The Adventure Begins... With a Couple of Glitches!
We headed to George Bush airport in Houston for an evening flight to Salt Lake City. Before we could start our journey, Barry had to complete his bi-annual medical. And we’re off! Not so fast… two hours delayed.
This time we are really on our way. Once off the ground, I emailed the hotel to make sure their shuttle would still be running when we landed. They made sure it was waiting for us when we arrived.
When we reached the hotel, Dom couldn’t locate our reservation. I showed him my confirmation, still no luck, He searched… and searched… and searched… suddenly his face lit up and he realized our reservation was misspelled. It was under Barry OrMrsLisaT***. So it was filed under the letter “O” instead of “T”. Finally in our room after midnight! I looked out the window… snowy scene…
With confirmed tickets to LAX (via Denver), we were all set to catch our evening flight to Sydney. There can be confusion when airline employees mix confirmed and standby reservations. Our goal was to have the luggage go all the way through. The ticketing agent confirmed with her manager that everything was set for the luggage to go through. The United gate agent and the Captain assured us the baggage was aboard the plane and on its way with us.
Upon landing in Denver, I checked the status of our baggage… nothing showed up AND our listing to Sydney was cancelled. United’s main baggage department confirmed that everything DID arrive in Denver with us and was slated to follow us to Sydney…. and then, ten minutes after ending the call, my phone rang. A lovely lady named Betty asked if I was still planning to go to Sydney. Of course I said, “YES!!!” She then informed me that she was in Salt Lake City and had physical possession of our luggage. The luggage never left, as we were told my customer service! Betty made sure our bags would get to LAX and then on to our final destination. She sent our confirmation tags via txt….whew!
Back on track, we landed in Los Angeles an hour late. Again, I looked on the app to track our bags. It now showed them as having arrived on the SLC>LAX nonstop in plenty of time to get on our Sydney flight. It was a very smooth flight… time for a vacation cocktail before heading back to the gate for our seat assignments. Praying, praying, praying for first class on the 14+ hour flight!
WINNING! We hit the jackpot! United Polaris on the Dreamliner…. It was definitely worth traipsing the countryside to pick the flight that would give us these seats. We didn’t get to sit together but it didn’t matter… we usually spend our time watching movies and sleeping.
The amenities bag that is included with the Polaris class seats honored Star Wars! My cousin has worked on these movies for years, so it was kind of exciting to get this keepsake. I’m sure one of my kids will “adopt” it :-)
With passengers still boarding, we started exploring the items provided. This one got me REALLY ready for a good night’s sleep. In addition to this Saks Fifth Avenue down pillow, we had a memory foam wedge to provide support when necessary. Shoes off, Star Wars socks and slippers on… I pulled up the cozy down blanket, turned on a movie… ready to fly!!!
A few rows ahead of me is my better half… he settled in quickly. Not sure what movies he will pick but my first selection was “Once Upon A Time in Hollywood”. This is one I’ve been wanting to see but just haven’t. We will land in Sydney at 8:45am and lose an entire day because of the dateline. So… until tomorrow!
