Travel Diary

Again, I got to sleep in for quite a while since my flight wasn't till 3:30 PM. I skipped breakfast, though I didn't have half a bagel. And I suppose I had a little coffee too. The morning and early afternoon went by quickly. I helped a friend with some word documents, and then around 1:45pm, we were driving to the airport. I said goodbye to Serena and John, and headed inside.

I still hadn’t gotten upgraded for my second leg, which was on Alaska Airlines. In fact I noticed I wasn't even on the waiting list at that point. This was very odd. But at least for my first flight, I had been upgraded to a better seat. It was on American Airlines and they moved me from economy to premium economy, which was all that I could expect. Since I wasn't an MVP on their airline, getting a first class it was never going to happen.

I boarded early just in case I would need the overhead space. In looking down the cabin, I had feared that I might be in a row with someone that was quite large. Of course I wouldn’t make an issue with that or even mention anything; it would just be more difficult and uncomfortable. Only stating facts. However, I did find that row eight (where my seat was) was actually where row five would've been. For some reason they skipped rows 5, 6, and 7. Therefore, I didn’t have to deal with a crowded seat situation. I got settled in and we were soon taking off.

I was very tired, so I pretty much just fell asleep immediately and even missed the drink service. But I did awake with about two hours left, so it was still a bit of time to kill. The seat was somewhat uncomfortable, and I was just awaiting when we landed.

We finally arrived in Dallas, and I must say it took quite some time to taxi to the gate. Dallas airport is just massive. Once off the plane, I was able to stretch my legs and relax a bit. I still had to take the air train over to another terminal. But having learned from a year prior, I took the train going the right direction to get me there the fastest.

Once I reached my gate, I noticed that there was another flight for Seattle, heading out. I thought that was a bit odd, because it had almost the same number as mine, it was flight 585 and I was flight 575 which also was a little strange. I suppose I wasn’t able to book take that flight since I needed the layover to be a certain amount of time. Anyway, I asked about my ticket, but they said I had to wait till this flight had cleared before they had the ticket system for the next flight. No matter I sit down for a bit.

15 minutes later I checked again and I wasn't on the wait list which was weird, and my ticket still said Seat 6A so that was not good. I asked to be on the waitlist, and she did that, but it appeared that a bunch of people were before me, so it seemed like I had no chance of getting the first class upgrade. Again, very disappointing. It would be my third economy flight in a row; something that hadn't happened for quite some time.

For boarding I decided to go in last. There wasn't any purpose and sitting there for any extra time if I wasn't going to be in a comfortable seat. It actually worked – where there was absolutely no line at all when I got to the plane. I just walked right on. I sat in the same seat as before: 6A. And the row was full, so no extra elbow room. But lo and behold, at the last second, a flight attendant came over and asked if I was James. I said yes and sure enough I got moved up to first class! I was extremely happy about it this time. I was just dreading being in economy for another four hours that day.

The first class it was night near the window and in row 2, so I could put my bag under the seat. Another gentleman took the seat next to me and was incredibly nice. He had only booked out a flight two hours before and still got an upgrade the first class. But he was 100K member and I guess that made a huge difference. We chatted for a bit and he even shared his Netflix series of the Alex Murdaugh murders which made for great (though shocking) entertainment. We watched episodes the entire flight.

For the meal, it was some beef noodles and that was the only choice, but it did sound good. They didn't taste exactly too fresh, though they were still edible and tasty. I had my scotch as usual. And watching that series meant the flight went by fast. Soon enough, we were landing in Seattle.

I had decided I was going to save money, and that if the Uber quote were more than $45, I would just take the Link train home. I checked right off the plane and it was about $43. Okay, Uber it would be. But as I reached the parking garage, the price suddenly jumped to $49, and that was past my limit. I passed up the rideshare escalator and headed to the link station.

I had excellent timing as I got there one minute before the train came, and I boarded and headed home. The train were practically empty as it was about 11 o'clock at night. There were no riders at first, but a few people got on. They did seem like they didn't have any housing which was unfortunate. I studied my Duolingo and the time went by pretty fast. I think it helps this late at night when the trains don't have to stop very long.

At Capitol Hill, I exited and decided I would have a burger and shake since it wasn't really a fasting day anyway. The line was long at Dick’s Drive-in, and my first instinct was to just go home and forget about it. But as I got over to it, the line didn't seem all that long and the wait was probably only about 5 to 10 minutes. I decided to go ahead and indulge. I got a hamburger and strawberry shake, and started walking home. The weather of course was completely different, and the cold rain was coming down, but in my suit I was fairly warm – just getting a bit wet. I finished the hamburger in no time, and about half of the shake and had to throw away the rest, so I didn't consume too much sugar and carbs. And in time I finally got in the door and rested from a very long day of travel.

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