Imperfect ending to an imperfect beginning

 

January 15 2023,, Bangkok en route

I’m sitting in an airplane station, got a ticket for my destination ….. (sorry Paul Simon)

I really have nothing to say. Munched and went to bed at 9ish for a 4:15am alarm. I really wanted a good sleep before 20 plus hours of airports and metal tubes, I kind of failed at that. Well not an actual F, more like a D+.

I got up and thought the polished tile on the way to the bathroom felt cool under my feet, until I stepped in the bathroom and nearly slipped on my butt or head. The floor in the foyer to the room was wet from a leak in the ceiling. Nice going 4 star hotel.

Check out was the expected paper and plastic exchange. The provided shuttle got me to the airport in record time and check in at JAL seamless. I knew I had lounge access in Tokyo, but didn’t know I had it here too. Nice to be able to get a couple cups of coffee and a nibble before the flight and after the TSA and passport routine.

I looked to see if the NRT to SEA flight had any bulkhead seats. If they did, I would have sacrificed my fancy seats for an economy one to get to Seattle before afternoon. Looking at Seat Alerts dot com showed no bulkhead, and hardly and knee eating seats left on that flight. So instead of a nice BKK – NRT – SEA it’s got and added SFO. Which means instead of getting home around 4pm I’ll get home closer to 8pm.

Oh, well. The lounge here is nice. Daylight is breaking and I’ll whine and cry more later in NRT, but for now things are okay.

Golden Gate Bridge and S.F. Bay

Tokyo went fine. 

Landed, went to the lounge and had a bite and soon time to board the plane to SFO. I did not get the upgrade that I bid $600 on for Business Class, so still in fancy economy. 10 hours and the Golden Gate Bridge was in view.

Clear formalities, grab my luggage. Get past Customs, give my luggage back into the hands of Alaska Air and on to the short 90 minute flight to Seattle.

Get to Seattle, get to baggage claim. Wait 50 minutes and no bag. Luckily I took my Nikon out of it, and it is mostly full of clothes (dirty and otherwise). The nice lady at Alaska Airlines says the bag isn’t where I should be. Well … duh ! They gave me a form and a tag and said if I ever see the bag again, they will deliver it to my home, and have a nice day.

Kind of a nice end cap to the start of the trip.

Got home about hour 30 between beds and slept for 13 hours. Text message said bag in my town and will deliver it when I call them.

So all seems to be done from the trip. Now to talk to JAL about a refund for the non-fancy seats. Some insurance company to cover the Hotels.com insurance room guarantee for the missed first night in Bangkok. Finally to deal with my travel insurance company to get paid for missed and late flights and late luggage. I might gt back to you later on the outcome on those ‘Adventures’