Thursday, 5 December 2024

Tucson to Phoenix to Austin

We are at last on our way to South America, having journeyed from our home in Tucson to Austin yesterday. It was a very busy and complicated day of travel, which actually began the previous day, on Tuesday, when we picked up a Budget Rental car at noon for the 90-minute drive to PHX, the airport in Phoenix, early on Wednesday morning.

Wednesday, 4 December 2024

Tucson to Phoenix to Austin

We are flying Southwest Airlines from PHX to AUS rather than from Tucson because the flight from TUS to AUS requires a change of planes in PHX anyway—and costs significantly more than getting from PHX to AUS. Additionally, nowadays using connecting flights, even on the same airline, often involves short and difficult connecting times and lost or delayed luggage.  

Normally we would take the scheduled and efficient Groome shuttle van from Tucson to PHX, which requires a 20-minute drive from home to the shuttle terminal. But the friends who usually drive us unluckily are unavailable and Uber is often unreliable here in Tucson. And driving our own car and parking at PHX would be very expensive, not even mentioning the risks of leaving it in a vast open airport parking lot for three weeks. We discover on line that 24-hour car rental, with pickup just a few minutes from home and drop off at PHX, will cost less than the shuttle and Uber--and certainly provide less rush and strain.

We leave Tucson in our rental Kia Sorrento—very roomy with a comfortable ride—at 8:30am for our 12:40 flight departure. Although there is always a lot of traffic on I-10, today everyone is moving swiftly. The speed limit is 75mph, but most drivers push the pedal to 80 or more. On the final segment as we approach the Phoenix suburbs, everything slows down considerably because of increased traffic at the tail-end of morning rush hour and multiple road construction obstructions.

We reach the car rental return complex with plenty of time, even after several mis-directions and wrong turns on the Phoenix streets. From here we take a four-story up elevator ride and an outside walk to the Airport Train, which takes us to Terminal 4, where we have two more elevator rides and a long walk to reach Southwest check-in—all the while wheeling and carrying our three-week’s weight of luggage. 

Once we are rid of the luggage things get a little easier until security demands that Will remove the orthopedic boot he has on his foot. You may recall that he suffered a broken toe just before we left on our six-week trip this past March, and another stress fracture after we returned home. He sometimes wears the boot for extra support when traveling and it won’t fit in his suitcase. 

After this delay we are wheeled to the gate and are soon aboard the on-time flight, which is only about half full. In less than an hour’s flight time we arrive in Austin where my brother and sister-in-law, Steve and Akiko, pick us up for the half-hour drive to their home in Barton Springs, a neighborhood just south of the Colorado River (not the real one; that’s in Arizona) and downtown.

We spend a relaxing evening at home catching up on all that has happened since the  last time we were all together. Although I spent an evening with Akiko when we were both in Osaka, Japan, last year, it has been much longer since I have seen my brother. And even longer since all four of us were together. Akiko prepares a wonderful northern Italian dinner, which we enjoy with drinks and wine. We head off to bed looking forward to a full day in Austen tomorrow.

More to follow as we continue on to Miami on Friday.