Home! And what we've learned on our travels.

Man, I just HATE getting up really early in the morning to catch a plane!    I don't like that groggy, interrupted-sleep feeling, rushing to get showered and dressed, finishing the last bit of packing and hauling our over-stuffed bags to the front desk of the hotel.  I usually underestimate how much time I need and there's always some last minute issue.   Luckily, even when we are a little irritable, we manage to keep a sense of humor.    :)    MOST of the time.

Our original plan was to stay in a hotel near SEA-TAC the night before flying home, but someone (who shall remain nameless) made a mistake when bidding on priceline and used the wrong date.  If you are a priceline novice, let me explain that once you have sealed the deal, there are no changes allowed and you lose your money if you don't show up.   Yes, we learned that one the hard way once when we got stranded and couldn't get to our destination in time. The big savings on priceline does not seem quite so nice when you lose all your money.   Ever since, we don't make our reservations till we are OUT of Unalaska!  But I digress.  So we were downtown and  had a rental car needing to be returned, both of which meant we needed to get up earlier than expected.   But, no worries, we like staying downtown and we've had to get up early before.  

A little sidebar:  we enjoy walking around wherever we are, but we decided to keep our rental car so we could drive to some different parts of Seattle.   Let me just complain that parking at downtown hotels is OUTRAGEOUS.   $33??    Each night??  

We always do the thing where we are supposed to fill the car up with gas before we return it. When we were stuck in Anchorage, we rented cars on two different days and NEITHER one of them was completely full when we got it.  What's up with that?   But, of course, we had to fill them up or be charged.  No fair.

Today:

We are halfway hoping that the volcano has blown again and our flight is cancelled so we can go back to sleep.  LOL   We check the internet to discover that Redoubt seems quiet and our flight is on time.  We leave the hotel at 5:30 AM (right on schedule, I might add) and remind ourselves that we have to stop and get gas.    (Okay, at least once we have driven up to the car rental return in some city, popped out of the car, and realized that we had forgotten the gas. We have turned around, driven for a good little while to find a gas station and returned with little time to spare.)  The hotel clerk gives us directions to the airport, which we follow to a "T." Unfortunately, our car is rented from an off-airport agency.   We figure we can find the road but the highway exit takes us right to the airport, so we have to do that drive-through thing.  I am digging for the contract to get the address when I find the nice little brochure that they'd given us, which states,  "DO NOT RETURN THE CAR TO THE AIRPORT," with directions to their location.  And, even better, I now have a distinct memory of  reading the darned thing out loud to Rich when we picked up the car, saying, "okay, let's be sure to remember this!"   I ask, "how come we didn't get all this stuff out last night?"   

As we are driving, I remind Rich that we still need to get gas.  He laughs and admits that he has already forgotten about that.   He asks what makes us think that we will be able to  do a lot of traveling when we are old and retired?   We decide we will have to pay one of the grandkids to come with us and keep us in line.  We can hear them fighting over which one has to go with Gigi and Grandpa THIS time.   

Allrighty, we get some gas and find the car return.  Relief.   It's not even that late.   Rich is wearing his "More Cowbell" Tshirt and the young guy checking us in says, "I've been getting sick and I know the only thing that will cure me is MORE COWBELL!"    Cracked me up. 

We ride the shuttle to SEA-TAC with a full contingent of fellow travelers.  We check in easily at a kiosk (I love this self service stuff.)   We check our bags--neither overweight nor even close, which might be a first.   We get to Security and the line is long and slow.   Mind you, we have been up since 4:30 AM and it is now 7:00 AM.  I am ready for a nap.  We locate our gate, grab a quick breakfast and return to the gate to find that, yes, everyone has boarded but us.   So much for a quick potty stop.  

It's a beautiful sunny day in Seattle and we have a nice, smooth flight to Anchorage.  I sleep a good part of the way.   Anchorage is gorgeous as well, Redoubt does not seem to be causing any trouble and our flight to Unalaska is on time (well, as close to on time as these flights get.)   After all of the chaos of last week, we find it a little amusing that there are three people on our flight home--ourselves and another pilot.   How crazy is that?  Think of all the people who were begging for a seat not long ago.  It's an easy flight home, other than some bumps as we approach.

It's good to be home.   We go to the store and run into quite a few people who seem to know that we've been gone and that we got stranded.  Funny.  I attribute it to the internet and all of the locals either blogging or on facebook or both.   Our kitties are happy to see  us and I am doing a huge amount of laundry.   We are getting our fix of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.  What's up with all these hotels that don't carry Comedy Central?  We were in withdrawal.  :)

Okay, let's review:

Lesson #1:    Check the date twice before you finalize a bid on priceline.

Lesson #2:    If parking is $33 a night, it might be better to turn in the car and take the bus around town.   (In which case, you will need to follow #3 and #4 below)

Lesson #3:   Remember where you rented your car, and look at your paperwork the night before you turn it in.   If they give you a handy-dandy little sign to hang on your rearview mirror stating "DO NOT RETURN THIS CAR TO THE AIRPORT," it might be good to actually hang it on the rearview mirror because you are bound to forget what it said when it is stashed in the glove compartment.

Lesson #4:    Don't forget the gas.

Lesson #5:   Be nice to your grandkids because you will probably need them when you are a doddering old fool.

Lesson #6:   If you don't want the whole town to know your business, stay off the internet.

Lesson #7:   Note to self:  remember to buy some gingko biloba.

Lesson #8:  More cowbell cures just about anything.