January 28, 2013
Horizon Airlines Spokane - Portland 840a – 958a DHC-8-400 Economy Class
Horizon Airlines Portland - Seattle 1200n – 1250p DHC-8-400 Economy Class
Alaska Airlines Seattle - Denver 655p – 1023p 737-900 First Class



Alaska/Horizon DHC-8-400

As noted earlier in this report, Horizon Air operates a fleet of 49 DHC-8-400s, of which I’ve flown 43. Now I realize that most people could care less about such things but when you think about the number of flights required to – purely by chance – fly all fifty Dash-8s in Horizon’s fleet (one of them has been retired), I think it’s a pretty significant accomplishment. Obviously it doesn’t compare to coming up with a cure for breast cancer but I think it’s still pretty impressive. It took me 201 flights to fly upon each of Alaska’s fleet of forty 737-400s. It took me 342 flights to fly aboard all but one of United’s 727-200s. This will be my 101st flight aboard a Horizon Dash 8-400. How many more will it take for me to fly all of them? When I get down to just one more aircraft left to fly, what are the odds of having it assigned to my particular flight on any given day out of a fleet of 49 aircraft? Any way you look at it, that’s a lot of flying and I think there ought to be a prize. Horizon could have, say, a punch card and once you got it totally filled out you could win a meaningless plaque to hang on your wall. Or a T-Shirt. Or your name could be emblazoned on the inside of an overhead storage bin.

In any event, without going out to the airport and specifically targeting the aircraft I need to fly – an expensive proposition given that I’d have to buy the tickets to wherever that plane is going on the spot at last minute prices - what are the odds that I’ll get one or more of those hitherto unflown aircraft by just leaving it to chance?

I’m a pretty good functional mathematician but a precise calculation of those odds would be impossible without knowing things like how many flights on the Dash 8 I’ll have each year. I have no idea. Suffice to say that the odds are not good and they’re getting worse with every new plane I fly.

Today however, I knocked two of the six off my list. What are the odds of that?!!

Waiting at the gate in Spokane was ship 448, which delivered a full load of 76 passengers 280 miles across the Cascades to Portland in just one hour and two minutes. In Portland I stopped in for breakfast at the Laurelwood Public House restaurant located in the heart of Horizon’s A Concourse. Offering an affordably priced menu and a selection of excellent beers, this is – for me at least – airport dining at its finest.

Truth be known, the entire Portland Airport offers excellent dining options on both sides of security. I’ve eaten at most all of PDX’s restaurants over the years and they’re a big reason why Portland International is one of my favorite airports in the entire world. They even have a couple branches of Portland’s famous Powell’s Bookstore there with lots of books on sale including a decent sized selection of used books.

I had a 1:00pm flight booked up to Seattle, but just happened to notice hitherto unflown ship 412 parked in the area of where the Seattle Shuttle flights usually depart from. Approaching the agent, I asked if that aircraft were going to Seattle.

“It is” she replied.
“Any chance I might be able to get a seat on it?”
“Sure. Let me see your boarding pass, please.”

Yes!!! Ship 412 has been sitting there like a missing tooth on my fleet list of Horizon’s Dash 8s. Now I’ve flown all of ships N400QX through 439 sequentially. Did you ever see those Peanuts cartoons where Snoopy the dog is dancing with that look of pure unbridled joy? That’s me – mentally at least. Hey - I’m thankful to still be able to derive joy from such trivial little things, though I do wish I could move my feet as well as ol’ Snoopy.



Snoopy's Happy Dance

In Seattle I stopped over at the Delta Sky Club for a shower before heading landside to meet a couple of friends from Florida who just happened to be in town with a car. We drove to the ferry terminal in downtown Seattle, spent about 10 minutes looking for a place to park, and then boarded the 3:00pm ferry across to Bremerton and back. I call this the Poor Man’s Tour of The Puget Sound and with walk on round trip tickets priced at just $7.70 all in, it’s a very inexpensive way to see and enjoy part of what makes Seattle such a beautiful city to visit.



