Lying here in my comfy little bed at the ripe time of 4pm, I’ve decided the commute from Missouri to Mammoth Mountain ski resort has made the day eventful enough that no further action is required. aka: I’m done.
Because writing about my trip from London back to the U.S.A. following my Oxford program in real time was so much fun, I decided to give it another go, and so here’s how my day traveling to my new job in California went:
7:30 Update 1:
I got to the airport with plenty of time thanks to my dad and my common interest in being absurdly early to everything.
Which ended up being a good thing because my checked bag was 8lbs overweight (trumpet *womp womp* sound). Sounds like a rookie mistake to me but LISTEN:
This is only the second time I’ve ever checked a bag.
So I ended up having to pack and repack on the floor twice to avoid the overage fee. Thank goodness this is an early flight and hardly anyone is in the airport because it was a tragic display.
So where did all my extra stuff go? My personal item, of course.
Poor little backpack, it’s about to burst. So of course, it got special-checked by TSA and I got to pack it all again. Mea culpa, mea culpa maxima.
Now I get an hour at this quiet river-themed airport and I’m just trying to savor it. I’ve got a 45 min layover in Denver, and then 13 minutes to haul my massive suitcase to the ESTA shuttle up to the ski mountain.
It’ll be a day full of mad-dashing, and it’ll take a prayer and a miracle for it all to work out, but relatively speaking, things are going well so far.
8:20 Update 2: What the hell is wrong with airlines. They over booked by 4 people!!! How on earth does that happen?
8:31 Update 3: It seems as though the overbooking has magically disappeared and business is running as normal?! I will never ever understand how airlines work.
8:50 Update 4: This is a Polly Pocket plane but in a fun way. The aisles are 2ft wide and the ceilings are less than 6ft tall. I know this because I’m 5’7 and my head was about 2 inches from hitting the ceiling.
I am in the very back of the plane, literally touching the bathroom door. Good news is, I think I have the row to myself! So much for overbooking, right?
9:15 Update 5: The computers needed to be restarted, the nightmare is unending.
10:15 Update 6: Flight arrived on time! Another miracle for the books. What’s more, my new gate was only 8 away from the one I just got out of. Things are coming up WTB today, aren’t they?
11:15 Update 7: I have a whole row to myself once again. Why oh why is no one flying on super bowl Sunday?
12:30 Update 7 and a half: I needn’t have worried about trying to navigate my way out of the Bishop airport, it is basically a parking lot. They actually wheeled up a ladder to the plane for people to get off, which is another first-y for me. That made it super easy to get my stuff and make my way to the bus stop. I asked one of the workers if the bus stop was actually the bus stop to be absolutely sure and he looked at me like I was an idiot. Oh well, play stupid games, win some deserved mockery. Now to wait for the bus.
1:16 Update 8: Listen up everyone, we spoke far too soon. Apparently, the bus does not go up the mountain on weekends. I must have looked quite desperate and so the angelically nice bus driver took me to a guesthouse called Eastside. It is so cute but gosh I am so so so so tired.
4:21 Update 9: Here’s how the rest of my first day in Bishop, CA went.
I’m in a bunk-style room but it’s just me which I’m very happy about. I shoved my monstrosity of a suitcase into the lower drawer (and then jammed my finger trying to remove it from said drawer) and decided to find the bus stop where I can catch the actual mountain-bound bus tomorrow morning.
After doing that, I decided to just walk around and get a lay of the land.
I popped into a consignment ski store where I may be able to get some gear of my own later. I also walked by the City Park, which is much, MUCH bigger than I thought. Creeks with bridges flow into a big pond with a gazebo and there are tons of ducks there. I can’t wait to go bird watching!
There’s also sports field of all kinds, and even a pool with a water slide. I’m a total freak when it comes to water slides, and so hopefully the pool will open while I’m still here.
Within me there were two wolves: one wanted to keep walking around Bishop and one wanted to get lunch/dinner and go to bed. That wolf was stronger. I’ll be living here for the next 2 and a half months anyways, plenty of time to get around town.
I popped into Erick Schat’ s Bakkery (yes, Bakkery was on purpose, it’s the dutch spelling) and got the “mule kick sandwich” which was jam packed with veggies and yummy spicy stuff and an orange juice. My body was crying for fruits and veggies after eating airline junk food all day so I did what I could. Their bread is famous, and true to the legend, it was really good. Maybe I’ll make it part of my grocery runs.
I came back to the guest house and enjoyed my food on the little deck they’ve got overlooking a pond. It’s such a cute place. After that, it was gonna be lights out for me, but since I’ve got an early morning, I wanted to use their coffee machine and store it in my yeti, especially because they buy locally sourced coffee grounds for guests to try. This is where I learned to make pour-over coffee for the first time, and though I haven’t tried it yet, it smells so good so I’m sure I’ll enjoy it on my hike to the bus tomorrow.
Thanks as always for reading all of my musing and whining. I’m excited for what this new job in Cali will bring next and you just know I’m gonna write all about it here. Wish me luck, I’ve got the new-job jitters :()
Peace and blessings!
WTB