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Introduction
Seattle to San Francisco
Aloft San Francisco Airport
San Francisco to Atlanta
Atlanta to Newark
Fairfield Inn & Suites Newark
Newark to Minneapolis
Minneapolis to San Francisco
San Francisco to Seattle
Conclusion

Friday 1st March 2013

After starting work early so I could get out of the airport at a half decent time as I knew that what should only take 10-15 minutes on a good day would easily take an hour in peak hour Friday traffic.  I left work and low and behold, traffic was actually as bad as expected, If not a bit worse.  With the time I left work, if I didnt take more than an hour I had been thinking to myself, I could get an earlier flight down to San Fran and afford me an extra hours sleep.  So I was hoping and praying I could get there in good time.

I dropped the car off at Wallypark (yes that is the real name) and spent most of my time having to spell my name out to the attendant who was taking my ticket (apparently spelling my name needs to be clearer, R as in Roger didn’t work, R as in rabbit didn’t either, funnily enough he understands the word Robot) and then spend another 5 minutes waiting in a van on my own while he sat there doing nothing.  Not looking good at coming back here now!

We made the terminal pretty good and the United check in desks were empty and I mean it.  There was more staff available than people checking in and it meant that even though I was using a machine at the Star Gold check in desks that I could do it first and get out of there.  But I went up to someone anyway and enquired about Stand By.  She told me that I would have to pay to stand by for the earlier flight.  Well that sucked, and then i said the magic words “Even though I am Star Gold” and showed her my card.  To which her whole demeanour changed.  Within seconds I was holding a Standby card (little did I know this could of bit me in the ass later).  Free stand by with 3 other Star Golds ahead of me and things were looking up!

Security wasn’t to bad and the priority queue had not a single person in it, so I was through within minutes.  Get to the machines and dignity dance my way ready when all I jump into the line ahead of a few dawdling people taking their time I get a dirty look from someone who I was actually ahead of in the queue.  But didn’t phase me.  As it was my turn I stepped up and then rather than left into the WTMD it was right into the Nudeoscope.  SeaTac never fails me.  But this is where my brain must of been left at check in.  I was still wearing my belt.  Right before the scanner starts the TSA agent says “Are you wearing a belt?”  “O SHIT!”  I pulled it off and he actually held it for me rather than send me back out into the queue again.  NICE! I guess there are some nice TSA agents out there afterall.

With Security dealt with and slowly redressing myself I jumped on the train to the N Gates and figured I would make a pit stop by the United Club for a drink and a bit of a snack prior to camping out in the Standby line.  So that is what I did.  SeaTac has 2 United Clubs.  In the B gates you have the lovely old Continental Presidents Club with a bit of a view of the ramp.  In the N Gates you get “The Dungeon”.  The legacy United Club located in the depths of the N Satelitte right next to the train station.  No windows, no view, just wall after wall.  But it could be worse, it could be the crammed gate area.  Not much in the way of snacking (it is a United Club after all) and there was way less than usual as well, which was very dissapointing.  A coffee, some water, a shortbread and some carrots (I checked the expiry date first after a previous incident of an Avgeek friend) and before I knew it the previously flight was due to begin boarding any time.  So I headed on up to the gate.  Presented myself to the desk and was informed to take a seat, if they needed me they would let me know, but that it would be doubtful as they were 100% full.

I stuck around reading my book in a seat within site of the gate as the flight arrived a bit late, and took  its time boarding.  Slowly slowly the gate area emptied.  Things were not looking good.  Volunteers were not required, people were being called up for seat assignments and it was still not looking good.  But I wasn’t worried.  I had a seat assignment on my flight (and exit row as well) if I didn’t make the flight the plan was to go and find some food for my next flight to waste away the half hour before we boarded.

The gate area was pretty much empty.  There was 6 of us left.  I was #4 on the list.  I headed up to the gate again as the 6 of us were mingling about.  Then I heard it, “Ok who is #3 on the list?”  A guy presented himself up front, and then it was said “you just made it, you get the last seat”  Damn.  I stuck around a bit longer, hoping and praying someone wouldnt show or that something else would change, I don’t know why though.  Another girl who was last on the list had been waiting around all day and hadn’t made any of the flights to SFO.  She was devestated and figured if she didn’t make the next flight, she was stuck as it was the last flight to SFO that night.

I finally gave in, hoping someone else would give in or just miraculously get booted off.  I headed off to find some food.  I went to check out the C gates as I figured that there was a Wolfgang Puck that might have some good food.  I was wrong, they had good food on the menu but none of it left for takeaway.  So back over to the N gates to the bagel place that would have double points thanks to a promo and off I went.  A Garden salad, bagel and a drink in a bag, a scone for something sweet (although not to sweet) and I was set for the flight.  Boarding by this time was due to begin so I headed over to my gate.

