Weekend in Portland: Thursday's Airplane Adventures
So, now that I am mostly back on East Coast time and I have had a decent night's sleep, let's recap my Portland adventures. I'm going to break this into a couple posts just so it doesn't get ridiculously long, and also because I want to put pictures with some of it and I don't want that to make the post really ridiculously long.
The weekend started Thursday morning, where my parents and I got up at ridiculous o'clock (i.e. 3 something in the morning) to eat and get dressed and etc. before heading out the door. Thankfully, the dog had gone to the kennel where we board him the day before, because otherwise this would have been a challenge. We get to the airport about 5, which is fine because we've already checked in and our flight to Detroit was at 6.
This was the bit where things went a bit awry. Seems that someone had failed to tighten a screw enough, and so this tiny bit of maintenance ended up delaying us by an hour and a half. Needless to say our connecting flights (Detroit to Salt Lake City, Salt Lake City to Portland) would thusly be missed.
Connecting flights were rebooked, as they are when it's the airline's fault you miss your flight. The new plan was to go from Detroit to Portland via Minneapolis and Spokane. Mind, at the time we didn't know about that Minneapolis bit, as our tickets said Detroit to Spokane. More on this in a bit, as it's part of the Thursday adventures.
Delay over, we made it to Detroit, no problem. Mind, we get there about the time our flight "to Spokane" is supposed to be boarding. No delaying to shop (at first) in the Detroit airport; we were walking on the moving walkways just to try to get to the gate before the doors closed. And we get there to discover...the flight's delayed. Delayed flights was totally the order of the day for my parents and I last Thursday. And, for added amusement, it too was delayed for maintenance. So much maintenance, in fact, that we needed to take a different plane...at the other end of the concourse. The airline told us to get on the tram to the other end, just so there would be as little delay as possible.
That first Detroit gate, incidentally, is where we learned the plane was going to Minneapolis, then Spokane. Still, we figured it was one of those flights were the plane flies to one location, exchanges some passengers, and then continues to the second location. Again, this will pop again in a moment.
A little bit of turbulence on this flight, but not enough to really worry about. We get to Minneapolis, and then they announce over the plane's intercom that anyone going to Spokane should get off the plane and, effectively, book it to a different gate. Picture a confused face. That's my expression at this point. But we followed instructions, as did some of the rest of our flight. Another passenger asked us if they'd told us that we'd have to get on a different plane to fly to Spokane, so apparently it wasn't just us that hadn't gotten all the information about this flight. Word to the wise, airlines: There's a difference between a flight "continuing on" to a second destination and the package deal that I decided this flight pattern was.
Recall that the Detroit flight was delayed? Well, as you can probably guess, this means that the flight out of Minneapolis was delayed too. Told you this was the order of the day. More turbulence on this flight, but I managed to snag some sleep despite the bumpiness somehow. Thank goodness, because 4 hours of sleep with traveling 3 hours back in time via time zones is probably not a great idea. For me, at least.
At last, we got time to not run through airports in Spokane. That airport, btw, is seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Which was a lucky thing because, since our flight out was in the terminal not behind the security screening zone we landed beyond, we had to go through security. Again. Right around now, imagine an eyebrow twitch. Seriously, all our bad flight karma for the year picked Thursday to come around. We've flown more than usual this year, and previous flights have not only taken off on time but have even landed EARLY.
Also, as was par for the day, the flight out of Spokane was delayed. At least this time it was just crew changeover, so it was a very small delay. But at last we flew to Portland (too much turbulence on this flight for drinks, yo) and that was the end of our airplane woes for the day. Mind, we were 5 hours late according to the original plan, and we fortunately did not go to Salt Lake City where, apparently, it was particularly gusty and not great flying weather that day, but still. Those were 5 perfectly good sightseeing hours gone. Other family members also had some flying difficulties that day (anyone for 4 hours in the Denver airport?), so it wasn't just us.
We met up with my uncle (father of the bride), who drove us to the hotel. We hung out a little in his hotel room, where his wife, his two non-bride daughters, one of my other aunts on dad's side of the family, and her eldest son met up with us. Socializing ensued, after which the mother of the bride, the bride's sisters, and one of their friends all departed for the bachelorette party (which I'm told the bride didn't actually want to have but was going along with).
