Friday, August 06, 2010
All times in Spanish time. Parenthesis show local time.
0330 - Alarm goes off. Awake and preparing to go. Cat and dog settled. Kids dressed. Bags outside waiting. If it wasn't so early in the morning, I'd feel absolutely euphoric at the simple fact that we are all ready and together. If I had been together enough to actually make that pot of coffee, I'd be doing the super-mom jig in the front yard.
0430 - Two taxis arrive on time with drivers who are not only friendly, but nicely dressed and bathed!! Trust me, it's a special thing. No taxi in our area has room for 6 because local insurance laws only allow taxi policies for 5 persons which translates into one driver and four passengers.
0500 - Arrive at VLC (Valencia Int' Airport) and check in. No comment on the size or weight of our baggage. I'm feeling smug that we crammed junk enough for 6 people for 4 weeks into only 4 bags. Coffee and chocolate croissants by the gate.
0625 - We should be boarding for our 0655 flight, but we're not. The plane isn't here yet? No idea why. Someone mentions the air traffic controller strikes going on. May be that's the culprit?
0715 - We board the bus outside our gate and wait. It finally moves, driving us to a tiny little plane. It's almost 0730 and we're boarding an 18 passenger plane. The cabin isn't pressurized. There is no cockpit door. There are 9 seats on one side and 9 seats on the other. Everyone has a window and an aisle. The pilot and copilot are in the cockpit in full view of the passengers. There is no stewardess, but each seat has a small white box on it with a nice little breakfast snack. The reservation is through US Airways who subcontracted to Iberia who subcontracted to Tap Portugal who subcontracted to PGA express. Should I be scared?
0730ish - We take off. It's a noisy two hour trip.
0755 (0855 GMT) - Land in Lisbon which looks as stunning from the air as I've heard it is from the ground. We're just 3 planes away from the plane we'll eventually take. Did an enormous U to get out of one terminal and into the other. Had to show our passports to get into the sealed off gate. They repeatedly checked our baggage tags. Everything seemed very thorough. Should be no issues...
1135 (1035 GMT) A late departure on a US Air flight to Philadelphia. We're greeted by smiles and an abundance of American English. It doesn't seem like a big deal, but it feels great. The girls are excited that the food and drinks are free. When the steward asked Luci what she'd like to drink, she requested "water natural cold, please."
Eight long hours later with only one child appropriate movie to calm the kid boredom we arrive. The kids did great. The steward comments that we must travel a lot because the kids were so well behaved.
1935 (1335 EST) Arrive in Philadelphia, clear passport control and arrive at baggage claim to find no baggage. Told that it was left in Lisbon and would arrive in Seattle on the same trip we are taking just 24 hours later. Clearing customs is especially easy when you have nothing to lug across the line. Astonished at the friendly customer service at the eateries by our gate. They smiled! Love it! 4 hour layover.
2350 (1750 EST) Depart for Seattle. A painfully long 5 hour flight without movies but at least we have our free beverage service. We really like that.
0555 (2055 PST) Arrive in Seattle 26.5 after waking up this morning. It's still Saturday. Still no luggage. The lady at the claim office has absolutely no idea where it is or when we'll get it. She thinks it might be coming in on an American flight from Vancouver, BC to LAX, but "that doesn't make sense." We agree. So, no luggage, no clean clothes, nada... but US Airways does provide a small toiletry bag full of sample sizes of all sorts of things... anti-perspirant, a toothbrush, toothpaste, a razor, etc... I'm too tired to be upset about the luggage and though it's small, I'm genuinely happy about the "hospitality" kits.
Stopped at the airport gift shop to get some souvenir t-shirts to sleep in tonight. 20% discount for military members. They are friendly and smiling. I'm on top of the world.
0700 Sunday (2200 PST Saturday) Checking into the Holiday Inn Express in Sea Tac. We're now sporting our Seattle t-shirts. I'm thankful that I packed my makeup and all toothbrushes in the carry on. I may be wearing the same clothes for 40 hours, but at least I'll have "my face on."
0800 Sunday (2300 PST Sat) Finally heading to sleep after our 28 1/2 hour day. Slept light. Though I'm tired, it's Sunday morning to me. I sleep just a few hours and wake up easily.
