{"id":83103,"date":"2024-09-26T18:28:47","date_gmt":"2024-09-27T01:28:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/?p=83103"},"modified":"2024-10-07T06:11:26","modified_gmt":"2024-10-07T13:11:26","slug":"o-dark-thirty-and-we-are-off-and-running","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/?p=83103","title":{"rendered":"Day 1: O-Dark-Thirty And We Are Off And Running"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Airplanes take off at 6:00 am. I \u00a0didn’t think airplanes woke up at 6:00 am!!<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0Day 1<\/a> – Day 2<\/a> – Day 3<\/a> – Day 4<\/a> – Day 5<\/a> – Day 6<\/a> – Day 7<\/a> – Day 8<\/a> – Day 9\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Our limo driver was here at 2:30 am; Jonny on the spot!!\u00a0 We were packed and ready to go with the checklist checked and double-checked.\u00a0 \u00a0The limo was loaded, and we were off like a herd of buffalo transversing the 55 to the 91 to the 605 to the 105 and finally into the American Airlines terminal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We unloaded my tiny little Ralph’s Market shopping bag of clothes and then hailed three porters to carry Mary’s steamer trunk and eight suitcases to the check-in desk. Did I fail to mention Mary had eleven carry-ons, and I was not one of them?!<\/p>\n

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The lady at the counter asked if we were smuggling pirates!<\/p><\/div>\n

We arrived at LAX a little early, so we found a place to sit. We ordered breakfast at a small place. One cold turkey sandwich and two lattes for $36\u2014we are in the wrong business! It was like a holdup!<\/p>\n

\n

Airport food can be expensive for a number of reasons, including:<\/p>\n

High retail space costs – Airport retailers pay a premium for small spaces, and the cost is not fixed. They may also pay a monthly rate plus a commission on sales.<\/p>\n

Security – Airport food must go through airport security frequently due to limited storage space. This includes extra precautions like counting knives multiple times a day.<\/p>\n

Transportation – Airport vendors may need to pay for transportation to the airport and parking.<\/p>\n

Employee badges – Vendors may need to pay for special badges for their employees.<\/p>\n

Supply chain – Airport food delivery trucks need to clear security and may need extra insurance.<\/p>\n

Demand and supply – Airports are high-security zones, so many outside food items are not allowed inside.<\/p>\n

Competition – Airports have limited space, so there are fewer stores and less competition.<\/p>\n

Supplier prices – Food wholesalers may charge more to businesses near airport terminals.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

The first flight took off like clockwork on a swanky new 321 aircraft. It was so shiny, I think I saw my reflection in the fuselage! We had a lovely brunch on the airplane and a glass of champagne. We were both tired, so we crashed (excuse the expression) for the four-and-a-half-hour flight.<\/p>\n

Leaving LAX this early was terrific!\u00a0 It was foggy but as soon as we got to about 3,000 the Sun was out and the view was terrific.<\/p>\n

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… into the wild grey wonder!<\/p><\/div>\n

As we banked to the south and eventually northeast, the Catalina Islands emerged from the clouds.\u00a0 It is amazing how the Sun can burn off the clouds in a hour or so.<\/p>\n

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Catalina sticks her head out of the clouds.<\/p><\/div>\n

About 30 minutes into the flight, the steward came by with breakfast. It was pretty good and warm, except for the champagne.\u00a0 Even the fruit was ripe!<\/p>\n

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Breakfast is served.<\/p><\/div>\n

After four hours of flying, we were over Philadelphia, and the aircraft was running low on essentials: wine!!<\/p>\n

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Philadelphia is our first stop!<\/p><\/div>\n

We were first in line after a quick sip of the wine at the nearby saloon.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Bangor, next stop!<\/p><\/div>\n

Mary had all the tickets, passports, and other documents we needed to check in. I took a wheelchair and am glad I did, as we came in on concourse C and departed on F, which was quite a walk!<\/p>\n

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Stop! I have the boarding passes!!<\/p><\/div>\n

The next lap was approximately one hour, and it went fast.\u00a0 The airplane was a puddle jumper, but it was comfortable, and the stews were terrific.<\/p>\n

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We are here!<\/p><\/div>\n

The car trip from Bangor to Bar Harbor took about 60 minutes, but it was a little slower than expected because the rain fell fast, and this part of the country did not have street lights.<\/p>\n

Check-in was easy, and the people at the front desk remembered us from last year.<\/p>\n

After arriving at the hotel, we opened our drawers and put our things together before going to dinner at the hotel’s eatery!<\/p>\n

I must say their Fish Stew had everything in it!<\/p>\n

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Fish soup in Bar Haba cannot be beat!<\/p><\/div>\n

I was so hungry that my silverware looked like lights flashing on a dark night.<\/p>\n

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The wise old man!!<\/p><\/div>\n

At 8:30 pm local time, we were in the sack and sound asleep!\u00a0 These 3:00 am departures are NOT as easy as they used to be.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Day 1 – Day 2 – Day 3 – Day 4 – Day 5 – Day 6 – Day 7 – Day 8 – Day 9\u00a0 Our limo driver was here at 2:30 am; Jonny on the spot!!\u00a0 We were … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,184],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventures","category-just-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=83103"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83411,"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83103\/revisions\/83411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=83103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=83103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=83103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}