Dear Southwest Airlines~The letter I wish I’d Written

Posted on July 20, 2013July 20, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Dear Southwest Airlines

I’ve heard so many good things about you. You have fun cabin attendants, open seating, Early Bird Check-In, Priority boarding and BAGS FLY FREE!

Recently I had the opportunity to fly across the country with you round trip. Yup all the way from Providence, Rhode Island aka T.F. Green to Seattle and back again. Everyone was very pleasant, smiling and nice.

I changed planes in Baltimore on the way to Seattle. While I was waiting for boarding I happened to look out and it was pouring. Torrential rains were coming down. I commented to one of my fellow passengers “Wow, look at the rain!” We stood at the window watching the uncovered baggage carts wheel out onto the tarmac and bags get loaded into the plane. Neither of us thought anything of it at the time but when we arrived at Seattle we were greeted by our luggage that was so wet that each bag left a puddle on the baggage carousel. I heard a lot of grumbling.

When the cabby loaded my bag into his trunk he gave me a look and pulled out a newspaper to line the trunk before he put the bag in. I was very embarrassed.

All of my clothing was soaked and had to be dried at my hotel! Maybe the rain surprised your baggage handlers as much as it had surprised us but here’s the thing, on my return trip I had a change of planes in Baltimore again.

You won’t believe what happened…another torrential rain storm swept through.

I wasn’t concerned. I was sure the soaked bags from the outbound trip was just a fluke. I fly often and have never had a problem like this before in spite of rain or snow storms.

Nope. When I arrived at T.F. Green once again the bags, and not just mine, were soaked to the point of having water drip and run out onto the baggage carousel. As if that wasn’t bad enough my bag had the bottom stabilizer broken off so you could no longer stand the bag upright and there were 2 holes were the stabilizer had been anchored. The holes did a fine job of draining the water.

I can only say I am not sure I saved any baggage fees by flying Southwest. I may not have paid the $25- $35 baggage fee of the other airlines but it cost me $89.00 to replace the damaged suitcase as well as the aggravation of drying my clothing in the room and having to wash even clean, but soaked, clothes when I got home.

Clearly bags fly free on Southwest but in the words of Rodney Dangerfield they “Don’t Get No Respect”.

Regards

A Dissatisfied Customer

(Photos courtesy of the internet)

Lets Hear it for Seattle…one more time

Posted on July 19, 2013July 19, 2013 by Dusty Roads

It was the last day of “Boot Camp” (the company’s term for this week of training.) We covered things like benefits, expense accounts and had our pictures taken for the company web site. We also had our “Graduation Celebration”.

I carried my camera to work this time. I wanted one last chance to document this little corner of Seattle.

I wanted to see the “Great Wheel”, a gigantic Ferris wheel on the Waterfront and visit the Public Market aka Pike Place Market known for it’s “flying fish” but didn’t get there.

All this walking had brought on a good case of blisters again and it was a different pair of shoes this time. No idea why I am suddenly plagued with blisters. The best I could manage was a hobble to the drug store for first aid supplies. But the building that housed the drug store was eye catching with decorative trim around the top.

If I’d had more time here’s some of the things I would have liked to do.

Great Wheel
Pike’s Place Market
Mt. Rainier Gondola
Boeing Tour
point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium
Whale Watch
Seattle Aquarium
Woodland Park Zoo
Northwest Trek Wildlife Park

Maybe I need to add Seattle to my list of places to my vacation bucket list.

A view of the Space Needle from under the mono rail track.

Seattle from my hotel room window.

And one final view of the Space Needle

Sunset at the space Needle

Posted on July 18, 2013July 18, 2013 by Dusty Roads

A picture is worth a 1000 words….

Waiting for the elevator I look down on the gift shop below.

Lots of people on the observation deck waiting for the same thing I am.

Seattle at night.

Sunset

Space Needle at night

Chihuly Gardens

Posted on July 17, 2013July 17, 2013 by Dusty Roads

I’m back at the Space Needle and the first thing I did was purchase my ticket to the Chihuly Gardens. Many of the exhibits were familiar.

They had been part of the show that visited The MFA but now they appeared to be permanent exhibits. Although some were inside in exhibit halls many of the larger pieces were outside including my favorite one.

My favorite is a made up of purple “candles” placed around a fallen log.

Next to the log a pod of black glass “things” seem to be swimming out from under the log. It made me think of seals or maybe dolphins. I checked this out from all sides. It is definitely my favorite.

The thing about Chihuly is that all of his pieces are beautiful and amazing.

I still had plenty of time before sunset but most of the other places were closing for the day so I headed back up the Space Needle. I might as well enjoy the views while I wait for sunset.

I saw other photographers with their tripods.

I didn’t bring mine this trip but I wish I had.

Without a tripod I would have to hand hold and the darker it got the harder that would be.

I hope these photos of Chihuly Gardens convey a little of it’s magical quality.

What a View from The Space Needle

Posted on July 16, 2013July 16, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Time to explore the Space Needle. I skipped the souvenir shop on the ground floor and followed the signs around and up a ramp where I purchased a ticket. It’s a 1 use ticket so once you go up don’t plan to come back down until you’re done. If you do you’ll have to buy another ticket at $21.00 per ticket that can get a little pricey.

The revolving SkyCity restaurant is 500 ft up the Space Needle and was only the 2nd revolving restaurant in the world. The restaurant makes a 360 degree revolution about once every hour. I didn’t eat there. I expect it is expensive and even with reservations people were waiting on the upper deck.

As I waited in line for the elevator I had the opportunity to get a souvenir photo. No one else was going to take my picture so why not?

The elevators hold 25 people at a time. Once we were loaded the attendant welcomed everyone to the Space Needle and told us to “look quick” because we had 43 seconds to see the sights before we reached the Observation Deck at 520 Ft.

The center part of the observation deck is enclosed and they have snack bars and drink bars located around the center core. Tables are placed around the circumference so you can look out over the city as you snack or sip your drinks.

Step down about 5 steps and go out a door and you are outside with only a railing and some glass panels to separate you from the drop to the ground. The outside track doesn’t move. You have to walk around it to see the different areas of the city. I didn’t realize it but the door I chose to use brought me right out to the view of Mount Rainier. Once again my mouth was hanging open.

Mount Rainier was so “there”, “in your face” , I don’t know how to describe it. After chasing the elusive Mount McKinley all of last week, to step out and see this awesome mountain right in front of me just took my breath away.

Mount McKinley is taller than Mount Rainier but Mount Rainier is closer so it looks larger and, forgive me for saying this, more impressive. (at least to me). I’m really glad I had a chance to see Mount Rainier so soon after Mount McKinley as my impressions were so fresh in my mind.

I may not be in Alaska but sunset in Washington State was pretty late too right around 9:30. I didn’t want to stick around that late this time and since I planned to come back to see Chihuly Gardens I decided to head back to the hotel. I needed to be back at the office at 8am and jet lag was definitely confusing my body clock.