Travelers

Young Chang Good food, good company and clear waters made three couples' vacation last month seem almost like a dream. "My husband recently retired, and this was the trip of a lifetime for him," said Newport Beach resident Mari Ann Haight, a retired schoolteacher. "He had been thinking about it and thinking about it, and so he put together three couples who got along well and enjoyed sailing." Haight and her husband, Dan, as well as Alan and Sandy Waters of Newport Beach and John and Beth DiCaro of Bonsal, Calif.

Amy R. Spurgeon NEWPORT BEACH -- At 6:52 a.m. Wednesday, while many people were still snug between their sheets, John Wayne Airport was hopping. And so were the Sky Caps."It's a good day to make money," Charles Goolsby said between customers. "And it's only going to get busier." Considered JWA's busiest day of the year, airport parking had reached 47% capacity by late morning, according to JWA spokeswoman Nghia Nguyen. And that's after the airport expanded its parking lot in May, providing travelers with an additional 2,000 parking spaces.

Today is expected to be one of the busiest travel days of the year as more people take to the runways, freeways and railways to get out of town for Thanksgiving weekend. According to the Automobile Club of Southern California, almost 3 million travelers are expected to take advantage of the time off work and school to visit family, friends or just take some vacation time, Auto Club spokesman Jeffrey Spring said. During the Thanksgiving holiday last year, about 160,000 people flew in or out of John Wayne Airport, which was more than the previous year, airport spokeswoman Jenny Wedge said.

Young Chang JOHN WAYNE AIRPORT -- Ed Marino sat on a bench outside John Wayne Airport on Tuesday morning with a junk novel in his lap and tired creases on his face. He asked futile questions, one after the other. What's the hurry to die? Aren't we all supposed to anyway? What's all this for? For religion? Politics? Both? "I don't know, there are no answers," the 57-year-old conceded. Forget when he might get home, to Miami. Or how his business deal might end on this trip that's been delayed indefinitely.

Isn’t it annoying when you’re trying to get through security at the airport, and there’s an obviously inexperienced traveler in front of you holding up the line? Or, on the other hand, how about those veteran fliers you feel on your back as you try to sort things out and get through security carefully? Well, federal officials hope to make it easier on the experienced and inexperienced passengers with a new security-screening system at John Wayne Airport. Travelers who fly frequently and are familiar with security procedures can choose to enter the “expert” lane.

Andrew Edwards Today, a few good men can get a free dinner at the Arches restaurant in Newport Beach. Restaurant owner Dan Marcheano said an active-duty Marine eats for free on Memorial Day. "That's what you have to do," Marcheano, a retired Marine said. "They're the reason we have so much fun." Memorial Day -- a time for Americans to remember the deeds of fallen soldiers -- is part of a three-day weekend that has become one of the busiest travel days of the year and an unofficial start to summer.

John Wayne Airport has made it much easier to travel in style. Starting today, travelers can hand their car keys to a valet attendant. The airport will kick off the new valet service at a 9 a.m. ceremony. At that time, travelers can begin dropping off their cars, sport-utility vehicles and other vehicles at the airport's upper level, near the flagpoles. John Wayne joined Burbank Airport as the only two in Southern California to offer the service.

Paul Clinton In about a month, travelers will be able to take an international nonstop flight out of John Wayne Airport heading to Vancouver, British Columbia. The flight will be the farthest anyone can go from JWA without stopping. But that doesn't mean the airport isn't a gateway to the world, an airport spokeswoman said. "You can go anywhere in the world from John Wayne Airport," spokeswoman Ann McCarley said. "You just have to make the connection."

Jake's coaching helped our friend, Jill, clock a personal best at the OC Half Marathon. I hope to benefit from Jake's know-how and flash a smile as big as Jill's when I complete the L.A. Marathon later this year. Yet when I read Jake's email directing me to keep a runner's log, my eyes glazed over. "If you start with 25 miles a week, increase by 10% with a drop back every four weeks. In 20 weeks you are running 125 miles a week ... count running miles only, no walks or hikes.

When Alex Posa, 12, was asked if he wanted to meet the president, he didn't hesitate to say yes. The experience didn't disappoint. "I was pretty excited," Alex said. "I couldn't wipe the smile off my face for the next week. " The Ensign Intermediate School seventh-grade student played hooky with his mother, Carol Seguin, Oct. 8 to meet President Obama. After meeting the president, Alex wrote a report about the experience for his teachers to make up for the absence. "It was a chance of a lifetime to meet the president of the United States and the leader of the free world," Seguin said.

