Ah, Southwest…

At the Southwest SFO check-in counter a few minutes ago. The desk guy tells me that my bouldering pads are oversized: each one is 67 linear inches (width, length and height added together) and the maximum allowed is 62. He'll have to charge me $50 per item. I smile, beg for mercy, he won't budge. Ok, you got me.

I give him my credit card, he takes forever to process it. In the meantime I check my email with my phone, almost a reflex at this point.

Guy: "Sir, by any chance did you take my picture?"
Me: "What? No, I was checking email."
Guy: "Ok, because some people take our picture and that's illegal."
Me: "(speechless)"

Of course, Guy never told me that I could have simply tied both my pads together and paid $50 for one oversized item instead of $100. I bet he gets two "employee of the month" credits for making Southwest $100 (and deeply annoying a frequent flyer).

About the illegality of taking his picture: WTF.

Double Sunset

This weekend I flew from San Diego to San Francisco on Southwest Airlines. Thanks to an early check-in I was able to grab a window seat on the left side of the plane, facing the ocean when flying north. My flight took shortly after sunset, and as the plane climbed the sun rose again. I saw a second sunset and felt like the Little Prince from Saint-Exupéry’s book. This is the second sunset, over the Channel Islands.

Sunset