Departure from Anchorage
The day finally arrives!
Over the last several weeks there has been much preparation in getting ready for vacation. There days leading up to our departure from
My work had about 6-8 projects to bid, each taking time to prepare and gather all of the information from the many vendors. I wanted to put the bids together so that they could be sent out on the appropriate bid day. I had the usual problems trying to get the various vendors to send me their number early fearing their number might be leaked to other contractors. Many dragged their feet but finally provided most of the information in time for me to use but several wanted to send their number closer to the actual bid day. I used all of my tricks to get everything completed including working almost straight the last 72 hours only stopping to eat and grab a couple of hours sleep.
Finally I headed home around noon to pack to make the trip to the airport around 2:00 pm for the 4:00 pm flight. It is great that
The day seemed to be turning into some sort of weird ‘Seinfeld’ episode as we made our way to the electronic check in kiosk and were told that we needed assistance and to go to customer service. We moved our 6 or so bags over to the long line and started our first wait of the trip.
There were people who were traveling with their dogs, a small yellow lab and a black lab which looked to be hunting dogs. The people had them on leashes before putting them into the kennels they would travel in and seemed excited to be going. The family checked their weapons and after about a 45 minute wait we were helped quickly getting our boarding pass. I am not sure why we ‘needed’ the extra help but were glad to be going to the security checkpoint to make our way into the secured area.
We had stopped on the way to the airport at the Subway near our home to take sandwiches with us for the long night ahead. We had the subs cut into three sections each and individually wrapped to make things easy to eat during several sittings. We ordered large bottles of water so we could have a nice drink along the way.
Going into the short security line the first thing that happened was the two TSA personnel grabbed the bottled water and through them away. Next the usual of placing everything into the containers to make that short ride through the x-ray machine. Shoes were off, change and metal objects were placed into a separate tray along with 2 days of the local newspaper as I wanted to catch up since I had been working hard and not able to read the last couple of days. The laptop was placed into another tray (it had to be by itself to enjoy the short ride), and the carry on bags still in others. What a pain to get to the concourse and the gate. I tried walking through the metal detector and alarms went off. I dropped my ID on the floor and the TSA person rushed me as I bent down to pick it up. I do not think he was going to be polite and reach down and get it for me as that was not exactly his motion or stance. I was instructed to remove any metal and step back through again. It went off again, back this time to remove my belt (hopefully my pants don’t fall down) and proceed through the third time. Success at last and my wife is unaware of what was happening and happily made her way through and retrieved her items as I put my belt back on along with the shoes and gathered my laptop and other items.
We checked the time and it was about 3:30 so I was somewhat disappointed there was not time to sit and start the vacation with a beer and to relax a bit since the last couple of days had been so hectic. We looked at the electronic boards and noticed the flight was ‘on time’ and headed quickly to our gate at the far end of the concourse. By the time we arrived and sat down the board at the gate was showing a 6:15 pm departure. Ah, we have time for my beer I was thinking but did not say anything. My wife decided she wanted to eat one of her sandwiches but was still reeling from losing her new, up-opened bottled water and decided she would walk down next to our gate for a new drink.
Shortly I heard my name being shouted and turned to see she had bought my beer but could not leave that area so I had to go sit inside this marked area to enjoy an Alaskan Amber since they did not have my Guinness. There were three women sitting there also waiting who were laughing and said, “Where do you think you are Vegas?” We all laughed as I sat there and drank it but started to come to the realization that if we left that late we would not be able to make our connecting flight in
I figured I would find an Alaska Airlines gate agent to help me and see if the flights in
It seemed that there were problems with the Horizon Air planes which were grounded for inspection of the landing gear so over 130 flights were cancelled and Alaska Airlines were trying to rebook everyone or hold them over until the following day. Many were put up in local
After an hour and twenty minutes I finally was able to talk to ‘Jennifer’ who was still smiling . . . several others were no longer smiling and one by one seemed to wander off after helping one or two people . . . the line behind me grew. Jennifer started looking at things on her computer and went from smiling to several frowns to some puzzled looks before she said . . . Do you want to try again tomorrow? I told her I did not and was trying to reach the cruise ship on Sunday morning so she looked again . . . with many of the same looks and emotions but she kept her smile going through it all. Finally after several phone calls and about 30 more minutes she had us leaving
I am writing this sitting in the
When we landed in Seattle and taxied our way across the tarmac towards our gate the plane stopped just short and the pilot came on the overhead speakers and said would be just a little late as they had called someone to ‘drive’ the ramp up to the plane’s door and that it would be a small delay before we would be un-boarding the plane. Now I am not sure . . . but bear with me a moment . . . I think the airline would have people available on the ramp to perform this chore at any given time. It is an airport after all with planes taking off and landing every few minutes twenty four hours a day so I don’t know . . . just a thought. Everyone was standing up in the aisles for awhile but finally the first class passengers were leaving while everyone else stayed in place. I wondered if someone had taken a 2x12 and placed it across the opening between the rolling ramp and the plane’s door and they were letting off the first class section but did not want everyone else to exit that way and we waited another five minutes to start coming off the flight.
