for those of us less traveled part 2...

Haven''t seen this... might have to check it out

Continuing with the obstacles that we encountered on our recent flights... nothing that couldn't be overcome or endured, but a lesson for us old folks for the next time.. and yes, there will be a next time! (what's the expression? 'God willin' and the creek don't rise).

5. Layover 2 (coming home from Hawaii):  This time we had a 2 hour layover. This sounded OK after the 55 minute fiasco on the flight in. Since we left Hawaii at 9PM Hawaii time (11PM Calif time), we arrived in California 6 hours later (5 AM -  unfortunately not too many places in the terminal were open for coffee/breakfast at that time). THEN we were notified that besides the 2 hour layover, we would be having a 2 hour delay due to weather. So instead of leaving at 7 AM, the plane didn't actually leave until about 9:45 AM. Of course this couldn't be helped we knew, but having to spend that much time in the air-conditioned airport, I soon realized that even though it was August - I should have brought a sweater. Another lesson learned!

6. Other things to be considered on plane:  Legroom, distance from facilities, window vs aisle, etc.  Now I have short legs... but still there was very little legroom for such a long flight. Would I consider 'comfort seats' (more $$) next time?  Maybe.
  Also the nearness of the facilities must be a consideration on a long flight. Our age requires frequent visits - so it can't be too far away - yet, due to others' needs and other 'considerations', you don't want to be seated 'too close' either. 
**Comment here - The facilities were very narrow! And since I noticed that there were some 'very large' people on the plane, I really wondered how they could possibly use those facilities?**  
  And lastly... at least for brevity - window or aisle?As far as I know, no one wants the middle seat. I personally prefer window. But I had the aisle on the flight back (actually DH had the aisle and I had the middle seat) - this was because it was a night flight and I didn't want to be climbing over sleeping people to use the restroom (didn't mind climbing over DH). He apparently has no preferences - except maybe not to fly at all.

So that's it for the most part. Now we will be better prepared next time. As for the time spent in Hawaii with our son and his wife - THAT WAS GREAT!  LOVED IT! Just wish that when we're ready to go again, I could just say, "Beam me up, Scotty!"

Oh... and I mentioned my Bourbon Pecan Coffee Cake in the last post. Here's a pic:

Bourbon Pecan Coffee Cake

and recent Clay Projects:

a larger cheeky chicken that will sit on my outside fence

turtle vase

And just finished this vase... hand-built, not thrown. The plan is to glaze the vase itself in blue rutile and the turtle in green seaweed (I think that's the name of the 2 Potter's Choice glazes). Anyway, I'll post a pic when it's finished (trying my hand at hand-building).


Have a great week!

Hugs,
- Rian

for those of us less traveled...

love flying

Since DH and I recently traveled by plane to Hawaii, I thought I'd post some of the obstacles we encountered... prior to booking, upon booking, at airports, and onboard. Most were things we were aware of and had discussed prior to the trip, but some were not... and I consider all 'a learning experience'. 

Part of it was the fact that we had never traveled quite that far or quite that long in over 20 years.  Things have changed... not only with us, but with flying.

1. Luggage: How much luggage would we need for a week?  We generally fly with just a carry-on, so borrowing or buying a larger piece of luggage would be necessary. And since we usually fly Southwest where there is no charge for luggage, adding a fee needed to be considered.

2. Price of tickets:  And again... obviously we're not big travelers, so having first checked for cheap flights, we soon realized that if you get a really cheap flight, you have no 'guaranteed seating'... (unless you pay an extra fee??). So it's possible we wouldn't be seated together. For a short flight that might be fine. But for a 10 hour flight - not so much. 

3. Time of Flight:  Also since time and age has descended on me, I'm not good at getting up extremely early (in the dark)... and it takes me a lot longer to get myself together (I've always moved pretty slow, but now it's worse). So we needed to consider only flights that departed from noon on... figuring we'd have to be there 2 hours early anyway.

4. Layover 1 (going to Hawaii):  We saw that layovers can be from 55 minutes to 24 hours. Well, we certainly didn't want to hang around an airport for 24 hours - who would?  So we chose the shortest layover we could find... 55 minutes. Well, that was a mistake as even though the plane landed on time, it took almost 30 minutes to deplane (full flight and us in the back). Then there was construction going on in the terminal, so they changed our connecting flight gate to one in another terminal which could only be gotten to by bus.  The bus went less than 5 miles/hr and made numerous stops - so although we DID make the flight, we were probably among the last to board. We won't make that mistake again. We're old... and don't move that fast.

We didn't ask about making our connection until we got into the terminal... but it seems like it would have been nice if they had made an announcement such as "Please allow those who have connecting flights leaving soon to deplane first".

There is more... such as legroom, distance from facilities, window vs aisle, etc... but I will continue in my next post. As I stated at the beginning, this was definitely a 'learning experience'.

Thanks so much for dropping by. If I could I would serve you a cup of tea/coffee  and a piece of the Bourbon Pecan Coffee Cake I made for DH today. It turned out pretty good.


Hugs,
- Rian