The plan that was doomed to fail

On Saturday Pascal got a call from our friend, Bryon. He was wondering if we could pick up our friend Conor from the airport on Sunday. Conor! Our friend who left the day after our wedding to go on a trip around the world for months and months! We had no idea he was on his way back so we were excited to learn he was on his way home and said sure, we'll pick him up!

Pascal: What airport is he flying into?
Bryon: SFO
Pascal: What time is he landing?
Bryon: 4 pm

And this is where the plan began to break down.

Pascal: What flight number?
Bryon: He didn't say.
Pascal: What airline?
Bryon: Hmmm... I don't know.
Pascal: What country is he flying from?
Bryon: ??????
Pascal: Umm... do you at least know what continent?
Bryon: Probably Australia. Maybe Asia. Also maybe from a connecting LA flight.

And with that information, we set off to pick up Conor from either a domestic or international flight that was supposed to land sometime around 4 pm on Sunday in SFO. We knew it was a doomed mission, but we gave it our best.

We circled around the domestic and international baggage claims to no avail and then tried to ask guy at the information booth in the international area if he could page our friend. Once he found out that we knew our friend's name and pretty much nothing else he began to raise his voice and berate us for not knowing anything.

Pascal: We can't find our friend but he was supposed to have landed at 4. Is there anyway we could page him?
Info guy: What flight is he on? Airline?
Pascal: We aren't exactly sure...
Info guy: What? How can you not be sure? Why are you here!?! I cannot page him! You can't do that! Can you call him to get the information?
Pascal: No, he's been out of the country and doesn't have a domestic phone.
Info guy: I cannot page him without more information! You can't do that! YOU CAN'T DO THAT!!

And we walked away with him still angrily telling us there was no way he could help us with what he (probably rightly) thought was the most ridiculous request he had ever heard.

We then looked at which flights landed around 4 pm, and there was one from Tokyo that landed at 4:05. We decided this was our best bet and waited outside the baggage claim area until the stream of Japanese people getting off the plain trickled down to none. At that point it was 5:08 and we decided to bail.

At 5:15 we get a call from Bryon while we are driving away. Conor had arrived. From Los Angeles.

FAIL.

He took BART to Orinda and we picked him up there after eating dinner with Pascal's parents (win!) and then drove him to his house. So happily we were able to see Conor, ate some delicious dark chocolate mint TimTam cookies he brought back for us, and hung out for a bit.

Welcome home, Conor! We almost thought you were lost in airport land somewhere and we would never see you again. Glad you're back!