I am going to go back and start another chapter on the days leading up to our departure and that of our friends who left on September 11, 2007 to start this adventure. Their story is also another weird twist to this vacation, Royal Cruise 2007. More to follow . . . 1:35 am
Trip Day 2 – September 15, 2007 Traveling to
After the overnight lay over in
My wife and I were exhausted and tried to sleep for most of this flight so I do not remember much of the flight except the decent into Denver was to the east of the city and we were flying over the prairie lands and once we landed the roof of the terminal building looked like a huge circus tent with many ‘big tops’ under each pointed peak.
This flight went uneventful but after arriving we called Scott and Kim to let them know we did not make our early (6:10 am) arrival and that it was now 10 am and we would be leaving shortly for
We flew TED to
The arrival in
He asked for my luggage receipts so he could scan his computer to see if any of the bags had made it with us . . . Scan ticket # 1 . . . it had made it, he hoped. Scan ticket # 2 . . . he was sure that one had arrived. Ticket #3 . . . it was not showing up in his system anywhere . . . but that didn’t mean it had not also arrived . . . more likely someone did not properly scan the luggage wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
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wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww oops; sorry I dozed off a second. On Ticket # 4 it seemed it also had arrived with us. Now the problem was to determine which bag was possibly missing. Hopefully it was the scuba gear and not either of our clothes bags missing.
We anxiously waited for the items to start their winding journey of the conveyor but had to wait a few minutes before the alarm sounded to alert everyone that the carousel was beginning to spin.
The first bag we saw . . . the scuba gear . . . the one bag which was not a big deal to lose track of if things continued to go bad. The next one was my big blue one with all of my gear. The third bag to come around was my wife’s new bag for make-up and not her clothes luggage. After several trips around the system we finally saw the turquoise bag slowly wind its way towards us. A quick look and I grabbed it and off to the Embassy Suites shuttle.
Our check-in at the hotel went smoothly and our room was great. They put us up on the ninth floor so we had a nice view of
I talked with Scott on the phone and his family was making their way after spending the day at Typhoon Lagoon at Disney World and was driving south on the Florida Turnpike back to Miami. They finally arrived around 10 pm after a slight detour (lost) trying to find the hotel. He made a wrong turn within a mile of the hotel but headed west instead of east and it took him almost an hour to get back to Embassy Suites after stopping for directions and refueling the rig they had rented. He wanted to get everything ready so turning in the rental the next morning would go smoothly.
Deb was exhausted so she headed up to the room for the night while I waited for them to arrive and helped them check in and find their way to the room. The kids were excited and wanted to see everything so Scott and I sat in the atrium while the kids looked at the Koi fish in the pools under the waterfall. The birds were singing and it was nice to catch up on the last few days. We walked out by the pool and worked out the arrangements to get taken over to the
The next morning at breakfast I found out that around one in the morning, Bob had gotten up to go to the bathroom and get a drink of water and found ants all over the counter top. The previous guest had left sugar and a snack in the room and it was missed by housekeeping so the ants were having a nice feast on their newly found treats.
Everyone woke up from the excitement and they decided (demanded) to change rooms in the middle of the night. After the ordeal of changing rooms and everything around it was time for everyone to get a great night of restful sleep.
So ends the Journey to
Let the Cruise begin!
Ice
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