Seattle as seen from the Puget Sound

The crossing to Bremerton takes only an hour and with the twenty minute layover there, we were back in Seattle by 5:20pm leaving us plenty of time to get back to SeaTac (via Marginal Way and Pacific Hwy. – not I-5!) in time for my 6:55pm flight to Denver.

Tonight’s flight to Denver will be my 100th aboard a 737-900, ninety-six of those having come aboard examples from Alaska Airlines. Alaska was the launch customer for the -900 and aside from Continental/United is the only other airline to operate it in all of North America. Although I’ve already flown all of the originally delivered -900s in Alaska’s fleet, I was hopeful that the run of good luck I’d experienced earlier in the day with Horizon’s Q400s might extend to this flight as well.

Alas, it was not to be. Waiting at the gate was my old pal N309AS upon which I’d already logged seven flights. Oh well, make it eight and yes please, I’ll have a refill on that Jack Daniels before dinner. Seatmate was a middle aged guy who was wearing his Bose headphones when I arrived and never took them off until we landed in Denver. He didn’t drink and passed on the dinner offering – a chicken breast topped with a pesto salsa, same as I had back in October when I flew this flight. Me – I’m fine with minding my own business the entire flight because I’ve got plenty of it to mind but I don’t think I could ever skip all the food and drink while walling myself away behind those headphones. That’s a bit more sensory deprivation than I would be comfortable with.



Chicken Breast with Pesto Salsa Dinner on Alaska Airlines

It was snowing lightly when we landed in Denver and parked at gate A53. Although my next flight wasn’t scheduled to leave until tomorrow morning at 11:30am, I decided to sleep in the airport anyway, especially given the great secluded spot I found just off the gate area. It was much better than where I had been staying at DIA – so much so that I’ll probably stay there again even if I do have a long enough layover to enjoy a hotel room. The way I see it, a night spent in the airport – especially when you can do it as comfortably as I do – is like finding $70.00 lying on the ground. While I’m at it, I think I’ll have a plate of Eggs Benedict tomorrow morning…


January 29, 2013
United Airlines Denver – Houston 1130a – 251p 787-800 Economy Class
United Express Houston – Austin 340p – 432p CRJ-700 Economy Class
Alaska Airlines Austin - Seattle 630p – 835p 737-900 First Class

As originally planned I was going to spend the next couple of days in Colorado visiting family in Lakewood and Greeley. To that end I’d booked a return flight to Spokane using that long since retired $76.00 one way fare. From there I had an award flight booked back to Alaska.

About a week before I was scheduled to depart on this extravaganza, a bout of idle curiosity led me to investigate whether United was flying its new 787 into Denver. Years ago, when the fever burned much hotter, I would have known this information well in advance. Heck – I probably would’ve been booked on the inaugural flight of the 787! Back then though, it was a lot easier as well. I got myself a seat aboard the inaugural Concorde flight in the U.S. simply by calling Braniff and booking a flight on it. I booked a seat aboard the inaugural 767 flight (United from Chicago to Denver on September 8th, 1982) by calling United’s Denver Sales Rep (I worked in the business back then), finding out when the flight would be and then booking it over Apollo. I managed a few inaugural route flights with similar ease. These days it’s a lot more competitive to do stuff like this and I just don’t have the desire to get involved to that extent anymore.

Anyway, I discovered that United was indeed operating its new 787 between Denver and Houston and I could get a seat on it for a mere $200 some odd and change. No thanks. Despite having logged over 1.2 million miles on United I no longer have any status and if I’m gonna shell out $200 or more I want better return than a mere 860 miles.

Wait a minute! What about fares to other Texas cities? Over the past year I’ve seen some really great fares between Denver and cities like San Antonio or Austin, some of them going for less than $80 one way. Let’s check those out! Tap-tap-tap. Click-clickity-click-click-tap. Voila! Denver to Austin via Houston on United for just $69.00 one way. Any seats using that 11:30am 787 departure via Houston? YES!!! As an added bonus, my arrival in Austin timed perfectly with Alaska’s 6:30pm nonstop up to Seattle. Awright! Book it, Danno!

