Today I flew from Reno to Seattle on Alaska Airlines. It was a very good flight: traveling in first class is something I could get used to, although in this case it was primarily because I had a lot of extra stuff to carry, so the two-checked-bag allowance made the bigger seat almost incidental extra expense.

I was running so far ahead of schedule that I almost was too early, but the check-in desk opened just as I got there. With my first class ticket, I went though a shorter queue, and even though I had to once again take out my computer, camera, and put my shoes through the belt, I was still through Terrorization only 15 minutes after dropping my bags. That gave me loads of time to have breakfast before heading down to the gate, where I still had an hour to wait for my flight

( Heritage Fleet and Hotel Upgrades )

I then walked down to the Sephora to confirm that I had understood the map properly and to figure out how long it would take to get there. After that, I located a Walgreens that wasn't too far away. I'd forgotten a couple of toiletries items that were easy to replace there, and I also bought some milk and soda. Across the street from Walgreens was a Chipotle, and I got a burrito to take back to the hotel. I was pretty tired already, and besides, having such a nice room, I wanted to get some use out of it.

Anyway, that was the trip to Seattle. I do not expect to update daily on this trip, for the reasons I've already given.

When I flew to and from the UK a few weeks ago, I was able to obtain relatively cheap Polaris Business (first) class upgrades both directions. In both cases, I received various goodies, including an amenity bag each direction. I noticed that the bag going one way was a different style than the one going the other, and I initially put that down to different suppliers. Today, while looking more closely (and actually reading the info card that came with them), I discovered that it's an intentional difference, and rather clever.

( Two Bags Into One )

I'm going to give this to Kayla to use as her travel makeup bag so she won't have to keep carrying stuff around in Ziploc bags.

Kuma Bear and his Girl have continued to go see things. Yesterday they visited the German Transport Museum in Munich. It was not their first visit there, but the place is so big that it deserves multiple visits.

Things get a little complicated in the next few days. I'm heading for Seattle and Worldcon on Sunday, while Kuma and Lisa will be in Lucerne, Switzerland. After being burned in Berlin, I made sure to contact the hotel in Lucerne to make sure they understood that the reservation was for Lisa and that any charges should go against my credit card on file, although in this case, there should be no charges (other than a small local tax that she'll have to pay, I think) because the room is on my IHG points. In my case, I'll be spending two nights at the Crowne Plaza Seattle before moving in to the Sheraton Grand for Worldcon. This is because my original reservation was based on driving to Seattle instead of flying, and when it proved to be more economical to fly (even in first class), I needed to arrive two days earlier than originally planned, and I was very concerned that trying to modify my Sheraton reservation might break it. Besides, I'm an IHG diamond member this year, so I might as well get some use out of it, although it does mean changing hotels on Tuesday.

Because of the European train vacation, Lisa will not be at Worldcon this year.