Trip to Europe, Part 1

Today is the day that we've planned for a few months.  The day we leave for Europe to do sightseeing, vacationing while working abroad, and spending time with our grand daughter and her mom and dad. 

Our bags are packed and we have made arrangements. We leave home with what should be plenty of time to make it to the lot where the truck will be parked, get to the airport, our bags checked, and get set up with Clear to breeze through security and await our departure at the gate.

Well, road construction - Revive I-5 - was happening in downtown Seattle; already a frequently congested choke point, now with three lanes of traffic closed.  The traffic was backed up and moving rather slowly. After some creative re-routing, we get back on the freeway after the lane closures and zoom to the airport.  We drop the truck off and are quickly shuttled to the terminal.

We get to the counter to get our bags checked going through the normal process of making sure our, intended, checked bags were not over weight, attaching the requisite bag tags, etc. The agent helping us was doing his job and asked that we confirm our carry-on bags would fit in their test compartment. We, both, were certain that our bags would fit as we've used them a number of times previously in our travels by air. 

One of the bags was a bit of a snugger fit.  It did fit but needed a little extra oomph to get it in the test compartment. That extra oomph, apparently, was too much effort according to the agent and the bag ended up having to be checked.  If we were earlier and not running late already due to the traffic, I'm pretty certain there would have been a bit more of a fight to allow the bag to be a carry-on. 

Continuing our airport adventure, we quickly head to the Clear station to finish the necessary steps to get my account set up. A relatively quick process and biometrics get captured. Unfortunately, the nearest Clear check point is not next to the security check point nearest our location.  We hoof it down the terminal a bit and are cleared through security where we make a u-turn of sorts to go back in the direction we just came from to get to the subway to take us to the international terminal.

We eventually make it to the gate and, to our surprise, the flight was delayed.  After tending to some biological needs, we find a place to sit without to many people around and wait. The rush to get to where we needed got me a bit warm and I was looking to cool down a bit.  After hanging out for a little while, I could not discern whether the announcements over the PA system were from our gate or another. So, I moved a bit closer to our gate in hopes of having a better idea of what the announcements were. After a while, we finally get queued up to board the plane. 

Today was a rather warm day. As the plane continues to load, the temperature inside the plane continues to rise. While the plane is sitting there on the tarmac, the air conditioning does not work well; I've heard it doesn't work at all. The fans blowing the air through the overhead nozzles has some movement of the air, but it is somewhat minimal. To assist in minimizing some of the discomfort, the flight crew ends up opening some of the emergency doors to get a cross-flow of air. Fortunately, I was sitting close enough to benefit and it was quite a relief.

Turns out there was a technical issue with the air conditioning that was preventing the plane from taking off. The mechanics on the ground were able to get the issue resolved and we were able to take off. A late departure, but heading to our destination nonetheless.

As our flight was an overnight flight, I had concerns whether I would be able to get any sleep. Fortunately, I had paid for a seat with extra legroom so my knees would not be pressed into the back of the seat in front of me. I do wish, however, that the width of the seat would have been an inch or two wider. There was very little wiggle room for me to get comfortable enough to get any appreciable sleep. Fortunately, I did get some but the trip started with a sleep deficit. The next morning, we'll be in Europe.