on his way to Vegas to do security at The Chicks (Dixie Chicks) concert. And his main gig is security in Las Vegas for Adele. Adele! So cool.

Hello, Vegas!

I had enough time on my stopover to visit Wonder Woman. That gal was good to me. I hit three separate bonuses and walked away up $150. Imagine if I was playing the maximum.

Not even my biggest win!

A short hop from Las Vegas put me into Los Angeles much later than I had planned.

Ed, this one’s for you.

While it was a rougher-than-planned day, I made it safely to my huge hotel room, and after a wee bit of sleep it looks to be a glorious day. 

Good morning, San Pedro!

If yesterday was the biggest glitch of my trip, I’ll take it!

I’m going to keep track of time changes for this trip. Number of time zone changes so far: 1