Day 1... Beginnings: Seattle to JFK

It’s interesting the silly mistakes you make while traveling. Today has been no exception. In all fairness to me, handling logistics for this trip has been a little more involved than my typical hopper flight from Salt Lake City to Portland every Christmas. So, it’s no big surprise that there have already been situations that could’ve been avoided or handled better. What is interesting, however, is that the mishandled situations are really basic things and I really should’ve known better.

First: As Corinne drove us to the Seattle Airport from Portland, I sat in my seat debating whether or not I should sleep and 

feel better throughout the day or not sleep and maybe get a little jump on the inevitable jetlag when I realize with an incredulous laugh that Brianne and I didn’t check-in to our flights and print off our boarding passes! “I thought that’s what you were doing last night!” Corinne says. Well, kind of. We checked-in to our flight from London to France (you can check in with that airline about a month ahead of time if you wish) but didn’t even pause to think about our Seattle-JFK and JFK-Heathrow flights the following day! “Well, I guess we’ll just do it old school, right?” Right.

Second: Once we had been dropped off and said our goodbyes, Brianne were checking in old school feeling pretty good about things—despite traffic and inclement weather we were doing just fine on time—until I hefted my suitcase onto the scale. The very nice airline employee was pretty straightforward: “You’ve gotta shave off 11lbs or pay 50 bucks.” Sure, shave off 11lbs. That’s nothing. 

Only… where is it gonna go? Do I throw away the two French text books, my triple combination from seminary, and my yoga mat in some airport trash can?! Enter the cell phone. Seriously—what DID we do before these things were around? After some quick calls to mom trying to get a hold of Corinne, we had her turned around and headed back my way.  So Brianne and I proceed to ruthlessly trim things down as I think to myself “you idiot—why didn’t you weigh this before you left and repacked last night?!” I wait in line to check on the weight, praying we’re somewhat close. The little red digits shift around uncannily similar to a Biggest Loser weigh-in. Lost: 11lbs. For a total weight loss of 11lbs!!! Congratulations Paige’s suitcase, you have lost 18% of your original weight. This keeps you above the blue line, saving you from elimination and allowing you to continue on in your quest to become an internationally traveled suitcase.

And third: To pee or not to pee? After a bit of a drawn out passage through security due to an excess of liquids in Brianne’s backpack combined with the delay at check-in due to an excess of weight in Paige’s suitcase, we suddenly found ourselves cutting things a little closer than we had planned. Heading towards our distant gate Brianne declares that she needs to use the restroom. That’s fine. I’ve caused too much trouble to grudge Brianne her basic human rights but all I can think about is this last weeks’ episode of the Amazing Race. (Yes, I watched a lot of reality TV at my parents house this past week!) If there is any lesson I learned from that episode it is: WAIT TO USE THE BATHROOM UNTIL ALL DEADLINES ARE MET!!

Not to leave you on a cliffhanger—we made our flight just fine. Which then landed safely at JFK despite a lot of turbulence and nausea.

We were lucky enough to fly over Scranton, PA.