Dinner at Milo's (I forget the full name, so I'll look it up later), which was very good. And after that we called it a day.
Friday through Sunday/Monday adventures later.
The weekend started Thursday morning, where my parents and I got up at ridiculous o'clock (i.e. 3 something in the morning) to eat and get dressed and etc. before heading out the door. Thankfully, the dog had gone to the kennel where we board him the day before, because otherwise this would have been a challenge. We get to the airport about 5, which is fine because we've already checked in and our flight to Detroit was at 6.
This was the bit where things went a bit awry. Seems that someone had failed to tighten a screw enough, and so this tiny bit of maintenance ended up delaying us by an hour and a half. Needless to say our connecting flights (Detroit to Salt Lake City, Salt Lake City to Portland) would thusly be missed.
Connecting flights were rebooked, as they are when it's the airline's fault you miss your flight. The new plan was to go from Detroit to Portland via Minneapolis and Spokane. Mind, at the time we didn't know about that Minneapolis bit, as our tickets said Detroit to Spokane. More on this in a bit, as it's part of the Thursday adventures.
Delay over, we made it to Detroit, no problem. Mind, we get there about the time our flight "to Spokane" is supposed to be boarding. No delaying to shop (at first) in the Detroit airport; we were walking on the moving walkways just to try to get to the gate before the doors closed. And we get there to discover...the flight's delayed. Delayed flights was totally the order of the day for my parents and I last Thursday. And, for added amusement, it too was delayed for maintenance. So much maintenance, in fact, that we needed to take a different plane...at the other end of the concourse. The airline told us to get on the tram to the other end, just so there would be as little delay as possible.
That first Detroit gate, incidentally, is where we learned the plane was going to Minneapolis, then Spokane. Still, we figured it was one of those flights were the plane flies to one location, exchanges some passengers, and then continues to the second location. Again, this will pop again in a moment.
A little bit of turbulence on this flight, but not enough to really worry about. We get to Minneapolis, and then they announce over the plane's intercom that anyone going to Spokane should get off the plane and, effectively, book it to a different gate. Picture a confused face. That's my expression at this point. But we followed instructions, as did some of the rest of our flight. Another passenger asked us if they'd told us that we'd have to get on a different plane to fly to Spokane, so apparently it wasn't just us that hadn't gotten all the information about this flight. Word to the wise, airlines: There's a difference between a flight "continuing on" to a second destination and the package deal that I decided this flight pattern was.
Recall that the Detroit flight was delayed? Well, as you can probably guess, this means that the flight out of Minneapolis was delayed too. Told you this was the order of the day. More turbulence on this flight, but I managed to snag some sleep despite the bumpiness somehow. Thank goodness, because 4 hours of sleep with traveling 3 hours back in time via time zones is probably not a great idea. For me, at least.
At last, we got time to not run through airports in Spokane. That airport, btw, is seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Which was a lucky thing because, since our flight out was in the terminal not behind the security screening zone we landed beyond, we had to go through security. Again. Right around now, imagine an eyebrow twitch. Seriously, all our bad flight karma for the year picked Thursday to come around. We've flown more than usual this year, and previous flights have not only taken off on time but have even landed EARLY.
Also, as was par for the day, the flight out of Spokane was delayed. At least this time it was just crew changeover, so it was a very small delay. But at last we flew to Portland (too much turbulence on this flight for drinks, yo) and that was the end of our airplane woes for the day. Mind, we were 5 hours late according to the original plan, and we fortunately did not go to Salt Lake City where, apparently, it was particularly gusty and not great flying weather that day, but still. Those were 5 perfectly good sightseeing hours gone. Other family members also had some flying difficulties that day (anyone for 4 hours in the Denver airport?), so it wasn't just us.
We met up with my uncle (father of the bride), who drove us to the hotel. We hung out a little in his hotel room, where his wife, his two non-bride daughters, one of my other aunts on dad's side of the family, and her eldest son met up with us. Socializing ensued, after which the mother of the bride, the bride's sisters, and one of their friends all departed for the bachelorette party (which I'm told the bride didn't actually want to have but was going along with).
Dinner at Milo's (I forget the full name, so I'll look it up later), which was very good. And after that we called it a day.
Friday through Sunday/Monday adventures later.