When I got up to the gate, something wierd on the screens,  My seat (8A) was showing as free.  So I asked how accurate that seat map was, and was told it was 100% correct.  I said to the staff member that then we have a problem because I have 8A and it’s showing as free.  I gave him my boarding pass (after fishing it out) and he fixed it up.  Somehow my seat was given up when I went on Standby on the other flight.  Something stupid obviously.  I was told boarding should be about another 5 minutes as the flight had just pulled in and I hopped out of the way and watched as he cleared the boarding list (the girl I had been chatting to before got her seat, the last one for the day!)

United Airlines – UA6426 (Operated by Skywest)
Seattle Tacoma to San Francisco
2013-2225
Canadair CRJ-200 (N935SW)
Economy Class – Seat 8A (Exit Row)

Boarding: 2000 (Gate N11)
Push Back: 2017
Take Off Roll: 2027 (Runway 16C)
Top of Descent: 2150
Touch Down: 2215 (Ruwnay 28L)
Shut Down: 2221 (Gate 35)

They called for Preboards but there weren’t any, or any first class on this aircraft, so Groups 1 & 2 were combined into one and i was about 4th or 5th in line.  I had a fight in the jetbridge with the baggage handlers about “weight and balance” claims.  Even though my bag will fit in the overheads they wanted to take it off me because it would be required for “weight reasons.”  Pfft! I pretty much ignored the guy and walked on with my bag,  I never heard a complaint or got removed or accosted by security so I figure they were just trying to get everyone to give up their bags.

The boarding process was pretty quick to but then it is a CRJ so it is not as if there are many people to board.  During the boarding process the loan flight attendant made a bit of a goof.  She welcomed us aboard our flight to “Los Angeles”.  This caused so many people to freak out.  But she ended up correcting herself and we all calmed down.  The good thing was that even though it was a full flight, the CRJ is tight but never feels all that packed to me.  It feels more comfortable than a crammed 737.  Maybe it was the leg room, maybe it was the small windows (though they are annoying), I don’t know the real reason.  The biggest thing for me on these flights is some peace and quiet, enough to sit back, maybe do some work or read a book.

We pushed back 4 minutes late (being mindful the flight arrived 4 mins late, so that is not to bad really) and headed quickly for the 16 take off points.  About half way along we were informed we were #1 for takeoff and would soon be airborne.  Good quick taxi tonight.  Flight time announced as well and the pilot gave their quick walk through while we held at 16L for an arriving jet to touch down.  If they are landing 16L it means that it is 16C for departures.

We pulled up to 16C, the pilot gunned the engines and off we went into the night sky, through a cloud bank about 5000ft and that was it.  Effortless and uneventful.   Isn’t that the way all flights should be?  I was extremly happy to be cruising along, reading and chilling in some peace while my ipod was waiting a few inches away for the 10000ft mark.  Once reached, ipod out, headphones on, into my own world I go.  I pulled out my dinner which would be almost a 3 course affair on this “First Class flight” as it had been described to me, cause everyone was in first class tonight ;).

On tonights menu was a Garden Salad to start:

A Roast Beef Bagel for the main course:

One slight problem though.  I may have forgotten to get napkins… and a fork.. Smart move!  I couldn’t believe how dumb I was.  Luckily i was intending on eating the Salad without dressing or I would of been up the creek.  I ended up eating the salad bit by bit as a I read and had my bagel.  The trash was collected after a drinks run (which I had a club soda in the hopes I would get the whole can… nope).  The flight by this time was just cruising along, no big hassles.  I had my scone while finishing a chapter and then once that was all done I did a little bit of work.

I managed to knock out the introduction to the trip report on the flight and get started on this leg as well by the time we hit descent I had barely realised how close we were to SFO.  I could see plenty of lights out the window as we descended and I packed all my stuff back up.  I had been waiting till then to try and get the tail number of the aircraft as it was to dark to see it on the way onboard (though I knew it was ship #935).  I was told it was N935SW but wasn’t quite sure if that was right, but it was I found out much later.
The flight descended from the north for a big loop around the city, past Oakland, a detour a fair distance south then a right turn onto the final approach.  When the gear was deployed, dear god was it loud and forcefull.  I had never felt or heard any gear deployment that bad and I had flown CRJs before.  Maybe cause I was right above the main gear?  We touched down smooth and taxiied quickly to Terminal 1 which was handy as I could scope out a path for what was only a few hours away.

