Curled up in my window seat, face pressed against the window, anticipating take-off with the enthusiasm of a 2 year old about to eat ice cream. Three hours of sleep can hardly bring me down now. It's time to fly.
I can't believe I have never experienced soaring into the stars before! 5 am flights are officially the best. Everyone sleeping around me, so it's just me and the stars. I'm sure I didn't get any germs on my face from pressing my nose on the window for a better view of the sky.
I've always been fascinated with the night sky. Maybe everyone is, but I've seriously always loved the stars and moon. My Grandpa Herbert had a telescope he would often drag outside for various astronomical events, letting us peer into outer space and always, without hesitation, imparting his wisdom on the matter to us grandchildren. These nights were the biggest treat to me. (There were even times I would sneak upstairs to where Grandpa lived and look through the telescope by myself.)
"When I grow up, I'm going to be an astronaut!" I remember proclaiming to my dad. And, good old dad, he told me, "so be an astronaut then". Of all the things I love about my dad, his belief that his kids could do anything they put their mind to has probably stuck with me the most. Because of Dad's encouragement, I've never been afraid of achieving my goals. Sure, changing jobs can be intimidating, but mostly the only reason it's ever made me uncomfortable is the money factor. I really don't like not being able to pay bills...yet another trait I learned from my dad. But that's a story for another time.
I went on my first plane ride when I was 17 with my bestie Ems and her aunts Karan and Denise. I got invited to go on an adventure with the family to Florida, and boy was it ever fun! Although this was my first plane ride, it was not my first time I'd wished aloud to be a flight attendant. The first time I did, my dad replied, "why not a pilot?" Which seemed so scary at the time but perhaps much more feasible now that I'm older.
I guess I lied. The Florida trip wasn't my first plane ride, just my first commercial airline trip. My dad was an airplane enthusiast who had his private pilot license and would take us kids to various air shows when they were close by. I was so young when we went to the Arlington Air Show with dad, but I think that was when we went up in an airplane. Or it could have been a helicopter, I'm just not sure. I also remember exploring the inside of one of those big huge military helicopters when they were at Walla Walla Community College for some sort of show something like 15 years ago. Time flies, man. And I am terrible with keeping up with the memories.
Anyways, I keep getting sidetracked! The point of this post was to tell you all about my very first non-rev travel experience. One of the perks of working for an airline is getting to travel for pretty much free on your respective airline. I hear there are perks on other airlines further down the road once I've been employed in the company for 6+ months, but I'll figure that out later.
For my very first trip I decided to go visit my family members who live in Texas. Josh, Joel, Dani, and the kids, Piper and Aiden. I haven't been to Texas since November last year which is way too long. Aiden is my brand new nephew, born at the end of July. Two months old and he hadn't met his auntie? Time to remedy that.
It was a little tricky configuring the time off since I don't have a set schedule at this time. My official schedule is 'vacation relief' which is about how it sounds: I work the schedule of whoever happens to be on vacation that week. So, as you can imagine, my schedule is all over the place and doesn't have set days off. Fortunately for me I do receive my schedule 3 weeks in advance, and I saw a promising looking weekend and decided to begin putting my travel plans into motion.
Non-rev travel can be a little tricky. For instance, if I had 3 days off in a row but they were on a Friday-Sunday I could kiss pretty much any travel plans goodbye. Everyone travels on Fridays and Sundays. Being a 'non-rev' means I am a non-revenue passenger flying on a 'space availible' status. That means that if there is no extra space, I don't go anywhere! Fortunately for me, I had Thursday-Saturday off this week which are relatively low traffic days for the airline industry.
I 'listed' myself online for a flight from Spokane to Seattle, and then Seattle to Houston. Flight loads were looking great. Basically a non-rev's dream come true. But, just to be on the safe side, I took the earliest flight possible out of Spokane, the 5 am starlit ride. As I mentioned above, I did not regret that decision at all as it was quite breathtaking. I could hardly believe the rest of the plane was sleeping through that experience. Oh well, all the more for me!
