We flew out Sunday July 3rd. We didn’t have any excitement with our flights which is good. I like arriving at the airport early and our friends also do. This made it nice except we had an 8 am flight. Since we had all signed in on line and our luggage was free because Viking had already covered it, we breezed through check in.
The key was to check in on line. Which is kind of a pain for an old person like me. I had to download apps for all the airlines. Not only did we have to check in we had to take pictures of our Covid shot records. When I was done with all this a quick flash showed up on the screen that I could use the pre check area at the Denver airport. I asked my wife and friends and they saw it too but none of them knew what it meant either.
However, in the morning when we walked to check in we saw that area which was practically empty and decided to check it out. The lady in the area looked at our phones and said we could use that area. Since our baggage was prepaid we didn’t have to put in any credit card information. We also had TSA precheck which means we breezed through that line. We then went to our terminal.
Now my wife is a pre-school teacher, and she gets a lot of Starbucks gift cards. Neither of us are coffee drinkers so they pile up. One of the things I did when I traveled a lot was use the gift cards when I traveled and picked up non-coffee drinks and bought cups for my fellow travelers. So, we bought a lot of gift cards for this flight, and this was our opportunity to use it. The four of us all had a nice breakfast at Starbucks.
Some people ask why come to the airport so early because you just have to wait. However, I find after years of flying airports interesting. I walked around plenty of airports, talk with friends and read if nothing else.
Our flight from Denver to Washington Dulles went well. I think all four of us got some sleep. Our friends were a roll in front of us, but we didn’t talk much during the flight. Once at Washington Dulles we found out gate after only a 10-to-15-minute walk. We had a long stay in Dulles.
Interesting enough the Dulles airport is out of town quite a bit, but I have driven to and from that airport when flying to and from D.C. The interesting thing I don’t know anywhere quick to go get gas on the way to the airport. However, there is a gas station at the airport with a whole bunch of pumps. I counted them once but that was long ago. I always wondered who owned the gas station and if it was an individual I am sure they make their money on that gas station.
We grabbed lunch at the Dulles airport. We saw two places right across from each other. I was asked to make the choice and I chose one as it looked slightly more inviting. I was pleasantly surprised as the food was a lot better than I expected.
We took off from Dulles 20 minutes late. We figured out the reason was the head winds going east were so strong and found out later the Amsterdam Airport doesn’t open until like 7 am. I think they let us land a few minutes before 7, which worked for me.
They feed you well on these flights as you get a dinner and a breakfast after a few hours sleep. They turn off the lights for about 3 hours to get us some sleep, but it didn’t work that well for our group. I slept about and hour and 45 minutes of the three hours and it sounded like I got the most sleep. I figure after the plane landed starts day two so that will be coming soon.
