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bigmacbear) wrote2024-04-04 11:59 pm
bigmacbear) wrote2024-04-04 11:59 pm
LA Anaheim Trip, 1 of 5
THURSDAY
We caught the Lyft to Everett Station, driven by a tall fellow named Stefan. We didn't have long to wait for the 512 south. A young lady tried to flag the bus to stop after leaving the bay, but was unsuccessful. We sat downstairs on the far back bench so we could stash luggage nearby. We transferred to a train at Northgate and sat in the side-facing seats at the center of the car. I nodded off a bit along the way and I'm pretty sure Gary did too.
When we arrived at Sea-Tac Station, the bathroom looked like it was taken apart for maintenance, and Skybridge 6 was closed. We tagged our bags, used the bathroom in the terminal outside security, and got through security in record time using the premium line. It took me a bit longer than Gary to get recombobulated because of my suspenders, but I managed. Our gate was only a few steps from the security checkpoint. We kept crossing paths with a hot daddy bear with impressive ink on both arms and a toddler in tow (although it often appeared the toddler was doing the towing). I was a bit hungry, but when Gary reminded me we had food waiting on the plane, I got us each a cookie and a drink instead. When we'd finished our snacks, I went on a trash run and used the bathroom once more; this was a newly remodeled facility just past the next gate. As boarding time approached, Gary told me he needed to stand up, so we moved to the concourse just outside the boarding queue. There were many families with small children waiting to board, so the gate agent had to alternate between preboarding passengers and us with premium seats.
Once we were aboard we got settled in quickly. The cute flight attendant who greeted us on boarding, Mike, had dark Latin features, while the equally cute (and certainly family) FA serving First Class, Andrew, wore a lanyard printed with "Contract Now". It appeared three additional crew members boarded as well en route to or from their next assignments, and ended up stowing their luggage in the overhead bin above us. Good thing we checked bags, I suppose. They all managed to seat themselves behind the working pilots in the cockpit before the door was closed. We pushed back from the gate about 20 minutes late because some of the crew members were delayed arriving from their previous flight. After a slow, interrupted taxi to the runway, we took off to the north and soon lost sight of the ground in thick white clouds. When we reached 10,000 feet, I plugged in my phone and put on my rehearsal tracks. Lunch (fruit and cheese plate, with a chocolate drop and a gooey chocolate chip cookie) 🍪 was excellent as usual. When it came time to let the pilots use the bathroom, Andrew stepped into the cockpit and Mike stood guard in the forward galley. By now this process has become routine. As Andrew served me my last ginger ale of the flight, I noticed his manicure included sparkling blue polish. Nice! We began our final phase of flight (seat back up, unplug, cleanup) a bit early due to turbulence. Once we had descended through another thick cloud bank, we had a good view of the Hollywood sign and Dodger Stadium before turning around to land to the west.
We collected our bags and waited outside for the FlyAway bus. When the bus arrived the luggage bays were full, and a nice Hispanic dude took the vacant seat across the aisle so we could sit together. It took us until nearly seven to get to Union Station and unload the full bus. We headed into the station to recharge our Metro tap cards, then went back to the bus bay where we'd seen the 40 bus before. A sign at the bus stop said "Discharge Only", indicating we couldn't catch the bus there. The bus driver carried on a strange conversation with Gary and me, which was awkward until Gary realized he was messing with us. Eventually he pointed out the correct bay, which was diagonally opposite where we were - we'd just gotten the map turned around. As we approached the correct stop, we belatedly saw the huge numbers that marked each stop; if you don't look up, you'll miss them. A bunch of people pointed out and took pictures of a double rainbow across the sky opposite the station. Eventually we caught the bus, which was driven by the same dude who'd been messing with us earlier. We rode south three stops and crossed the street to our hotel.
Once we had checked in and unpacked, I found myself wavering over whether we should go to the Precinct as planned, or bag that and grab dinner elsewhere. A prime factor in that decision was the fact that VPL (their underwear party) started at 9 and it was already quarter to eight. We ended up having dinner in the hotel restaurant; Gary had a chicken sandwich and I had a poke bowl. A simply huge young bear was delivering food to the next table. Gary reminded me: No. Over dinner we discussed what had transpired and agreed that VPL would be awkward for Gary and we should try an early dinner at the Precinct on Saturday instead. After dinner we sat in the lobby briefly and made plans for the next day, then returned to the room and watched TV until bedtime, around 11:30 pm.
