After my cruise vacation, I went on the road again for work, this time to San Francisco. Well, Burlingame, which is near the airport. I did have half a day to explore - we went to lunch at a seafood restaurant, laughed at the sea lions at the end of Pier 39, and even rode the famous cable cars of San Francisco.
The crab cakes gave me food poisoning - I was up barfing all night. And the cable cars were so crowded we couldn't see anything but the people standing next to us.
The next night I started my shift - 5 pm to 5 am. I did that two nights, then went to a 7 pm to 7 am shift. It's a good thing I had food poisoning the night before - I slept for a couple of hours during the day, even with the jack hammers, airplanes taking off, and general daytime noise.
Day 5 I awoke at 3 pm to a message that I had a ticket to Seattle on the first flight out the next day. So being a good soldier, I did as I was told, and went to Seattle, where my shift was 4 pm - 12m. Hey, at least it wasn't 12 hours anymore!
Our hotel here was an "extended stay" motel, meaning there was a kitchen in every room, Not having a rental car, my choices for meals were 7-11 and Starbucks, both within walking distance. Oh, and a Hawaiian Grill. Working until midnight meant that I would sleep until 10 or so, which meant that most days housekeeping would pass me by due to the "Do Not Disturb" sign on my door.
I did get one day off in Seattle - spent it at the mall buying warm clothes and a coat and seeing a movie. Afterwards I spent quality time pushing coins into the washer and dryer at the hotel so I'd have clean clothes for my late-night shifts.
Did I mention what this kind of travel does to a girl's intestinal system? I'm just now getting regular again, after a week being home, working a normal shift, and eating food other than the pre-packaged crap at 7-11 and Venti Mochas from Starbucks.
Next up - Ethiopia again. Hopefully for the last time.
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