A new change in my always-on-the-road life-style involves flying out to visit clients from far-flung locations. Victoria on Vancouver Island was pretty easy travel-wise as the airport was a short (30-minute) taxi ride away. Except for the additional time to clear customs, it was pretty easy to get from Victoria to Sea Tac and off to the rest of the world.
Now that we’ve moved back to U.S. soil it should be easier…right? As the crow flies, Sea Tac is maybe 40 miles away from our home base on Harstine Island. Problem is that there are no crows big enough or willing, so the only way there is down and around or up and around. It roughly triples the distance.
On the first leg, our friend Doc gave me a ride from our place into town where we hung out at a 0.5 star motel waiting on a shuttle. Who knew people watching would be an option? Anyway, the shuttle arrives a bit late but I made it to Sea Tac with plenty of time to spare for my red-eye out. Total travel time about 3 hours.
I can normally sleep very well on flights and prefer the red-eye heading east from the west coast. Unfortunately ,the 4 year old girl in the middle seat next to me was not a happy camper and her dad seemed to lack the empathy skills to manage the situation. Lack of sleep aside, the trip east wasn’t bad.
My return trip was on a Saturday and I had it planned out with my usual efficiency: I’d take a short dark-o-clock hopper flight from regional airport to Atlanta where I would catch an early flight back to Sea Tac. Touching down in the morning, I would hit the light rail to ride from the airport up to downtown Seattle. From there, a short walk to the ferry terminal, cruise across the sound and around some islands into Bremerton. Catch a bus south to Belfair where Doc would be in a class and I’d ride back to our island abode with him. I was confident enough in the timeline to let Tammy know I could even do the grocery shopping while waiting on Doc. Mic drop.
Boarding my first flight, the captain announces he needs to turn off the plane so the computer can reboot. No problem, right? The cabin goes dark…lights come back on…and the captain announces, “Well the computer didn’t reboot and actually it made things worse. We can’t take this plane.” Originally, I had an hour connection time to get my flight to Seattle. The first inkling of dread began.
We de-plane, hang out and they steal a plane next to ours and tell those folks they have another plane coming over for them. OK, I’m thinking, maybe a 30 minute window when we hit the ground in Atlanta? We board, taxi out to the runway where we sit and wait for our wheels up time to join the flow going into the world’s busiest airport. OK….maybe 15 minutes to make my connection.
We land in Atlanta and pull into our E-gate. My flight is of course now boarding and going out of the farthest away T-gate. I’m sitting in the window seat and as the seat belt light goes out, the isle is immediately jammed full of people more important than I who have connections to make. My isle seat mate eventually recognizes that I too would like to get off the plane and after half the seats behind us pass, steps into the aisle and I get off the plane. Argh. Tammy is the runner, not I…and I do a poor imitation as I sprint (in my head I am flying like the wind) through the airport with now less than 10 minutes before they close the door on my Seattle flight. I wheeze up to the gate in time to see a new flight posted going out of the gate….sigh.
Several gate changes and flights later I finally get a seat heading west. Originally I had hoped to be home by Hawks game time…now it looked like I would be lucky to get to Belfair, WA hours after Doc’s class was over. I told him not to wait and I would contact him with a revised plan when I got into Sea Tac. We landed about 5 pm. I navigated to the light rail station, which reminded me of the CTA from Midway Airport with long hallways getting to the platform. Six stops from Sea Tac to downtown.
Standing on the platform I exhibited enough confidence that someone asked me for directions. I wandered over to a map while covertly typing in the address for Seattle University in Google Maps and then replayed my local knowledge to the traveler. He made a point of waving and saying thank you as he got off. Trains were clean and well lit. In Chicago, the cars from O’Hare are always full of big suitcases and international languages. This train seemed one note.
At times we were above traffic, occasionally in tunnels and street level — a pleasant and quiet ride. It gave me time to consult my phone for the next leg of my travels. I should have known something was up when the schedule for catching buses kept showing Monday times. After all, it was Saturday, what gives? Oblivious, I figured I’d look again while on the ferry.
Getting off the light rail I needed to walk to the ferry terminal. My choice of direction was simple. Seattle is built on a hill and water has to be downhill. Off I went. Maybe a 1000 meter (why oh why can’t we convert to metric) walk with a few turns I joined a crowd who looked like FFTs (fellow ferry travelers).
It was easy to follow the signs to the passenger terminal, buy my $8.50 one-way ticket. Planes, trains and now ferries…
After about a half hour our ferry arrives, we shuffle aboard and set off into the sunset.
It’s about a 30 minute ride so I sat down to check on my bus connections. I still kept getting the weird “Monday” times. I then went to the transit company website to check their schedules. I followed my findings up with a phone call to them. I called just before 7 pm. “Yeah our last bus leaves Bremerton at 6:45 pm on Saturday and no Sunday service.” Big sigh….I’m not in Chicago anymore.
I sent Doc a note and he said he would grab his partner and they would come pick me up. I told him that was above and beyond and let me come up with a Plan L or M (I forget where I was in versions). Tammy advised they have hotels in Bremerton, but I wanted to get back. I hit the beach and manage to find a ride-share driver who will get me down to Belfair which cuts the distance in half. I contact Doc and they head up to meet me at the Belfair Safeway where I do our weekly hunting and gathering.
We pull into the driveway about 9:30 pm, having started my commute about 3 am local time.
So what have we learned, class? First answer is that a commute is possible and would have been super impressive if the plane computer had not decided to update as it sat on the tarmac starting this whole mess. Second lesson learned is that shopping while snoozy can result in some mistakes. Case in point.
