Saturday, October 15, 2011

And Away We Go....

So we left for Seattle as scheduled on Friday, Oct. 15th. That is a very simple statement....in actuallity it was not so simple to make it happen! If you know me at all you know this is not abnormal. If you don't know me...well...let me just say that even the simplest things when it comes to traveling can become an adventure!

I know they always tell you to get to the airport 2 hours before your scheduled flight. My husband is a stickler for being there AT LEAAST 2 hours early. I always have a tendency to poke a little fun at him because he is so worried about getting there on time. Well...no more! We got to the Pittsburgh Airport at 6:30 AM...2 hours before our flight. As we walked up to the ticketing and bag check area, we noticed that the security line was unusually long but figured it would go down. Plus since we were flying first class, that allows us to check ourselves and our bags before the other people in line and it allows us to go through the priority security line. Well we get to the Continental desk and the regular line was backed up outside of the queue. Ok...still fine...we hop into the first class check in line. We had actually checked in for the flight online but still had to check the bags. It was also backed up but not nearly as bad as the regular line. After about 5 minutes of standing in line and not moving we started getting a little antsy. Next thing you know it one of the ticket agents jumps over the counter (literally...jumps...not making that up!) and starts going through the regular line asking if anyone is going to Chicago. The line was so backed up that the Chicago people were in jeopardy of missing their flight. She confiscated a few Chicago people and got them checked in. Still not moving in our line. People start getting a little annoyed. Counter agents get annoyed right back. Finally after about 15 minutes of waiting in line, we get to use the self check-in kiosk. Just as we start the process, one counter person announces that they can no longer take any bags because their luggage belt just went down. Ok....so now we are checked in and our bags are technically checked in (I know this because I have the little tickets that tell me that they are checked in) but we now have to drag the bags to the United Ticket counter which is across the room and give the bags to them so that they can go on the luggage belt and get to the plane! This is easier said than done because the Continental line is now wrapped around into the next airline! So we take our bags and wheel them through all the people in line and take them to the United counter. Now the United ticket lady has no idea that all the Continental passengers have been told to wheel their bags over to her counter. We were the first and she just lost it! She started saying that they couldn't take our bags there. We told her that Continental told us to bring them over because their luggage belt was down. She tells us that she thinks that their luggage belt is "about to go down too." Well that was about the last straw for my husband! He says to her, "What does that mean?" She replies again the she thinks that their luggage belt is going to go down and she can't take our bags becuase they look like they are oversized anyway. My husband says again, "I don't know what that means?" She looked at him like she had no idea what HE meant (and to be honest either did I) and said, "You are going to have to take those bags down to the other end by the wall." So at this point I had a "Melody Moment". Again, if you know me there is no other explanation needed, if you don't well then it simply means that I temporarily lost it because I was extremely annoyed. So I say, "Well at this point maybe we just walk the bags out to the plane so that they can get on the flight with us!!" So at this point the husband comes to his senses and pulls me and the bags out of the line and down to the end of the airport where there is a TSA person manning the oversized bag area. He tells us to put the bags against the wall and he would finish processing them. So off we went to the security line, finally bag free and hoping that the bags would make it onto the flight!

So now the security line is twice is long as it was when we went up to ticketing. We ask if the alternate security line is shorter and are told by the agent that usually it is but she had no clue if it was today or not. So we chose the regular secuity line and went into the first class line. Things went quicky in security. Since fly regularly we are pretty familiar with the routine and had our laptops out and shoes off well before we ever got to the machine. After having gotten through security we then had to catch the shuttle to the gates. No problem there. By this time we are about 45 minutes before we had to board. Now as I told you in my previoius post, making it to the "Club" is very important! We got to the gate side of the airport. Since my husband has membership to the Continental President's Club and they don't have one of those at Pittsburgh, they allow him into the USAirways Club since it is part of the Star Alliance. So we get into the club...no problem. Took me 10 minutes to locate the women's restroom...walked all over the darn place. Found the men's room...not an option. Kept walking...here the women's room is outside of the area before the desk where you check into the club! Finally found that and grabbed a cup of instant oatmeal and some hot water. It's soupy....I look at the instructions and it says to microwave it. I'm thinking well I don't remember seeing a microwave anywhere (and believe me I had been around the room more than once looking for the restroom!) but off I go to look for one again.....nope no microwave to be found. I give up on the oatmeal and have a mini muffin instead. With all the laps around the "Club" it's now time to board so we get to the gate and get on the plane and everything finally seems to be going ok.

