Finally a moment to sit down. Last weekend my wife & I attended the annual AAR/SBL meeting in San Diego. I’ll make comments on the content of the sessions later. Now I want to make some comments on the travel experience. We spend so much time complaining about things, I thought I’d share our positive experiences.

First, we flew on US Airways. I hadn’t flown on that airline in at least ten years – back when it was known as America West. We flew from DFW to San Diego and back via their hub in Phoenix. Every flight was on time – both at departure and arrival. As far as We can tell, our baggage (checked both directions) was properly routed and handled each time. The only mistake was that on return to Dallas our flight’s luggage appeared on the carousel next to the one advertised. We didn’t buy any of the on board food, but the drink service went fine.

Second, we stayed at the Marriott Hotel & Marina next to the San Diego Convention Center. While it was way out of our normal price range, the hotel room itself was nice an perfectly serviceable. We’d like to have more low price eating options, but plenty were within walking distance. The Starbucks inthe hotel offered breakfast pastries for $3 each, a much better deal than the $18 breakfast buffet. Instead, we walked over to Ralphs and bought a coffee cake and ate on it.

The restaurants we ate at were good also. We ate at Fred’s Mexican Cafe the first night.  It was pleasant seating outdoors on the patio, though I managed to sit under one of the heaters. If the restaurant employee hadn’t turned it off (at my request) I would have burned up. We also ate at the Athens Market Taverna. The waiter warned us against each ordering appetizers and entrees – a warning we didn’t need, having eaten at enough restaurants lately to know the normal portion size. We split one appetizer and one entree between us – still way more (tasty) food than we needed. Finally, we also had the lunch buffet at Royal India (another Gaslamp district restaurant). Dangerously tasty. I wish we had one here in our town.

Between the airport and the hotel we rode the Xpress Shuttle.  Quick, friendly, efficient service. They also have coupons posted on their site.