Travel Diary

I waited until about 9pm to head to the airport, still somewhat unsure of what path I would take. Parking there would be $115, so that was out. Uber each way to SeaTac would be $62, so again, no bueno.

Main option was Link, but where to board? Cap Hill would be cheapest – just $3 for the train, though it's also the longest. And a half mile walk to reach the station which isn’t fun when toting luggage. The rain had stopped but it could start up again anytime as this is Seattle. In the end, I chose to take Uber to SODO station.

The wait for the price range was one to 11 minutes and it took about eight minutes. Fair enough. The driver was incredibly friendly and chatted a lot, asking many questions. He even had been into theatre in Oregon. I normally don't tip, but when a driver puts that much effort into being social, then I don't mind shelling out a few extra dollars.

I exited at SODO station, which was new for me. I almost always get dropped off at Stadium. But SODO is just one more stop down the line. It was easy to reach the platforms, even quicker than Stadium. This was good to know.

It was about an 8-minute wait until the train arrived. Then I was heading south. One thing I noticed was that there was a smell – a bad smell. I looked around. The upper section of the car was taped off, and that was because someone had vomited all over the floor up there. Looked really bad, like no one was going to clean that up for some time. Roping it off was fine to keep people out of there, but the smell permated.

I moved to another part of the car at the next stop. However, that had a different smell, like someone stepped in something. Yeah, the trains are cheap but they sometimes can be a bit unpleasant.

Finally, we reached SeaTac. It was cold of course. I headed to the terminal, but then decided to ascend to the top of the parking garage since I had extra time. It's fun to go up there, where the outside is very cold and windy, and some rain was falling. I didn't stay long, but did enjoy that moment. It was time to head to security. How bad would that be?

Turns out not bad at all. In fact, only...well, only NO ONE in front of me. The line was completely empty. This was at about 10:30pm too. The belt line was also empty. Just so weird considering how long the lines usually are.

I still had extra time so I visited the private bathrooms and recorded a little bit. The stalls are completely isolated from each other, although the door locks have red and green color indicators to show which are occupied, so I have the extra joy of testing each one gently to see if they are occupied. I always feel a little self conscious since someone inside would think, "Can't you just look at the color?!? The red means occupied!" Yup, I'm sure it does.

Then it was time to head to...S Gate? Hmmm...S gate. I rarely have to go there. I took the connecting train not once, not twice, but...oh, wait. Okay, just twice. I took it to S gate and then up the double escalators.

Then a bit of a wait. Finally, we were boarding. I boarded in the first group (after special needs). The seat was nice, although I wondered if having a full row would have been smarter. Nah, we would not be in the air that long.

We were told it was a 3-hour flight. Not bad at all. Must be a good tailwind. After take off, the cabin got very dark. I did get the meal (fruit and cheese) and a double scotch (to nurse for three hours) and settled in. I also purchased WIFI so I could chat and stuff.

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