While this not a travel blog (yet), I just found that the Bay Area has an airport code that covers all three area airports: QSF!. Add that to the list like NYC (for New York area airports like LGA, EWR and JFK) or LON (for the London area airports). How cool is that?
August 2008
Commute Options
I’ve been exploring my commute options to work today in an effort to allow the most flexibility (read: laziness) in getting to work. It’s 1.9 miles according to Google, and probably closer to 1.5 as the crow flies.
- Drive – this is by far the quickest. I can make it door to door in about 10 minutes. After 9am, parking on the street is nearly impossible, so it somewhat limits the options unless I want to pay for the garage ($10) which I do sometimes.
- Bus to Adobe Shuttle – my most common option. I take the 21-Hayes to Market Street, from where a shuttle takes us Adobe folk to the office. One way is about 25 minutes, but the shuttle stops running at 10am, which means I’ve got to be out of the house by about 9:30 for this option to work.
- Bus to Bus – I tried this today, I took the 21 to the 47 and then walked from 8th and Byrant to the office. It was about 30 minutes all told. Not a bad option if you’re going in late and the shuttle isn’t available or if you don’t want to drive.
- Walk – there are two walking options. If I walk all the way from home, it’s about 45 minutes so that’s a bit much. On Monday I took the 21 to Market and walked, which put the total at about 25 minutes. It’s nice to do if it’s a nice day out.
- Taxi – I’ve done this maybe twice and also takes about 10 minutes. The hardest part (and about 20 minutes of time) is finding a cab in my neighborhood. It costs about $10 one way, so if I do, I take a bus back home.
I can’t think of any others, but overall I’ve been doing the bus to the shuttle more often than not.
Continental Upgrade and Standby Lists
Ever wondered where you stood on a standby list for a flight? How about what the inflight amenities were? Or where you were on the upgrade list? Well, if you fly Continental, look no further than their PDA (e.g. mobile) web site. I’ve never found this information elsewhere, but on this one specific Continental site, you can get all that information! Just plug in your flight number, the day of travel and you know where you stand. I can’t believe they make that info available, but if you travel a ton it’s super-useful. Yes, yes, two travel posts in a row but when you’re on the road this stuff is invaluable.
Northwest Gold/Platinum Elite
This year is the first time in two years that I’ve been a Silver Elite on Northwest WorldPerks. With all my Shanghai travel in the past years, I had managed to be either Gold or Platinum for a while. There are a ton of benefits for being any level of airline elite, the one that I’ve found that I miss the most is the dedicated phone number. Calling the Gold and Platinum line, you had a live person on the phone within 15 seconds. The Silver line? A phone menu, then a three or four minute wait to reach somebody. Alas, life is so hard.