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San Diego SKO travelog #8
Back home · Thu, 12 Feb 2026. 9pm.
I left SKO early today. No, I don't just mean I snuck out before the last session of the day, which wasn't relevant to me anyway— not that any of this is relevant to me anymore. I also left a day early. No, tomorrow's not another seminar day. Today's the end of the program. But we were all asked to book flights home tomorrow morning, not today. I changed my flight late last night to leave this evening, a 6:40pm departure, instead of Friday morning.
I should have made that change a week ago. It would've been cheaper. As it was it cost the company $215 to change. A week ago it would've cost just $106. And the company could've save the last night of hotel cost. I held onto my plan of leaving Friday as long as I did because they asked me to. 99% of the reason for that, I am sure, was to stop people from booking 5pm or even 3pm departures today and then melting away at lunchtime, wrecking the second half of today's program. Of course, at least three people conspicuously did book 2-3pm departures and leave at lunch. But the idea was also that we'd have a group dinner tonight. And that's what I decided last night IDGAF about.
Flying to/from San Diego is a more pleasant experience than it used to be. SAN T1 has been rebuilt, with the new T1 opening late last year. The new T1 is beautiful. (At least on the inside.) And it's spacious.
The old T1 had most of its gates crammed in a rotunda we frequent flyers affectionately called The Wheel of Death. The rotunda was a great idea... 58 years ago. The last time it was still a good idea was... maybe back in the 1980s... or whenever passenger traffic was 1/4 of what it is today.
Despite the spacious new T1 there are some things that don't change....
Yup, my flight home on Southwest was late. We were about 30 minutes late on departure. We landed only 10 minutes late, though, because airlines pad their flight schedules expecting delays. Do the math.... Southwest expected this flight to have a 20 minute delay.
I got home this evening at 8:40pm. On the one hand that's not hugely different from getting home tomorrow at 11:40am. I mean, it's not even a full day. But it is a full night. I'm glad I'm home to sleep in my own bed tonight, next to my spouse, instead of sleeping yet-another night in a soulless hotel room after a dull drinking party with colleagues I soon will never see or even work with again.
Back home · Thu, 12 Feb 2026. 9pm.
I left SKO early today. No, I don't just mean I snuck out before the last session of the day, which wasn't relevant to me anyway— not that any of this is relevant to me anymore. I also left a day early. No, tomorrow's not another seminar day. Today's the end of the program. But we were all asked to book flights home tomorrow morning, not today. I changed my flight late last night to leave this evening, a 6:40pm departure, instead of Friday morning.
I should have made that change a week ago. It would've been cheaper. As it was it cost the company $215 to change. A week ago it would've cost just $106. And the company could've save the last night of hotel cost. I held onto my plan of leaving Friday as long as I did because they asked me to. 99% of the reason for that, I am sure, was to stop people from booking 5pm or even 3pm departures today and then melting away at lunchtime, wrecking the second half of today's program. Of course, at least three people conspicuously did book 2-3pm departures and leave at lunch. But the idea was also that we'd have a group dinner tonight. And that's what I decided last night IDGAF about.
* * *
Flying to/from San Diego is a more pleasant experience than it used to be. SAN T1 has been rebuilt, with the new T1 opening late last year. The new T1 is beautiful. (At least on the inside.) And it's spacious.
The old T1 had most of its gates crammed in a rotunda we frequent flyers affectionately called The Wheel of Death. The rotunda was a great idea... 58 years ago. The last time it was still a good idea was... maybe back in the 1980s... or whenever passenger traffic was 1/4 of what it is today.
Despite the spacious new T1 there are some things that don't change....
Yup, my flight home on Southwest was late. We were about 30 minutes late on departure. We landed only 10 minutes late, though, because airlines pad their flight schedules expecting delays. Do the math.... Southwest expected this flight to have a 20 minute delay.
* * *
I got home this evening at 8:40pm. On the one hand that's not hugely different from getting home tomorrow at 11:40am. I mean, it's not even a full day. But it is a full night. I'm glad I'm home to sleep in my own bed tonight, next to my spouse, instead of sleeping yet-another night in a soulless hotel room after a dull drinking party with colleagues I soon will never see or even work with again.
