We got a productive start in the morning, having eaten breakfast and in the car ready to go shortly after 9am. A trip to the local post office to sort out some mail forwarding issues was abandoned when the post office turned out to not be open yet, and so we instead proceeded straight to Coffee Bean so that Abe could get his precious ice blended chai before abandoning the west coast for a week. We hit virtually no traffic and arrived at the airport in plenty of time. Abe, a Gold Medallion Delta SkyMiles member for the first time, proceeded to the Sky Priority line and checked in our bags. After breezing through security thanks to our participation in TSA Pre-Check, Arielle went straight to the Delta SkyClub, which she has individual access to as a result of one of her credit cards, while Abe sat down by the gate to catch up on some TV watching. When Arielle arrived about 45 minutes later with soup to share, she informed Abe that he had been sitting by the wrong gate. Fortunately, it wasn’t too late for Abe to get in line to talk to a representative about our seats. Since Gold Medallion members have complimentary access to Delta Comfort + seats three days ahead of time, Abe had selected one, but since Arielle had booked a Basic Economy ticket, which was $25 cheaper, she hadn’t been upgraded with him. As Arielle, quoting her mom, always says, it never hurts to ask, and Abe was both surprised and delighted when the desk agent quickly and kindly moved her up from her aisle seat thirteen rows back to the middle seat right next to him. Twice as much legroom (and free alcohol) are well worth it on a cross-country flight! It’s also great that Delta continues to offer complimentary meals to everyone on the plane on cross-country flights. Our usual selection of the cheese and fruit plate continues to be reliable even if the cheeses are far too smoky. The new peanuts they have are great though! Arielle asked if she could get two drinks (she actually got three) and ordered a coffee with Bailey’s and a ginger ale. Abe got Bailey’s on the rocks and apple juice, drunk separately, of course. Ed, the very nice flight attendant, even gave us two extra bottles of Bailey’s but jokingly warned us that we better not get too rowdy. The other flight attendant, Heather, was also fantastic, and she and Ed helped make a five-hour flight fly by.
Going through a proof of our wedding album (only four years late) also made it enjoyable! Abe also watched some movies and TV and Arielle finally watched Coco, which she loved, despite crying through and after the film, which was especially emotional after the year we’ve had. We landed about half an hour early and our bags were already waiting for us at baggage claim by the time we arrived at the carousel. Our friend Julia was nice enough to come pick us up at the airport and drive us to her East Boston apartment. Her fiancé Frank picked up a box of Santarpio’s Pizza to have as a late night dinner on their roof, which was lovely. We chatted for a while and had a great time catching up. We give them a 10/10 rating for hospitality and accommodations - their dogs even steered clear of Abe! We look forward to celebrating their wedding in Boston in October! We got to sleep around midnight, preparing for a big day of driving the next day.
Approximate number of miles covered: 3000
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