Exit Rows Must be Really Expensive

As a benefit to working for an airline, I get to fly for free on said airline, and at a tremendous discount for many other airlines. The catch: I fly standby. I used to be very stressed when traveling, and in some ways I still stress, but I can surprisingly fly standby without freaking out. My mom, not so much. Cue the morning of June 24. We arrive at SeaTac hoping to catch a flight to Portland, because the night before our big trip we discovered that our direct flight to Chicago was oversold.

My mom wants to get there two and a half hours early, and I am fine with arriving with just enough time to make it through security and have 10 minutes before boarding starts. I work at SeaTac; I don't want to spend all this extra time there if I don't have to. We weren't checking bags.

I win, and we arrive an hour and a half before departure. We make it through security, walk the 25 yards from the security to the gate, and wait for boarding. We make it!

Portland airport looks like Christmastown USA.  Seriously. This place is decked out like the North Pole and the best part is that this is unintentional.

On our flight from PDX to ORD, we (obviously) boarded last after we received our seats. Whn we went up to the counter the lady asked us "are you two comfortable with sitting in an exit row?" Of course we are! More leg room and complimentary beer or wine? Sign us up! Weird how that went to the standby travelers.

Chicago, as can be expected, is crowded. Crowded and hot. Ew.

The flight out of Chicago was alright, except that once again, United gives me the one seat with a broken TV screen. At least this time the screen was broken in the OFF setting instead of ON. More details from that experience later. So I didn't sleep. And finally, we touched down in Edinburgh, Scotland, caught a cab to Alanna's house, and tried our best to stay awake! Spoiler alert: we didn't succeed.



PHOTOS TO COME! (We are currently experiencing technical difficulties and I'm late for an appointment)

The Milk Run

On March 29, 2015, I made the perilous journey to Juneau, Alaska.

Juneau is only a 2 hour flight from Seattle, but since I can only fly on flights that have open seats, I experienced the Milk Run, a series of flights originating in Seattle and ending in Anchorage, with stops in Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, and Juneau. After 6 hours on the plane (and 2 flights of 20 minutes),  I got off in Juneau.

After a short cab ride I found myself in "downtown".  However, I could see the entire city from the waterfront. I decided to take a hike all the way through town up the hill. After exploring, I made my way back to the waterfront and had dinner with Kari and Anna. We had a great time through dinner and driving around afterwards. They showed me the ends of the roads. The roads actually end in either direction just outside of town. It baffles me, but it was still kinda cool to see. 

I spent the night at Anna's apartment and the following morning she brought me to the airport. This time, I only flew to Ketchikan and then to Seattle. Much more manageable. 

Mormon, or not Mormon?

This week, I had the pleasure of hosting my friend Taf all the way from Paris, France. However, my mother thought it would be more fun to whisk him away on a Western U.S. road trip. I had to work, so I couldn't go. But today was my day off, which means only one thing; crash the road trip.

I met them this morning at the Salt Lake City International Airport after getting up at 4:30 this morning, dragging my butt to SeaTac and getting on a plane. I was hungry, so we went back to the hotel and I had some free continental breakfast. Yay Frootloops!

The main adventure of today was a morning spent on Antelope Island, located north of the city in the Great Salt Lake. It was a beautiful sunny day. Cold, windy, but sunny, and my red face can testify that I experienced some major UV. The views were spectacular, although the lake was alarmingly low. We drove around the island, through a herd of bison (twice), and then walked along the beach. The beach was the most peaceful and beautiful part of my day, and it was worth getting up way too early for. And yes, we did see some antelopes.

Our afternoon consisted of marching around downtown Salt Lake City, through the wind and the cold, and playing Taf's new favorite game; "Mormon, or not Mormon?" a terrible game where we guess who is Mormon and who is not based solely on appearance. However, we were in Temple Square, so I just guessed Mormon the entire time without looking at anyone. I'm pretty sure I won, considering there are no real indicators for identifying a Mormon in ten seconds, except perhaps that they came out of the Temple.

We took a drive up to the Utah State Capitol building, which was actually the most architecturally impressive and beautiful building in the entire city. While we were there, the Forgotten Few Motorcycle Club, as well as representatives from many other motorcycle clubs, rallied at the Capitol for reasons unknown to us. It was pretty cool, though.

After our trip up the hill overlooking the city, we journeyed back to the hotel, where we rested and I am here writing my blog. Tomorrow I fly back to Seattle, and Mom and Taf resume their road trip, going through Nevada, Idaho, Oregon, and eventually returning home.

I'll be working until then.

By the way, Salt Lake is way saltier than the ocean. Just saying.

64 degrees north

It's 2:25 am, we are standing outside in the cold, holding each other in our arms. I look up as tears begin to form in my eyes. I try to blink them away, but they freeze on my eyelashes. I've been waiting for this moment my entire life, and I can't believe it's finally happening! I gaze into Marshall's eyes, see the glum exhaustion in his face, and I realize that he clearly does not share the sentiment, and might have preferred to be left sleeping in bed. But I was not going to miss this, the reason I traveled over a thousand miles to stand in subzero temperatures in the middle of the night, looking up at the faint olive green blur stretching across like a murky cloud. No, I wanted to see the Northern Lights so badly that I arranged the wake up call for when they appeared, no matter the time. And now I am groggily looking up at the sky, and where some might be disappointed in the lackluster appearance of the night, I can't keep my excitement in. 

