MSP to SFO

Tuesday, February 17, 2026

Neither Bob or I slept great, but I can't blame the hotel. Our room was quiet, comfortably cool and the bed felt great. I'm picky about my pillows and even those were top notch! I guess it was just pre-travel insomnia.

We were both up by 5:30 am and at the breakfast buffet when it opened at 6 am. We were in the company of a large group of guys dressed in fluorescent yellow jackets who literally grabbed their food and were on their way by 6:15. Construction workers I assumed.

The 7 am shuttle left the hotel right on time just as the sun was rising. Even though our original plans didn't work out, I was thankful to be just a couple of miles away from the airport instead of an hour away at our son's house. I did miss spending time with the grandkids.

The airport wasn't crowded except in front of the Delta check in area...and we were right in the middle of the mess. I never feel more old than when I am standing in front of one of those electronic kiosks trying to print luggage tags. We don't travel often enough to remember how the things work so its always a learning experience. I had to try a couple of different forms of ID before I could get one to scan correctly. Once we got the luggage tags printed Bob managed to tear off the wrong part before attaching them to the luggage but a kind Delta employee got things fixed. Bob and I make a good pair.

My second "old person moment" was when I neglected to verify our gate assignment. I had checked online last night and saw we were leaving from the D concourse. Knowing the north TSA screening station was the closest, that is where we went. Bob has Global Entry so he smugly got into the TSA precheck queue and left me to go into the regular line by myself. I had to walk quite a distance weaving back and forth through the roped off lines, but I never stopped walking.

When I started to pull out my liquids bag and iPad, the agent said "just leave everything in your backpack." No need to remove shoes either. When I reached the body scan I announced I had an artificial knee and was told "no problem". (This was my first time going through security since my surgery.) I had the full body scan and passed with flying colors.

I got the last laugh because I was sitting at the exit for over 5 minutes waiting for Bob to get through the TSA precheck line!

As we headed towards gate D4, I stopped to check the departure board to make sure the flight was still on time. What?!? Our flight was now leaving from gate G21 at the opposite end of the terminal. Fortunately we weren't rushed for time but by the time we reached the gate my knee was complaining loudly. 

While waiting to board the flight we discovered that the two couples sitting across from us were also headed to San Francisco to board the Ruby Princess. 

The flight was totally full and quite bouncy at times but we landed at SFO right on time. And the best part? Our luggage arrived too! We followed the signage to get to where Uber and Lyft rides would pick up and it only took about 6 minutes for our car to arrive. The rain was coming down in buckets and we had to wade through water that was deep enough to pour into our shoes.

A special perk for Delta SkyMiles credit card holders...a free large snack.
These Dot's pretzels normally would have cost $5. (Love Dot's!!)

Weather was not looking good in San Francisco.

Ankle deep water at the ride share pick up location.

The drive from SFO to our hotel was in pouring rain and took over a half hour with traffic.
I had a discount offer from Uber and our 30+ minute ride cost $41 before tip.

It was a little after noon when we arrived at the Comfort Inn on the Bay hotel and what a wonderful surprise to find that our room was ready! The hotel was about a mile from Fisherman's Wharf and about half the price of hotels closer to the touristy areas. Our room was tiny, possibly even smaller than a cruise ship cabin. And although the hotel boasts "sweeping views of the Golden Gate Bridge", our room looked out at a solid wall.

The view from our hotel window. 😒

The early morning + time zone change + rainy day = nap time. (So glad we didn't have to sit in the lobby and wait until check in time!) By 5:00 our tummies were thinking it was 7:00 and we were ready to eat. We donned our rain jackets and walked across the street to Chico's pizza...a tiny joint with about half a dozen tables. A medium cheese pizza was enough to fill us up...plus some.

Back at our room we struggled to stay awake until Jon and Michelle finally arrived. We went down to the lobby to meet them and then got our second wind and went to their room to visit. Since Jon lost both of his parents that lived in our town in 2024 we don't see them nearly enough. (They live in Georgia and we live in Minnesota.) 

After having knee surgery 10 months ago I had hopes that I would be much more mobile than I am. Walking is difficult and climbing stairs even worse, but riding a bike is something that I can do. We had discussed the possibility of renting e-bikes and riding across the Golden Gate Bridge but the weather forecast for the next day didn't look favorable. We discussed different options and I finally just told Jon that he was in charge to figure out what we would do. Jon can come up with some pretty strange ideas but I convinced myself I would just go with whatever he decided. Stay tuned.