Tag: Washington State

DESTINATIONS, Road Trips, TRAVEL, Travel Planning, United States

Sliding Into Sea-Tac

Jane Sadek

MAKING MEMORIES: SEA-TAC & My Red Suit Case

I’m taking you along on our 2024 vacation to Washington State, a vacation we’d been looking forward to for many years. Come along and we’ll suffer through the travel day together!

Waking Up at 2:30 AM

So, we did get a deal on our Delta flight to Sea-Tac, but it was very early in the morning – so early that my alarm went off at 2:30 AM. We’d joked about just staying up, but we’re senior citizens now and those days are over. At 3:10 AM the Travel Buddies hit the road.

As I did my planning I was dismayed to discover The Parking Spot had bought out my old favorite, Park ‘N Fly. I’m a bit suspicious when it comes to travel and if something ain’t broke, I don’t try to fix it. I’d been using Park ‘N Fly for at least 30 years and wasn’t happy about trusting my vacation departure to someone else, but I have to admit, even though I had to find a different location, the whole Parking Spot experience was very smooth.

Getting Through Security

By the time we drove to the remote parking lot, rode the shuttle to the airport and checked our luggage, the sun was shining into the big windows of the Delta terminal. We stood in the security line and when it was just about our turn, they made an announcement that the line was closing down due to unnamed problems. It was supposed to be only a 10 minute shut down, but there was a sign nearby that said the next security gate was about 3 minutes away and it only had a 10 minute wait. Fearing the 10 minute shut down might have a little mission creep and not wanting to stand still for however long it would take, we decided to hot foot it to the next gate. Great decision. The walk was invigorating after all the driving and riding. We were whisked through security in no time and were cooling our heels at our gate.

LAX Layover and SeaTac Arrival

Our cheap flight to WA State included a brief layover in LAX. Our flights to LAX went off without a hitch. The flight from LAX was a little delayed, but they made up the time in the air. Before long we were riding the SeaTac monorail to the the rental car facility.

As we went through the machinations of locating our rental I noticed our faithful Old Red suitcase was not cooperating as well as it usually did. Something was wrong with one of the wheels. A cursory inspection revealed the wheel had been destroyed. We pulled away the broken plastic pieces that were slowing us down, to reveal a piece of metal that had been holding it all together. Old Red’s traveling days were over.

That Red Suitcase

I can’t let an old traveling companion like Old Red pass away without acknowledging its glory days. I got the suitcase and a matching tote at JC Penney’s while Bill was an interpreter in Iraq, 2006-7. I was determined to get just what I wanted and was amazed at the affordability of Penney’s choices. The big red bag was fitted out well, with a hanging bag you could fold up into the lid and a matching shoe bag. How could I resist?

I vetoed the matching rolling carry-on and instead chose a matching rolling tote. It was too big to be a carry on, but I’m not a fan of wrestling a rolling bag on board, anyway. I want all my bags checked and only carry a small cloth backpack on board. The matching tote would be perfect for my toiletry bags and shoes. I was a happy camper.

Of course, right after that was when airlines decided to change up the luggage policies they’d had for years. Two checked bags had been the standard since the beginning of my travels by air. In those days, every one checked two bags and then got on the plane with a rolling carry on. Good old Southwest resisted the change until recently, so my red luggage was fine, for years, with Southwest and the arrangement was good for road trips, but when I flew anyone else rolling tote had to stay home and I’d utilize one of the many rolling carry-ons that somehow landed in our attic.

Old Red made some amazing trips with us for a dozen years as my suitcase. Along the way I discovered it was actually smaller than the maximum size I could check with most airlines, but it was configured in such a way that I still managed to get what I needed in there.

Then in 2019 as we prepared for out Anniversary Cruise, all the hard plastic stuff inside the cloth exterior broke up. That damage and the fact that I needed a little more room to get my vow renewal ceremony gown and all the accoutrements in, suggested it was time to buy me a new bag. So that’s when we bought Purple Pair, the luggage I use now, but the bag we check is so large I can barely maneuver it myself.

However, Bill decided he would continue to use Old Red, even without the protective plastic inside, so she kept traveling with us. Sometimes Bill would use her and sometimes I would take her on a trip with me, when I didn’t need the extra room the purple bags gave me and I didn’t want to handle the Purple Monster.

