Back in December it was obvious I wouldn’t be flying USAir before my miles would expire at the end of February, so we needed to use them or lose them. We considered all the big west coast cities and picked Seattle until we realized the only flight we had enough points for was an overnighter. So we went with Plan B: San Diego. My parents like to go there so we suggested they meet us there. And we timed the weather perfectly, missing a big winter storm at home.

Friday

Up at 5:30 and out of the house a few minutes before six. Bad traffic on I-270 cost us twenty minutes, but we arrived at the gate only a few minutes behind my target time, no worries. Our first flight was DEN to PHX. There were two youth soccer teams aboard and the flight was noisy. Not because the kids were loud, but because the two chaperones in the row behind us were the loudest people on the plane.

We had a short layover before our flight to LAX. Not long enough to grab a meal, but enough to grab a snack. This was a quick flight, about an hour gate to gate. We were out at the waiting area for the rental car shuttles a few minutes after noon. We watched patiently as Hertz, Avis, Enterprise shuttles went by. Waited more – Alamo, Fox, Budget. I asked one of the drivers what color van Economy Rent-A-Car uses. Never saw one. I got the phone out and searched for Economy. Panicked a bit when the nearest one according to Google was 38 minutes away. Went to the info desk where they gave us a phone number and told us to take the parking shuttle to lot C and call for the shuttle there.

I wasn’t sure why Economy didn’t run shuttles to the airport like all the others. They’re on Century Blvd like most of the others, and they’ll drop us at the terminal when we return, so why not pick up customers there as well?

So we were running a bit later than hoped. The plan was to meet a friend at the In-N-Out in Costa Mesa at something like 1:30. By then we were getting fairly hungry: skipped breakfast, had a snack at about eleven, and it was actually 2:30 for us rather than 1:30 because of the time change.

We had told my folks it would take us a couple hours to get down to San Diego. We didn’t account for lunch, and we certainly didn’t account for southern California traffic. After lunch we followed the smart phone’s navigation instructions which put us on a toll road. Because we didn’t opt for the express pass for the rental car, we decided it best to avoid the toll road. So we turned around intending to take the 405 south but, typical for the area, that was not an option. We ended up making a u-turn in front of the In-N-Out after driving eight or ten miles.

So we finally arrived at the hotel in Old Town a bit after five. We called my folks, found our way to their motel, and from there to the Bali Hai restaurant. This is a Hawaiian themed seafood place on Shelter Island. Our table had a beautiful view of the harbor, the San Diego skyline brightly lit, mirrored in the water. I had the braised swordfish (with grilled orange, forbidden rice, and black pepper sauce). It was delicious. And all the waiters were dressed like me!

The Rental Car

The car this trip is new to me, a Chrysler 200. I found much of its operation alien. No gear selector in the console, must be on the tree. What I thought was a skinny shift lever was instead a fat windshield wiper control. I didn’t so much put it in drive as turn on the wipers and spray the washer fluid. The gear selector is a knob. As is common now, there’s a fob with no key. Keep the fob in your pocket, press the brake, push the button and the car starts. I found it unnatural to pocket the fob. I’ve driven cars for forty years and I’ve always had a key and I’ve never changed gears with a knob.

It spends quite a bit of time shifting. It’s a nine speed automatic. You’re in third by the time you hit 15 or 18, sixth at 40. This is just cruising around; I didn’t put my foot to the floor the entire four days. Quite often the shifts were pretty harsh. The brakes were good, but kind of touchy.

The back seat passengers hit their heads every time they got in the car, even when warned “watch your head!” I’m a bit too tall for the car. With the seat all the way back, the pedals were too close. This made for more fatigue on longer drives. There was no manual in the glove box and never figured out many any of the controls. Managed to mute the radio but never could turn it off. How long before I tell kids to get off my lawn?

It’s a nice car, seemingly well built (this one was brand new), and has nice lines. When I was picking everybody up once, a couple of guys said they thought it was sharp. I’m sure it would be a wonderful car for folks who only cart short people around.