Once at the gate everyone slowly made their way off and I headed towards the door, glad to be up and walking, though the weather was indeed slightly chilly (about the same as when I had left Seattle though).  As people lined the jetway to await their bag, I slowly strolled out and off I went, towards the hotel shuttles and a very quick nights sleep.

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I am sitting here in the Delta SkyClub at Newark watching the sun rise and it looks pretty awesome as the Aircraft Rotate right in front of me and thinking to the wierdest experience I have had lately.  This morning while on the treadmill at the gym of the Hotel it was the usual mix of middle of the night/way to early sunday morning tv mix.  TV sales, informercials and drug commericals.

The funny thing with Drug commercials in the USA is that they have to list all drug side effects in the ad so that people are informed I guess.  Why they have to do it, I don’t know but either way it is hilarious.  You have this ad where they talk about how good the product is and how amazing everything should be once you start taking it. Then all of a sudden right before the end.  “Side effects include” and then they start rattling off everything that could go wrong.

This is a bit wierd and I am sure there is some law that requires it but when the first side effect they listed (at least for the one I was watching) is “May cause Suicidal Tendencies” I don’t know about you but there is no way I am going to take that drug!  No matter what or how good it is, if the drug is gonna cause me to want to kill myself, I can do that without the drug thanks (not that I want to, life over here is to good).  There is always the usual ones you hear like “accidental death etc” but still, that is weird and creepy.

Something to ponder on this Sunday morning!

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Introduction
Seattle to San Francisco
Aloft San Francisco Airport
San Francisco to Atlanta
Atlanta to Newark
Fairfield Inn & Suites Newark
Newark to Minneapolis
Minneapolis to San Francisco
San Francisco to Seattle
Conclusion

With the planning of the first MR well and truly complete I was always on the look out online for a 2nd mileage run.  1 was definately not going to be enough and every couple of days I would check the flyertalk mileage run deal forum scouting out either good fares on Delta or Hawaiian.  Hawaiian would come and go out of San Jose but other than that there was nothing.  Plus the fact that it was lucky to be 2 or 3 flights meant that the use was minimal at best for me to get a good run on HA.  So I kept looking at all the deals.

One day at work trolling the mileage run forum at lunch, I came across a deal from Newark to San Francisco.  Checked through the thread, yep good in reverse.  What made it even better was the fact that people were having luck in getting it in F for an extra $100.  SOLD!  That would be perfect for me as I had failed to move on the Peurto Rico deals late december.  So I did what I could to get that flight booked before someone realised that it was more than likely a mistake.

The hardest part of organising the flights was the choice of what cities to connect in.  As I was going to have to position to SFO that would be another hurdle but I could only get one stop in each direction.  Thankfully I found a date that didn’t restrict me to MSP but I had choices.  I found that I could either do Atlanta over or on the way back.  SFO to ATL on an international configured A330 sold that segment.  But on the way back, could I get DTW.  Well not the best weekend I couldn’t.  Two possible dates but the MSP back dates were heaps better for the positioning flights.  So that sealed the deal.

Positioning flights went to United as VX was out as they don’t go late enough and on the way back was just crap costs.  I could of gone alaska for a bit cheaper but with my MSP return meant 5 hours on the way back.  I couldn’t get around it at all and decided if I am going to have 5 hours in SFO I may as well go with United cause i can chill in the lounge.  So that’s what I did.  In the end the run looked like this on a map:

My Mixed Delta & United Mileage Run

My Mixed Delta & United Mileage Run

And the flight list ended up working out as follows:

Friday 1st March
UA6426 – Seattle to San Francisco – 2013-2225 – CRJ-200
Satruday 2nd March
DL1580 – San Francisco to Atlanta – 0630-1402 – A330-200
DL2142 – Atlanta to Newark – 1635-1900 – A319
Sunday 3rd March
DL5819 – Newark to Minneapolis St Paul – 0805-1018 – E175
DL2105 – Minneapolis St Paul to San Francisco – 1135-1349 – 757-200
UA971 – San Francisco to Seattle – 1932-2141 – A319

A good mixture of Aircraft, services and 2 new airports (Atlanta and Newark).  All up the cost wasn’t to bad really.  Good return on investment since the status credits off the SFO-EWR F flights would pretty much give me at least 50% of my needed credits for the year.  The UA flights were a little pricey but it wasn’t to bad and that would give me some more points towards my LH redemption I want to do.  Even better the cost of the mileage run went on my new AA Citibank card so that would count towards minimum spend.

