San Mateo

Flew up for an afternoon to San Mateo on United Airlines. On this trip, I had a couple of firsts. I was upgraded on both segments pretty early on. At the gate, I wasn't able to capitalize on a voucher for $300 and a first class seat for a later flight because I had to be in San Mateo at a certain time. Was sad about that one.

I rented a Zipcar for the afternoon. I had landed around 1:30 and stayed in the United Club for a bathroom and drink break. Had I known what I was going to do with the Zipcar, I would not have stopped.

At SFO, the Zipcar is located adjacent to the Avis area in the rental car center. Since they are near the return entrance, it is a walk to get to from the airport. Apparently the rental car center was swamped when I went through and I had to fight my way through the crowds to get out to the cars. I've had the membership for over a year but have not needed to get a Zipcar. When I looked at regular rental and Uber it actually made more sense to get a Zipcar. 

As I approached the parking spaces, I did not see the Subaru Impreza until a second pass through. I couldn't figure out how to get into the car but the window was rolled down so I went in and immediately triggered the car alarm. I looked at the card again and saw that I was supposed to unlock the door with my Zipcar ID card. It took a few minutes but I figured out where on the windshield the sensor was located and got the hang of using it to unlock and lock the car. 

As I was leaving the rental car facility, the gas light came on and I was immediately annoyed with the prior driver for not keeping the car at least with 1/4 tank filled. So along the way to Pamplemouse Patisserie and Cafe, I stopped at a Valero gas station in San Mateo. 

The video of getting gas is not as easy as it sounds. After three tries at the pump, I went inside and the attendant told me that I was putting in the wrong driver ID. According to the card, I'm supposed to put my Zipcar account (six digit). Fortunately, the attendant said to try the prefix number on the actual gas card. When I did, the charge went through. I'm not sure if this is true for all gas cards but they should update the instructions.

Between trying to figure out how to get in the car and filling the car, I lost 30 minutes. I should get my $10 back for the lost time. I bought a Napoleon, macarons and a cake slice from Pamplemouse before heading to my event at B Street and Vine restaurant. 

After enjoying some delicious bruschetta, salads and focaccia sandwiches I headed back to the airport. I did need to reread the email.from Zipcar to figure out how to return the car but once I entered I saw that the spaces were located before the return area for Avis. It will take you forever to get to the car but you can park pretty quickly if you are returning.

On the flight home, it isn't often when a flight still has empty first class seats (3 were available and I was lucky to not have a seatmate) and the standby list was cleared with 1/4 economy seats available. Not alot of frequent fliers on a Saturday evening.