Travel Adventures: From 6 Flights to San Diego Delights
6 flights, 5 airports, 2 cities, 1 event, a lot of good food
Remember my first blog where I talked about an upcoming trip to San Diego? I forgot to tell you that it would be a travel marathon comprising 6 flights in 8 days across 5 airports and 2 cities to attend 1 event, Firm Growth Forum by Accounting Today at the Grand Manchester Hyatt in San Diego.
It all began on Good Friday when my colleague Vik (Vikram) called me and asked if I could travel to San Diego in 3 weeks. We booked tickets on Sunday and thus began the planning for the insane traveling. I had to carry the event backdrop (a huge 10x10 DIY banner), a standee, and only 800 brochures.
Day 1-2: 2 flights, 22.5 hours, Italian lunch, and Blue Bottle
So, after convincing Air India folks at the airport that the huge coffin-like box contained banners for an event, I headed straight to Smoor for my poison, the Irish Cappuccino (a favorite since I moved to Bangalore) and a delicious Lotus Biscoff Cheesecake (who doesn’t like Biscoff and Cheesecake?).
With my soul satiated, I headed to the boarding gate and thus began the very long journey to San Diego. We took an Air India flight to San Francisco (SFO) via New Delhi. It took us 2 flights and 22.5 hours to reach SFO at 7 am Pacific Time and after paying the Aloft San Francisco Airport in Millbrae an extra $60 for early check-in, we finally got to put our feet up.
Since we had a day to ourselves, I called my brother Nikunj who lives in the Bay Area and we hit the road around 1 pm to grab lunch. After moving around in circles near Millbrae we finally went to Downtown San Mateo and found a nice little Italian place called Tomatina. We ordered a small plate of garlic rolls and a create-your-own pasta with penne, alfredo sauce, sundried tomatoes, olives, and red onion.
The next stop was Blue Bottle Coffee, a specialty coffee roastery and I ordered the famous Bella Donovan pour over.
This is how they describe the coffee on their website (and I can’t write any better) - Bella Donovan is the cashmere sweater of our blends—comforting, cozy, and enveloping. Made up of organic coffee beans, Bella punches above its weight. A natural Ethiopian coffee with jammy berry notes brings a glimmer of fruit to the otherwise chocolate-heavy foundation. To add nuance, we roast these two coffees four different ways. The result is a blend that straddles the worlds of complexity and comfort with uncommon poise.
To simplify it for coffee noobs, you taste a slight raspberry along with a heavy chocolate flavor and it’s delicious. And so ended Day 2.
Day 3: a grand hotel, Little Italy in San Diego, a lot of ice-cream
We took an 8:55 am flight to San Diego and checked in early. Grand Manchester Hyatt lived up to its name - a grand appearance and majestic views. Have a look for yourself.
We decided to walk to this place Vik remembered from his earlier visits to the city - Little Italy. It’s a vibrant neighborhood located in downtown San Diego and is known for its rich Italian heritage, excellent F&B options, and lively atmosphere (we even got to experience a live violin performance by an LA-based musician).
We had lunch at this popular local chain called Mr. Moto Pizza and then had some of the best ice creams at Salt & Straw.
Tip: go for the split scoop rather than a double scoop to save money as they give you two full scoops at just $0.5 more than the cost of a single scoop.
I had Cinnamon Snickerdoodle and Coffee & Love Nuts. For those of you wondering, Seychelles' Coco De Mer tree produces the largest seed of any plant. Known as "Love Nuts," the seeds aren't just famous because of their size. They're famous because of their shape. (source: CBS News) The quantity of ice cream was so much that I skipped dinner and went to sleep early but not before we had set up our booth on the event floor at Hyatt.
Day 4-5: conversations, delicious cheese platter, and a gorgeous sunset
Started day 4 really early (woke up at 4.30 am) as I had an interview to take (working across time zones has become a habit), and followed it up with a breakfast comprising of a croissant with butter and a cream cheese bagel. I decided to attend a workshop on “How to Upgrade Your Client Base to Optimize Profits”, and upgraded my knowledge of the challenges accounting firms are facing in the current economic environment.
The rest of the day was about having conversations with folks who stopped by our booth at Firm Growth Forum, having lots of (average) coffee, and networking during breaks. The day ended with a cocktail reception and after having a few more conversations over whiskey and wine, we decided to head out.
After almost 11 hours of standing on the event floor, I needed coffee. So, we walked down to the nearest Starbucks which was in the Seaport Village next to the hotel. Ordered me a hot cafe latte and started walking along the beautiful waterfront only to witness the most gorgeous sunset.
I started the second day of the event with a great breakfast of parfait, croissants, muffins, and eggs. The highlight of the day was the lunch briefing by Paro.ai thanks to the wonderful 3-course lunch and learning how to effectively talk about your product without actually mentioning it. At this point, I set up a reminder for myself to ensure we get speaking opportunities like these at the next event we sponsor.
Vik got a chance to go on the innovation stage as part of the agenda to tell the audience about Fyle and it was a good way to drive some traffic to the booth. We had some interesting conversations about real-time expense management (that’s what Fyle does) and ended the day with some wine and a delicious cheese platter.
The End: more flights, delectable gyros, Philz, and a crying toddler
After waking up to a beautiful view, packing up, and having a few more conversations at the event, we decided to check in early at San Diego airport for yet another flight, this time back to San Francisco.
We checked in to Courtyard by Marriott San Francisco Downtown/Van Ness Ave., a historic San Francisco hotel that's been fully modernized. This is an area I’m well versed in as I have spent many an evening walking to Mission District or Union Square. So, I decided to walk down to Van Ness Cafe & Gyros for a sumptuous dinner of chicken gyros and baklava.
The next morning, we decided to walk a mile and a half to grab breakfast at Honey Honey Cafe & Crepery on Post St. Even though they are famous for their crepes, I decided to have eggs benedict with roasted potatoes on the side. And boy, they did not disappoint. Perfectly poached eggs, crisp bacon, but the hollandaise sauce was the highlight. Lots of rich creamy sauce meant I could dip the potatoes in the sauce too (drooling while writing this).
With stomachs full, we walked a little more to another favorite coffee place, Philz Coffee. Even though Philz did not have all the items on their menu as their roastery had been hit by a storm recently, the Tesora Mocha was so so good. Notes of dark chocolate, caramel, and cocoa when mixed with hot skimmed milk just release a medley of flavors that gives a different kind of high.
So on that coffee high, I went back to the hotel and packed up one last time for a very long return journey of 26 hours.
First up was a 17-hour flight from SFO to Mumbai which was supposed to be a comfortable journey in an ex-Delta Air Lines Boeing 777-200LR. But it turned out to be anything but comfortable thanks to Air India’s check-in portal.
When I selected the seats online, it showed Row 31 to be the first row in economy. However, when I boarded the flight, that turned out to be a lie. Row 30 was the first row in the economy section which meant I was sitting in a window seat next to a crying toddler (it was the first flight of his life). I switched between my noise-cancellation headphones and AirPods for the entirety of the journey to get sleep / cut out the noise of his crying.
After a 5-hour layover at Mumbai, unannounced gate changes, and a 6th flight in 8 days, I finally reached Bangalore to end my travel marathon on a Saturday. All-in-all I had spent 64 hours on flights and at airports on a trip spanning only 180 hours. Would I like to do it again? Probably not but now I know that I can fly every day to a different place and I still would not be jet-lagged.
On that note, let me know what’s the most amount of flying hours you have experienced on a single trip, and share your jet lag stories in the comments. Adios!