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Thursday evening (MK II): SFO

At the Alamo counter processing was rather slow. I found this odd: it takes much less time to get processed in Melbourne than at SFO. So while the US is reputed a be a car-crazy society, it's apparently not very efficient about it. The insurance options are much harder to understand than in Australia; but I had done some research and knew what I needed. I also had trouble understanding why the people in front of me had to consider prepaying a tank of petrol; their thinking processes also took (my) time.

In spite of having booked a "compact car" some time ago, I found that they didn't actually have a car for me (or indeed for most other people); there was a queue for most categories of car. Mindful of the fact that I would have to drive up to Sacramento after collecting the car, I was keen to get away. It was a bit frustrating.