Travel Tips & Adventures

Time to travel! We’ll be reporting on our travel to, around, in and beyond cities in Oregon. We’ve been before, but we never kept track – and it was years ago. So, on your behalf, we’ll be dishing on what, where and how much!Off to Oregon

We’re trying out Allegiant Airlines for the first time. They serve really small markets and are frill-free. You pay for everything – except they haven’t gotten yet to charging for use of the airline toilets.  If they do that, we might reconsider.  In general, our experience was positive.

Arriving at our departure terminal in “Mesa-Phoenix”– well, it is not what you expect when you’ve flown into major airports in NYC, California, and Chicago. The terminal is very small. One security line with one gate. Once you’ve been through the security rigmarole, you exit that building, walk across a courtyard, and find yourself in the departure lounge.

In the departure lounge, there is a shop that sells the typical magazines, snacks, bottled water and other drinks at exorbitant prices. That is the only location to purchase “stuff” before you board.

While you wait, you can be entertained while you watch the airline personnel pull up a giant boarding ramp to the airplane. No enclosed ramps.

When they call you for boarding, you walk across the tarmac, climb up the ramp, find your seat and settle in.

Take off

We took off from the gate fifteen minutes after our scheduled departure, but ten minutes later we were up, soon flying at an altitude of 32,000 feet. Clouds skimmed by as we passed Laughlin, Nevada and Lake Tahoe. The puffy clouds looked like cotton candy, tufted and white, not the pink you find at a circus.

Jet trail at 32,000 feet

The flight attendants efficiently canvassed our almost full flight (I only saw about six empty seats on a flight with 120 seats) and provided everyone with drinks and snacks – for which they charged. Then, they held raffles, to the pleasure of several passengers who won money and gifts.

Landing

Patchwork quilt of farmland near Eugene Airport

We landed on time in Eugene, Oregon. The terminal, which was not impressive from the air, was more luxurious than Mesa-Phoenix by far. Clean, with quite a few food vendors and car rentals, Eugene Airport was a great place to fly into. We got our checked baggage fairly quickly, our rental car as well, and headed out quickly.

The "Duck" at the Eugene, Oregon airport

Alamo Car Rental provided us with a very updated car – a hybrid that puzzled us at first. The “key” did not go in an ignition. Instead, the driver pushes a button when the key is inside the vehicle. It doesn’t seem like the car is on because it is very quiet. The weirdest feeling is the total quiet when you stop at an intersection. No noise – at all. The great thing was the mileage the dashboard told us we were getting – 40 miles per gallon – going up a hill! Wow.

All in all, a good start to our trip.

We headed to the Comfort Suites we had booked and landed in a great room. Many amenities are included in the hotel: fridge and microwave in each room, an indoor hot tub and pool, fitness center, free breakfast and free internet. No real hassles and an almost new hotel. Just off exit 191 on Interstate 5, the Comfort Suites is a great place to stay if you’re in the Eugene, Oregon area.

Tomorrow… Our visit with the sea lions.

Tags: Air Travel, Eugene Oregon, Hotels, Oregon, US Domestic Travel

This entry was posted on Monday, September 14th, 2009 at 6:00 am and is filed under Air Travel, Hotels, Travel, Travel Planning. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.