Boo Lyft, Uber to the Rescue, STS to AMS and the SFO United Polaris Lounge

We had a 6 am flight out of STS. I scheduled a Lyft ride for pickup at 4:30 am. At 3:30, I received a text with a reminder about the pickup. At 4:30 am, I checked the Lyft App and the scheduled ride had disappeared. What??? I couldn't find a number to contact Lyft so I tried to book another ride. No driver found! Fortunately, there was a Uber driver available and we made it to STS at 5:05 am.

STS is a little airport, not any larger than a bus stop. There is only 1 flight departing at any given time but at 5 am, it was actually quite busy with 3 flights scheduled to depart between 6-6:05 am. There is only 1 TSA line so it took 25 minutes to pass through security.

By the time we cleared security, it was time to board. The United flight from STS to SFO was a Canadair CRJ-200 with 50 seats. The overhead bins will not accommodate rollaboards so you have to gate check them. The flight pushed back 10 minutes ahead of schedule but then sat on the tarmac for 20 minutes. The pilot said it was because the tower was unmanned. How do you have an unmanned tower when the airport is open??? From liftoff to descent, the flight itself was 20 minutes long.

At SFO, we had an 8-hour layover. Fortunately, we were flying in business class and had access to the Polaris Lounge. The SFO United Polaris Lounge is one of my favorite lounges and it wasn't hard to pass 8 hours.

The Polaris Lounge is 2 stories and 28,210 sf. It's large enough so you can find a quiet area.

There are also 3 Quiet Suites with lounge chairs. You get a pillow and blanket and can even request a duvet. The chairs don't recline to a flat position and there is a 45-minute limit.

The buffet selections for breakfast were standard.

The Polaris Lounge has the Dining Room, where you can have a sit-down meal. Breakfast is served beginning at 7:30 am. The breakfast included congee, omelet, grain bowl and didn't look too exciting. Lunch was a better option although it was not as good as last time (April 2022--Sicily trip).

Roasted Corn Chowder--very thick with a nice smoked paprika flavor but it needed salt.

Cheese Plate--can't go wrong with Point Reyes Blue Cheese. The fig jam was delicious.

Mary's Pan-Seared Chicken Breast & Meyer-Lemon Risotto. It was a tiny portion, there wasn't much flavor and the chicken was a thin piece.

The Seafood Cioppino had 3 large shrimp, 2 green-lipped mussels and a small piece of fish with a little tomato sauce and haricot verts. It's a stretch to call it cioppino. It was not soupy and there wasn't much flavor.

5-Mushroom Ramen--shimeji, maitake, shitake, oyster, enoki mushrooms. The broth needed just a tad more salt. The ramen noodles were disappointing, more like top ramen rather than handmade ramen. You would think they could do better in San Francisco..

Dessert options included Warm Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie with Vanilla-Bean Ice Cream--the cookie was overcooked and too crispy.

Olive Oil Chocolate Cake was the best last time. This time, it was overcooked and dry,

Thai Budino was too grainy last time and my least favorite. Today, the budino was the best dessert. It wasn't very grainy and the lime flavor was good.

The best thing in the lounge is the Virgin Bloody Mary. It's so good with just the right amount of horseradish sauce. It came with 2 large olives.

The lunch buffet.

After lunch, I took a shower before boarding our SFO to AMS flight.

Our flight from SFO to AMS was on a dreamliner, a 787-9. If you're traveling with someone and want to sit next to them, the odd rows have the seats close together.

Pillow, cooling pillow and duvet.

Storage bin with mirror.

Amenities kit included a pair of socks, eye shade, toothbrush/toothpaste, earplugs, hand cream, lip balm and pen.

Warm nuts and drink.

One option for dinner was Braised Beef Shortribs with Mushroom, Turnips, Potatoes, Chocolate Demi-Glace. Shortribs out of San Francisco are the best. It was tender and flavorful.

The appetizer was a Quinoa Salad Bowl with Arcadian Lettuce, Edamame, Golden Raisins and Pickled Dragon Fruit.

Another dinner option was Fennel Flan Croquettes with Forest Mushrooms, Garlic Roasted Tomatoes, Creamy Basil Herb Sauce. This was not good. Not much flavor and the texture was mushy.

Ice Cream Sundae was listed on the menu but Mango Sorbet was substituted. One of my complaints is United delivers the entire dinner, including dessert, all at once. When ice cream is served, it's melted by the time I'm ready for the dessert. Fortunately, the mango ice cream defrosted to just the right consistency.

The Egg Custard Tart was okay. It's not a Portuguese Pastel de Nata.

After dinner, I made my bed. I asked for a mattress pad and a pair of slippers. You don't get pajamas unless the flight is more than 12 hours.

Breakfast was listed as Gruyere-Cocotte Egg with Fried Avocado, Smoked Turkey Bacon and a Tomato Hollandaise Sauce. We got fried potatoes instead of fried avocado. It was okay.

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