party plane in the sky

Now that I'm in DC with reliable internet access that allows quick uploads of pictures, I'm going back to describing my traveling experience on Virgin America.

I got to the airport pretty early because I had a ton of luggage that needed to get checked and I figured if I had to lug all the suitcases myself, it might take me awhile. Surprisingly, it only took me 15 minutes to check in and get all my luggage checked. Pretty quickly if I do say so myself. Going through security, however, was another thirty minutes of my life.

There's the Virgin America plane waiting at the gate.
I hadn't had breakfast yet, so this was my first meal of the day -- Peet's Lemon & Rose hot tea and an almond croissant. I was also reading Julie & Julia while passing the time (the book is really different from the movie, mainly because the book is only about Julie).
The waiting area at Gate A11 waiting for boarding time.
And here is a photo of the interior of the Virgin America main cabin. They have pretty purple lights and "cool music" (their quote, not mine) in the lavatories. I walked by the First Class cabin and was envious of those people. If only I had $200 for the upgrade. Oh well, I sat in the main cabin with a handful of screaming toddlers but no one's complaining about that, are they? (I think children under age 10 should be banned from this airline.)
This is the view from my window seat, somewhere over Nevada or other.


And this, my friends, is the cool individual tv monitor at each seat. You can watch on demand movies for $8 each (apparently this is free in First Class), or a foreign film for $5 (not sure why there's a discrepancy between those categories). There's also on demand tv that ranges from free to $2 per episode. I just spent the 5+ hours flight watching satellite tv (NCIS marathon on USA).

And then there's the food menu, that ranges from $3 to $9...


...I opted for a free coke and brought my own lunch, $2.50 lunchables for adults.
Overall, it was a pretty good flight. In between watching satellite tv and eating, I was also online surfing the web (mostly looking through craigslist ads for apartments). It was kinda neat to email The Boy and keep him updated on my flight status while I was in the air, all the while emailing him pictures of the party plane that he still has yet to experience (he tells me Virgin America is the party plane to take to Vegas).

I really hate layovers, especially on cross country flights. And with non-stop flights from SFO to IAD starting at $119 each way, I'll gladly pay $15 per bag for checked luggage so as to enjoy the non-stop flight, the individual tv monitors, and wi-fi in the air. I am definitely going to use Virgin America again for my trips back to the West Coast.

Don't worry, Southwest, you still have my patronage for flying from BWI to BOS since you still carry the cheaper flights for that travel.