Sunday, November 20, 2005

Fog + Flying Standby Do Not Mix

Well, here I am, sitting in the SeaTac airport (Seattle). Had a really lovely weekend with my brother Joe and sister-in-law Lisa, and am now trying to get to Vancouver to meet my boss (and his daughter who’s going to university in Vancouver) before our business meetings tomorrow.

Since my brother works for an airline, he was able to share a guest pass with me so I could fly from Vancouver to Seattle at about half-price (maybe less). The problem with guest passes is you’re flying on standby, so if there’s a customer paying full price who wants your seat, s/he gets it. With the flight loads as they were, it didn’t look as though it would be a problem. Getting to Seattle wasn’t too bad, but flying out of Seattle – at least at a reasonable time – is looking dicey. There’s enough fog to make flying conditions “marginal”, so a couple of flights have been cancelled. This, of course, pushes all the paying customers into the seats that were only claimed by l’il ol’ me. So … when I arrived at the airport, I thought I could fly out at 11:30, but was told that the next available flight is at 4:30. That’s IF the weather holds. So thanks to wireless Internet in the waiting area, I have been able to locate a shuttle bus that will take me from the SeaTac airport to Vancouver! The travel time will be longer, of course, but I’ll be leaving at 1:00, my seat is assured, and I’m more certain to arrive in Vancouver at a decent hour. :) This is important to me after some late nights in the past week. :)

So now that I’ve got THAT out of my system, how has the trip been so far? Excellent!!! As I’ve said, it was great to spend more time with Joe and Lisa (Lisa is also a terrific cook, and Joe’s French toast is amazing!). Also, Lisa and I went out with Monika and Tracy, who seriously rock!!!!

Well, it might be time to forage for some snacky things (or at least escape the tired, frustrated parents and their tired, noisy, restless children who are sitting in this waiting area) and then catch my shuttle.

Ciao!

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