Day 22
Suddenly the day has arrived where we needed to pack our suitcases one last time. We had a bit of a lie in, got ready and then packed. I tried to figure out how I good get to the shopping mall that was nearby. I was still trying to get some of the PocketBac hand sanitisers for two of my colleagues. We went downstairs just before 11:00 to check out. I had planned to just leave the luggage at the hotel and then head out. Graham did not fancy coming along and was just going to sit in the lobby. In the end the airport shuttle was just coming back and we decided to just take the shuttle to the airport. We were at the drop off area at the airport about 10 minutes later. There were check in kiosks for Delta on the level that we arrived at and I checked us in using those. I was positively surprised how quick and easy this was and that for once I did not get any error messages. Once we had our boarding passes, we then dropped off our luggage. I was amused that my suitcase was exactly 23kg. I was joking with the person at the baggage drop that this was such precession work as I was working for an airline myself. She advised us to stay in the main terminal until nearer to the departure time as there was not much in the satellite terminal that we would be flying from.
I have to say there was not much in the main terminal either and we did not really fancy hanging around there for nearly half a day. Graham did not really relish the prospect of spending the last hours of his holiday shopping, but when faced with the choice between overpriced fast food of dubious quality at the airport or a proper lunch at The Olive Garden, The Olive Garden won. The first thing we needed to do is get some cash as we were literally down to a couple of Dollars. We had no trouble finding a cash machine and once we had some more money, we headed outside in search of a taxi. That was not a problem either as a taxi was just pulling up when we got outside.
The taxi ride from the airport to Southcenter Mall took about 10 minutes. One of the first shops we came past when we got there was Bath and Body Works. They even had the PocketBacs on special offer. Before diving in, I figured I better check if they have any resealable bags to put them in. I figured that as Southcenter Mall is so close to the airport, I may be in luck. Unfortunately that was not the case. As we already had checked in our luggage, I had to put anything I bought in the hand luggage. I left it and decided to check first if I could find some Ziploc bags somewhere. I came across another Lush and had a look around. I also decided to have a quick peak inside the
Disney Store. I suppose I will never learn. I was yet again reminded that the US Disney Stores are not up to much. They have such a great website, but the physical stores are dire.
We decided that it was time for lunch and set off to find The Olive Garden. This was actually across the car park. As we were walking, I spotted something promising. Right across the road from The Olive Garden was a Target. I decided to check this out after lunch. We were seated straightaway. Graham had some ice tea and I had a Blackberry Blood Orange Tea. We also both had a glass of Moscato. We were given a choice between soup or salad and both went with soup. Graham had Chicken & Gnocchi Soup, which consisted of roasted chicken, traditional Italian dumplings and spinach. I went with Pasta e Fagioli Soup, which consisted of white and red beans, ground beef, tomatoes and pasta in a savoury broth. Graham had a Create Your Own Pizza with Pepperoni, Italian sausage, mushrooms and black olives and I chose Spaghetti with meat sauce and meat balls. Neither of us had room for dessert, but I had an espresso and Graham had a filter coffee.
When I had finished my espresso, I left Graham to finish his coffee and I headed over to Target. I have never been inside a Target so I was not quite sure what to expect. Fortunately I had no problems getting my Ziploc bags there. I purchased them and went back to The Olive Garden. I ended up walking straight past Graham, who was no longer at the table, but was sitting near the entrance. He was deeply amused by this. When we had caught up with each other again, we heading back across the car park to Southcenter Mall.
As I now had my Ziploc bags, I could head back to Bath and Body Works to pick up the PocketBacs. I ended up getting some for myself, too. We completed the circle around the mall and I had a look at a couple more shops and then we decided it was time to head back to the airport. This proved easier said then done. This was the first shopping mall I ever visited that did not have any taxis. We checked out the bus situation. There seemed to be plenty of buses, but none of them seemed to go towards the airport. So we headed back inside and I looked for a customer service desk, but could not find that either. In the end somebody directed me to a courtesy phone for customer services and they called a taxi for us. I was told it would take 15 to 20 minutes, but in the end it took about 30 minutes. I was just about to give up and use my iPhone to call a taxi when it arrived.
The trip to the airport was very quick again and once we got there, we headed straight through security. This took a while as the area was extremely busy. Still, the line moved steadily and the process was pretty efficient. Once we cleared security, we were ready for something to drink. There was a handy Starbucks just behind the security check point so I go us both a Passion Tea Lemonade, which went down a treat. I also no longer could resist and got a pack of both flavours of the Starbucks Via Refresha. When we finished our drinks, we made our way to the satellite terminal where our flight would leave from. This was also not the easiest task as the signposting was somewhat contradictory and the access to the little train that would take us there was very hidden.
Eventually we figured out where we needed to go and went to the train. It turned out that the Emirates flight was leaving from the same satellite terminal as our flight and the whole crew was on the train with us. I ended up chatting to some of them. When we got off the train, one of the escalators was completely full with Emirates crew. As the uniforms are so distinctive, this looked really impressive. I was more than just a little tempted to get my camera out, but resisted the temptation. I won't forget the reaction I got in a hurry when I took some photos of the Emirates plane at Houston last year. For the same reason I decided against taking a photo of the plane, but I of course had to go an have a look. Once this was done, we went to find a seat near our gate.
As we had been warned, there was not a great deal there. However, we had found some seats and there was fee Wi-Fi so I was happy. The terminal was extremely busy. The airport in Portland, Oregon was closed due to adverse weather and a lot of flights had been redirected to Seattle. Fortunately it did not take to long until they started to board for our flight. This time round we had an Airbus A330-200. This was my first ever flight with an American carrier that was operated by an Airbus. We were right at the back of the aircraft. We stored our carry ons and made ourselves comfortable.
The flight was eventless. Soon after we were at cruising altitude they served drinks and snacks followed soon afterwards by dinner. We both had chicken with pasta. After dinner, I wrapped myself in my new blanket and settled down to watch Anna Karenina. I had watched this in part on our flight back from Dubai in March, but had fallen asleep in the middle. They had some issues with the entertainment system and had to reboot it twice. Both times I had started to watch the film. On the third attempt I finally got to watch the whole film. Once this was finished, I put on Les Miserables for the music and settled down to sleep. I ended up sleeping most of the flight. Having this blanket made all the difference as I am normally always cold on planes and the blankets the airlines provide are rather flimsy. This time round I was a snug as a bug in a rug and apart from having to readjust my position every now and again, I just slept through.
I woke up when they started to serve breakfast. I was offered some, but declined. About an hour later we started our decent into Amsterdam and we landed on time. We had quite a tight connection and the airport is huge. Fortunately the two flights were at adjacent concourses and we actually made it to our new gate before they opened this up. This gave us time for a bathroom stop and shortly afterwards, they opened up the security check point at the gate. Once we cleared security, we found some seats in the gate area, but it did not take long until they started boarding. The flight left pretty much on time and it took about one hour. During the flight I amused myself reading the onboard magazine. They also served drinks and a choice of sweet or savoury snack. I had some mini cookies and a coke. Once they cleared away everything, we were already descending into Manchester.
I was quite surprised when we landed in terminal three in Manchester. When we last flew with KLM, we had landed in terminal two. Still, arriving at terminal 3 had its advantages. Passport control was not particularly busy and we did not have to wait long for our luggage. We also managed to get a taxi as soon as we left the terminal building. When we got home, we just put our luggage in the living room and went to bed to get some more sleep. Another magical trip had come to an end.
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