Well you all know the story since then. The worldwide fleet of 787s has been grounded and I was left with a nonrefundable ticket to Austin that would probably be flown with a boring old 757 or some similarly plain plane. As things turned out however, United substituted an ex-Continental 767-400 on the Houston flight and I ended up with a better seat than I’d have had on the 787 flight. I’d only flown once upon Boeing’s longest 767 and that was many years ago on Delta. If I couldn’t fly the 787, this was about as good a substitute as I could have hoped for.

I was whiling away the morning over coffee and Milano Cookies in the United Club when the first faint rumblings of trouble came up. The 767 coming up from Houston was showing a delay of 25 minutes. My connection in Houston was scheduled for 49 minutes, so it was gonna be tight. But still doable. Okay then. More coffee.

My hopeful outlook evaporated with a subsequent update that the inbound flight from Houston was now running about 40 minutes late. The new departure time from Denver was showing 12:15pm leaving me with a connection of just 4 minutes if everything operated as scheduled. Not gonna happen.

Sigh…

I ended up getting myself rebooked on a nonstop flight to Austin aboard a comparatively unexciting CRJ-700. If there were any solace to be taken from this unfortunate turn of events it was that the flight was operated by GoJet Airlines, technically my 157th airline flown. I say “technically” because I tend to lump all those airlines like Air Wisconsin, Mesa, SkyWest etc. under the United Express banner when the flight is branded as United Express and the aircraft is painted in United Express colors.


United Express Denver – Austin 147p – 457p CRJ-700 Economy Class
Alaska Airlines Austin - Seattle 630p – 835p 737-900 First Class

Let me start by saying there are CRJ-700s and then there are CRJ-700s operated in United Express’ configuration. The latter aircraft is unquestionably superior to anything I’ve flown aboard the likes of Horizon, American or Delta. No doubt my favorable impression was influenced by the Economy Plus seat I’d been rebooked into, but this airplane was heads and tails nicer than most other airlines’ CRJs I’d flown aboard.

For starters, it had a six seat First Class cabin. Well okay, so do a few other airlines on their CRJs these days. The real contrast was back in the main cabin where United offered seven rows of Economy Plus seating in addition to eight rows of standard Economy Class seating. The main difference of course was in seat pitch – 34” in Economy Plus vs. 31” in Economy, but what I found equally impressive were the seats. For me at least they were every bit as comfortable as those found on much larger airliners. They were so comfortably padded that I could have easily endured a transcon flight in them. By comparison Horizon’s CRJ seats (now SkyWest) are rock hard and offer minimal recline – fine for Seattle to Boise but not so great on longer flights down to Southern California.

Aside from that, the flight was unremarkable. We winged it on down to Austin in just one hour and thirty-eight minutes and I enjoyed a rare soda of some type. I hardly ever drink sodas and it wouldn’t surprise me if over the past few years the only ones I have drunk have been aboard airplanes.

We parked at gate 23, way down on the opposite end of the terminal from where my Alaska flight would depart. No problem – a little extra exercise is never a bad thing. Along the way I stopped off at American’s Admiral Club, one of my favorites in the AA system. The Austin lounge is attractively furnished and nicely illuminated with lamps rather than overhead lights providing most of the light. It’s also small enough to feel intimate without seeming cramped.

Down at Gate 5 a fair sized mob had gathered to board Alaska’s single daily departure to the Emerald City. A good wind had sprung up and as I looked out the large concourse windows I could see heat lightning illuminating the evening clouds to our west. A good thunderstorm appeared imminent.

Amongst all of those present in the gate lounge, I strongly suspect that I was the only one even remotely disappointed that we’d be flying north aboard N303AS as opposed to one of Alaska’s newer 737-900ERs. Discretely swallowing my disappointment, I ambled down the jetway and took my seat at 3A in preparation for this, my 10th flight aboard this aircraft. Seatmate arrived, uttered a quick hello and then wandered back to the economy cabin to visit with a traveling companion stuck back there.

The First Officer came on over the PA to announce a flight time of exactly four hours up to Seattle, but warned that the inbound flight had endured a very bumpy approach into Austin and, given the thunderstorms in the area, he expected that the climb out would be similarly rough.

