In contrast to the popular Thanksgiving movie “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” starring John Candy and Steve Martin in the lead roles, on my Thanksgiving vacation there were only planes and cars, no trains or buses.
My husband and fur children (only the dogs) drove to Arizona a week before me to visit his father and siblings. I was due to follow suit a week later after booking a one-way ticket from Billings to the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport.
Before booking my flight, and after finding limited seating before Thanksgiving, I had to give my brother a quick call, one of the few people I know who purposely wakes up at dawn and doesn’t have to work early Monday morning for the flight that I considered.
He was kindly willing to drive me to Billings Airport for my 9:12 am departure. Bought off the phone and ticket.
Of course, they recommend getting there two hours early. Since I wasn’t checking in baggage, I wondered if I really had to be there that early, but I don’t think I’m taking any chances if I don’t know exactly how my luck would be that day. So get up at 3am, ready for my friendly Uber / brother driver by 4am, and we were gone.
I did well not to fall asleep with him, but for that we had a nice visit while driving (I can easily fall asleep in the car).
We arrived at the airport without incident and I was dropped off at the curb.
Now I’ve only flown two more times in my life and had travel companions both times. This was the first time I flew alone. I was pretty confident and grateful that this was a non-stop flight. I knew that my luggage was the right size, I had cleaned my handbag of all sharp instruments (don’t ask). All of my fluid bottles were under 3 ounces as advertised (that was because I had sent a suitcase with my husband with my toothpaste, shampoo, and hair gel, I was prepared as I could be, or so I thought.
So I check in at Allegiant and they quickly send me to safety. The TSA agents were friendly, courteous, and patient (what was I thinking about keeping my bag full of change). I swore I would wear light slippers, but no, I wore my lace-up boots. That’s why you get there early to take your shoes off and put them on.
I step on the body scanner and they ask if there is anything in my left pant leg. Uh, just my leg. No, the scanner marked a spot on my ankle and knee so I had to quickly tap the lower part of my leg. The TSA agent declares I’m fine so I’m on my way to collect whatever I’ve just taken off.
I go to my gate with an hour of waiting before boarding starts. The hour goes by quickly as I am a people watcher. I see a sleeping man using his suitcase as a pillow. I check the different types of masks and whether people have them over their noses, under their noses, around their ears, under their chin and that would be a yes to all of that.
Finally time to get in, I stow my hand luggage upstairs and sit on my seat, a window seat.
I’m happy about the window seat, but my claustrophobic self would have liked a seat in the aisle. I tell myself it will be fine as it is only a two hour flight.
It was a fast flight and the window seat was the best as I saw clouds and mountains and fields go by which made me forget not to sit in the aisle.
A quick landing, I meet up with my family and the week flies by until Saturday, when we drive home for two days.
I drove home with Alan and the dogs. Saturday was a 14 hour day from Florence, Arizona to Rangely, Colorado. Sunday was a 10 hour drive to our little 10 acres of heaven.
Our dogs are the best of travelers, but they acted like typical sisters, with the youngest Shadow lying down to take most of the back seat while older sister Ivy had a small part of a window seat. Most of the Saturday Ivy sat in her seat, looking out the window and trying to lie down when it got dark, but couldn’t find much space to get comfortable.
Unlike the drive with my brother, I didn’t stay up on Saturday or Sunday to keep Alan company. When you’re in the front passenger seat, naps are easy and almost mandatory. You fall asleep in Vernal, Utah and wake up outside of Rock Springs (it wasn’t quite that long a nap, but it was close). Napping makes the journey much faster.
I also read quite a bit while sitting in the passenger seat between naps.
While I was awake, I also took time to marvel at the beauty of southern Utah and how parts of northern Arizona look very similar to places in Wyoming. I can see more and more cars going in the opposite direction and I wonder what they know that I don’t know.
No matter how we travel, asleep or awake, on a plane, train or car, one thing is certain, just like in the cinema, it is always good to be at home.
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