First Stop: Steps from the Airport

[canyonwalker]

North Cascades Travelog #2
GEG Airport - Sat, 2 Sep 2023, 8am.

Some people begin trips by driving to the airport at night, staying over at a hotel, and flying out first thing in the morning. We turned that upside down by driving to the airport yesterday, flying to Spokane, and then staying over at a hotel. Yes, come Saturday morning we're still at the airport.



We're not in the airport, mind you, but at it. We've stayed in an airport before. Not Recommended. Here we're in a Marriott Springhill Suites that's across the street from baggage claim and the car rental desks. The photo above is the view from our window this morning after dawn. Fortunately Spokane is a small enough airport that there weren't flights taking off and landing all night.

Oh, and last night's flight?



Thirty minutes late. 🤣

But, hey, that was almost a benefit. Southwest marked the delay hours in advance, so we didn't sweat the traffic as much getting to the airport. And once at the airport (traffic was less bad than it could have been) we had time to eat some supper in the terminal without having to wolf it down. And since we were only driving... *looks out window again*... about 100 feet last night, getting in 30 minutes late wasn't much of an inconvenience. 🤣

Comments

[ckd]

I'm a fan of the "arrive late, sleep nearby, then get going" process when the timing is right; my current trip started with the same approach because it drastically simplified the logistics.

We were headed to Jacksonville, NC, but OAJ has extremely limited service; RDU is only a 2-2.5 hour drive, and had far better flight options for each of the three of us converging on it (nonstops from both BOS and SEA, though my dad decided to connect via ATL rather than take one of the DCA nonstops).

Since my flight was scheduled to get in at almost midnight (and turned out to be late) while the others arrived over the preceding few hours, it seemed most practical to book an airport hotel and meet up there. L and I each took the hotel shuttle while my dad picked up the rental car when he arrived; we could then get dressed up and packed that morning without too much time pressure and drive straight to the funeral home.