Easy Evening, Early Morning in OC

Santa Ana, California. Thu, 12 Oct 2023, 8:30am.

It was an easy flight down from San Jose to Santa Ana last night. Though the flight was full, literally every seat occupied, we departed pretty much on time and landed 15 minutes ahead of schedule.

Santa Ana, Orange County Airport (SNA), is always a pleasurable airport to travel through. No, it's not because of its proximity of Disneyland. I've never actually been to Disneyland, though clearly that's where at least 20% of my fellow flyers were headed. (Their shirts with the mouse-ears logo gave it away.)



The reason I like SNA is that it's right in the middle of the action. On approach you can see that you're flying right over one of the business districts, in the city of Santa Ana. Literally the flight path follows the 55 freeway the last few miles and crosses I-405 (pictured) just before touching down on the runway. Office towers and hotels surround you as you land.

Once on the ground, everything's right there. Rental cars are in the parking garage across from the terminal, so it's just a short walk if you're renting. Ride-share and taxis are even closer.

I stayed overnight at a Holiday Inn a few miles from the airport. Yes, there were closer hotels. Yes, there were also nicer hotels. And yes, some of them cost twice as much— or even more. Thus my choice of the Holiday.



The view from my room is... not great. There's a back parking area and a retaining wall. Then there are views of other, nicer hotels. 😅 The photo above has nice lighting because I took it this morning at sunrise. Yesterday evening after I arrived it was all gray.

What to do last night was a question. I was prepared to have it be a quiet night in at the hotel. I even packed my swim trunks and sandals so I could relax in the hot tub if nothing else. Instead I looked up our cousins who live about 5 miles away. They didn't answer at first but returned my call later, and we were able to meet for dinner around 7:15.

It was good seeing cousins "Mark" and "Ellen" again. The last time I saw them was 3.5 years ago now, for a funeral when Mark's mother passed away. Definitely good to see them at a time when they're not dealing with grief and having to coordinate a dozen unhappy things.

After dinner I walked back to my hotel (we'd eaten at a restaurant 2 blocks away) and promptly stayed up too late. 😅 I didn't get to sleep until after midnight. Blame it on unfamiliar surroundings breaking my evening wind-down routine... or just screwing around on the interwebs too long. 🤣

This morning I was up early. I ate breakfast downstairs around 7 and was seated at my computer by 7:40. My work computer. "What are you doing up so early?" one of my colleagues asked when I slacked him to have a quick meeting. "I'm getting at-my-desk things done now so they're not still hanging over my head tonight after being in the field most of the day," I responded. "Good move," he agreed.

Well, speaking of being in the field most of the day, it's about to start.

Waiting to Go Home

LAX Airport. Thu, 12 Oct 2023, 4:30pm.

My little 24-hour trip to Orange County expanded to Los Angeles. After meeting one customer in Irvine this morning, a good meeting even if frustratingly short, we headed north to visit another customer in west LA for a brief afternoon meet. The change came at a cost, though. I had to rebook my departure out of SNA to a slightly later departure via LAX.

When I looked to make this change last night the 2 evening flights on my airline were sold out. "No sweat," I figured, "I'll check again tomorrow morning and see if some seats have opened up." I knew that worst case I'd skip the second meeting and go home on my originally booked flight. Also, we were still negotiating to get a third meeting, on Friday morning in San Diego, so there was a possibility I'd stay another night and fly home via SAN.

This morning the LAX flight I wanted was still sold out. I decided to check again after my morning meeting. I knew I could be flexible enough to keep waiting. Sure enough, when I checked back around 11:30 seats had opened up! I rebooked for no cost. ...No cost of money, that is. The cost would be time. The flight out of LAX was scheduled 75 minutes later. And, 6 hours before departure, it was already delayed.



So now I'm at LAX airport awaiting my flight. I'd be plenty early for it even if it was tracking on time. I'm extra early since it's not. It's frustrating that delaying my travel to meet this second customer cost me not only having dinner with my wife this evening (the first flight would've gotten me home just in time) but now threatens a late enough arrival home that I won't be ready to meld into a full day of work tomorrow.

Short Trip, Still Glad to be Home

I'm back home from my brief trip to Southern California. It was a bit longer than initially planned, both because of extending it a smidge to accommodate a second customer meeting and because of a delayed flight. I got home just after 8:30 tonight, making it a round trip of not quite 30 hours. Still, I'm glad to be home.

One thing I checked as I got home was the relative value of using Uber/Lyft to and from the airport instead of driving. On a same-day trip several weeks ago I drove to the airport and used hourly parking. For one day it was $30, much cheaper than an Uber/Lyft round trip. For this trip I figured I'd be parked over 24 hours, doubling the cost to $60, so I went with Uber/Lyft. Well, the round trip was nearly $60. It was a tie, cost-wise. And I had an annoying wait for a driver on the outbound leg. Fortunately I got a driver quickly on the homeward ride tonight. But what this shows me is that for two-day trips it's worth it to pay $60 for parking. I mean, that seems obscene, paying $60 to park for just a smidge over 24 hours, but the price comparison checks out.