Monday, June 1, 2009

Operation Anchorage: Success (mostly)

First of all, I took NO pictures of my trip (well, I remebered to take one but you can't see it until the end). Sorry!


So my super secret appointment that got me the trip to Anchorage in the first place was a second interview with THE major passenger airline company of Alaska. Good news.......I got the job. I will be working as a Customer Service/Ticket Agent here at the Kotzebue airport. I was torn about taking this job because I LOVE my job at the school, but the travel benefits that come with this position are just too good to pass up, so here's to hoping that I love this job as much.

After my two hour interview and pee in a cup session, Cathy and I headed out for my lesson in Alaskan Bush Shopping. First stop, Walmart and only because she insisted that the right totes for shipping were there. They call them Alaskan Bush luggage, and you never leave Kotzebue without them! I bought four Sterilite tubs and off we headed to Costco.
At Costco she told me to bring the totes on with me and set them out on a flat bed cart and shop into them, that way I would know really how much space I had. My number one priority was toilet paper. Toilet paper is so expensive here! I then proceeded to fill my three of my four totes with stuff. Once we were done in Costco we headed out to Cathy's rental car and she showed me how to pack my totes. This process included opening and discarding of much of the exterior packaging in order to create more space. Toilet paper rolls became hole filler.........stuffed in wherever there was room. Cereal was taken out of the boxes and packed in only the bag. Ziploc bags were completely removed from their packaging and stuffed into one of their own and used as hole filler. Pretty soon we had three expertly packed totes and a pile of cardboard packaging that was not going to Kotzebue.

From Costco it was on to my beloved Target. Did you know there is only ONE Target in Anchorage? And it just opened about three months ago? God loves me!

Just inside the door of this beautiful Target is Starbucks, but I was able to resist the urge and walked right on by. We only spent a short time (well short to me, but I'm sure it was quite long enough for Cathy) in Target before we headed out to meet another friend and her family for dinner.

After dinner, Cathy and I went to meet up with our Pastor and his family. They were also in Anchorage and had an extra vehicle that I could borrow for my next day's shopping adventures.

From there I headed to my Priceline.com reserved hotel. That ended up being disastrous when at 10pm I was still waiting in the lobby and sixth on the list for a clean room. I ended up calling around for another hotel, found one and headed over there and am now dealing with Priceline for a refund on my first reservation...........

Thursday I was on my own.........I headed out to find somewhere to get my haircut. I found one of the chain salons in the mall but they were not able to get me in for a few hours, so I found an independent place down the road. They were able to get me in right away and the gal did a great job. I will definitely be going back there! Then it was back to Target to finish my list. I still had a few more things to get.

Two hours later I emerged from Target and headed out to the parking lot to pack my last tote. Ooops, I bought a few to many things. It all wouldn't fit so I had to return a couple of things. Not making the cut? Two boxes of cereal and a roll of parchment paper.

From Target I was off to find myself some lunch. I had decided to nix the Applebees Honey BBQ wings for my family because it just didn't seem like a smart idea to have them sit out for the next four hours. All I could envision is food poisoning.

It was then off to the airport to check in for my flight back to Kotzebue. I had four large Sterilite totes FULL, along with a very heavy carry-on packed to the brim with overflow stuff and my personal bag. On the advice of my more seasoned friends I used the curbside baggage check, tipped the Skycap and headed inside to check in and pay for my one extra "bag". Check in was fairly simple, only one of my totes was a little over the 50 lb limit (by 2.8 lbs), but they sent it through without charging me! One hour later I was through security and headed to my gate.

When what to my wandering eye should appear:



and my in flight snack consisted of a grande, non-fat vanilla chai and an oatmeal raisin cookie.

A successful trip in the bag and since I am now an airline employee I will be able to do this more often (and next time I'll remember to photograph the whole process)!

24 comments:

Dee said...

NO pictures, you're killing me, really killing me.

How expensive is toilet paper any ways? I love to know prices your way. It just blows me a way!

Smart career move!

Kori said...

YAY! So glad you got everything you needed and that you made it there and back home safely. Sucks about the Hotel. But YIPPEE for the Starbucks.

Kori said...

Oh and do friends get discounts on air travel cause you know I want to come visit someday.

Amy said...

You will LOVE the flight benefits! I so miss that...

Amy said...

BTW, Congratulations on the job!!!