Five minutes after this scene, Marshall and I went back inside and fell asleep, although I'm sure Marshall would have been content sleeping the whole time. Then again, we came to Fairbanks to spend some time together, relax in a hot spring, and see the Northern Lights. And I did it. 

Fairbanks warmed up for us quite a bit on Thursday February 12. It was a whopping 23 degrees! However that warmth lasted about two hours, and the temperature rapidly dropped back to the negatives by nightfall. We arrived at our hotel, Chena Hot Springs Resort, after an hour drive from the airport and downtown Fairbanks, near 3:30 pm. The drive was fairly easy for most of the roads being covered in a thick layer of ice. Not having any experience with cold weather driving, I left the daunting task to Marshall, and he handled it with ease.

 

We checked in and went to our room, which was very close to the entrance to our building, 101. The resort has several small buildings that each contain 4-6 hotel rooms or suites. Our building was right in the middle of the resort, which was nice because we didn't have to walk too far in the cold to get anywhere.

The hot springs themselves were fantastic. There was an indoor pool and a few hot tubs, which were standard, and outside there was a very large hot tub which would have been great if we had visited that first. But the real  catch is the rock lake, fed directly by the hot spring. We walked in the darkness down an ice lined covered walkway, under the faint light and heat provided by overhead heat lamps, and hung our towels on a couple of hooks. The walkway turned to the right and then descended and an incline, and suddenly we were immersed in the water of the rock lake. The sky open above us, a fountain in the distance, and steam swirling around the surface of the water and off into the night, the only thing I wanted was a light. There are colored lights around the edge, but nothing to penetrate the darkness of the water. And we all know how I am about dark water. So, after several minutes of freaking out and insisting that Marshall carry me in the water, the warmth finally calmed me down and I touched the sandy bottom, 3 and a half feet below the water's surface. I know, I'm a chicken. 

The water temp at the source was 146 degrees, and the outside air was -20. It took about two minutes for our hair to freeze, and shortly afterwards, if we didn't dunk in the hot water, ice would form on the frozen sculptures of our heads, turning them white. Being the respectable adults that we are, Marshall and I held our hair in funny shapes and let them freeze that way, making fun of each other for their silvery-white spikes. As you can imagine my hair looked a lot sillier sticking straight up from my head.

A Reindeer!

After relaxing at the hot spring, we went back to the room and slept, that is, until a man knocked on our door informing us that the Lights were out. I bundled up quickly, impatiently stood around as Marshall dressed, and then ran outside. It was very beautiful, even though I could barely even see them. But it was enough for me, and it only took a couple of minutes to fulfill a lifelong dream, so it was all worth it.

The next morning, we ate breakfast at the restaurant and then drove back into Fairbanks. We completely missed downtown because we drove right through it and didn't realize it. But we found a movie theater and, since we had a few hours before we could check into our next hotel, decided to watch Kingsman, the Secret Service. It was a great funny movie in case anyone wants to know.

We checked into the Alpine Lodge, located about 4 blocks from the airport and only a mile out of downtown (which you might never find anyways). It was very clean and quite cozy. The restaurant associated, The Finish Line, was very expensive but the food was great! We had the Valentine's Day special; an appetizer of asparagus wrapped in pancetta, an entree of choice (chicken, vegetarian, or filet mignon; Marshall and I each had the filet Mignon), and a dessert to split. The steak was perfectly prepared, on top of delicious mashed potatoes, on top of a cooked spinach salad, which I honestly thought I wouldn't like but I loved. For dessert we split a slice of white chocolate raspberry cheesecake, with two chocolate dipped strawberries. I also got a "hearts afire" drink which is hot chocolate, chocolate liqueur, whipped cream vodka, and a float of 151 on top, set on fire. It was very strong and I would not recommend for the faint of heart.  The weirdest part about all of this was that a family came in to eat after we had sat down, and while there were many open tables, this family, with children, sat at the bar. Children at the bar. A confusing sight for me, but Marshall wouldn't let me sneak a picture. Apparently that's weird.

Saturday morning we packed out stuff at 4:45 am and headed back to the airport, where we caught the first flight home and unfortunately I had to work. But all in all it was a great weekend and a fun Valentine's excursion to the edge of the arctic.

The Last Frontier

As many of you know, I now work for a very popular regional airline at SeaTac.

On January 28, 2015, I finally made use of my travel benefits. At 7:20 am, my coworker and I met at N12 and boarded our flight to Anchorage, Alaska. We didn't have whole plans for what to do while in Anchorage, only that I had a friend who lived there and we were meeting her for lunch. But it seemed that Michael, my coworker, hadn't planned for the Alaskan weather, which I pointed out to him as he strolled up to the gate wearing khakis and a hoodie. Thank goodness it was a balmy 9 degrees Fahrenheit that day; Michael could have frozen!

This guy is fine.

Anyways, we arrived at the airport and took a taxi into town, where we sprinted from the cab into the warm mall. We only made short excursions out into the neighboring blocks, running for warmth. Our first excursion was through the park next door to the mall, which displayed beautiful ice sculptures from some festival Michael and I hadn't been invited to. Our second trip out was just around the block on the other side of the mall, and thankfully we saw some great sunshine, which warmed us up just enough to stay outside for five more minutes.

We met Anna for lunch at noon at a place called Club Paris. I had the steak sandwich, which was actually a cube of steak on some bread. It was delicious, although all menu items were overpriced.

After lunch, we made one more trip around town before catching the 4:15 flight home. Not a long day, not a warm day, but still plenty of fun.

All in all, not a bad first impression of Alaska.

Until next time!