Thursday, December 25, 2014

Day 2 - White Sands, El Paso and enough driving.

Day 2 - Tuscon -> White Sands -> El Paso

So the Holiday Inn did not have a breakfast buffet which was a bit embarrassing to find out.

Waitress: Would that be for two?
Me: Yes, I'm waiting for my wife.. so, is this the place for a breakfast buffet.
Waitress: We dont serve a buffet sir. Were you offered a complimentary breakfast?
Me: Umm, I think I should check with the front desk, I thought it was included with the room.

Front Desk: Let me summon za computerzzz and let you know. I have run scientific calculations and no, there is no buffet in your room rate.
Me: DOH

The drive to White Sands took all of 6 hours including a stop for lunch which I childishly argued for a long time that a Subway stop would save time over a sit down Italian restaurant. DW drove for one hour.

White Sands was interesting, I might be a bit tired now but it was good fun getting stopped by New Mexico immigration and asked to wait until they verified my immigration status from my Drivers license. Don't want no pesky Indians near the birthplace of America's missile systems!


The drive to El Paso was about two hours. Quite tiring.

The hotel room is LARGE. First time in a two roomed hotel room. I am now a rich man. (Nope, just  a Priceline deal). Two TV's - both useless thanks to the amazing TV content and general confusion of what to see.  The entrance to the hotel room overlooks a courtyard where a guaranteed free breakfast is served. Take that Holiday inn Tuscon.

We tried getting to an Indian place without calling to confirm if they were open. Dec 24th. We drove 15 minutes. Closed. I am on sugar low.

We go to IHOP. Regular dinner. First time IHOP for the wife.

We go to get water from Target and end up shopping for thermals because its super cold. While returning I take the wrong exit thanks to the puzzling Google maps and the El Paso freeways connecting I-10 E and I-10W. I lose it and slam the door on returning to the hotel and throw all our things on the floor including bananas. Wife frustrated with me. I conclude before sleeping that I dont want to go anywhere tomorrow. :(

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Day 1 - SJC ; PHX ;Tuscon.



Took flight from SJC to PHX. Could not contact Uber so called regular yellow cab - the driver was from Somali land and could not find the new address of our apartment on his Apple maps. The flight was routed through Burbank - something that I had missed when I first booked the flight. This was supposed to be half day at work, as usual I was tense before we left home.

We got a Hyundai Elantra after being asked if we wanted a Ford fusion for $10/day extra. The car had 20k miles to it. The steering seems weird and the speed limits on I-10 are 75 mph.

We ate at a Chipotle in downtown Phoneix which was very peaceful and clean at 7pm on a Tuesday.

It took an event less 1.5 hrs to reach Tuscon. We stayed at a Holiday Inn at S Palo Verde. The dark curtains would not close all the way and sleep would have been difficult due to the lights from the parking lot shining through directly to our bed, so we borrowed binder clips to hold them together. The bathroom lacked a trash can and the fan didn't work. Funny the things you notice that are negative. The rest of the hotel seemed nice.

Apparently I snore a lot. DW is distraught and has demanded an extra 20 minutes of sleep. After that, the plan is to show up at the Holiday Inn breakfast for "the breakfast buffet is not included in your room rate but it is complimentary"!