About a minute later there was a bit of a commotion back in the main cabin. A woman who apparently didn’t fly well under the best of circumstances had become more than a bit uncomfortable with the idea of flying through or even near a thunderstorm. She wanted off. She and her companion were led to the front of the cabin to await the jetway being reattached to the aircraft. The poor gal really did seem very distressed and I couldn’t help but empathize with her plight. It is possible to travel by train from Austin to Seattle but the journey would take about three days. I hope she eventually got up there in a good way for her.

The worst of the storm cell seemed to have passed while the woman’s baggage was retrieved because when we finally did become airborne about a half hour later, climb out was unremarkable. Cocktails were offered and I requested my usual Jack Daniels. I’ve always wanted to try that old line Al Pacino’s character Colonel Frank Slade uttered in the movie “Scent of a Woman” when he asked for a bottle of John Daniels.

“Excuse me, Sir – don’t you mean Jack Daniels?”

“Son, when you’ve known him as long as I have…”

That movie is like twenty years old though and given the youthful countenance of our flight attendant, I thought it best to wait for a flight with a more senior crew. Youthfulness notwithstanding, I do want to extend kudos to our young FA for having the good sense to serve Alaska’s mixed nut “course” with the cocktails rather than an hour before landing like most of the other FAs do. I don’t know if he went against Alaska’s service standards but this is really just common sense. After all, mixed nuts are not – as Alaska Airlines apparently contends – a “course”. They are an accoutrement that normally accompanies the cocktail course.

Dinner sure sounded good. It was described as a “steak” and yours truly – having eaten at least a couple hundred airline steaks not to mention a good number of them served terrestrially – was looking forward to a nice well rounded dinner. I even traded in the Jack Daniels and requested a glass of the Merlot with my steak.

Alas, what we were served was a chunk of meat. It most certainly was not “steak” or sirloin in either texture or flavor. It wasn’t even flank steak. It was just plain old meat. It looked and tasted more like a chunk of well-done roast beef. I’m thinking this meal must’ve been prepared and loaded in Seattle because I can’t imagine that any self-respecting chef from Texas would have ever signed off on that stuff as “steak”.

I’m sure some of you are thinking that ol’ 2A doth complain too much but hey – steak is steak and we’re talking “First Class” here, with – by the way - a meal service that Alaska describes as being ”A cut above the competition”. Unfortunately there is no competition on the AUS-SEA market, so maybe next time I’ll stop by the excellent Salt Lick Barbecue concession before the flight.

Truth be known, even after all the Draconian cuts to its once fine service, I’ve still had some fairly decent meals in First Class on Alaska. I just wish they’d be more consistent and not play down to the level of the competition. Case in point would be the cold beef slices on salad served on the 7:00pm 1110 mile flight between Seattle and Phoenix (US Air) as opposed to the hot chicken breast with pesto salsa and salad I was served last night on the shorter 6:55pm 1020 mile flight from Seattle down to Denver (United).

Even so, I don’t know why I bother. People have been complaining about airline food for so long that I should imagine by now the vast majority of the complaints fall upon well calloused ears. Heck – people complained about airline food even back in the 70s and 80s when it was a lot better in both quality and quantity than it is now. I’ve actually written to the airlines about this in years past and I’ve either been ignored or I get the usual form letter response. I really should know better by now and just buy some food in advance to eat on the plane – I’ll just ask for a plate and silverware instead of whatever they’re serving and likely be the envy of my fellow passengers. Then again, I might end up being the most annoying of them as they’d forced to smell the wonderful aromas from my chosen feast and watch as I scarfed down a delicious plate of ribs or chicken while they gnawed on their rugged piece of meat.

But enough already! I’m getting hungry again!

Kudos go out to the flight crew who put our big 737 down on the cold hard concrete of Seattle’s runway 16L about as softly as a mother’s kiss. I thanked the flight attendant working our cabin for a First Class job and then headed downstairs to the United Club to put in a bit of work on this report. Tomorrow, I’m off to the desert!


