Round The World and other travels

I needed to make an early start today and, in a belt and braces approach, I set the alarm clock for 0500 and ordered a wake-up call as well. I was DFW-bound within the hour, along the largely deserted freeways, although we did manage to come across an accident (with police in attendance) along the way. When I checked in, the agent suggested that I transfer onto the earlier flight leaving at 0757, on which there was plenty of room. She said : "We're expecting thunderstorms, so I'd just as soon get you out of here", then laughed at her own slightly unfortunate turn of phrase. In any event, it seemed like a good idea and I was happy to play along; such is the benefit of travelling on a flexible ticket. I transferred to the C Terminal and spent some time in the same Admiral's Club that I had used two days previously. Soon enough, it was time for me to make my way to the gate for my final AA flight on this part of the big trip.

The first thing I did on arrival at SeaTac was to call my good friend Bruce (FlyerTalker sftrvlr), who was also in the city for Labor Day weekend and who had already arranged to pick me up on arrival from the later flight. I waited outside in the morning sunlight and in no time at all, I was bound for the Westin where, very surprisingly, I was able to get access to my room at such an early hour.

About half an hour later, we were once more on the road in Bruce's rather swish, "It's not really me " rental car, heading in the direction of Boeing Field and the Museum of Flight, located due south of the city. I knew there was a BA Concorde at the museum but, as we approached the site, I was surprised to see Alpha Golf parked just a few feet away from the public roadway. First order of business was to have a bite to eat, then we looked round the main exhibition hall, which was packed with interest. Perhaps demonstrating my scant knowledge of airline history, I was somewhat aghast to see an exhibit bearing the name Ryan Airlines ... no, I told myself, not THAT Ryanair   When we had seen enough in the main exhibition, we crossed over to where the aircraft were parked. We managed to visit both Concorde and the former Air Force One plane.

By the time we had done all that, it was nearly closing time. We thought about trying to pull over on the way back into town, to get a few photos of some newly completed narrow-body aircraft from the adjacent Boeing plant, but it was all too well shielded from public gaze. We returned to the Westin and agreed to meet up after a couple of hours snoozing time, which I was certainly in need of, having got up at the equivalent of 0300 Pacific   Duly rested, and after a short stroll, we found somewhere suitable to eat, although the portions were ridiculously large.