The family is starting a week long trip to Alaska. The first time an of us have been to Alaska, adding another state to the list of Great America that has been seen. This trip is also a graduation present for Noah, who always wanted to see Alaska and visit some friends he has made here.
The morning was mostly a chaotic whirlwind of getting ready for the trip. Packing and bags and goodies for the trip, and taking care of last minute items needing attention around the house. This tends to be or normal couple of hours before leaving for a trip
We will be traveling most of the day today, starting with the PDX airport. Now that Oregon has lifted its COVID mask rules, it was interesting to be back in a place that required mask, and pretty much the entire trip would need to be done with a mask on: all the airports, all the air planes. Generally don’t mind wearing a mask, but my ears certainly hurt after a while, as I usually do not need to wear one for so long.
It was a bit surreal being back at an airport after 1.5 years of not traveling. There were definitely some changes to how things were being done, but, in general things flowed quite smoothly. After some initial period of getting reacquainted with the idea of traveling and flying, and remembering what all I needed to do to get through security, it began to feel a bit more normal, which was nice.
The last time I was in PDX was on my return from Beijing in late November, 2019. A few short weeks before COVID starting spreading through China and the beginning of this great plague of my generation.
The quick hop up to to Seattle was uneventful. A 3 hour layover was a bit long but go to enjoy some comfort on a lounge. Getting into the lounge was a bit tricky, both because of the demand, and the new reservation process.
Soon we were on the last flight into Anchorage, which went quickly and comfortably, arriving near 11pm Alaska time (midnight PDX).
The troops are all pretty tired that that point, and after navigating the rental car process, got to our hotel near the airport and crash for the evening.
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