We had to get up very early for a 7am flight. The Flightline
van picked us up at 3:45am. We weren’t
the only passengers on the van which is unusual for such an early time. Fortunately the other passengers were just
down the road in North Andover and were also headed to the American terminal so
we didn’t have to worry about any extra delays. They were a couple headed to
Aruba. The drive to the airport was very
uneventful and we were extremely early for our flight. They basically forced us
to self check-in at the desk which I wasn’t very happy about but all the same
we managed it fairly quickly and were able to get through security rapidly as
well by just beating a line of folks that looked like they were from a school
trip. From there we had to wait about an
hour and forty minutes until boarding time. Gary, Sue and Sara showed up a bit
after 6 but well ahead of the 6:40 boarding.
The plane was apparently full but it looked like our tickets were the
only ones on boarding groups 3 and 4. There was still a lot of overhead space
though so even though we were among the last people to get on we didn’t have to
stuff our bags at our feet. The plane actually set back from the gate a few
minutes early and the initial announcement after takeoff said we would also get
into the airport about 20 minutes early.
The in air flight time was supposed to be just under 6 hours.
I was in a window seat on the 737 almost at the very back of
the plane. Of course they didn’t have in
seat entertainment which is always disappointing. I spent maybe the first half hour
of the flight nodding off but I didn’t want to miss the drink cart so I decided
to wake up and wait for it. I figured I
could get to work on this while I was waiting.
After a short start at it I played around with some game apps then
desperately needed to use the facilities and had to beg my way out. After the
incredibly long wait I chose to take a bit of a nap to kill some of the time. I
woke up a while later and played some more apps then they came around for a
second drink cart run. No food on the trip unless you were willing to pay for
it or you brought it yourself. I will say that looking out the window over some
of the mountainous landscape was fairly incredible looking. The flight had some small bumps here and
there but it wasn’t really bad overall. Sara was very well behaved. The kid behind me that kept punching the back
of my seat however is a different story.
Deboarding did take a long time because we were so far in the back but by the time we got to baggage claim our bags were among the first to come out so that wait wasn't very long. We separated to our individual rental car companies and due to my Avis preferred status I was able to get into the car first. However since my GPS had bad info and the navigator was talking to the other car at the time it screwed up we took the scenic (read as trafficky) route to the hotel. We could not check in right away but put the valuables in Dave and Beth's room and then we all headed to have lunch at Denny's which happened to be right out front of the building. I had a prime rib Philly cheese steak that was good but very messy. After lunch we got checked in and settled into the room. We basically idled the rest of the day away doing very little except hanging out with the family. Sara went into the pool for a little while but it was cold water so she didn't stay in for long. Eventually in the evening we got a quick dinner at the Jack in the Box also just outside the hotel. I had chicken nuggets and fries. Daniela and I talked on Skype for a while at night then I went to bed. I was awakened at 1am because the people above me overflowed their Jacuzzi and it dripped into my room. I had to call the front desk and the must have went to their room and made them drain it down some.
The pictures for day 1 can be found here.
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