Just Another Day In The Air

My day started at 3:45 a.m., a good 3 1/2 hours before I usually drag myself out of bed.  The reason?  A 6 am flight.  6 am – what was I thinking? 

Somehow Jim and I both managed to wake up before the alarm went off, stumble into clothes, brush our teeth, pack our toiletries and head out to the airport.  By the time we got there it was 5:05 am.  Just time to run to Starbucks for oatmeal for me and coffee for him, grab a large bottle of water at the Hudsons and get to our gate.  Our flight started boarding on time, but left late – of course.

Note: If you are wearing Nike tennies with the iPlus take your transmitter out of your shoe before you go through security.  I didn’t and was awarded with a bonus shoe bomb test.  Awesome. 

It was a two flight journey we embarked on – first to Houston and then on to Indianapolis for Indy 500 weekend.

We deviated from our normal Alaska Air loyalty and booked our flights on Continental.  The up side, we saved $200, the down side, no first class upgrade (we fly Alaska all the time for business and trips to Cali, which means we get upgraded 90% of the time, huge perk), checked bag fees ($25 for the first bag, $32 for a second) and an ouch inducing $150 change fee per person if we had wanted to change our flights.   

The first flight was uneventful.  Two perks (1) we lucked out and the movie for the flight was Invictus, which is actually pretty good and much better than the choices we narrowly evaded: The Tooth Fairy and When in Rome; (2) Continental still serves food on flights.  Who knew?  I skipped the breakfast because I had Starbuck’s oatmeal (and FYI, the Starbucks at the airport charges you for the toppings that are free at every other Starbucks) but Jim dined on a decent combo of a banana, a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios with 2% milk and a mini muffin. 

Then our flight ran late.  Our layover between flights was scheduled to be 50 minutes.  It soon became 40, then 30 and we found out we were going to have to get from Terminal E all the way over to Terminal B, which is only accessible by tram.  The flight attendant made an announcement before landing about please staying in your seat and letting all the people connecting off the plane first because of the tight connections and cross terminal sprints required to get there.  When the plane landed and we were cooling our heels in Row 20, waiting to run to our connecting flight, every single person in front of us got off the plane, the whole plane had connecting flights it seems, isn’t that amazing?

Once free of the plane, we madly dashed across the terminal and made it to the gate with exactly 8 minutes to spare.  Phew!

The flight from Houston to Indy was 2 hours and food was served yet again!  A mini turkey sandwich, a snack pack of carrots, and a Halloween size Kit Kat.  Our flight attendant was also bar none the cheeriest, happiest man I have ever encountered.  Such a pleasure, truly.

We deplaned and were met almost immediately with sites from home, not one, but two Starbucks within the terminal.  The Seattle influence is everywhere people, watch out! 

We collected Jim’s bag and our rental car without incident and headed off to the hotel.  Next up, changing and heading downtown for a bar and some beer.  Welcome to Indy.