Next up in the planning was the hotels.  I wanted to stay somewhere different in San Fran as the last time I stayed at the airport it was a hotwire bid and although we got it ok, it failed compared to what we thought it was going to be.  No hits at the usual industry rates and I didn’t get any love from Club Carlson at all, so I tried Starwood.  The new Aloft San Francisco Airport came up with a pretty good price for an SFO airport hotel (some wanted $200+ for the night).  I had never stayed at an Aloft and the price was good at $80.  So that was set.  Next up Newark.  Like barely any choice unless I wanted to trek all the way into New York city but that would up my accomodation costs exponentially.

Backwards and forwards I went through sites till I made a decision.  Fairfield Inn & Suites Newark Liberty Airport.  Why this hotel?  Well I decided I might as well burn one of my Marriott vouchers for the year (i get 7 industry rate vouchers a year) and for a 1 night stay at $44.  Well worth it.  What i REALLY should of done after I booked all this was reverse that train of thought.  Since I would get maybe 5 or 6 hours at most in my hotel in San Francisco this would of been the time to burn the voucher or go somewhere really cheap.  Then go for something half decent in Newark for around the $100 mark as I had a half decent departure time.  Well hindsight is great but it was all set.

I didn’t end up booking the car parking till about 2 days before as I was looking into options ready to test out a new car park if needed prior to my big trip home in april (which is an epic tale all of it’s own).  With that all set and definately going carry on with my mileage run luck in MSP, it came down to the day of departure, ready for my comfiest mileage run so far (my trips back home had only ever had a max of 2 segments in business, this would be 4).

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February is now over and done with, the month kind of just flew by really. As mentioned in this post I had set myself a challenge with my trainer to keep myself within 1 pound either side of 175lb and take 2 days off training for the month. Well now that the month is over I can let you know how i went….

FAIL!

Yeah that’s right.  I failed.  But in a kind of good way.  I started off the month at 172.3lb.  I went up & down (left & right?) throughout the month, not even remotely close to 175 at all and ended up finishing off the month this morning dead on 170lb.  That’s right, I ended up overall losing 2.3lb.  A good 5lb off my target wait…. Fail 1.

Then look at the 2nd part of my challenge, to take 2 days off training.  Nope failed there as well.  I only took 1 day off.  Sure if you went through my Garmin records you would see gaps but that was either due to the fact I had watch failure (like yesterday) or it was pelting down rain and I had to go indoors for a run in the gym or I took it easy on my legs and used the exercise bike.  Either way I only had 1 day off the entire month and even then I am not sure if I should count it as there sure was a bit of running involved that day. So my attempt to take 2 days off was a fail.

So overall the challenge was an utter failure but I guess in a good way.  I still kept my weight in check, I still kept my running up, but you know what. Good news is as a small reward with a whole weekend of travel ahead of me, I am taking tomorrow off…  Stuff it 😉

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You know the drill:

Untitled

This weeks book (yeah its barely been a week) is “The Joker” by Pete Scholey. A look at life in the SAS for over 20 years. This is the real SAS he is referring to. The British one. From the time of the campaigns in Borneo, all the way through to the Falklands. What was the reincarnation of the SAS after World War 2. To give you a bit of a background the SAS during World War 2 was a revolution and one of the first real Special Forces in the world. They started up operating in Africa, penetrating far behind enemy lines in the deserts attacking the Nazi airfields and other targets in small groups. Fast forward to after the war and a reformed SAS was used in the Malayan Campaign in the jungles of Malaysia.

The British SAS have long been referred to by some as the very epitome of special forces (though I wont get into that fight) and there has been a number of books written about them (including Bravo Two Zero). But the thing I like about this book is the fact that it looks at the comedy of the events that can happen in amongst all the hardship, death & destruction. The author describes some good histroy of operations (obviously the ones he can talk about) but with each of these decriptions come the funnier more light hearted moments. This to me was fantastic! I do enjoy a good chuckle and there are plenty of laughs to be had. I was lol’ing on the bus a number of times at some of the book. Though most of the funny moments are as you would expect with a group of men, boyish, childish humor it is still good to read that they are just like everyone else, real people.

A good read!

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Ok I missed a week 2 update but my goal this month to stay around 175lb is failing miserably. Not failing because im way over it, but more the opposite, I just can’t stay near it! I weighed in Friday morning at 169lb. Thats 6lb UNDER where I should be. I think a bit of it seems to come from the fact that I have been so busy and stressed lately that may have caused me to just work to hard, but that’s not excuse.

What am I doing wrong? Look at some of my running this last week.