January 30, 2013
Alaska Airlines Seattle – Las Vegas 830a – 1042a 737-800 First Class

It’s a good thing I have a lifetime membership in the United Club because on this trip at least, all of my Alaska flights have departed from either the N or C gates. The United Club is conveniently located at train level underneath the North Satellite, only a short walk from the N gates and only a short one minute train ride from the C gates. It’s much more convenient to those gates than Alaska’s Boardroom though not quite as nice in either ambience (no windows) or food offerings. Still, as one who likes to “lounge about” as much as possible before the flight, it’s just perfect for me under these circumstances.

This time it was seatmate’s turn to complain about the service. “Why don’t they serve coffee or orange juice to First Class passengers on the ground?” he wondered aloud. “Every other airline does.” I could only nod my head and commiserate while sipping from my 16oz cup of steaming hot Starbucks.

There was a collective gasp from the gallery when the Captain announced that the current temperature in Las Vegas was 36° but we all felt much better when he went on to say that the high was expected to be in the sixties.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day for flying and I was thankful for my window seat which provided me great views of Mt. Lassen, Lake Tahoe, the Sierra Nevadas and Mono Lake as we winged it down to Sin City in just one hour and forty-nine minutes. Indeed, between enjoying the nice day outside and chatting with seatmate – an engaging software engineer out of Bellevue – the breakfast service was almost an afterthought. It was pretty good though – a plate of scrambled eggs with a big slice of apple strudel. I seem to recall some sausage and maybe even a large strawberry, but don’t hold me to it.

* * * ------------------------------------------------------------ * * *

I used to rent from Alamo and Thrifty in Las Vegas but ever since they and most other car rental companies moved into McCarran’s Car Rental Center, their rental rates are much higher if only to pay off the costs associated with the construction of their new home. These two companies still offer great deals in other cities and I continue to do a lot of business with them, especially given that my elite level membership in their respective frequent renter programs speeds me through the rental process quickly and efficiently.

In Las Vegas however, I now rent from Fox Rent A Car. Located out on Las Vegas Blvd. & Pebble Rd., getting to their lot requires taking a bus to the main Car Rental Center and then catching Fox’s van from there. Despite this being a Wednesday with higher midweek car rental rates, Fox provided me with a full sized car equipped with satellite radio for just $16.00 per day.

Anyone who’s read my trip reports before knows that I love the desert. I need the desert. I grew up out in the American West and the desert is as much a part of my essence as the mountains are. While the fact that it’s winter in Alaska as opposed to 70° down here does make being down here that much nicer, I like the desert in the heat of summer as well. The wide open spaces of the Mojave and those huge sunny blue skies do wonders to maintain my serotonin at a healthy level. I’ve got the next two days free to explore and enjoy so let’s grab a couple bottles of water and hit the road!



Rearview mirror landscape on Cima Road in the Mojave National Preserve



One of my favorite desert junctions



General George S. Patton Museum WWII Tank



Joshua Tree National Park Trail



Joshua Tree National Park Landscape



Afternoon heat in the Mojave Desert

Sunsets in the desert are some of the finest on the planet…



Joshua Tree Sunset in the Mojave Desert



Joshua Tree Sunset in the Mojave Desert



X marks the spot


February 01, 2013
Jet Blue Las Vegas – Long Beach 245p – 351p A320-200 Economy Class
Jet Blue Long Beach – Portland 610p – 832p A320-200 Economy Class

Finally, the time has come to return home. In the planning stages - which for me are always ongoing and always subject to revision - (Now you see why I have to do these trips on my own!) I almost diverted from Las Vegas to Indiana so I could watch the Super Bowl with friends there. On the other hand, had my Denver Broncos made it I would definitely have found a way to get to Colorado for the big game. As it were, I just missed out on a really good airfare from Las Vegas to Indianapolis. Otherwise I would likely have been writing about my travels to Indiana right now.

Some people will read about a trip like I’ve just done and think “All that travel must be exhausting!” Au contraire, I find it quite invigorating. Indeed, I could easily live the last three weeks all over again and quite frankly would love to do so but alas, I’ve got chores and responsibilities I need to attend to back home and so it’s time to turn my haggard face to the north – and a tad west I suppose – and begin the 2500 mile journey back to my humble abode in the woods outside of Fairbanks.

