TRAVEL

When I Flew to Alaska for a Date

The Flight Attendant Diaries

Author’s Note: I’m no longer dating this person, but it was a great experience—and this adventure was my favorite part.

We sat side-by-side at the bar in Burbank—chatting, laughing, and sipping as my layover got progressively shorter. I was happy I’d found another chance to visit my date, but dismayed it was another short stint.

“So, what’s May look like for you? Pull up your schedule,” he said in his deep, commanding voice. He slid his phone from his pocket and showed me his calendar.

Pilot schedules look just like flight attendant schedules, I silently observed. His airline uses different colors, though.

I opened my scheduling app and set my phone next to his. We compared color blocks to see what days we both had off, but there wasn’t much overlap.

“Wow, that’s a long trip!” I exclaimed as I pointed to a lengthy stretch of orange on his schedule. “Is that 11 days?”

“Yeah, but it has a 2-day layover in Sydney and another 2-day in Anchorage.”

“Ah, okay… Well, that’s nice!”

“Wanna meet me in Anchorage?” he said with his unique stoic enthusiasm, which I naturally temper with overt expressiveness.

“That would be fun! I’ve never been to Alaska! I’ll see if I can move some stuff around.”

We smiled—more at the idea of extended time together than the prospect of a mini-adventure. We’d only ever shared an evening here and a morning there—dates squeezed in on my layovers, with work looming the following day. This would be quality time instead of a romantic blip.

(I was also excited to visit a new state!)

Three weeks later, I was on a plane to ORD (Chicago), where I caught another flight up to ANC (Anchorage). It was an all-day affair, but hey, I like planes, and I like airports—and I really like him.

Day 1

As the aircraft approached, I surveyed the landscape—gray water, snow-capped mountains peeking through the clouds, and a muddy estuary.

That’s when I realized my preconceptions. Although it was May, I’d anticipated more snow. And I was expecting to be “wowed” at the landscape… but I wasn’t. The scenery on the ride into town was also lovely, but not awe-inspiring.

Maybe I’m just in a hum-drum part.

Strangely, it was the hotel itself where I was first awestruck.

Immediately upon entering the lobby, my eyes lit up and my jaw dropped in a dorky smile too big for my own face. I was enamored by the tremendous, antique-style voyage map sprawling across the wall. (I used to work at sea, you see. And I sorta collect maps.)

As I looked around, I realized the Captain Cook Hotel—named for the famous explorer—was appropriately nautical-themed. The life-size, illustrated map before me even had painted tall-ships and sea creatures!

Now that was amazing.

I was in the midst of a map-lover’s dream when someone pinched me from behind. I giggled and turned to see a familiar, smiling face leaning into mine. After a “hello” smooch, he grabbed my suitcase and escorted me into the elevator. As soon as the doors closed, we kissed some more.

We held hands all the way down the hall. Expressing our affection in person was a treat for us both. The sound of my suitcase whirring down an empty hotel corridor felt incredibly familiar, but having someone else there alongside me was wonderfully new. He tapped his key against the door.

“Wanna get dinner?” He said as the door beeped and made its mechanical unlocking sound, followed by a heavy swoosh into the room. “I was thinking I’d show you some places I’d go when I was based here.” He plunked my suitcase against the wall.

“Sounds great! I’m starving. Oh, by the way, uh… I forgot to bring a coat,” I confessed. “I expected May to be a lot warmer.”

“Ha, me too,” he smiled. “We’ll both freeze!”

We chuckled and piled on a couple layers, then kissed all the way down the elevator.

After shivering for several blocks, we reached our destination.

“So this place is called F Street. All the pilots come here. Pretty cool old bar,” he said as he opened the door for me. An explosion of chatter erupted.

I ducked into the crowd and shouted, “Everyone else seems to think so, too!”

Not a single seat was open. We waited at the corner of the old wooden bar like aviation vultures, circling to land. Before us was an enormous block of cheese with a sign that read Do Not Eat; Display Only.

“Why is there a serving knife and crackers here if you’re not supposed to eat the cheese?” I asked as he sliced off a piece.

“I dunno,” he shrugged just before scarfing it down.

Over the decades, hundreds of patrons had plastered almost every surface with stickers. Many were aviation-related. I enjoyed reading the text and graphics of the ephemera, imagining stories for how they’d gotten there.

My date sipped an IPA while we waited. After several minutes of growling stomachs, we decided to head somewhere more promising.

“I don’t think anyone’s leavin’, babe. How ’bout I show you Humpy’s?” he said before downing the last of his beer.

“It sounds scandalous!” I said through a wide-eyed giggle.

“It’s not what you’re thinking,” he teased. “Their logo’s a Humpback Whale.”

“Ohhh!”

After a mutual burst of laughter, he leaned in and kissed my forehead, then grabbed my hand and squeezed affectionately. “C’mon.”

We ventured into the cold again, wandering a few blocks over. Humpy’s was closed, so we settled on dinner at Flattop Pizza next door.

We finished the evening at a bar called Darwin’s Theory, where we met up with my date’s pilot friend for a few hours. We nibbled the warm, salty popcorn the establishment is known for while they caught up and I got acquainted.

By the time we strolled into the hotel, it was almost dark — and that’s saying something, since it was nearly summer in the Arctic.

Day 2

I tried to sleep in, but my body clock was set to Eastern time. At 05:00 local, it was already 09:00 for me. After three restless hours, I awoke Sleeping Beauty with a kiss and a petition for breakfast.

