relaxedTrain trip was a routine 30 minutes, followed by an easy stroll up and over the skybridge (with A's fans walking the opposite direction for tonight's game, based on how they were dressed) and then a not arduous wait for an AirBART bus.
Checking my bag for my Southwest flight was painless as well, but I saw the security queue for Terminal 1 gates and saw it was overflowing the snaking lines. Even with more than two hours before my flight, I hate queues. I had an idea and walked down to Terminal 2. (At OAK, Southwest flies out of T1 and everyone else flies from T2; the two terminals are linked by an internal walkway. I usually fly Alaska out of T2, but had bought a SWA flight on account of the last-minute purchase making it effectively cheaper (when you include the checked-bag charge) to fly Southwest.
There were only two people ahead of me at the security queue at T2. Great! I even was able to avoid the porno-scanner and just go through the magnetometer, although it's set way too sensitive. Even without my belt, wallet, coins, and just about everything else, it rang me up. Maybe the frames of my glasses and my titanium wedding band were too much for it, but they passed me through anyway.
I shuffled over to a bench and slowly put myself back together. I'm wearing my heavy boots because I accidentally wore them back from Fernley last weekend and I need them for Moving Daze, so getting it together took extra time. But I was in no hurry. I decided to get a bite to eat in one of the T2 restaurants, which were also not crowded. Taking my plate to a table, I decided to fire up my laptop to check message.
No laptop. I'd left it at security! No wonder my backpack had felt so light.
I hot-footed it down to T2 security, leaving my early dinner behind. Fortunately for me, they hadn't yet decided that my laptop was a potential explosive device to be destroyed immediately, and I was able to sign for it and retrieve it. Incredibly, my dinner was also still untouched; that is, no helpful person had come along and decided that I'd had to run for a flight and tossed it. So despite the nervous moments, everything worked out for the best.
As I walked over to T1 and Gate 30 for my flight, I got a page telling me that my flight was delayed 30 minutes. I called Lisa's friend Scott up in Portland — Lisa is planning to stop by to see Scott this evening before coming to collect me — and let him know that I would be delayed and to tell Lisa not to rush. I then went down to Gate 30, where there was lots of room to set up on the desks with power that Southwest provides. This is good because somehow I'd not turned off my laptop when I left the house this afternoon, but had only put it in standby, and this gives me a chance to fully recharge it.
I've had worse travel days. If this is the worst drama I have to deal with on this trip, I'll be very lucky.