Once I landed in Seattle and had a little breakfast I was starting to regret only getting 3 hours of sleep the night before. I was fading fast. Since I had another 3ish hours to kill before my flight left for Houston, I decided an airport nap was in order. Now, some of you may not know this about me, but I have a nifty little 'Herbert trait' which allows me to fall asleep pretty much anywhere, anytime. That ability came in quite handy whilst napping in the middle of the Seattle airport during peak travel time. I can't say that I slept particularly well, but nonetheless, it still counted as sleep.
Upon my awakening it was about 50 minutes until my flight to Houston was scheduled to leave. So I got up, stretched my legs, ignored judging looks from the rest of the passengers and proceeded to my gate about 25 feet away. Well, looks like we had a gate change while I slept. So, off I headed to find an updated gate schedule.
Turns out the new departure gate was in a different concourse so I had to take the train! No big deal, I've done this twice before, so I'm practically a pro now. Down the escalator I headed to catch the shuttle train. Coming up the escalator next to my was my friend Sam! He had been off travelling abroad in Scotland or some such and was on his way home now. Totally wasn't expecting to see someone I knew in the Seattle airport, it was a nice, random surprise. We waved hello as we were crossing paths and had about a 5 second conversation as that was all the time our opposite escalator paths would permit.
The train ride was uneventful and short as was the boarding and seating process on the plane. I sat in an exit row for the first time ever and felt super important in my role as exit row coordinator or...whatever. About 20 minutes after take-off I fell back asleep and stayed that way for the majority of the flight until about 45 minutes before landing in Houston. I'm always awake for take-offs and landings. The view is always so thrilling!
I always forget how long it takes to taxi into a larger airport. I'm talking, 15-20 minutes! I'm sure it doesn't help that Alaska only has one flight a day into and out of Houston so we have very limited gate space. All the United planes seemed to have the seniority on that side of the airport at least. Oh well, I enjoy taxiing too. Especially when I am on the side of the plane that lets me see the giant procession of planes landing or taking off. Have I mentioned I love planes? I saw an Air China jet that was seriously as big as a city block. I can't wait to ride on one that size!
We eventually made it off the plane and into the airport where I promptly got lost, as I always do in Houston. But I made my way outside and my sister-in-law Dani was able to find me without much difficulty. After texting everyone that I was safe and sound it was time for my vacation to begin!
First stop: Chick-fil-a. I love Chick-fil-a. I heard a rumor there may be one being put in at the Northtown Mall in Spokane and I am so excited for that possibility! Second stop was at Joel and Dani's home where I finally got to snuggle my handsome nephew, Aiden.
Basically my entire 2 1/2 days was spent snuggling Aiden (world's best snuggler, ever) And watching Finding Nemo with my 2 year old niece, Piper.
Overall it was a very relaxing and quite enjoyable mini-vacation. My 16 year old brother Josh is quite the soccer player and I got to watch him play a game this trip! Well, most of one at least. We arrived to the field about 3 minutes after he scored a goal. Bummed that I missed seeing that!
Heading home today the Houston airport was deserted! I'm talking not a single person in line ahead of me at security. Bonus! Travelling on Saturdays is definitely a good thing to do if you don't like lines, or if you're a non-rev like me and don't have a confirmed seat on the flight.
I am proud to say today was the first time I've left Houston without shedding a tear. I love my family there so much, it breaks my heart every time I have to leave them. Now that I can travel to see them much more often leaving today was not quite so sad as before.
Since I caught up on all of my sleep the last few days, I have no need to sleep on the 4 1/2 hour flight to Seattle so I was trying to figure out what to do with myself when I remembered my new Chrome book came with 12 free in flight wifi sessions. Score! So much facebook and blogging! So that's what you can thank for this exuberantly long blog post. You're welcome :)
Still a little over an hour until we land in Seattle and then I have about an hour and a half wait there until my flight leaves for Spokane. Unless I somehow manage to score a seat on the 8 pm flight out of Seattle, but that would be a non-rev miracle so I am not holding my breath.
So there you have it, folks. My very first non-rev travel. I am so very excited for the next one which is next week to my good friend Tony's wedding in Albuquerque! But seriously, wish me luck non-revving on that flight. Alaska just barely started flying to Albuquerque on the 18th of September so these flights are full. As of right now it looks like I will be able to squeeze in, but it will be tight.
That's all I got folks. Until next time!
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