Absurd Situation II

A few weeks ago, I had The Original Absurd Situation, trying to fly with a valid passport that expires in less than 6 months. Well, I was able to check in at the airport, no problem, with my US passport. And my parking reservation was fine. And I got to California for a nice visit. But, of course, 

The Saga continues!

I tried to check in online for my return - I'm going to France, and I have a French passport. Should be easy. But No! OK, I have plenty of time at the airport. The very helpful fellow at the Air France desk reviewed my situation, and explained that I couldn't check in online because my original originating flight (from France) hadn't been cleared up properly (it had been cancelled; I was rebooked on another day). I thought (and I'm sure he did too) that he was clearing it up. He got me checked in (and even managed an aisle seat 😁). (Do I have enough asides here (or do I need more?)?) 🤣🤣🤣

I was all set, checked in with my French passport, and thought to ask: I'm American, and I know it's illegal to enter or leave the US using a non-US passport; at security, should I show my US passport, or show the French one that is associated with my boarding pass? He said that he gets this question all the time - the pass through security is just that, it's not border control. So I should use the passport associated with my boarding pass. It's nice to have that all cleared up!

Speaking of border control...

When I was leaving France, transferring planes in Paris, getting *into* the international terminal, there were automatic face-recognition gates. They refused my US passport (too close to expiring), and I went to stand in line for an agent. That line was *not* moving, and people were all riled up (not a good place). I could see the other side, and there was no follow-up for documents (like ESTAs), so I went back to the automatic gates and used my French passport - bingo! Before they had this system, everyone went via an agent - you had to think about which line to us, depending on which paperwork they might want. Now, it's *fast!*

Once I arrived at San Francisco, I used my US passport as usual. There were no demands to see phones, just a quick question "do you have anything to declare?" - easy peasy.

All the rest of my travel back to France, I used my French passport. 

When I got home, I decided that it might be easier to have an account with Air France, so I joined. I also saw that I could apply miles from this last trip, so I did! Well... (wait for it!) My return trip was added, no problem, but the originating flight was not. More curious than anything else, I contacted them, and they looked into it. Yep, my originating flight was shown as "open, not used" 🤯 - so all that shuffling around was still causing problems! Anyway, that got fixed somehow.

I also thought, hey, my flight was cancelled! EU law says I should be compensated (beyond getting rebooked), so I filled out the form. A day or two later, the response is "denied" (in a nice way though) since it was due to a runway problem, not <enter meaningless static noises here>...

But NOW! I have my new US passport! 😅😁🎉

California Family

I had a great visit with family in California! Two weeks (well, almost), full of ...

Catching up

Empty chair for me and others 🙂 

Cooking

Duck à l'Orange

Potatoes Fondantes (sooo good!)

Making friends with the new dog

Checking out the flowers

More catching up (they demanded a selfie...)

Special times with Mom and Dad!

Photo-browsing - 1954; this is when they got Engaged!

Playing cards...

We had 4th of July Fireworks! 🎇🧨🇺🇸 But no pictures 😔

I did some of the usual shopping, then to the library's book sale (which included jigsaw puzzles 😜)

