This trip began either very late at night or very early in the morning depending upon your view of time. It is about 3:45 am. We are waiting for our taxi to show up for our early morning flight to Portland Oregon.
No matter how well you plan, things do not always work out. Our driver did not show up. We called when he was five minutes late. He said he was at Walmart, about a six minute drive from our house. Ten minutes later he was still not there. Another call indicated he was closer, but on the wrong road.
After another ten minutes on the phone with him, it was clear he was not going to get to our house any time soon. So we canceled our taxi ride. We now had fifty minutes until boarding was to begin and we live fifteen minutes from the airport.
We quickly got all of our luggage into our vehicle for a very quick drive to the airport. Of course, the early time meant the traffic was light. Fortunately, there was an open parking spot not too far from the terminal. We were very glad to have signed up for TSA precheck. We quickly got our luggage checked and went through security.
We were a little bit early for boarding. It was not easy to work off the adrenalin rush from the surprise changes to our plans.
The rest of our flight to Portland Oregon was uneventful and smooth. Our luggage arrived with us. Our car was ready at the rental desk. Our hotel was easily found. Because of the time change, it was mid afternoon in Portland. We had planned nothing for the afternoon just in case we had any issues. We were still very much pumped and ready to go somewhere. It was a good thing we waited a little while.
The jet lag caught up with us. We took a short nap and the afternoon was gone. In spite of the exciting beginning, our first day of travel was very much a success.