While yesterday was a lengthy day, it was also one of the best travel days I have had in quite a while. A few reasons helped make it such a good day. But let's go in order for sake of narrative.
Got up at 1:30, didn't have my upgrade cleared yet. Was the only person on the list too which made it a bit frustrating. My driver showed up at 2:45am which was perfect. We got to the airport about 3:20. At that time of the morning only one security line is open and it's on the other side of the airport. No big deal to be honest as I was still able to get through security well before the other side even opened. Was at my gate by 4am and had 40 minutes or so to kill. At 4:38, I went to the agent and asked if I was going to clear. I was nice and polite about it and stated that I didn't want to get all comfortable putting my stuff away only to clear after boarding. She understood and checked. Luckily she was able to clear me and I had 3A for my entire trip.
Once onboard I asked the attendant if I would have to deplane in PHX since the flight was continuing on and not terminating. She said she needed to check since it had been so long since even she had been on a flight that didn't terminate. We had a good laugh about it because neither of us could recall a recent flight that actually had continuing service versus termination. Funny the things you don't realize have changed in regards to travel like this. We got to PHX and she told me, screw it, stay on. We're staying, you can stay. Sweet. It's dumb, but this reduced my stress level greatly. I ended up being the only person on the plane for the entire 45 minutes we were there waiting to reload. Felt very old school and made my day. The best part was when the first of the first class passengers started coming on. The first guy had this smug look on his face because he had been 'first to board' and then he saw me already sitting in 3A and the smug smile vanished. I could almost hear the conversation in his head - "How am I not first?? Who is this already on the plane?? This is not fair to me old white guy!". Suck it bitch. It was made even better when he could tell I already had a report with the attendant as we joked about the service being breakfast again. I did in fact end up having two breakfasts. Eggs from PDX to PHX and the oatmeal from PHX to MSP.
We got in about 40 minutes early and luckily my driver in MSP was also early. Wonderful. He was great. Friendly, knew where he was going, and allowed me to arrange my Friday transportation back right then and there. Perfect. Arrived at the hotel around 2:30 and my upgraded 16th floor corner room was waiting for me. The minute I checked in it started raining but who cares. I am so used to rain at this point it's invisible. I unpacked, did my ironing and went exploring. Determined where the building I will be working at this week was, and headed back to the hotel.
Grabbed a sandwich from Jimmy Johns to eat later while I was out. I then settled in and started watching Fargo. Noah Hawley is an absolute genius. That show not only has some of the most incredible star power ever, the writing is flawless. I made it through 4 episodes without even trying.
Went to bed around 10. Slept okay. Am a little off time zone wise right now, but not feeling sluggish. Since the office is 3 minutes from here I do have some time to kill. Breakfast at six, then who knows what until 8. We are meeting at 8:15 so no need to rush.
I wish all trips went as smooth as it did getting here. Hopefully the rest of the week can keep up with yesterday.
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