When I received the email confirmations for my United flights, I forwarded them to TripIt to create my Benelux itinerary. I do the same with Airbnb accommodations and Experiences and any other reservations I make. It’s handy to have all my trip logistics in one place, and the app also provides notifications for flight delays and gate changes faster than I get them from the airlines.

So I was a bit dismayed when this smart travel app immediately threw up the warning “Connection at risk”. My outbound itinerary allowed only 45 minutes for changing planes at SFO, likely in different terminals. At the time I booked, I thought this was cutting it a bit close, but I reasoned that United wouldn’t offer a connection that wasn’t viable and it was the best fit date- and time-wise from the limited selection available in the award travel portal.

The more I thought about it, the less confident I felt, so after a couple weeks of mulling it over, I called United, basically to say, “Really?” Their answer was, in the end, “Yeah.” The agent thoroughly went through the motions of getting me something better, which I appreciated, but because I’d paid with points, I was locked into a points-available itinerary and, as was the case at the time I booked, there wasn’t anything better. Also, I couldn’t just book myself on an earlier PDX -> SFO flight because not showing up for the first of my booked flights would cancel the whole itinerary. Only if I actually missed my connection would I be rebooked.

My task and challenge, then, was to trust that all would work out. Worry is just planning for things to go wrong, yeah?

I did a pretty good job of this until my fear came to pass. Initially, TripIt advised this morning that my first flight would have an early landing in SFO. The 45-minute window increased to 56 minutes, which was enough to remove the red “at risk” graphic, and that had me feeling pretty good.

I got through security at PDX nearly two hours before my 11:15 departure and had a leisurely breakfast at the Capers Café, courtesy of my Priority Pass membership. Boarding went smoothly, and then…. we sat. Some kind of traffic jam on the runway? We took off at 11:55. My connection was departing at 13:50. Fuckity fuck fuck.

I distracted myself with a Game of Thrones podcast (S08E04 aired last night) for most of the short flight. As we approached SFO and the flight attendants collected rubbish, I told one of them I was on a tight connection and kind of sort of asked for priority deplaning? I know this must happen all. the. time. and I felt weird about asking for special snowflake status, but I also wanted to advocate for myself as much as possible and the answer is always no until you ask. The attendant confirmed I was not special, replying, “There are 96 connections on this flight.” OK, but how many of them are to planes whose doors will be closing by the time I get off this thing?!

We landed at 13:19, and the attendants announced a request to remain seated if SFO is your final destination, which helped a bit with the crowded aisle upon exit. Still, it was just after 13:30 as I deplaned, and my connecting flight was two terminals over. Running was in order.

The black leather wraparound (read: bad-ass) bracelet I ordered from Etsy a couple months ago came unsnapped for the third time since I got dressed this morning. I pulled it off my wrist and kept running (OK, run-walking). Alas, I should have tucked it into my shoulder bag. I made the flight, sans bracelet. Goddammit, I really hate losing things (which I don’t do often). FOCUS! I made the flight… whew!

As I settled in for the 11-hour journey and perused the seatback movie selections, I realized this is my first flight since upgrading to Airpods. Oops… can’t connect to the videoscreen with Bluetooth. I’d also neglected to download the United app to my iPad. Ah, well.. I’d downloaded plenty of content to my iPad from Netflix and Prime. It wasn’t long before lunch service came around, and I found that both headphones and shiraz were complimentary ☺️

After I ate (lasagna, salad, roll), I plugged my headphones into the seatback screen and watched Peppermint. I loved Alias and had been looking forward to seeing some kick-ass Jennifer Garner; however, the Metacritic score was dismal and I didn’t bother. Good enough to kill time on a flight? Sure.

I turned the 95-minute movie into 2.5 hours with a couple long stand-and-stretch breaks. It was just in the last few days that I’ve felt fully recovered from my most recent bout of lumbar pain (L4 or L5 being the usual culprits) that started in February. Good timing, and all the walking I’m about to do will help even further.. I just need to get through the getting there. I would find over the duration of the flight that my back held up very well; what ended up hurting not insignificantly was my tailbone, like it was bruised from all the sitting.

Next up for viewing entertainment was Homecoming, the Beychella performance/documentary, on my iPad. Another 3 hours down.

That left 3 hours to maybe try to sleep….