Pacific Coast Adventure Day 1: Traveling the Friendly Skies

They say timing is everything and today we had it down to a "T". What exactly does that mean, anyway? Oh well. I'll have to look that up. Moving on... We arrived at Tulsa International Airport and did the Kiosk Check-in at the United ticket counter, getting our groups through in a rather quick pace. Then we were all off to security. No line, to speak of, which in itself is amazing! We put all of our belongings on the conveyor belt and then stepped into the pod for a complete body scan. I don't know what they saw or didn't see but I got told to, "step to the side" and then I received my first "pat down". A few simple pats up and down (not as bad as the news sometimes makes it out to be). I joked, "a little to the left", but she said "that costs extra", so I moved on!  Once we were all done with security and into the concourse I realized that I didn't get to kiss my husband goodbye and that I had left him at check-in with the Grand Travelers... Oops! We called each other and waved from a far then proceeded on our way :(  (Thanks, Frank for helping us get through Check-in so smoothly! Kiosk check-in by yourself, not to mention a group of 17, can be a little overwhelming your first time through).

Flying the Friendly Skies
Several of us stopped for a quick cup of coffee (to go, of course) and we made our way to the gate. We had about 15 minutes until boarding, just enough time to get re-organized. Our plane was over-sold (naturally) so they offered a $200 credit to anyone who would like to give up their seat. No one budged. So then they offered a $300 credit. We had 34 in our 2 groups all on a mission to make it to Seattle so we turned down the offer. We calmly but excitedly made the walk down the jet bridge and onto the plane. Seat belts buckled, all electronic devices turned off and we were ready to push away from the gate and taxi for take off. On time departure flying from Tulsa to Denver! Great way to start! After the flight attendants passed through the cabin dispensing drinks, we received a very nice greeting over the public address system. "Welcome aboard to the Travel Masters & Grand Travelers. We Hope you'll enjoy your Pacific Coast Tour". Then they said something about being in good hands with Marsha & Suzy. Thanks, United for the welcome. Flying time to Denver was a little over 1 1/2 hours and was about as smooth a flight as can be. After we landed we found out our gate was changed. Little did we know that this change was for the better. We arrived at Gate B22 and had to stroll all the way to Gate B18. Pretty sweet, considering we had about 15 minutes now until boarding time. A quick pause for the cause, grab a bite (to go) and we headed to B18. I didn't even have time to take a seat in the boarding area. It was forward, march right onto the plane.  Now, safely buckled in our seats we were ready for the second leg of this journey. Hey! DirecTV is onboard this flight! Most of the group though, took this opportunity for a cat nap, conserving energy for the fun-filled days ahead. Or maybe it was the lack of sleep. (I'm voting for lack of sleep.) I thought it would be a good time to blog our first day, so here I am one-finger typing on my iPhone (in airplane mode, and of course my iPad is packed away where I can't get to it). Just when I'm really getting into this, the pilot announces we'll be landing soon so I must turn off my phone.  To be continued...

On the Grounds (get it?) in Seattle (Grounds? Coffee? Seattle? Starbucks?... Awww, forget it, lol!)
I'm back! We are now checked in our hotel the Sheraton Seattle Hotel. A nice property located in the market area. You know, where they throw the fish? We will see that tomorrow. Maybe even catch a fish since we do have a couple of avid fishermen in the group. Although maybe it's not quite the same thing. Our room is clear up on the 24th floor looking out onto the city. This will be good practice being up high for when we go up really high tomorrow evening in the Space Needle. Several people went out for a little exploration walk before dinner. Me? I caught up on a few emails from work and blogged just a little more here! Time for dinner... I'll be back later...

Dinner Time!
Tonight we are having our "Welcome Dinner" just down the street. This is one of those customary first-night get-togethers that help us become acquainted with our traveling companions. 21 Travel Masters, 17 Grand Travelers and 10 travelers from New York make a total of 48 folks sitting at one really long table! We had 4 choices: Chicken, Steak, Fish & Chips or Cajun Pasta. It all looked really, really good!  Dinner was followed by a mini strawberry cheese cake which was yummy! You could start to see the tired eyes in many of the group by this time. A number of us were ready to call it an evening and make a quick hike back to the hotel to our rooms. Looking forward to being refreshed and ready to go tomorrow.