Travel Diary

Wakey, wakey!

It was 6am when the alarm rang (do any alarms still ring?) and I began getting ready for the flight. As always the bags were packed. I checked off a few remaining items on my preparations list and then made a quick video. Next, it was time to check Uber. $74! Way too high. I checked Lyft. $54. That was much better. I summoned the car and went outside.

It was still dark outside. I mean it’s December after all. Despite it saying it could be nine minutes, it came in short time and we headed to the airport. I attempted to take some photos of the sports stadiums as we drove down Highway 5, but they were all blurry. Smartphones are still not adept at that task. Perhaps the iPhone 16 will master this challenge. (Though I still won’t be upgrading that fast.)

The sun was just starting to rise though. Mount Rainier looked fascinating, yet it wasn’t possible to get a good shot from the car. Pity. I just kept a snapshot in my mind—which must not have been fully developed as I had completely forgot about that until reviewing my photos. We passed up a Link train on the way. It reminded me that I never had taken one TO the airport. Not yet at least. Walking to the train station in the cold morning has always been the main impediment. And the long ride on the train. A personal chauffeur is just more appealing at that hour.

Being still early, the airport Departures wasn’t too chaotic so the line to the drop-off point wasn’t bad. But inside, it was getting crowded quickly. I passed by the check-in desks, and those lines had many people waiting. I thought that it had been quite some time since I checked a bag in one of those. Perhaps even a few years.

We boarded on time and I got my first class seat. It was a nice change as the past three flights to Florida had received no upgrades. I started to worry my MVP was becoming devalued lately. I’ll analyze that more later.

Soon, we were in the air. The lady next to me was quite friendly, so the first part of the flight was spent chatting with her. On some trips, I end up talking a lot with my “neighbor.” Other times, I just focus on other things, like writing these journals, or working on studying Spanish.

I did get to see Rainier from the plane and it looked positively splendid with the morning colors bathing everything in red and orange (and other colors I likely cannot see). We continued to fly southeast as the day progressed in waking up around us. Finally, the breakfast was served. Food, glorious...well, you either know or don’t know the rest.

I had pre-ordered the bagel breakfast; however, although it had many items, it didn’t include a bagel, which was a little peculiar considering its name. No matter. The meal included a tasty croissant (with a butter square), wedge potatoes, sausage meat, and some fluffed eggs (with perhaps veggies inside). Oh, and the usual yogurt with fruit. I’m never really able to get to the yogurt, always being full at that point. Hate to waste it, but I hate stuffing myself on a flight even more. Play it safe on flights. Always play it safe.

The flight journeyed onwards as I enjoyed a nice double scotch. Being in first class, it came in a real glass, as opposed to a paper cup. It’s not a huge benefit, but it is somewhat more enjoyable that way. They also pre-pour it in first most of the time, so saving

Outside, the view became obscured as the cloud cover thickened and we were cruising along the top of it. Only the sun offered company, though it appeared to be as close to the clouds as we were—perhaps also enjoying the view.

When Southwest Florida came into view, the sun treated us to a nice red and orange view piercing the clouds, as it started to gracefully dip into the horizon, having never attained much height throughout the day. But again, it was December. The months dictate the weather.

Then we too descended beneath the cloud cover and once we emerged underneath, it was almost like being back in Seattle. The skies were grey and well, I won’t say “gloomy” since that seems to almost be more of a choice of how one receives or perceives grey skies. The weather was fine with me. It was more than 45 degrees, so that beat Seattle.

Upon reaching the gate, we exited the plane and I walked to the Arrivals gate. Being rather busy, I texted my friend Serena to meet me at the Departures gate. Sometimes, it’s a good way to avoid the backed up traffic. I sat for a spell and waited. I noticed it was dark now. That’s the thing about flying east coast to coast. One’s entire day is the flight.

Then Serena drove by and we headed to Cape Coral.

I was ravished as I hadn’t eaten since breakfast so we found a Burger King drive-thru. I try not to partake of their food too often, partly because it’s unhealthy and also because the parent corporation has yet to exit Russia as greed is greater than principles for them. But darn it all, a Whopper Jr. did sound pretty good at that point. I actually got two of them and devoured one moments after it passed through the car window and into my awaiting hands. Then it was bar time.

The first stop was Blackbeard’s Tavern. This was a new place for me, although I’d been to the area of bars and boats before. This area was just an enjoyable place to go. Since it was a Wednesday night, there was no football game to watch, but not a problem. Turns out there was karaoke going on in the other room. Nice. Sign. Me. Up.

Most of the singers were retired people that you would imagine to live in Florida, but I signed up regardless. These people also were there to sing, as there were roughly 15 names before mine. The KJ said the wait was about 40 minutes. Fair enough. We had beers and enjoyed hearing the others sing. Some were pretty good. Others were just having fun. It was a good crowd.

For mine, I opted for an Elvis classic: “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” It’s always a crowd pleaser as it has some acting involved. I believe it went well as the audience was quite complimentary. Yeah, I was hooked. I signed up to sing more.

The next number I chose was a Frank Sinatra song: “Summer Wind.” It’s not as popular as “My Way” or “Fly Me to the Moon,” but I find it’s a fun one to sing, and it turned out that someone else had written down the latter song. I guess I should read the list whenever possible to avoid duplicates.

Again, it went fine, although about half the crowd had left at that point as there was one big group and they had departed during the long waiting sessions.

A lady was having a birthday and she had asked if someone could sing “Sailing” for her. I didn’t hear anyone volunteer so I said I could sing it. However, upon trying to sign up, the KJ said there likely wasn’t time. So be it.

We didn’t want to be rude, and the beers weren’t emptied, so we remained to the end. Turns out the KJ had wanted to sing “Sailing” himself for the lady so he performed that piece. Ahh. Perfectly fine. He did a nice job with it and I was a reminded that often the KJ is another performer as well.

He did come by after that and said there was time for one last song. I guess I would be closing us out. I went with Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues.” It’s not hard to sing, though it is a little redundant and never goes anywhere. This isn’t to say it’s not a wonderful song; it’s just not a wonderful one for karaoke. Duly noted.

After that, we hit one more bar as to see what the other places on the water had to offer. The place was called Sea-Craft and was mostly empty. Just one drink there and we headed out. Oh, wait. They did have a parrot in front and I definitely had to check that out. It was a blue and gold macaw, though not terribly chatty when I tried to strike up a conversation. He just squawked (loudly!) many times. Silly bird. You had one job.

Once back in the car, I devoured Whopper Jr. number two. My daily dining was essentially completed. Back at the house, we relaxed and watched some streaming shows. Serena crashed early, but I took in more of the nice weather. Well, I at least enjoyed the weather while it was calm, for a storm was a comin’.

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