Belated Honeymoon: Part I

We had originally planned to take this trip, as our honeymoon, in 2010. Unfortunately, we had an incident with a tree during an ice storm and, as a result, significant damage happened to our house. Further, Aaron's car was smashed by the enemy tree so alas, we had to postpone our dream vacation until 2011. We took the postponement, like we are trying to take many things, in stride.

After another year of planning, we left June 30th for the trip of a lifetime. I can't recall a time when I was more at peace, happier, and more relaxed than I was from June 30-July 16, 2011. I had just left my job, Aaron was on school vacation, the pups were tucked safely away with my mother, and our cats and house were under the watchful eye of my father-in-law. We were ready for a worry free vacation.

Because Alaska has such a diverse climate (and we were going to be spending time in Seattle at the end of our trip) we needed to bring an array of clothing to cover the different temperatures. We ended up using space bags. They really do work and enabled us to pack what we needed without bringing several pieces of luggage.

When we booked the trip we were due to fly right into Alaska. Our flight left from Boston --> D.C --> San Francisco --> Anchorage. Unfortunately, our D.C flight was delayed and we missed our connection to Anchorage. Even though we RAN from one gate to the other, we arrived just in time to see our plane leaving the gate... without us. This, too, we took in stride. We had known the connection time was a little tight and, if there was a delay, we would most likely NOT make our connector. Knowing this, we were one step ahead of the travel industry and packed everything we needed for an "unexpected" overnight in a carry-on bag.

Unfortunately, when we went to customer service to explain our situation they were SO rude. I have a pretty high tolerance for rude people but the associate who was dealing with our missed connection was so irritated that she was practically seething when we tried to explain our mishap. I literally had to walk away because if I'm pushed far enough I'll go for the throat and I really didn't feel like being removed from the airport in cuffs. We lodged a complaint against her at the service center and, to make up for her unacceptable treatment of us, we were scheduled for a flight the next day at 3:30 pm (it was exactly 24 hours later), they paid for our hotel (the Westin on San Francisco Bay!!!) and gave us money (vouchers) for food. We hadn't even booked a room in Anchorage that night, "just-in-case", so this actually worked out to save us a bit of money and allow us a night in a city I had never before visited.

We immediately left the airport and, even though we'd been traveling for about 7 hours, (having had to be in Boston for 6 AM) we still managed to squeeze a lot of sight seeing in. We checked into our hotel then set off for Fisherman's Wharf... where Alcatraz, a view of the Golden Gate Bridge, and sea lions are found!

We ate at a pretty amazing restaurant called Pier 23. It had a pin-up girl theme (which Aaron LOVED.)  Aaron noticed an advertisement that had my birthday on it so, of course, he made me get my picture under it.

Alcatraz! Right behind me. Just like that.

Golden Gate... see it?

These sea lions were everywhere. They were bellowing and making so much noise. I desperately wanted one but Aaron said no. Boo!

The Zoltar machine used in the movie Big. I was hoping to find that foot piano thing too but, no luck.

The next morning, with much of the day still ahead of us, we had an amazing breakfast then went for a walk along San Francisco Bay. It was a gorgeous day; the landscaping was beautiful and the palm trees were enormous.

                           

I have to say, I'm glad we missed our flight. It allowed us to take a break in the actual travel time (it's was about 14 hours total to Anchorage) and we got to see San Fran. We are definitely hoping to go back and spend a little more time there but, it was a great preview. I'm really proud that I was able to not even think about missing our flight (normally, a disruption would have severely upset me) BUT, when I left my job I vowed to not sweat the small stuff; at the start of our vacation I swore to do it and I'm still going strong!

(Don't be mistaken, however, when I returned home I let the airline know exactly what I thought of the way we were treated. Let's just say Aaron and I will be flying to North Carolina this November to visit one of my best friends... for free.)

Stay tuned for the rest of our journey.