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Let me start by saying that I’m naming this post ‘The Rambler Flies to Detroit’ because I don’t feel that I actually was there.  I took off from San Francisco at 12:40am local time, then landed in Detroit at 8:08am local time.  Now most “normal” people would spend a night before flying back; not I!  You better believe I was back at that airport at 2pm on a 3:42pm flight from Detroit to San Francisco.  All told, I spent 20 hours outside of San Francisco; probably one of the fastest trips I’ve taken for that kind of distance.

A little about my flight.  I flew Northwest Airlines, which is a first for me as I generally fly United (what can I say, I fly enough that United gives me free stuff, and I like free stuff).  I booked my ticket two days before my trip, which usually leads a really damn high price.  The flight attendant happily reminded us for both flights that frequent fliers would receive APPROXIMATELY 2,083 miles; sounds pretty exact to me, but whatever, that’s not the point.  So given that distance, most people would expect a ticket price of around $600 last minute for a economy class.  Oh no, not Northwest, they managed to stick it to me for $1,775 for an ECONOMY (aka you can’t get cheaper than this) class ticket.  Excuse me, is the seat made out of the hide of a rare buffalo?? Does it come with a massage and a happy ending?!  Do I at least get free booze?  To all these, the answer is a resounding “No”.  Granted the seats were very comfortable, but not that comfortable.  Let’s run some numbers; for $1,775 what could I get??  Well off season, I could go to Europe twice.  I could take an almost 500 mile cab ride.  I could take the train across the country at least twice (I actually want to do this).  I almost contemplated upgrading to first since it was only an extra $250; they make it just low enough that you almost want to throw in the towel and call out “ah the hell with it, hit me”.  I resisted the urge though, arguing to myself that it really wasn’t worth the extra money for a 4-5 hour flight - hell, it wasn’t worth $1775 for a 4-5 hour flight but I didn’t have a choice about that one as Northwest was the only airline flying direct from San Francisco to Detroit.  Detroit is THAT popular of a destination.

On to Detroit airport we go.  Actually a very impressive airport.  Very clean and modern with a train running inside to shuttle you to the far flung gates.  All in all, much more impressive than any number of airports I’ve been through.  The strange thing about the Detroit airport was the car rental oddly enough.  The cheapest car was an intermediate SUV.  Now I’m used to normally rolling out of a car rental in a small Chevy Aveo style vehicle.  Not in Detroit!  Oh no, I rolled out of National Car Rental in a (Alamo owned) Kia Sportage.  Maybe gas really has gotten that expensive, and people are willing to pay more for smaller cars at car rentals - I wouldn’t know, I don’t have a car and subsequently don’t look at gas prices.

I don’t really have much to say about actually being in Detroit since I was there for such a short amount of time.  The parts I saw could have been Denver, Arizona, or Virginia.

Right now I’m sitting on my second flight of the day bound for the Virgin Islands, which will be another post and another round of stories and rants.  For now though, I think I feel the urge to fall asleep with my mouth hanging wide open for everyone to check out my molars.

Until next time, ramble on.