I Run Like A Girl

Hope you had a wonderful weekend and are staying cool this summer! Things have been calm and pleasant here in San Francisco as I’ve been savoring my last few weeks here before spending the rest of the summer traveling.

I’m really excited to get out of my routine and feel like a nomad again. Joe and I want to take advantage of our work-from-home situation before returning to the office. First stop – Joe and I are spending July in Mexico. We are so SO excited and cannot stop dreaming! Until then, there’s a lot of anticipation and errands we need to do before jetting off.

The highlight of last week was flying an airplane with Joe. His birthday was 1 month ago, and for a gift I got him a flight lesson at a local airport in San Jose. Joe loves airplanes and has always wanted to get his pilot license, so I found a lesson where Joe could fly an actual airplane and I could be a passenger.

We got to the airport and it was quite the sight to see these tiny airplanes all parked next to each other like a parking lot. They were all different sizes and colors and so much cuter than a commercial airplane. It’s hard to see how tiny they were inside but it really gets tight in there!

Our flight instructor was super helpful and supportive. He gave an overview of how the plane works and we went through all the inspections that you’d normally go through to fly a plane. I definitely felt more at ease knowing how thorough the safety inspections were. We even tested the fuel to make sure it was the right kind of fuel.

After the inspections, it was time to fly! This was a Cessna 172 and my first time in anything other than a commercial jet.

Joe has actually flown planes before and he spends a lot of time on his VR flight simulator. When the instructor saw how knowledgeable Joe was, he gave him a lot of autonomy. Joe handled taxiing the plane, the entire take-off, and most of the landing as well. It was pretty surreal being in a plane that Joe was actually flying! The instructor was super encouraging and taught Joe a bunch of new techniques. It felt like we were constantly turning and changing altitude to learn these new tricks. Joe did an amazing job. ❤

I on the other hand chilled in the back seat and enjoyed the views while trying not to barf, ha.

The views were pretty nice as we saw all of San Jose and then some. Can you tell California is in the middle of a drought? 😛

The flight lesson was so much fun and we were on cloud nine all afternoon. I’d definitely ride in a plane with Joe again! All my fears around safety went away after this experience.

It was also nice to get out of the city and feel the summer heat in San Jose. We got Baskin Robbins afterwards, went for a short hike, and then vegged out at home to Jurassic World. 🙂

Other than that, I had a few meet ups this week with friends from work, including Scott and our work crew who I haven’t seen in 16 months. On Sunday I went for brunch + shopping with Carmina at an Asian fusion spot in the Mission. It was so yummy and a treat to try a new spot in the city.

Until next time!