Whether driving or flying it is ALWAYS best to arrive at least 1 day early. Let’s face it, things go awry when traveling. So why not reduce the stress by having a little buffer just in case.
Yesterday was our travel day from the Southeast to Seattle. I woke up at 5:30am excited for the day and also, 2 cats were hogging my side of the bed. Our first flight was at 3:30pm to Denver. That flight was on time and uneventful. The second flight is where things went downhill.
The 2nd leg was scheduled to depart at 7:20pm and arrive in Seattle at 9:25pm (which is 12:25am to my East Coast body clock). We boarded the plane, only to be told after everyone boarded that we did not have a pilot or co-pilot. We disembarked the plane.
30 minutes later we have a new set of pilots and board the plane for a 2nd time. All of a sudden, no one was getting on the plane and we are all situated in our seats. We are told we had to disembark again. This time the plane had two flat tires. Ugh. Apparently in Denver it is not unusual for tire to go flat when it’s a hot Summer day due to altitude and temps.
Finally at 9:30pm we boarded for the 3rd time and everyone at the gate was hoping it would be the last time. At 10:00pm we pulled away from the gate. We landed at 11:30 in Seattle. By the time we got to our hotel in Northgate it was 12:30am local time or 3:30am with our East Coast body clocks. We were exhausted.
I am really glad that we are staying in Seattle for 3 nights. I ended up sleeping for 5 hours and then took a 2.5 hour nap this afternoon. I can’t even imagine losing the first day of a cruise to napping due to sleep deprivation. We are well rested now, but will be calling it an early night.
The moral of the story? Things can and occasionally will go wrong with flights or road trips. If you build in a safety net, then you won’t miss your cruise.