Normally I would book myself an award ticket from Las Vegas back up to Fairbanks on Alaska Airlines. There’s just one problem… I am fast approaching one million miles flown aboard Alaska and I’d like to accomplish that feat in First Class is at all possible.

I keep a separate log that’s dedicated solely to flights on Alaska and Horizon. In addition to the total flights, I also keep track of statistics like all flights taken on specific aircraft types as well as flights per specific aircraft (such as N303AS). I know, I know… I got it bad… Anyway, I noticed that if I were to fly on Alaska from Las Vegas up to Fairbanks, I’d end up passing the millionth mile mark on my next flight from Fairbanks or Anchorage down to Seattle.

Given the high cost of flying into or out of Fairbanks - especially during the winter months – I always use award mileage for my Alaska travel. Sure, I could just splurge and shell out 50000 miles for a First Class award but I worked hard for those miles and I hate to use the equivalent of another free roundtrip from Alaska to practically anywhere in the Lower 48 or Canada just so that I can fly in First Class on flights that frankly don’t offer all that much service.

Knowing that I’ll be back down here in April, I did a few basic calculations and figured out that if I didn’t commence my Alaska flights home until I got up to Seattle, I could still fly all the way up to Fairbanks and back to Seattle whereupon my mileage at that point would be 999,250 miles. From Seattle I could easily purchase an affordable ticket to just about anywhere and given my status as a MVP Gold 75K, I’d very likely get upgraded for free or I could use one of my complimentary MVP Gold upgrade certificates on myself.

Okay then – so I needed to find a cheap one way fare from Las Vegas up to Seattle or Portland. JetBlue answered the call with a low $99.00 one way fare up to Portland connecting through Long Beach. I hadn’t flown JetBlue since way back in October of 2000 when I booked a seat from Ft. Lauderdale up to JFK for just $59.00. As an added bonus, I hadn’t flown into LGB since 1985 so I was looking forward to getting reacquainted on both fronts.

JetBlue operates out of McCarran’s new Terminal 3. One of the things I really like about the design of this smaller terminal is how short a walk it is from the check-in counters to the gates. There are only fifteen gates and after going through the centrally located security check point, it’s just a short walk to your gate. The only downside I could see was that the elite lane is limited to First Class passengers only, not airline elites. Additionally, there was no TSA Pre✓™ lane available either.

When I first flew JetBlue back in 2000, I remember comparing the boarding experience to an elementary school fieldtrip. People just seemed to take forever and a day to get themselves squared away. They were noisy and disorganized and it seemed like a lot of them hadn’t flown very much – if at all. This time the boarding process went quite smoothly. No doubt JetBlue has had plenty of time to refine it and I liked the results.

Once onboard, I found my seat to be comfortable and – with a seat pitch of 34” – spacious. The industry standard is 31-32”. Had I been willing to pay a mere $15.00 extra, I could have upgraded to one of JetBlue’s “Even More Space” seats which offer a 38” pitch in addition to early boarding. I was perfectly happy at my window seat back in row 18. Seatmate however was disappointed that she had once again ended up stuck in a middle seat.

“How long ago did you make your reservation?” I asked. Given that seats can be selected at the time of booking on JetBlue, I fully expected that she’d probably made her reservation at the last minute.
“A couple of weeks ago.” was her answer.
Two weeks ago! I made mine last week and still got this good seat. I didn’t tell her that though and instead asked “Did you know you could select your seat at the time you made your reservation?”
“I didn’t have time”
Pffft! Well there you go…

It was only a short 45 minute flight over to Long Beach, but the cabin crew still found time to provide a complete beverage service along with a nice selection of complimentary snacks. I’ve had many a similar length flight on the so-called “full service” legacy carriers where the pickings were a lot slimmer.

When I last flew into Long Beach back in 1985, the terminal looked like something out of a Humphrey Bogart movie. Heck – for all I know it may well have been in one of Bogie’s movies. Clearly a lot had changed over the past twenty-eight years, although I was pleased to see that the old Douglas Aircraft – now Boeing – building on the other side of the airport still sported its original “Fly DC Jets” sign.