Keys to the Magic Travel said...

How exciting! I have a few friends that work for Delta here in Atlanta simply for the flight benefits. And if your flight benefits get you groceries and TP...how cool is that?

And yes. You must document the whole experience...Alaskan bush luggage and all!

Kris Walther said...

Oh my goodness, Trish. I am just cracking up. I was absolutely CONVINCED that your super secret appt. was with an OB/GYN and you were going to tell us you were pregnant. Don't know why I thought that, but I did. I'm glad you had a successful trip, and that you did get your Starbucks! Awesome.

Finnskimo said...

Next time you can take my scale. Its only about 6 oz and about 3 inches by 4 inches of space! And you know...space is limited!

We're off to Seattle, courtesy of AK Air employee travel tomorrow. I shipped 12 totes to my husband, who's there already, and we are all taking ONE carry on with ALL our clothing. Did you know, two pairs of pants and five shirts will clothe you for TEN DAYS! :) Oh...in addition to underwear and socks...but that's nothing!

You will learn my friend...oh you will learn! :)

Congrats about the job. I hope you like it just even a little bit, enough to stay! :)

Jenny Martin said...

Thank you for finally putting me out of my misery and updating your blog! After all, you told me you were blogging it the other night. I won't interrupt you for Facebook chat again! Congrats on the new job - it sounds great. (Secretly, I kind of thought the OB/GYN thing, too, but what do I know?)

Gramma 2 Many said...

The good thing is that MOTHERS do get the benifit (Dads too) and hers is looking forward to making use of it!!! smile.
Trish, go ahead and pimp it again. I like the borders, but the white is a bit stark for me.
Thanks for doing it.

Lee Ann said...

What an ordeal....all that packing! Sounds like fun to me. I would love the challenge of trying to get it all in:-)

So glad you got to visit Target, have a late and get a job! I too hope you love it!

L Rohrer said...

We're moving up in about three weeks from Oklahoma City. Any advice on what to bring from here as flying to Anchorage is so expensive.

Trish said...

HaHa! All you peeps who thought I was preggers are funny! I have absolutely NO desire to birth another baby, if I were to obtain one through some other way that would be fine with me, but birthing one? No way! Besides we have an OB/GYN here in Kotzebue ;-)

L Rohrer-I cannot reply to your comment through e-mail, so if you leave me your e-mail or contact me through my e-mail at dthull1994@gmail.com I'd love to chat w/ you about Kotzebue.

mer@lifeat7000feet said...

AWESOME. I'm excited about your job, and so glad to see you haven't given up on Starbucks!!!!!

Tracy said...

Wow! Very neat job with the perks and all!

Homestay Mama said...

Congrats on the new job!
Interesting way of shopping. Not sure if I would have the patience.

Gina said...

Hm, I had it pretty much figgered by the free flight bit- but I wqould have died if you had said you were pregnant!
Personally, I think your 2 day shopping spree sounds like HELL but if you don't have to do it often....
I wait until we are down to condiments to go shopping- and we live 1 or 2 miles from our grocery stores and we have semi-normal prices.

Eryn said...

Am I the only one who thought it might be an airline job? YAY!! I hope that means you'll be visiting soon! The couve is just not the same without the Hulls. :)

Eryn said...

ps, your shirts are on the way!

Elena said...

Bugger, I should have read this post first before I played the grocery game. I would have upped my TP price! Awesome about the job! Hope it will help you get things you need more easily. And SO smart about taking the baggies out of the box, I wouldn't have thought of that.

Ashley said...

FUN!!! Congratulations!!! I bet working for the airlines will make living in Alaska a little more tolerable.

Mara said...

Oh Trish....what fun to read your blog! I was wondering how often you check your mail...I'm guessing you'll let me know when you get something in the mail :) Snail mail that is!

Mara said...

P.S. Skip trips to the couv...take that family to disneyland!!! Just kidding, come here too!

The Hayes Zoo said...

Oh. my. heck.

You now have my DREAM job. I wonder if I could get a job like that here in Honduras. Oh drat - we'd need an AIRPORT for that one.

LOVED the story about the marathon shopping w/tubs. We do it too. :) (We actually prefer a different brand as you can get more in them and they've held up better to extreme temps...)

And yes...toilet paper gets moved to HIGH priority in this 'life adventure'. :)

Te entiendo mi amiga! ANIMO por todo!!!