Wrapping up our final day in sunny Orlando, Florida, the gang got
packed up and ready to go. Since our flight was in the afternoon, we dumped our
luggage in the hotel’s baggage hold and went out to The Knife for lunch.
Sharp.
An Argentinian steakhouse, The Knife boasts a full salad bar and
all-you-can-eat meat grill. For just under 22USD (excluding tips and tax) you
can get full access to both, as well as a bottle of wine or beer, a complimentary
cut of rib eye or filet mignon, and dessert. Though the restaurant specialises
in steak, the grill isn't just stocked with beef. You can find all manner of
meaty goodness, like bacon-wrapped chicken, German sausages and baby back ribs.
We ate as much as our stomachs could muster and shared a bottle of red
wine. Unfortunately, our complimentary rib eye was overcooked. The server also
gave us beef (the crappy metaphorical kind) for leaving a bottle of soda on the
table. That’s a big no-no when dining in the States, so just watch yourself if
you happen to carry around labelled drink bottles.
Though the food was decent and we were mostly satisfied, all the hype
we had built up since first learning about The Knife resulted in a
disappointing meal. The overcooked beef, the server’s attitude towards our faux par, the restaurant’s insistence on how much gratuity we should pay
and our inability to eat more than half our bodyweight definitely put a damper
on things. If you aren't that big an eater, then stick to Seoul Garden. At
least they don’t put on airs.
After lunch, we called a cab and parted ways with Jieqi, who was
headed for Las Vegas, at the airport. The rest of us took our first flight to San
Francisco, which transited in Houston, Texas. Due to a slight delay and a very short
transiting window, we missed our connecting flight and got put on standby for a
late-night flight instead. When that didn't go through (the flight was
oversold, because yes that’s a thing), we waited in line for nearly an hour at
customer service. Everyone was tired and pissed off from having ran up and down
the airport too much—it wasn't a pleasant wait.
Once we made it to customer service, the kindly counter-staff—bless her—gave
us meal vouchers and put us up in a complimentary hotel twenty minutes from the
airport. She also got us confirmed seats on an early flight the next morning to
San Francisco. We bought our dinners and took a shuttle bus to the Park Inn
& Suites, and I immediately regretted not picking a later flight; the hotel
was more luxurious than the Disney Resort, and the room came with a microwave
oven, a fridge, cable TV and two queen-sized beds.
Sadly, we could only stay a short night. Early the next morning we
went back to the airport and eventually managed to get on the plane. But guess what?
The flight got cancelled due to a mechanical fault. We de-planed, thoroughly amused
at our dumb luck. Fortunately, instead of cancelling the flight, the airline
managed to reschedule it, pushing it back about two hours. We finally took off,
much to the delight of flight crew and passengers alike. The plane was empty; I
got three whole seats to myself, so I suppose it was a small blessing in
disguise. Still, the moral of the story is clear: do not do business with
United Air.
After that entire episode, we landed safely in San Francisco and
checked into the San Francisco International Hostel, a seedy little hostel located downtown. The building was so
old, even the elevator was declared senile. It was a huge step down from the hotels we
had previously stayed in at Houston and Orlando.
Since we couldn't afford to spend 300USD a night at the Hilton, we
made do, though not without some Singaporean bitching. For dinner we headed to
the nearby Pinecrest Diner. I ordered a hearty bowl of classic mac n’ cheese which definitely filled me up.
And so our adventure in the land of theme parks and tourist traps came
to a close. Jetlagged and flight-wearied, we went to bed, unsure of what other delights
or horrors the next phase of our travels would bring.
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