0330 - Alarm goes off. Awake and preparing to go. Cat and dog settled. Kids dressed. Bags outside waiting. If it wasn't so early in the morning, I'd feel absolutely euphoric at the simple fact that we are all ready and together. If I had been together enough to actually make that pot of coffee, I'd be doing the super-mom jig in the front yard.
0430 - Two taxis arrive on time with drivers who are not only friendly, but nicely dressed and bathed!! Trust me, it's a special thing. No taxi in our area has room for 6 because local insurance laws only allow taxi policies for 5 persons which translates into one driver and four passengers.
0500 - Arrive at VLC (Valencia Int' Airport) and check in. No comment on the size or weight of our baggage. I'm feeling smug that we crammed junk enough for 6 people for 4 weeks into only 4 bags. Coffee and chocolate croissants by the gate.
0625 - We should be boarding for our 0655 flight, but we're not. The plane isn't here yet? No idea why. Someone mentions the air traffic controller strikes going on. May be that's the culprit?
0715 - We board the bus outside our gate and wait. It finally moves, driving us to a tiny little plane. It's almost 0730 and we're boarding an 18 passenger plane. The cabin isn't pressurized. There is no cockpit door. There are 9 seats on one side and 9 seats on the other. Everyone has a window and an aisle. The pilot and copilot are in the cockpit in full view of the passengers. There is no stewardess, but each seat has a small white box on it with a nice little breakfast snack. The reservation is through US Airways who subcontracted to Iberia who subcontracted to Tap Portugal who subcontracted to PGA express. Should I be scared?
0730ish - We take off. It's a noisy two hour trip.
0755 (0855 GMT) - Land in Lisbon which looks as stunning from the air as I've heard it is from the ground. We're just 3 planes away from the plane we'll eventually take. Did an enormous U to get out of one terminal and into the other. Had to show our passports to get into the sealed off gate. They repeatedly checked our baggage tags. Everything seemed very thorough. Should be no issues...
1135 (1035 GMT) A late departure on a US Air flight to Philadelphia. We're greeted by smiles and an abundance of American English. It doesn't seem like a big deal, but it feels great. The girls are excited that the food and drinks are free. When the steward asked Luci what she'd like to drink, she requested "water natural cold, please."
Eight long hours later with only one child appropriate movie to calm the kid boredom we arrive. The kids did great. The steward comments that we must travel a lot because the kids were so well behaved.
1935 (1335 EST) Arrive in Philadelphia, clear passport control and arrive at baggage claim to find no baggage. Told that it was left in Lisbon and would arrive in Seattle on the same trip we are taking just 24 hours later. Clearing customs is especially easy when you have nothing to lug across the line. Astonished at the friendly customer service at the eateries by our gate. They smiled! Love it! 4 hour layover.2350 (1750 EST) Depart for Seattle. A painfully long 5 hour flight without movies but at least we have our free beverage service. We really like that.
0555 (2055 PST) Arrive in Seattle 26.5 after waking up this morning. It's still Saturday. Still no luggage. The lady at the claim office has absolutely no idea where it is or when we'll get it. She thinks it might be coming in on an American flight from Vancouver, BC to LAX, but "that doesn't make sense." We agree. So, no luggage, no clean clothes, nada... but US Airways does provide a small toiletry bag full of sample sizes of all sorts of things... anti-perspirant, a toothbrush, toothpaste, a razor, etc... I'm too tired to be upset about the luggage and though it's small, I'm genuinely happy about the "hospitality" kits.
Stopped at the airport gift shop to get some souvenir t-shirts to sleep in tonight. 20% discount for military members. They are friendly and smiling. I'm on top of the world.
0700 Sunday (2200 PST Saturday) Checking into the Holiday Inn Express in Sea Tac. We're now sporting our Seattle t-shirts. I'm thankful that I packed my makeup and all toothbrushes in the carry on. I may be wearing the same clothes for 40 hours, but at least I'll have "my face on."
0800 Sunday (2300 PST Sat) Finally heading to sleep after our 28 1/2 hour day. Slept light. Though I'm tired, it's Sunday morning to me. I sleep just a few hours and wake up easily.
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