Thursday, August 12- Kansas City to Anchorage

 

I haven’t updated published a blog in awhile.  COVID largely spared my loved ones and me but it sure had an impact on my travel.  Eastern Europe in late June- moved to October of 2022.  The cruise off Belize and Guatemala in October- COVID situation in Belize was worsening and I was given the opportunity to change to one within Alaska.  I grabbed it.  Ron and I had taken UnCruise in Alaska in 2012 and 2014.  I’d been considering returning so this was all I needed.  In addition to proof of vaccination they required a negative COVID test a few days before.  Happily, it did come back negative (I had no reason to expect otherwise but you never know).

American Airlines sent me a dire warning a few days before:  TSA lines were long, get there 2 hours early for domestic flights… I checked the MyTSA app and found estimates of 15-minute wait times.  Sure enough, the line I needed to use never had more than a few people and only one person ahead of me when I entered it- and I didn’t even have TSA Pre-Check.  Our takeoff for Chicago was only 15 minutes late.  I’d scheduled a long layover in Chicago, anyway. 

On the way out of Kansas City we taxied by a large area with a motley assortment of planes- a couple of unmarked 747s (privately owned?), a couple from Saudi Airways and, oddly, one labeled “imbab Airways”.  I love the Internet.  I looked it up.  Zimbabwe Airways was in the process of buying a few planes from Malaysia Airways and they missed a payment on one.  It was repossessed and sold to Jet Midwest Airlines and flown to Kansas City.  In the process of repainting it, a few letters were obliterated!

Happily, both flights were pretty much on time.  I had almost 5 hours in Chicago so I bought a day pass to the Admiral’s Club, which was worth every penny.  Munchies, open bar, comfortable seats.. an island of calm. 

I think this picture generated more comments than any other I posted on FaceBook on this trip.  It's meant for people who bought cannabis in IL (where it's legal) and don't want to get into trouble when they arrive at home.  I think many of my friends are closet potheads!

The windows didn't have shades- they had controls that allowed you to lighten or darken it to you preferred level of transparency.

Yes, another splurge.  My dear late husband Ron was long-legged and had a creaky back and as he got older it was harder and harder for him to recover from long hauls in Coach- so we flew a bit less and used reward points as much as we could.  I have no excuse now except that I’m spoiled.  Oh, yeah- and better social distancing!

I wasn’t optimistic about “fresh bites” and not a real dinner on a 6-hour flight leaving at almost 6 PM, but it was pretty good.  The movie selection was amazing- there were way more that I wanted to see than I had time for.  It was an irony to watch “Nomadland”, about retirees living in RVs and traveling from job to job (including Amazon warehouses), subjecting their aging bodies to demanding physical work, while seated in a luxurious “pod” sipping wine.  I do try to count my blessings.

 

The idyll ended when we landed at 9 PM.  Ah, but there was a plane at "our" gate.  (Like they had no idea we were on our way and didn't have any other gates?)  Off the plane at 9:45.  Got my bags (with their useless orange "Priority" tags" around 10:30.  Called the hotel and the shuttle would be there in 20 minutes.  The hotel site said they were 10 minutes from the airport.  Ummm, OK.  23 minutes later I called again.  Oh, she tried to reach me- they're "in transition" (?) and it would be another 15 minutes  She claimed to have called the right number- she read it back to me- but my phone never registered it. I told her to forget it and got a taxi.  It took 9 minutes and cost $14.  I gave him a 20.  He was very happy.

 

Petty stuff in the grand scheme of things- I'd arrived after a really nice flight and had all my paperwork in order.  So many of the things I had worried about going wrong didn’t.