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06/14/2008: "The Holiday Inn at the Prancing Pony"

I've entered the United States through immigration in almost every way possible from various different countries. If you ever get the opportunity to enter by car from Tijuana to San Diego make sure that you are in a car with a Mexican driver and a Polish contractor and that you don't know each other and the three of you have no common language that you can speak and understand because there are parts of the Border Patrol complex that you just won't get to see unless you are with a particularly eclectic group.
I signed off the Elation in Ensenada this morning after a pretty good midnight show last night.
The cruise ship agents in Mexico arranged a ride for me and various contractors that were signing off into San Diego so we could catch our flights tomorrow. It is about a two hour drive from Ensenada to San Diego but it takes another one to two hours to drive across the border. There were five of us signing off so three contractors went in one car and myself and my new friend Artur from Poland were in the other car with our driver Daniel. Luckily, Daniel has done this before. He is an expert at taking folks across the border. Even with the language barrier, he was able to get us into the country safe and sound.
I felt bad for Artur, I am coming home when I come back into the U.S. so they are very nice to me, but this poor guy is just trying to get to the airport tomorrow to fly back to Poland after working on ships for a little while and when you have a Polish passport with four work visas in it, they take their time stamping it. Artur looks like the kind of guy who has been in more than one bar fight over the results of an international soccer match. He also looks like the kind of guy who would hate the word 'soccer'. We bonded today as much as two grown men who don't speak each other's language could.
I don't ask much from my hotel accomodations when I'm on the road. First of all, someone else is always paying for my accomodations, so it really isn't my place to complain. Also, I'm pretty simple. When I've just come off a ship and am heading back on the next day I want two things from my hotel room: a bed that I can roll over in without falling out and a shower that I can turn around in without changing the temperature of the water by bumping my ass against the thing that controls the temperature of the water (its been a long day, not sure what word to use for the shower controls, I just know 'shower controls' isn't right). Anything else is gravy as far as I'm concerned. Internet is nice, a restaurant attached is cool, but I can live without those things. Bed and shower, that is what I really want.
By the time we got to the hotel, I was pretty exhausted. My room wasn't ready which doesn't bother me, I can hang out in the lobby for an hour until check in time. I was also hungry. I had to make the decision. I was more hungry than tired. I dumped my luggage and had a sandwich at the attached restaurant (bonus). Went back to my room for the nap and my key didn't work. The same key that worked an hour ago somehow lost it's magnetic code. I kept it in a seperate pocket by itself, but still, it wouldn't open my door. Back to the front desk to get re-programmed and back to the room. The bed was very nice which should have made me check the shower immediately, but I decided instead to get on the internet (free high speed wireless, double bonus). Finally it was time for my pre-dinner shower. I'm not that tall. I'm taller than average, but I fit in coach seats, I don't have to duck under doorways, and they have my size at normal sized people stores. The shower head hit me just below the nipples. This thing is about four and a half feet off the bottom of the tub. Perfect height if I shower on my knees, which I did (first time I was ever on my knees in a shower alone). I went from a tall, narrow cruise ship shower to a short, fat hotel room shower. It reminded me of the hotel room in Korea, I wanted to call the front desk and tell them they accidentally put me in a hobbit room and could I please be moved to a room with elfin ammenities. I stayed in this room so I remain dirty from the neck up.
Tomorrow I fly to Alaska through Seattle and get on the Spirit. Two shows tomorrow night.