I've been looking forward to exploring North Carolina for a while now. My original trip was scheduled for May, but with the pandemic going on (well, it's still going on, but things have opened up a bit) I had to cancel it. In July, I decided to finally take a chance and book an October trip.
I didn't sleep the night before (as usually) since I had to wake up at 2.30 am. My flight was leaving at 6.45 am from Santa Ana John Wayne airport. I didn't realize that with no customers flying my security check in at the airport would be 1 minute. It was empty when I got there at 5 am. Even the TSA agents were not even at their posts as the airport literally opens at 5 am. Many stores were temporarily closed as the volume of passengers reduced. I thought it would be a well-spaced out flight, but I was very wrong. Every single seat was taken, and mine was in the middle... The second flight from Dallas was not as full, but there was certainly no social distancing. Interestingly, they seat all passengers next to each other, but still require deplaning to happen in rows to "ensure social distancing is maintained". Seriously?
I finally arrived at the Raleigh-Durham airport at 6.30 pm and had to wait for my bag since I had to check it at the gate in Santa Ana. I hate doing that! It added an extra 30-40 minutes as the process was painfully slow and inefficient. I guess fewer people staffed even in RDU to unload the bags. I got a shuttle to Enterprise where I was to pick up my car rental.
Initially, I was given a Hyundai Elantra - a basic car that I booked. When I sat down in it, I smelled smoke. Someone definitely smoked in that car. There was even a cigarette burn on the seat.
I definitely did not want that car and asked for another. Fortunately, there was no other car of the same "class", so I was given a brand new Hyundai Kona in bright blue! Now that was the car I noticed as soon as I got to the parking lot! It was a glorious car to drive!
I got to the AirBnb, chatted with the host for a while, petted her awesome animals and went to bed.
Tomorrow was a day to explore Raleigh/Durham.
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