Back in the Lower 48

Sunday, 29 August

Almost a day late! Not us; we arrived on schedule yesterday, but it took our luggage another 23 hours to catch up to us. We’ve had more trouble with our luggage since the airlines started charging for the privilege of checking bags. What’s up with that?

Now that our bags are here, it’s time to wrap up our Alaska trip. So let’s go back in time a bit to yesterday.

After a very noisy night — I mean like the street party was in our room noisy — it was actually a relief to get out of bed at 5:00a. I honestly don’t know how Mui was able to sleep through the cacophony that sort of diminished around 2:00a. And that happened only because several police cars came around with sirens blaring to break up the party crowd that had spilled out on to the sidewalk when they ran out of room inside the bar across the street. It was only then that I dozed off into a restless sleep. It’s a shame that our stay at the Historic Anchorage Hotel had to end on a sour note as we otherwise enjoyed our stay there; especially the convenience of its location.

We left the hotel around 6:00a, drove to the airport, dropped off the car, wound our way through the terminal, handed over our checked bags to Alaska Airlines, and went through security. All without mishap. We even managed to get exit row seats at no cost. The airport was quiet with only a few of the gate areas filled with passengers leaving on early morning flights.

By the time we strolled the deserted concourses to stretch our legs and picked up something to eat on the 5½ hour flight to Chicago, it was time to board our aircraft. With everyone settled into their seats pretty quickly, the flight attendants entertained us with a humorous safety demonstration that actually held the attention of the passengers. By 8:25a Flight 130 was in the air, winging its way to Chicago.

Our time in the air passed in the blink of an eye. I read while Mui napped in the seat next to me. The next thing we knew, we were landing on schedule at Chicago O’Hare. We had just about an hour to make it from where we deplaned — Concourse L in Terminal 3 — to our United Airlines departure gate in Terminal 1. As anyone who has had to navigate through O’Hare will attest, we had some major hoofing to do to reach our gate. Even then, I couldn’t resist making one short stop along the way to snap a few pictures of Chicago cityscapes exhibited on the windows of one of the corridors.

We arrived at Gate C17 with just enough time to treat ourselves to a couple of ice cream cones before boarding the aircraft and settling into our exit row seats (we had to pay for the seats this time, but they were worth it). UA 990 was wheels up at 6:45p for the 1½ hour flight to Washington’s Dulles International.

In the old days, a one-hour layover would have been sufficient time for luggage to be transferred from one aircraft to another. Not anymore; especially not if it involves two different airlines at two different terminals. Though we were disappointed when our bags didn’t show up on the baggage carousel, we weren’t surprised. We processed our claim through the automated kiosk and left Dulles for the ½-hour ride home.

The silver lining to our travel woes … United Airlines has sent me an e-certificate worth 20% off the next flight we take with them. I’m sure we’ll put it to good use sometime in the next 12 months. But it won’t be to go back to Alaska … our next trip to that grand state will be in our “rolling condo on wheels.” Can’t wait for that day to come around!