We parked in front of a shiny new glass and steel building and deplaned through both the front and rear doors. There are no jetways at LGB. One other interesting comparison for me was that when I last flew in aboard a United 737-200 from Denver, we were the only jet in town. This time the ramp was well populated with three A320s from JetBlue along with CRJs from Alaska, US Airways and Delta.

My two hour layover passed quickly thanks to an electrical outlet and a comfortable seat that allowed me to catch up on emails and – as ever – put in a bit of work on this report. Honestly, it’s taken on a life of its own! The two hour flight up to Portland passed quickly and comfortably with a couple of drinks and some channel surfing amongst the 36 channels of complimentary television from JetBlue’s seatback IFE.

Upon disembarking in Portland, I couldn’t help but leave with the impression that like Southwest, JetBlue does it right. A comfortable and affordable seat, easily booked with good inflight service and entertainment. There’s good reason why JetBlue consistently scores at or near the top of annual customer satisfaction surveys. If the majors ever switch from a mileage to a revenue based FFP, I expect I’ll be doing a lot more flying on JB and WN as a result.


February 02, 2013
Horizon Airlines Portland – Seattle 1100a – 1150a DHC-8-400 Economy Class
Alaska Airlines Seattle – Anchorage 100p – 338p 737-800 Economy Class
Alaska Airlines Anchorage - Fairbanks 435p – 533p 737-400 Economy Class

I’m always looking – that’s the problem. Kind of. It’s also the source of a lot of excitement and were I not afflicted with this wandering eye and endless curiosity I’d likely be doing a lot less traveling. Indeed, this trip probably would have gone as originally planned – down to California and back. In any event, I’m not looking for a cure but I do occasionally need to exercise a bit of willpower and I’m proud to say that I managed to do just that today.

My flight up to Seattle wasn’t due to leave until 11:00am and while I was checking out the morning news online, I couldn’t resist having a look at the car rental rates out of Portland. It was, after all, Friday and Portland often benefits from some spectacularly low weekend deals. Today was no exception. Alamo was offering a rate of just $8.00 per day - on a full size car no less! Two days came to just $22.95 all in.

Dang! I love this life on the road but I really should head back home. Then again it’s only a couple of days. I was fixing to drive down to Bandon and back and would take one night at the hostel in Seaside. Yeah, but when you factor in $28.00 for the hostel plus about $70.00 in gas plus meals along the way, we’re probably talking about $140.00. That ain’t much but I’ve been nickel and diming my bank account for the last two weeks with expenses like this and over time they start to add up significantly. So… maybe next time. After all, I’ll be back in a couple of months.

As for the flights, it was now February so I got to work two new crossword puzzles per the Horizon and Alaska magazines. The hot meal option for northbound flights was a bowl of pasta with cheese and chicken. I was thankful that I’d stopped by Waji’s for a comparatively priced bowl of spicy fried brown rice with chicken and vegetables. Mmm!

It was -4°F when we landed on an overcast evening at Fairbanks International. A light snow was falling as I stepped out of the terminal to await my ride home. It’s a dry cold up here in the Interior, so the crisp air actually felt quite refreshing. Arriving home to my cabin in the woods, I turned up the heater, popped a cold Mirror Pond Pale Ale and settled into my recliner to savor the memories of a trip well travelled.



Home Sweet Home

So there you have it, gang. Like the trip you’ve just read along on, this report started out small but just sort of morphed into the 30000 word tale that it’s become. I don’t know that it could ever be considered one for the ages, but it certainly stands as the longest single domestic trip report I’ve ever written. For those of you who’ve read along through this entire 30000+ word journey, I thank you for your fortitude and hope that you’ve found this report worthy of the considerable amount of time it must have taken to read it.

In years past, March and April have been when I’ve taken my longer overseas trips, usually in First or Business Class. That will not be happening this year. I will be involved in plenty of domestic travel this spring, but probably nothing worthy of a trip report. That said, I’ve got the perfect remedy for anyone awaiting another report from myself or any other reporter here ~

Head on out to your nearest airport, train station, dock or highway and take a trip worthy of your own trip report!

Travel well, folks!