Friday, August 20- Flight from Seattle

I had everything planned for my 6:20 PM flight home.  Request late check-out (granted, till 2 PM), head to airport, check in, buy a Day Pass at the Alaska Air Lounge, relax till flight time.

It didn't work out that way. I arrived at the airport 5 hours early only to find that you can't check bags earlier than 4 hours before flight time.  And of course I couldn't get to the Airline Lounge without first checking my bags and going through the TSA lines.  So, I waited, in the crowded landside area with very few services and not enough places to sit.  Fortunately I've had much practice sitting on airport floors.  I stood in a Starbucks line but it was barely moving so I gave up.

I finally checked in and quickly got through a Priority TSA line dedicated to Elite status and Business Class passengers that I'd found in my wanderings.  Well, Seattle got that right.  Those have disappeared from most airports.  

Strike two:  the Alaska Air lounge closest to my flight gates was not selling day passes.  The one near the C gates was, she said.  That required more traipsing around and a crowded tram ride so I switched out my lighter cloth mask for an N95.  Got to the second lounge and there was a sign outside:  not selling day passes.  &^%#!    This time the ride back to my gates required a TRANSFER on the tram.  I understood the need to keep airline lounges from getting crowded- it can be very unpleasant- but didn't appreciate being misinformed about the second one.

At that point I was ready for an adult beverage and found the only options were a couple of crowded bars.  I'd learned from the example of Patient Zero on my cruise.  No crowded bars.  I bought a few snacks and found a seat in a quiet gate area near some electrical outlets and played with my electronic devices till boarding time.  My gate was near two flights leaving for Hawaii and they repeated announcements about every 5 minutes reminding them of vaccination requirements to enter Hawaii.

We took off on time- good news for a flight scheduled to land at 11:45 PM Central Time- but spent an hour circling around someplace in Nebraska to wait out a storm over KC, so we landed an hour late.  Still a pleasant flight.  In-flight entertainment was "Bring Your Own Device" and the only one I had that worked with my Bluetooth headphones was my phone, but I enjoyed reruns of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" most of the way- and free-flowing wine.  They even served a real dinner.


Wine in a can!  Works for me.

A kind, patient friend was waiting for me at the airport to take me home.  I saw a lot of small downed branches on the drive so I understood why they didn't want to try and land in that storm.

The following Sunday at church a friend said to me, "I hear your trip to Alaska was a bust".  No, it wasn't.  It was glorious.  Yes, the first 3 days were far better than the last 3, but if I had it to do over again I'd certainly take the trip.  



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