Day 19: The Journey Home

Note: There will be 2 Day 19 posts since our two groups traveled quite separately this day. Sarah will post her report when Sophie lets her!

Thursday, July 30, 2009
The day dawned much earlier than any of us wanted. Our shuttle left at around 5 in the morning, perhaps a little earlier. It didn't take long to realize that the Princess people really did have our flight info all messed up. The bus stopped first at the Delta terminal. When no one got off the bus, the driver looked up who was flying Delta and announced our names. The only problem was that we weren't flying Delta. So she loaded the suitcases back on and we went to the other terminal where everyone got off the bus.

We were flying Northwest, as were most of the people on the bus. There was only one flight leaving at that hour and the line to check-in was quite long. But because Dad got us first class tickets, we got to move over to the special line. Yay! The curmudgeonly ticket agent checked us in (and added my Delta frequent flier number to the super long flight) and we headed to security. I had forgotten to put my shampoo in my suitcase so I tossed that. There were no problems getting through and we camped out at the gate. We were very early and the Anchorage airport, especially at that hour, was not at all exciting. Our gate was the very farthest away, of course, so we just hung out there for the most part until it was time to board.

The flight itself wasn't that exciting. We boarded early and made David sit by himself as he was planning to sleep the entire way. He did end up switching his seat when an enormous family (4 little kids, all under the age of 6 or 7) boarded and their seats were all over the first class cabin. People moved to allow them to sit together. David got his window seat after all... Actually he ended up sitting next to some kid who was probably also college aged and was reading Stephen Hawking stuff.

The flight itself was completely uneventful. Well, almost. Not ten minutes after take-off Dad sets his orange juice on the tray and it just slid right off and spilled all over his legs and feet. Oops. That was messy and sticky for him. We were served breakfast - some, um, interesting looking egg omelet thing, fruit, and a bagel. It was ok. Other than that, we didn't do much. I did once again assert my cribbage playing authority... We landed in Minneapolis right on time.

We had a couple hours to hang out in Minnesota. I thought Dad and David should go find the Larry Craig bathroom, but they didn't think that was a brilliant idea. That airport was absolutely huge. Despite the options, I couldn't really find anything I wanted to eat and so ended up with Burger King chicken fingers, not one of the finer foods in life...

The second flight was equally uneventful. We got dinner this time - I annoyed Dad when I took that last sandwich, apparently (I was not aware it was the last). I made David get the salad since he wasn't going to get anything. I ate it instead (well, parts of it). This flight was only 2 hours. When we landed in Hartford, I was shocked at how crowded it was. The baggage area was just packed with people and the luggage was really slow to come out. It eventually did and we had to track down Unreliable Cab Company. We eventually found the guy outside, way at the end. In his defense, he had called and left a few messages on Dad's cell phone, but would it really have been so hard to wait inside with a little sign with our name on it?? Making extra work for us at the very end of a long trip just wasn't cool.

Getting home was nice. The cat was very happy to see me. She didn't leave my side for a few days. Crazy kitty. Shockingly, I had little trouble readjusting to east coast time, I guess because I naturally stay up really late anyway and didn't do that on vacation... Unlike normal trips, I even unpacked right away, did laundry, sorted mail, etc.

All in all, the trip was an amazing experience. I definitely think that Alaska is one of those 'must see' places - especially the glaciers and the interior area around Denali. I'm sure I could come up with more eloquent things to say about the experience, but I'm not feeling overly creative at the moment. I know I'll remember the places, the people, the crazy family memories for a very long time. And I know that everyone else on the trip joins me in saying a very big Thank You to Dad for making this happen!

So Dad, where are we going next year? My vote is Italy. Just saying....