Flight leaves on time. First stop is Houston. Very smooth flight, even get to rest a little bit. Land early. Then the fun begins again..... We have a tight connection to make in Houston. There's only about 25 minutes before we board the next flight for the Seattle leg. Our flight lands early so we are thinking that this is great...a few extra minutes. Well we have to wait for the gate for a few minutes because no one is there to guide us into the gate. This doesn't take too long and we move into the gate area. Well we all stand up and get ready to get off of the plane and nothing happens. The door doesn't open. We keep standing...still nothing. 5 minutes go by and the service people have come up the other side of the plane and opened that door and started putting the food on for the next flight but still no progress in letting us off the plane. Finally the captain comes on and says that they are having problems getting the jetway to work but they are sending someone to work on it! Great...time is ticking. Our next flight is actually leaving from the gate next to us...we can see the plane but we can't get off ours to get to it! So finally we look out the window and see the jetway start to move...back and forth...back and forth...still nothing. Finally someone with earmuffs comes over and moves the jetway and gets it to butt up to the plane and we are able to get off! By this point it is starting to be funny....I mean what else are you going to do but laugh! We make it to our plane and leave for Seattle on time. Flight is smooth and lands in Seattle on time. We are going to drive to Portland from Seattle (about 3 1/2 hour drive). So we just need to collect the rental car and head on our way. All smooth sailing from here right? WRONG!

We go to baggage claim and our bags arrive with no problem. (We were afraid they were still in Pittsburgh leaning against a wall of the airport!) We have rented a car with National and my husband has an executive elite status with them so you can bypass the counter and go directly to the executive elite area which it says on a sign is located on the second floor and accessible by using the yellow elevator. Simple enough....or not! Turns out there is a major construction area right around the rental car counters. We go around this area and look for the rental car signs. One points us to the right then there are no other signs. We try going up the elevator (which was not yellow) and that takes us to the parking garage but no signs of rental vehicles. We go back down and head back to the counter to check out the instructions again. It clearly says second floor on the yellow elevator. We try again, take an escalator this time (because we still haven't seen a yellow elevator. We end up in the same place. This time we go into the parking garage and off to the left we see some yellow elevators. We head that way. We are on the fourth floor so we head down to the second. Turns out that the construction inside the building was in the area of the yellow elevator. Now why wouldn't the rental people change the sign to reflect that the yellow elevator was CLOSED?? Anyway...got the rental car and headed out of Seattle to Portland.

Traffic was horrendous on the way out of Seattle. Lots of road construction. Roads look quite old and in need of repair. Lots and lots of traffic. Not as bad as Los Angeles traffic but very congested and slow going. We finally make it to Portland and head directly to our hotel. At this point we have been traveling for about 15 hours straight. We are staying at the Hilton Garden Inn, Portland Airport. We find the hotel just fine. Check in. Get our room keys and head up to our room. Get inside the room and it's freezing! We check the thermostat. It doesn't have a display (like it's not on). After pushing several buttons on the thermostat with no luck, we check the air conditioner unit in thee room. We open the lid and it says, "This unit is adjusted by the wall thermostat." There are no buttons or knobs inside. So we walk outside and a person from housekeeping is in the hallway. We tell her that we cannot get the thermostat to work and it is very cold in our room. She looks at it, pushes the buttons and says "Oh..you have to use the unit in the room." We tell her no it says to use the wall. She checks and says "OH...you are right you have to use the wall thermostat and it doesn't work!" Duh!!! So we trek down to the front desk and tell the manager on duty that the thermostat doesn't work. She does get someone to look at it while we ate dinner in the hotel (which was quite good by the way). After dinner we ask if they had checked it out and were told that they did and it didn't work. She seemed surprised by this but moved us to another room that did have heat!

I guess the tip I have for all you travelers that comes from this crazy day is to be flexible when you travel. We planned and planned, did all the right things to get to the airport in time and get the rental car and get the hotel but sometimes it just doesn't matter. Anything can happen so just be flexible and try not to let it all aggrevate you!

No comments:

Post a Comment