Back to New Jersey

Turned in rental car painlessly at SeaTac (successfully located by Mable, our GPS).  Slogged through Security and checked our one bag ($25) when we used the automated ticket agent to upgrade to a seat with more legroom ie: the exit aisle ($79 each).  Found the subway that loops out to the satellite N (North) terminal, a sort of island on the tarmac, had a burger for lunch, found gate, sat, fired up Kindle.  The plane was full so the gate agent began announcing that there would not be enough storage aboard for everyone's carry-on baggage, so if anyone wanted to volunteer, they could bring their bags to the gate agent, he would see to it that they were checked aboard for free and let the donors board early with the first-class passengers (and Service Personnel, a nice touch).  Eventually that crisis was resolved and we boarded.

We were seated over the wing and watched with interest while passengers seated at the rear of the plane, placed their bags in the overhead compartments near us and continued on to their seats, oblivious of the irritation this would cause to the people who would eventually claim the seats under those compartments and find there was no room for their bags.   Air travel just keeps getting worse.  We munched $7.99 Thai Wraps with complementary coffee and passed on the in-flight movie as we flew East in the Friendly Skies.

The flight back was scheduled to clock in at 5 hours, 1/2-hour less than the flight out due to the jetstream.  In fact we arrived 15 minutes ahead of that, but since no one had alerted the Ground Crew, we sat for 15 minutes while they were rounded up.  Eventually the bag appeared on the carousel, we located the shuttle to the carpark, collected the Vibe and persuaded the East Coast version of Mable to take us to Stef's place.  Another delightful air travel experience logged.  Now for some quiet time before hitting the road to Florida in the New Year.  By car.