I am finally realizing, in person, that Southwest Airlines is truly a shuttle-bus type of a service. The crowds at the Southwest gates are just like the crowds we see in the bus stations in India. People sitting on the floor in the zone lines A/B/C and reading, eating, doing whatever else. The lines start getting longer and longer as time to board approches.

And of course, Friday nights have their usual delays. Last Friday, I did not realize I had taken a later flight than usual, and the other person with me had the usual flight. The difference between the two was one hour. So I went up to the gate and asked them to put me up for standby on the earlier flight. She told me that the flight was anyway 30 minutes late, so it is not going to be of much help.

That flight, as I found out then, is actually an Phoenix-SD-San Jose flight, and if that inbound flight is delayed, this one is too. So we decided to change that flight and just go out at 7.25pm every time we go back. Which means, we reach San Jose only at 8.45pm, not 7.45pm. Bummer. Hopefully, I’ll be coming back in 4 days soon, not 5. So 1 hour here or there won’t be critical.

Anyway, I think I have finally gotten into the routine of the check-in, security, board, orange juice/ginger ale/peantus, pick up bags, take shuttle to rental car, pick up car, check in to hotel, work, come back, unpack, work, work, work, check out, fill gas, return rental, take shuttle back, check in, board, oj/ginger ale/peanuts, pick up bag and go home. It’s not so bad.

Time just seems to fly by because the week goes by with work, and the weekend goes by even quicker. There is no time to stop and relax. Hopefully 2 weeks of Christmas will be well used. I am not counting my 2 weeks vacation to go to India during Thanksgiving as relaxation, because a. Wife may not be there and b. TWO weddings to attend.