What a day...

I think poor Mitchell had the worst day. He's obviously in San Francisco right now and, as you know, we don't have our apartment/car there anymore because we don't live there anymore. So he's staying with a friend of his. He thought his friend was living somewhere in the East Bay (Walnut Creek?) but it turns out his friend lives in Daly City. So Mitch flew into Oakland last night, assuming it'd be closest but, it's obviously not. His flight (that went from Salt Lake to Denver to Oakland so it was twice as long as it needed to be anyway) got in at 11:08 (but his body felt like it was 12:08). Then he had to take a shuttle bus thing from the airport to the BART. Then he had to ride BART the long way all the way to Daly City. From the Daly City station he took a cab to the friend's house and got there at like... 12-something in the morning (but his body felt like it was 1-something). He finally went to bed but had a hard time falling asleep, didn't have enough blankets, etc. Poor guy.

Then, this morning he woke up bright and early (after like... five hours of sleep or something sad) and got ready. Except, we keep thinking of things he forgot here. (Normally when he travels he stays in a hotel and they provide certain things.) Anyway, he got ready and the friend he knows is out of town until tonight, Roommate #1 left just as Mitch was finishing getting ready but he seemed like he was in a hurry, and Roommate #2 had just gotten into the shower so who knows how long it'd take him before he was ready to leave. Mitch called me and I looked up where the nearest bus station was and when the bus was supposed to come. Mitch started walking.

He walked all the way there and the bus that was supposed to be his bus came but they wouldn't let anyone on. Apparently they don't pick people up at that station. Mitch started walking again. Except... Mitch doesn't know his way around Daly City and he didn't know which way the BART station was. It was East, he walked North. [sigh] He finally called me (or I called him?) and we figured out where he was.

Originally the BART station was only about a mile, maybe a mile and a third from the house he's staying at. He'd already walked a chunk of it (not counting the part that he had to backtrack to get back on the right street) so we talked about me calling a cab but decided that by the time it got there, he could have already walked the whole way. So he kept walking.

Eventually he got to another bus station and talked to a person that was already waiting at it-- it was going to BART and it'd be there in a couple minutes. Great. So he waited, took the bus, and then took BART. Poor Mitchell...

THEN.

Coming home-- He looked up the way home before he left work (I've never had good bus map skills) and he followed the directions exactly. He took the BART (that's easy enough) to the Daly City Station. Then he was supposed to take the 88 bus. But... it never came. He asked another bus driver and they didn't know what was going on but a lady that was getting off the bus said the 6:10 88 bus never comes. Well, sometimes it comes but, you never know. Oooookay. She helped him find his bus. And he rode it. And rode it. And rode it. And eventually started wondering if he was going the right way (in a city he's never been in before). He asked the bus driver. Turns out, his stop was like, The. Last. One. And it wasn't really where he wanted to end up. Remember when he'd gone North instead of East? Well, the bus dropped him off more North. And he had to walk all the way home.

And when he got home, no one was there. But Mitch doesn't have a key so, he couldn't get in. His friend flies in tonight so he wasn't there. And Mitch has the phone number of one roommate but he didn't want to make him leave something to come home and let him in. So poor Mitch went and waited across the street for awhile. Then went back. Still locked. So he walked a little ways to the Burger King nearby and waited. Which is where he was when I called. We talked for awhile and he's going to go across the street to the Walgreens and buy the few things he didn't pack. Then he'll go home again.

Worst public transportation day ever. Poor Mitch. And work today wasn't the best for him either. Hopefully tomorrow is easier. The guy Mitch knows (from BYU) is coming back in town tonight so he's supposed to take Mitch to BART tomorrow morning. If not, I told him to just take a cab. Yeah it's like $10 each way but 1. it'd only be five times and 2. that's cheaper than renting a car to have it sit in a parking lot all day. He said he'll think about it. I say, what's there to think about? (Unless his buddy is willing to drive him.)