Why I Don’t Fly On Commercial Airliners (and a Broken Car)

After we landed at Bremerton, we caught a ride into town to the Bremerton Ferry Terminal. From here, we caught the ferry over to Seattle, then took a taxi to Seattle-Tacoma Airport for a commercial flight home to Phoenix.

Man, it’s a lot of work to get home when you’re not going in a private jet!

You already know that I love Bremerton. I only had time today to grab a few shots of the harbor before it was time to board the ferry. This is where the ferry docks to unload and load people and cars and bikes and motorcycles and probably spiders for the hour-long boat ride to Seattle.

In the summer, Bremerton is the perfect place to be. It was pretty warm today at seventy-two degrees. I was already dreading heading home to the summer heat. (Sheesh, that rhymed!)

Would anyone mind if I just stay here?

This is one of the decorative tiles inside the ferry terminal. I think this would be so cool on a gallery wall. It has sentimental value to me because it would bring back great memories of a place that I love.

But it also just looks kind of cool. You know, if you like creepy, nightmarish fish and all.

I got comfortable for the ride over to Seattle. I think they call this “kicking up your heels.” But with less dancing involved.

We got closer to Seattle and soon had the loading dock in sight.

SeaTac is a lot farther from downtown Seattle than I thought. For some reason, I was initially thinking that we could walk it (*snort*). After the boss found out about our plans to get home commercially, he insisted that we take a cab to the airport.

I’m glad that we did, since just the taxi ride was twenty minutes!

I love walking, but not that much.

We were soon on the curb at the airport. I have been to this airport before for work (at my old job) but never on the commercial flights side.

I’m a corporate airplane snob like that, yo.

I hate getting dinner at a chain that I could eat anywhere, but my other choices were all seafood. Most of you already know my personal views on fish. So I opted for a burrito from Qdoba, which I don’t eat at home, either.

And while I enjoyed some fake Mexican food, I also enjoyed watching some massive metal move on the ramp.

The cool thing was the giant windows in this airport with rocking chairs lining it all for great views.

I have got to get a rocking chair. I love those things!

I have oodles of buddies from my good ol’ college days at UND who work for Horizon Airlines. In fact, my multi-year roommate, Bri, flies for these guys. Hi, Bri and Doug! Is this your airplane?

If you lean back too far in a rocking chair, this is the incredible view seen of the gigantic windows at SeaTac. Maybe, in addition to rocking chairs, I need to invest in some floor-to-ceiling windows, too.

Our flight got delayed for a few hours, so I enjoyed a beautiful sunset with airplanes. I also got some good people-watching in while I enjoyed a yummy fruit smoothie.

And then, my flight got delayed a few more hours. Come on, guys! Really?

Please take note of this schedule board. See how efficient everything is? On-time city! Except the single flight that I am trying to use tonight, courtesy of US ScAirways.

Apparently, the flight crew forgot to show up for work. So they had to find another crew, and finally succeeded in Denver. But those guys had to fly to Seattle first. I think that by the time we finally left, we were about five hours behind schedule.

When letting my boss know our situation, he said that they decided years ago to never fly US ScAirways again. I think that I just joined that same club!

Never again!

The sunset just got prettier, despite the delays.

Finally, many hours later, we were onboard and ready to fly home. It took almost three hours to fly to Phoenix tonight.

I’m sure that you already know this, but flying Gladys is way better than sitting in the back of an old airliner. And we don’t have TSA security lines for my job…’nuff said.

I was excited to finally see the lights of Phoenix about 12:30 AM. Little did I know that my adventure for the night was just beginning! May I tell you a little story? OK! (It’s my blog, dangit).

When we started this trip four days ago, we left from the maintenance facility at Mesa-Gateway Airport, way on the other side of The Valley. So, after landing at Phoenix Sky Harbor, we had to get a taxi to take us allllllllll the way back to Willy-Gateway Airport for my vehicle.

We dropped off my coworker at his house on the way, so by the time I finally saw Hubby’s car that night, it was in a dark parking lot around 2:00 AM.

As I watched the taxi lights disappear while loading my suitcase into the trunk, I had a sneaky feeling about Hubby’s car. You see, Corolla (he is very inventive with names), had not been starting properly for the past week, and now it had been sitting dormant for another four days.

My worst fears were confirmed when, lo and behold, Corolla wouldn’t start. It’s the middle of the night, and I am stuck with a car that somehow thinks it is too good to work properly.

So, after flagging down a car on the road (who didn’t have any jumper cables), I realized that flagging down a car in the middle of the night in a strange neighborhood for a lady all alone wasn’t the best idea.

Why doesn’t this silly girl just call someone for help?! I had lost my cell phone at Disneyland a few days earlier, remember? So I couldn’t call anyone! I felt so old-fashioned!

I weighed some options and finally decided to walk towards the airline terminal at Mesa-Gateway to see if there was a policeman there that could help me out. On the way, about half a mile down the street, I decided to stop in at our usual FBO to see if anyone was home. Someone was there, and he drove me back to my car. And then he jump-started Corolla and wouldn’t let me pay him. I was saved! Phew!

Corolla battery was replaced the following Monday, by the way. Fool me once…

By the time I finally got home for the night, it was 3:30 AM. I had to get up in just four hours for church! I did it, but I don’t know how alert I was for the whole shebang.

It was a great trip that had a few bumps along the way. It was the best three days I’ve ever spent with my Mom, so that was nice. Who needs cell phones or car batteries, anyway?!