I left them with this beast 🤣🤣🤣

~~~

Recipes:

Potatoes Fondantes 

Spatchcock Duck

The Absurd Situation

The absurd situation...

I have an air ticket from France (where I live) to the US (where my family is). I tried to upload my travel documents several weeks ago, but the website didn't accept my US passport. It is valid, but expires in 3 months, so I assume that is why it wasn't taken. So, since I also have a French passport, I used that - everything looked fine, except that I had to add a US contact (ok, I have that). And there was a note stating that I might need an ESTA (waiver for visa-free travel to the US); this would be automatically checked when I check in for the flight. But of course, a US citizen doesn't get an ESTA. And I can't check in until the day before my flight. It's recommended to use their website to confirm that I will be able to check in. I do this, uploading my US passport, and it states that travel is allowed. But there's no way to connect that determination with my booking number. I remain suspicious.

Fast forward to this week. My flight is on Tuesday, so Monday morning, I try to check in. Nope, not allowed, since I don't have an ESTA. A while later, I get an email from the airline, with a link to upload more travel documents. Great! I do that (upload my US passport, and comment that it expires in 3 months), and I get to check in. I print my boarding pass, and I go to sleep, comfortable with my ability to fly the next morning.

4 AM the next morning... I have a message saying that my flight is cancelled, and they're trying to rebook me. I'll skip all that detail, and just say that it wouldn't work. I start a chat (yay!) with the airline, and I get rebooked for 2 days later. My booking number remains the same (that's important, trust me). That's not ideal, but the best option. I confirmed that I would still be able to check in without reloading my document. "Yes" is the answer (but not really).

The next day (the day before my new flight), I try to check in online. (Drum roll)

Here's where it gets absurd.

It fails (of course). I get the same type of email as before (saying I need to upload more travel documents), I follow the link, uploaded the document again, then it days I'm all set, able to check in. But I still can't! OK, I try to re-confirm via the same link, but it won't let me edit (I'm thinking I'd add a comment), and it still says I'm all set! Apparently, the site "thinks" they've cleared my booking number for check-in, and so doesn't need to again. But the check-in site needs a new ok for the new check-in (new flight, but same booking number). Sigh.

So I try the chat route as before - no answer.

I try a different app to chat, and get the auto-guy, who's no help; he just says to check in at the airport. At this point, I just want to leave feedback... Hah!

Now, I'm really just hoping my flight tomorrow isn't cancelled, that my parking reservation isn't cancelled, and that I can finally check in at the airline counter and get to California.

Sutter Buttes Drive

I'm back in California for a visit! One thing to always do? Drive around the Sutter Buttes 😎

We went counter-clockwise, which put the buttes right in my view the whole time...

~~~

See more photos in the Sutter Buttes 2024 album

Visiting Home

Visiting Home - Sounds strange, right? But there comes a time when you live far away, and you just can't get back to your hometown very often. So, you want to make the most of it; you want to actually visit The Place, Experience it...

Think about this - What are the absolutely MUST DOs when you visit your hometown?

- Drive around the old neighborhood; go to your favorite viewpoints; check out the flowers, fields, forests, lakes, mountains. Drive past your old school. Take a deep breath!

- Have a barbeque! Have TWO!

- Play favorite games - cards, horseshoes, whatever

- Catch up on movies

- Go to a favorite restaurant; try a new one!

- Enjoy favorite foods that are hard to find where you now live.*

*. For me, this includes Ribeye steak, Tamales, Barbeque ribs, corn on the cob, KFC (yes, it's available, but just not the same), spicy food, Indian and Chinese food the way you're used to... Plus! Dad surprised me with a giant double-loaf of Sunsweet cinnamon raisin bread 😋

Eleven foot tall hollyhocks!

US Rental Cars

Everyone knows how to rent a car, right? Well, things are a little more involved in the US when you don't already have a car there - and the usual insurance!

What we found out:

• we absolutely can not apply our French car insurance to a US rental, as you normally would with US car insurance.
• we could borrow a car from friends or family, and their liability insurance would cover us if needed. But the usual required amount of coverage is relatively low; if we really needed it, we might also lose our shirts!
• we could get the same amount of insurance on a rental car. In fact, if you don't have insurance already, they're supposed to provide it (and charge you, of course).
• we finally found a place that would sell us supplemental liability insurance, but it would only cover us in a rental car; we couldn't buy it to cover us in a borrowed car.

Well, so what to do? We ended up renting cars for two short periods, buying the insurance (RentalCover, $20/day), and getting rides the rest of the time. To be fair, no one made us feel like we had put them out, but it did feel like a loss of freedom. Just a bit.

Speaking of freedom! This Mustang convertible was one of the cars! Ahhh, top down, sun shining, wind in my hair... And a satisfyingly growly engine 😀😛

It seemed we hit the rental market at a strange time - both times, I was met with the statement: "it's all we have..."

OK - the first car we aimed for was a mid-size, thinking we might drive others around; we ended up with a Spark instead (which was actually pretty roomy). The shock was that they were going to charge us twice as much! They fixed that...