Seventeen years Old Red went on all our travels with us. I’d only paid about $75 for the pair, so I got some real value out of them. If I ever need a rolling tote, I still have Old Red’s mate – and yes, she’s still great for shoes and toiletries. With all those trips together, I was sad to see Old Red go, but I thought with her lost wheel we’d need to replace her right away. Not Bill, he continued to drag her along, all over WA state.

Once we made it home, we knew we had to get rid of Old Red, but I became very sentimental about her and took the photo above. When we’ve traveled since, I’ve mourned the loss of Old Red. The airlines did replace her for us – a shiny new hard size bag we’ll call Cool Blue – more the size of Old Red than the Purple Monster – but I don’t trust her. There was a period of time where Bill was using hard-sided luggage and the airlines seemed to crack it every trip. Let’s hope they’ve improved hard-sided luggage since those days. Cool Blue went to Arizona and on our latest cruise, performing well both times, but I still miss Big Red.

So, on this trip we said farewell to two old favorites – Park ‘N Fly and Old Red. A new travel era had started! Come back next week and we’ll go to Snoqualmie Falls, one of the best treats of the whole WA state experience.

DESTINATIONS, TRAVEL, Travel Planning, United States

Wild & Wonderful Washington State

Jane Sadek

MAKING MEMORIES: LET’S GO TO WASHINGTON STATE!

I’m taking you along on our 2024 vacation to Washington State, a vacation we’d been looking forward to for many years. Come along and let’s get some planning done.

A 2024 Vacation that started in 2012

Back in 2012 I started planning a trip to the Pacific Northwest, but I quickly decided a couple of weeks wouldn’t allow us to see everything we wanted to see in Oregon, much less also visit Washington State. So we took a great vacation to Oregon, a place we loved and planned to return to Washington State as soon as we could.

As it turned out, we didn’t make it until 2024. Our 30th wedding anniversary was last year and that opened the budget up a little. We are also semi-retired these days, so I proposed visiting Washington State AND staying there for a full two weeks. Bill is an 8-Day guy. We take 8 day cruises and the only way I get by with a 10 day vacation is pointing out we’re traveling to and from our destination on two of those day, so they don’t count. I had no idea how I would cram enough of WA state into 8 days to make it worth the flight.

The 8-Day man relented and the planning began. At the top of the list, Snoqualmie Falls! That’s the picture above. I’d seen images of it when I first started researching the Pacific Northwest and knew I didn’t want to leave WA without a peek at it. Then Butchart Gardens. It had been one of my mom’s favorite places and she urged me often to make the trip. I love all things Chihuly so I wanted to see as much of his work as I could and since he’s a Washingtonian, there was plenty to see. I thought Bill would enjoy the Museum of Flight and there’s a lot in Seattle. And somehow, I was determined to also see the Olympic National Park and its rainforest. If I’d had a few more days, I would have visited the San Juan Islands, too, but I knew I already had more stuff to see than my 14 days would allow.

Planning in Earnest

For flights I used the Incognito Google Travel trick and ended up on Delta. I can never think of the airline without remembering someone’s quip about it, Don’t-Even-Leave-The-Airport. Or perhaps I remembered it, because several in-flight incidents with Delta had been on the news, but it was a deal compared to the rest of the flights I could find, so I planned to leave the airport with them.

My friend Expedia helped me with accommodations in Snoqualmie, Tacoma and Olympia, but for the rainforest I booked a National Park Service lodge. Then I found the big saver, Black Ball Ferry Lines. In researching the ferry to get us to Victoria BC and Butchart Gardens, I discovered you could also book your hotels through them and the savings were BIG at great hotels. Heck, I even booked my Butchart Garden tickets through them and my hotel in Seattle. The day I made the purchase the price gave me the jitters. I don’t usually make purchases that large, so hitting the Pay Now button was a little scary.

I made another important decision in this process. Parking in Seattle is reputed to be impossible and more than one source told me to take advantage of public transportation. The hotel I chose put us right across the street from the light rail station, so I decided once we arrived in Seattle we’d take the car back to Sea-Tac. All of these decisions turned out to be very good ones.

So, travel purchases made and bags packed, let’s got to WA state next week!