If the longest journey begins with but a single step then our trip to Alaska began with sitting for almost four hours in one of the tightest airline seats Iâve ever experienced. It was in an Airbus A320, row eight.
Iâm sure in the process of laying out the seating rows for the AirBus A320 there was a critical point when they had to make the decision to get one more row in before the mid-fuselage emergency exit. They decided they could if they scrunched it up about four inches closer then a regular coach row.
At 6â 2â and 200+ lbs sitting in this row required extreme leg origami. Iâm certain the feeling in my legs will eventually return but Iâm worried the fabric imprints on my knees from the seat in front of me might be permanent. :-)
Flying to Seattle, WA, from Charlotte, NC, consisted of two legs, Charlotte to Phoenix, AZ, and then with a change of planes and on to Seattle. The seating for that second leg was “normal” coach spacing which felt like a luxury after the experience of the first flight.
The weather for the flights was beautiful the whole way but upon arriving in Seattle it was a real surprise…90+F degrees and no rain. Having packed based on seasonal highs in the 60âs we found ourselves overdressed.
After a quick look around on this first day we grabbed a late dinner in our room and turned in preparing for an early start the next morning.
Note: It appears I’ll have some Internet access on board so I hope to upload some post and a few photos this week.
Earl, good luck on your journey. I look forward to sitting around and having a leisurely lunch and swapping ‘war stories’ with you. It sounds like you’ve already got the jump on me with your ‘close encounter’ of the seat back kind! :-)