The space shuttle Endeavour wasn't the only massive object traversing Southland streets this weekend. South Coast Plaza's 96-foot Christmas tree finished its own arduous trek Monday morning, about 650 miles from near Mt. Shasta in Northern California to arrive at Town Center Park, across the street from the mall. The white fir - which rolled into town on the largest trailer allowed on the road - will be prepped in the coming weeks with about 20,000 multicolored lights for the Plaza's 31st annual tree-lighting ceremony Nov. 15. The ceremony always falls on the Thursday before Thanksgiving, which this year required such an early installation date, South Coast Plaza publicist Lee Healy said.

For a short while Tuesday evening, Kobe Bryant drove far away from his Newport Coast mansion and completely abandoned his opulent lifestyle. He arrived at skid row. It's a place filled with garbage and littered with human waste — but among the despair, he found hope. "You get to hear the stories, you get to see firsthand what's going on," Bryant said Wednesday at an event in Hollywood to promote his work with homeless people. While walking around downtown L.A., Bryant met one man in particular who seemed to have a deep effect on the Lakers guard.

A father's dream of providing his son's youth baseball team with its own field came true Saturday. After two years of work, Sun Devil Field opened in Costa Mesa with a Labor Day tournament. The privately funded, four-acre youth sports complex, at 3370 Harbor Blvd., features a two-story announcer's booth, batting cages and a basketball court, among other amenities. Bob Klein founded the Orange County Sun Devils, a travel baseball team, in 2008 with the help of his wife Bita, and son, Trevor, 11, who plays on the team.

The engines of approximately 30 classic cars revved outside Eat Chow restaurant Saturday morning as a group of Eric Doran's closest friends prepared for a ride down Pacific Coast Highway to commemorate Doran's passing. Doran, a Newport Beach resident and co-owner of Eat Chow in Costa Mesa, died in Thousand Oaks on May 27, 2011 when a truck rear-ended his classic Model A Roadster as Doran slowed for construction on the 101 Freeway at about 5:16 a.m. He died at the scene. Pelle Klein, Doran's friend, organized Saturday's event for the second year in a row. The group made the same cruise last year following Doran's passing.

When Kate Batstone came home from a service learning trip to Ecuador two years ago, she struggled to re-adapt to Orange County's culture of affluence. "It's really hard to come home when you're leaving behind so many problems," Batstone, 18, said. "You really want to stay. Orange County is so nice. There's unbelievable shopping and spending. I was so angry at the wastefulness. " Batstone, a student at the Jewish community day school Tarbut V'Torah in Irvine, is going on her second service learning trip with 23 other classmates next month.

Costa Mesa's former police chief, who left the department in 2011 amid concerns that he used city resources for personal travel to Arizona, is among five finalists to become police chief in Washington state. Chris Shawkey is applying to become the top cop in Des Moines, a suburb of about 29,000 located about 15 miles from Seattle. He resigned from the Costa Mesa Police Department in 2011, telling the Daily Pilot at the time that he "never shied away from the difficult issues" and was "proud of the job [he did in his]

A pair of roommates who stole a check from a Newport Beach law firm were convicted and sentenced to three years of formal probation and 305 days in jail Thursday, authorities said. Alexa Antonella Polar, 35, and Robin Johzen Pabello, 34, lived together in Garden Grove in 2011 when they stole a $19,500 check and changed the amount to more than $285,000, according to the Orange County district attorney's office. The women used the money to charter a private jet to fly them and several friends to New York, pay for five hotel rooms near Times Square, and go on a spending spree at Tiffany & Co. and Montblanc, prosecutors said.

For the Record: This story has been corrected to say Thursday's Fair Board vote was 6-1, not 7-1, and that board member Ali Jahangiri was also absent. In addition, it was board member Gerardo Mouet, not Jahangiri, who seconded Berardino's motion and who has toured the Have Trunk Will Travel facility.   After 25 years, elephant rides will no longer be offered to Orange County fairgoers, the Fair Board ruled Thursday during a packed, long and emotional meeting. With more than 120 people in attendance at the fairgrounds' administration building in Costa Mesa, the majority of whom provided public comment, the board voted 6-1 not to renew the contract for Have Trunk Will Travel Inc., a Perris-based elephant training company that has provided rides at the fairgrounds for more than two decades.