We caught the Lyft to Everett Station, driven by a tall fellow named Stefan. We didn't have long to wait for the 512 south. A young lady tried to flag the bus to stop after leaving the bay, but was unsuccessful. We sat downstairs on the far back bench so we could stash luggage nearby. We transferred to a train at Northgate and sat in the side-facing seats at the center of the car. I nodded off a bit along the way and I'm pretty sure Gary did too.
When we arrived at Sea-Tac Station, the bathroom looked like it was taken apart for maintenance, and Skybridge 6 was closed. We tagged our bags, used the bathroom in the terminal outside security, and got through security in record time using the premium line. It took me a bit longer than Gary to get recombobulated because of my suspenders, but I managed. Our gate was only a few steps from the security checkpoint. We kept crossing paths with a hot daddy bear with impressive ink on both arms and a toddler in tow (although it often appeared the toddler was doing the towing). I was a bit hungry, but when Gary reminded me we had food waiting on the plane, I got us each a cookie and a drink instead. When we'd finished our snacks, I went on a trash run and used the bathroom once more; this was a newly remodeled facility just past the next gate. As boarding time approached, Gary told me he needed to stand up, so we moved to the concourse just outside the boarding queue. There were many families with small children waiting to board, so the gate agent had to alternate between preboarding passengers and us with premium seats.
Once we were aboard we got settled in quickly. The cute flight attendant who greeted us on boarding, Mike, had dark Latin features, while the equally cute (and certainly family) FA serving First Class, Andrew, wore a lanyard printed with "Contract Now". It appeared three additional crew members boarded as well en route to or from their next assignments, and ended up stowing their luggage in the overhead bin above us. Good thing we checked bags, I suppose. They all managed to seat themselves behind the working pilots in the cockpit before the door was closed. We pushed back from the gate about 20 minutes late because some of the crew members were delayed arriving from their previous flight. After a slow, interrupted taxi to the runway, we took off to the north and soon lost sight of the ground in thick white clouds. When we reached 10,000 feet, I plugged in my phone and put on my rehearsal tracks. Lunch (fruit and cheese plate, with a chocolate drop and a gooey chocolate chip cookie) 🍪 was excellent as usual. When it came time to let the pilots use the bathroom, Andrew stepped into the cockpit and Mike stood guard in the forward galley. By now this process has become routine. As Andrew served me my last ginger ale of the flight, I noticed his manicure included sparkling blue polish. Nice! We began our final phase of flight (seat back up, unplug, cleanup) a bit early due to turbulence. Once we had descended through another thick cloud bank, we had a good view of the Hollywood sign and Dodger Stadium before turning around to land to the west.
We collected our bags and waited outside for the FlyAway bus. When the bus arrived the luggage bays were full, and a nice Hispanic dude took the vacant seat across the aisle so we could sit together. It took us until nearly seven to get to Union Station and unload the full bus. We headed into the station to recharge our Metro tap cards, then went back to the bus bay where we'd seen the 40 bus before. A sign at the bus stop said "Discharge Only", indicating we couldn't catch the bus there. The bus driver carried on a strange conversation with Gary and me, which was awkward until Gary realized he was messing with us. Eventually he pointed out the correct bay, which was diagonally opposite where we were - we'd just gotten the map turned around. As we approached the correct stop, we belatedly saw the huge numbers that marked each stop; if you don't look up, you'll miss them. A bunch of people pointed out and took pictures of a double rainbow across the sky opposite the station. Eventually we caught the bus, which was driven by the same dude who'd been messing with us earlier. We rode south three stops and crossed the street to our hotel.
Once we had checked in and unpacked, I found myself wavering over whether we should go to the Precinct as planned, or bag that and grab dinner elsewhere. A prime factor in that decision was the fact that VPL (their underwear party) started at 9 and it was already quarter to eight. We ended up having dinner in the hotel restaurant; Gary had a chicken sandwich and I had a poke bowl. A simply huge young bear was delivering food to the next table. Gary reminded me: No. Over dinner we discussed what had transpired and agreed that VPL would be awkward for Gary and we should try an early dinner at the Precinct on Saturday instead. After dinner we sat in the lobby briefly and made plans for the next day, then returned to the room and watched TV until bedtime, around 11:30 pm.