The second car was supposed to be a Spark (LOL), because we needed the fold-down seats for our luggage. That became the Mustang! We put the top down to load/unload our suitcases 🙄.

We also hit the near-peak of gas prices! We paid $6/gallon...

Both cars required a $200 deposit, and took 30-45 minutes to check out (gone are the days of my premium membership - here's your car number, and the keys are in it. Hah!). Both deposits were returned 🙂. Both cars had relatively minor issues - they had definitely been brought out of retirement! The nice thing was, returning the car to SFO, we got the platinum treatment! Just us in an SUV, driven directly to our terminal - nice chat while we were at it, too! 

I'm toying with an idea for next time. If I owned part of a car, I could probably get the insurance I need. And the cost for a year might be better than a month of temporary insurance - plus, I could borrow cars again! Anyway, it's something to think about...

Pinky!

I brought home a new friend!

A friend has taken up crocheting - this pink elephant (🙂) has been waiting for a visit from me for *several* years!

Our Cliff

Maaaany years ago, we got married on these cliffs - now, every chance we get, we visit "Our Cliff" 

Auntie's Roses

A couple of weeks ago, I toured my parents' backyard (see the post).

This morning was quite different! We had a little drizzle, and "Auntie's Roses" were just coming out...

This rosebush was full grown when my Great-aunt Rachel lived here in the 1940's.

When Storage Makes Sense

Sometimes having a storage unit is a crutch. But sometimes it makes sense!

We first had a storage unit when we moved out of our California house, and started exploring Costa Rica. We sold or donated a lot, but we weren't sure where we would end up - our move might be temporary, or...

After a while, we brought a lot to Costa Rica, and my parents moved some of their excess into the emptied space.

A few years later, I got itchy feet, and started a series of contracts in Iowa - it only made sense to store the car and a few necessities in between gigs.

Well, eventually that ended, and we downsized to a small trailer, back to California. A lot of that came to New Mexico with us.

When we moved on to France, we (again) sold or donated a lot, but brought back the sentimental things to store in California 🙂.

Here we are, 5 years later - our "annual" visit was delayed due to you-know-what. My parents were getting tired of having stuff in storage, and we were ready to drastically reduce what had just been convenient to forget about. We spent a good part of the month sorting, donating, selling, and we moved into a *much* smaller unit. On one day alone, we donated 8 boxes of books, and 4 of computer parts. Other days were nearly as significant!

Hopefully we will know more about our living situation in the next few months, and our storage unit will become a fond memory 😬

Spring Thanksgiving

Karl had the *Fantastic* idea of having Thanksgiving in the Spring! He organized it and cooked The Essential Turkey (s) - we pitched in 🙂

And we all ate 🤤😋

The album is here.

Game Day!

Yesterday was Game Day! Rick's nephew is the strength coach for the Sacramento Kings basketball team - they played the Phoenix Suns, and we all went to cheer 🙂. It was quite an exciting game! 

They introduced the players along with shooting flames 

It's starting!

There must have been a mascot invitational! There were a good half-dozen!

I caught a few plays on video...

I have one, of the last basket attempt before going into overtime (honest!), but it won't load 🙄

Well, the Kings gave them a run for their money, but the Suns won.

Here's some post-game joy, Brandon and JoJo

Here's the gold that let us into the family rooms 😁

~~~

Details:

We parked right at the stadium - got there by 2pm, and snagged one of the last unreserved spots.

We met the others shortly after, but it turned out that my purse was too big! So Cheryce walked back to the car with me to lock it up...

On our way back, a staff member recognized her, and arranged for all of us to get family passes!

Next, we showed our vaccination passes and IDs. 

Then on to the security station - scan, wand, bags...

Inside, we headed to the family room, grabbed some food and drinks, and then back to our seats. JoJo collected all sorts of goodies - a pompom, basketball, headband with ears...

Aaaaand, then the game (see above 🤣)

After, there were pictures with mascots.

When we got to the car (detour, as I got a bit lost in the double parking garage!), I drove out, flashed the friends and family code, and off we went!

The NBA does take care of their staff!