she was supposed to arrive at sfo yesterday around 2pm and have around 4 hrs to safely find her way via public transportation in cali, to oakland airport. due to many delays on the first couple legs of her trip from texas to the west coast, she arrived at sfo around 4 hours later than she planned. she tried her best to get to oakland airport and make her scheduled flight to reno, but arrived just in time to see it take off.
she called me after she was supposed to be in the air already, and i answered my phone to hear her say: "so... obviously, i'm not on my plane. due to delays of my other flights, i missed it. i have checked all the airlines, and no other flights leave oakland or san francisco until tomorrow morning. so, i'm gonna find a place in the airport to crash for the night until i can catch a flight."
i was horrified at the thought of lauren staying at the airport - OR OAKLAND - alone, and promptly told her that was an unacceptable solution. she'd never been there before, and had no idea how ghetto it was. i told her i'd come pick her up, and i started driving. it took me four hours to get to her, and traffic was actually not too bad, so for that i was thankful.
at 11:45pm i arrived at oakland airport's hilton hotel, which she'd taken an airport shuttle to, and thought "well, this'll be fun" as i parked the car between the hotel and its sports bar. there were about 20 men outside the bar who all took notice as i got out of my car.
i decided to check for lauren in the hotel lobby first and try to avoid the throng if i could, but she wasn't there. earlier when i'd spoken to her on the phone she'd mentioned something about the sports bar, so i gripped my purse a bit tighter and walked briskly towards the entrance to the bar. i got about five feet from the throng of men, and one stepped towards me from the side of the walkway.
"you looking for me, girl?" he asked as he looked me up and down. oh good grief. lets just be honest... i wanted to shove him into the concrete pillar he'd just been leaning against, or at least throw his drink in his face... but i throttled my emotions and kept up my brisk pace as i looked him straight in the face and said "NO."
the 15 men around him erupted in ribbing and remarks about how he'd been shot down, but i was already in the door to the sports bar. i looked around and lauren wasn't there. after a thorough examination of the many dining rooms of the establishment, i walked back to the front. i noticed the obnoxious man (and i use that word lightly) was back and walking towards me with a sly grin on his face.
i quickly sized him up and decided i'd thoroughly shaken his confidence once already and only needed to show i wasn't caving. sure enough, i turned towards him and put one foot in front of me, creating my personal space and throwing him a steely gaze for a few seconds as i put my phone to my ear to call lauren. he got the drift and did a not-so-casual quick turn towards the bar, pretending to ask the barkeep a question before walking out again.
mission accomplished.
lauren answered, and told me she was aware of the throng of men downstairs (only after having to deal with them herself a few times). she had gone to hide on a second floor lounge of the hotel after a quick dinner at the sports bar. she headed downstairs to meet me and i envisioned myself being an untouchable brick wall -with legs- as i walked past all the men again on my way across the driveway to the hotel lobby again.
a hug and a few squeals later, lauren and i grabbed her bag and ignored the bellhop hitting on me, and the sultry "its okay baby.." from the parking attendant when i told him i'd lost my parking stub. we got in the car, locking the doors the second our butts hit the seats.
lauren let out a huge laugh as we drove away, and said "what IS it with you and the men tonight?!"
"i dont know," i replied, "but i'd like to know where my future husband is right now... he needs to come protect his goods!"
we laughed ironically at the fact that our first adventure together in the states dealt with warding off men (something we did frequently in africa), and sighed in relief as we embarked on our journey home...
lauren and i arrived in reno at 4am. after 8 hours of driving for me and a whole day of travel for her, our heads hit our pillows pretty quickly. a few hours later we were up and going to meet friends for the tail end of their camping trip.
here are a few pictures from our day in the sunshine with friends...
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