Getting there

It’s been a couple of years since we traveled by air so it was interesting to see how things have changed when we flew to Seattle last week.

The first leg of any air travel for us starts with getting to Logan Airport, which is 64 miles away, and parking there runs between $29-38 a day.

We are lucky. We have a bus, C&J, that we can pick up here in town and be dropped off right at the door to the terminal. We use it every time for $48 round trip per person, but parking in their lot is almost nonexistent. If you want a car for when you return, you have to shop around for a space the day before. Two vehicles to the lot, one parked, one returned, a ride to the bus the next day, and we were all set to return at midnight. Easy, peasy.

We flew Jet Blue from Boston to Seattle because it was non-stop, and the seats have a little more leg room. For the first time, we paid for checking one bag each – $120 round trip to have clothes.

Boarding the plane was done from the front to the back, which even with a seat assignment, made it like a herding cattle through a chute. The outbound trip was only a few minutes late, but the return flight was almost 40 minutes late because of boarding.

Every seat back has a screen with a multitude of viewing choices. The bluish light flashes all around, and since you can see a multitude of screens from your seat, I can report that Keanu Reeves in “John Wick” is quite popular.

A side effect of all these screens is that 100% of the window shades are pulled down so the light doesn’t interfere with viewing. It made me feel like I was encapsulated in a large tube. Gone are the days of gazing at the clouds or the skylines.

Flight attendants, male or female, use to look like they could have found work as models. Wow – that has changed dramatically. Although every person we encountered was professional and helpful, there were people close to my age with bodies that bumped both sides of the aisle when they tried to move about the cabin.

Cost of food at the airports still borders on larceny, and the quality is still mediocre.

Moving through security is challenging, but we can’t complain because we have Global Entry, and it moves quite smoothly. It’s worth every penny of its $100 cost.

There is just the luck of the draw as to whether you have two screaming babies and one extremely unhappy toddler all within two aisles of your seat, and I won’t even mention, the coughing, sneezing, and sinus clearing.

We even rode a train in Seattle to get from the terminal to the gate.

Travel time is around 6 hours by plane and 46 hours by car – pretty simple choice. But, that was a lot of humanity even for a retired HR professional.

Have a great first week in October. If you’re flying somewhere, I hope it leaves on time, there’s space in the overhead bin, an empty seat next to you (almost never), and you have a great time.

Me? After planes, trains, buses, and automobiles – I’ll be outside all by myself with my shovel and pruning shears for company. 🙂