As we piled on some layers, he suggested Snow City Café.

We couldn’t continue our new tradition of smooching in the elevator, since another guest was inside. We instead exchanged furtive glances and stifled smiles.

We strolled to the restaurant, grabbed two of their mismatched mugs, and poured ourselves coffee while waiting for a table. My mug was diner-shaped, and his was yellow with a blue “E.”

“What’s your ‘E’ stand for?” I asked playfully. He looked at his mug and thought for a sec.

“Ed,” he said in a humorously serious tone.

Once seated, I ordered an omelette with reindeer sausage and toast with Marionberry jam—delicacies I’d never heard of before.

After breakfast, we both had to call Crew Scheduling to resolve issues with recent trips. We scurried back to the hotel and sat in the lobby.

“Aww! We get to call Crew Scheduling together?!” I exclaimed as I smiled and reached for his hand.

My innocent enthusiasm at little things often seems to melt his stoic heart. He glanced up at me with glowing eyes, and let out a tight-lipped smile, seemingly against his will. He squeezed my hand back just before going into Business Mode with the scheduler on the other end of the call.

Normally, aviation feels like such a lonely profession. You’re constantly surrounded by other people and crew members, but you’re in it alone. You wake up alone, you explore new places alone, you fall asleep alone—and when stuff goes wrong, you deal with it alone. But today, we got to hold hands and sort through that stuff together, in parallel.

Afterward, we grabbed more coffee across the street, then browsed the adjacent antique gallery. It’s interesting to see what’s considered precious and historically significant in different cultures.

Coffees in hand, we then strolled to a walking trail along the water. We wandered along for quite a ways, enjoying the combination of cool air and warm drinks, and the peace of each other’s company. Together we admired the serene setting and the beauty of the distant mountains.

My date shared that he used to go running on that trail—and bears were occasionally spotted there.

“Then why are we here?! Oh my god?!”

At a fork in the road, we meandered toward the hotel to thaw out and snooze a bit—and sure enough, we encountered an enormous bear.

At the hotel, I dozed on the bed while my date popped open his laptop and worked through some emails. I liked how… ordinary it felt. In the midst of an adventure, we got to share a moment of the mundane. It was a window into our normal lives where we were just a couple on a weekend getaway, not flight crew on a layover.

After a few minutes, he snapped his laptop shut and caught my gaze. “Hey, pretty girl,” he said with a smile. He joined me for a short snooze on the covers, then changed into his workout clothes and headed to the gym. I grabbed my sketchbook and went down to the café to doodle and snack.

That evening, we once again braved the chilly Alaskan air, stopping first at Glacier Brewhouse to share a flight of IPAs.

I laughed and said, “Hey, look! We’re doing a flight together!” He chuckled, but I think he was more entertained by how amused I was at my own corny joke.

We scurried over to Benihana just in time for our dinner reservation. Our table consisted of a couple celebrating their 16-year anniversary, another couple with a birthday, and two friends also celebrating a recent birthday. We were just there for the amazing food.

After dinner, the hostess came by and took a photo of us together. When she handed it to us, we simultaneously said, “Aww!” in the same tone. It felt like we were officially a couple.

Day 3

After a hearty breakfast in the hotel restaurant, we donned our warmest clothes and walked to Pablo’s Bike Rentals. Then, we whizzed over to the coastal trail.

My date pedaled up next to me and said, “Don’t freak out.” (Naturally, I silently freaked out.) Then he reached over and put his arm on my waist as we rode. I glanced up to see this normally-serious man in an open-mouthed smile.

“I didn’t wanna scare you. Just wanted to be next to you,” he said. My heart melted.

We paused at a few scenic spots — both to take in the sights, and to warm each other up with hugs. Eventually, we made it to Earthquake Park, a commemorative site where an immense tremor once shook an entire neighborhood into the sea.

My date said the path started to get into “bear territory” from there, so I insisted we deviate back towards civilization.

“Well, we’re kinda near the airport… Wanna go be aviation nerds and watch the planes take off?”

“Yeah!” I exclaimed.

We got pretty close to the runways, passing several hangars for private planes and small jets. It was fascinating to discover the seaplanes have their own lake! Since it’s used specifically for their takeoff, landing, and storage, it’s called an aerodrome.

We sat there a while, watching the aircraft come and go. We continued the afternoon with lunch at his favorite Mexican restaurant (Taco King) and a pit stop at the Harley store. After a few hours, several miles, and many hills, we made it back to the rental facility. My legs were jelly.

My super-human date went straight to the gym, while I mozied through town. I didn’t buy any souvenirs, but it was neat to see the typical wares of Alaskan gift shops. Reindeer jerky, seeds of local flowers, jams and jellies from local fruits (like Marionberries and Salmonberries), indigenous patternwork, scarves…

Back at the hotel, we packed in preparation for our evening departures. We hit Glacier Brewhouse again for a quick dinner before I left.

I hated that our quality time together had come to an end. This excursion was never about the place; it was about the person I got to experience it with.

As my car pulled away, I looked out the window to watch him head into the hotel. It was a pleasant surprise to see him look back at me and smile. That reassured me he wants more adventures together, too.

The Flight Attendant Diaries is a series about my experiences working in commercial aviation. I’ve also shared some industry lingo as a helpful reference.