Getting to Bellingham - 22 August

Well this was bit of journey.

We arrived at SFO airport with a couple of hours to spare, being due to depart at 3.30pm and then 50 mins to make our Bellingham connection in Seattle.  Great plan. 

At check-in though, we were advised of a delayed departure time leaving us only 30 minutes to connect, which "could not be guaranteed".  Check in guy was playing it safe "I'm not saying you won't make it, and not saying you will" while suggesting we instead change to the 9pm departure from SFO meeting the 11.30pm from Seattle. We also had a bit of a tussle over baggage charges, but that sort of paled as other decisions needed to be made.

I really, really did not want to wait at SFO airport for another 7 hours (with no lounge access! the horror), so we opted to book our bags through to Bellingham, take the scheduled flight, pray for no further delays from San Fran and simultaneously pray for delays to the Bellingham flight.

Having taken the plunge, we then repaired to a very fine eating place for sustenance and a glass of wine to await departure, scheduled to board at 3.30.  At 3.22, I decided to glance at the boarding pass again and saw boarding was actually 3.20.  Kate hurriedly paid for our meals while I raced out to check the departure board, which provided no information such as Go to Gate/Boarding now.  Eeek.  As Kate was paying the staff noted her name was spelled the same way Kathryn, and pleasantries were exchanged as she hurriedly packed up.

We raced to our gate, to find it was indeed boarding, with not many passengers left to go.  Just as I got to the gate, PA system announced "Kathryn Andrews please use the courtesy telephone".  We dashed back, found the courtesy phone which was being used by a woman who was clearly settled in for a long chat and skillfully avoided our frantic "how long are you going to be!" stares.  Back to airline desk who half heartedly directed us to another courtesy phone.  Kate dialed in to be greeted by a (slow) recorded message directory - If you are calling about your Frequent Flyer, press 1, if you are calling about flight schedules, press 2 ....

With boarding time ticking away and after checking passport and credit card were in hand, Kate decided we would just board and deal with whatever the message was when we return to SFO for a few hours on Sunday.  We couldn't figure out what might be missing, as nothing else had her name on it.  We half expected her boarding pass to be rejected at the gate, but no - green light.  Then in the walkway queue, Kate suddenly discovered her phone was missing.  A few seconds tossing up options and she decided to make a dash back to the restaurant for it.  Despite there being no name on the phone, the lovely staff Kathryn knew Kate's name from their conversation and bill payment. 

Now apparently when Kate went back up through the gate and explained the situation, they said Yep, that's fine, you have time.  I didn't know this, so spent the next few minutes calculating how I could delay the boarding/departure but not getting kicked off the plane.  As it turned out, things were held up nicely when no more carry on bags could be accommodated and people in front of me argued with flight crew about that.  So I did not have to deploy either the fake chest pains or dropping the entire contents of my handbag in the galley.  So, safely on board hoping the actual take off and flight was not delayed.

We were delayed in the air and landed in Seattle with about 20 minutes until next departure.  Luckily the gates were close.  15 mins available by the time I disembarked, with Kate about 10 rows back,  I watched nervously as about 15 people strolled up the tunnel after me.  Then nothing.  Nobody.  Tick Tick.  Then crew appeared, pushing a passenger in a wheelchair with backlog of passengers behind.  Still no Kate.  Then 2 quite large, very slow passengers with bags came up the tunnel - again no one could get past.  Arrghh!  Eventually Kate appeared and we raced to the gate at Final Boarding - with me also trying to send Kevin a message to say we made the flight.  Message sending inched along and then stopped (of course) and then lost wifi.  

Even though we hadn't managed to make contact, the lovely Kevin and Joan took a punt and were waiting for us at Bellingham.  In the Porsche!  

Man, what a journey.  So glad to arrive.  May have stayed up too late and had too much wine.