Look at the consistence there. 2 seconds difference on the same route! I failed to take yesterday off but I did something I didn’t really want to do over the weekend. I dirty bulked. Pretty much I had a bit to much junk Saturday night (though it was tasty) but I did it to try and keep the weight up a bit. It worked. Weigned in this morning at 172lb, a whole 2lb up from the exact same time last week. That is more like it! But I doubt it will do much by Friday.

I can pretty much consider this challenge failed, but it was worth the try right?

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Ahh Avgeek Book Review time… well.. Kinda..

History of the Glider Pilot Regiment

This weeks book (it has been a week right?) is the History of the Glider Pilot Regiment by Claude Smith. Your probably thinking “the what regiment” and why the hell do I care. Well the British and the American’s in WW2 had been using Gliders to bring in parts of their Airborne forces, well before the invention of the helicopter insertions that are seen today. These gliders were towed into the air behind either a bomber like a Halifax or perhaps a Wellington or behind a C-47 Skytrain/Dakota (DC-3). Made of wood or fabric these flimsy aircraft were a 1 way ticket for the pilots and crew and they were used to ferry troops or vehicles into the war and essentially crash land them into a site and off they would go.

The biggest thing for this was the fact that the pilots of these gliders were pretty much stranded once they got there. During the build up and start of these forces the British went back and forth between the Army and the Royal Air Force to fight over who did what. Eventually it came down to the army to control the pilots and hence the Glider Pilot Regiment was formed. These pilots once they landed were dual role troops and once they were on the ground, they became soldiers, trained to not only lead men but fight and act like infantry till they could be exfiltrated back behind the lines to their home bases and restart the process.

This book is a pretty indepth look at all the different gliders and the regiments that pretty much existed for WW2 only and was gotten rid of once the war was over. As technology in aviation advanced they were no longer required as parachute technology expanded and the invention of helicopters came around, why would you need an aircraft that isn’t powered, is a one way ticket to possible death and destruction and really just an empty money hole? I guess they decided the same thing and it just slowly went away.

I have stood next to a Hamilcar glider in France and jesus they were big, its scary that they could carry a small light tank! It’s a good read, pretty interesting at least!

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Aviation Geek Fest is over, I posted about it Monday, but there is still so many people talking about it and we are going to start the planning for 2014 soon enough. But one thing I keep seeing popping up over and over again when people talk about AGF is that they enjoyed meeting new people during the event or loved coming down to see people.

From Aviation Geek Fest 2013

It hits home to me that the Avgeek community (of which I am sure there are millions and millions world wide) in my experience is always so open and welcoming. I think the first thing that I saw of this was back in 2011 during my Round the World trip I met so many new people and of the Avgeeks I met they were all so fantastic. I got up into the Tower in Vancouver, went spotting in LAX & Vancouver with them. I also had dinner with a fellow Avgeek in London.

But it is amazing to know that even now AGF is bringing people together. I met a few of my Avgeek Twitter buddies and although I didn’t get to spend as much time I wanted with them (as I was working the events playing johnny on the spot) it was still great to catch up with them, talk shop and have a good time!

From Aviation Geek Fest 2013

It’s the allure of Aviation that brings people to the event, but it is the people that you meet, spend time with & get to know that keep you coming back. Sure we all want the big events with all the fun stuff like the factory tours, but getting the chance to sit down and have a coffee and a chat with someone, that’s what makes the weekend all the more amazing.

From Aviation Geek Fest 2013

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I can’t believe just how epic and amazing the last 2 days have been. Like I mentioned a couple of weeks ago Aviation Geek Fest was scheduled to go live and I was looking forward to it. The thing is, the weekend was more amazing than I expected.

There was so many people and although I was working, I expected Saturday morning to be a bit quiet, it wasn’t It was all go, all the time. Worth every minute really. At times I felt like I never got a break, but it was so much fun, met so many people (although I didn’t get as much time to spend with people as I would of liked to) and It all just happened so fast as well.

I really did have the best time with all the other Avgeeks. The Renton factory tour was a blast, and it was so suprising just to see how many planes they pump out of so small a factory. Add onto that the Everett Factory floor tour where you are standing at Ground level while 747s and 777s and 787s tower above you. Totally crazy! The Dreamliner gallery was like a playground for those aviation geeks like us (and no doubt those buying their 787s) where they can choose and pick every little bit of their 787 experience.

My highlight for the weekend though, was the Water Cannon salute, or at least, what was left of it, after we tried to fix it. Things didn’t happen the way they should have and by the end of it, I was standing on the side of Taxiway Alpha, directing buses and fire engines ready for the salute!! Awesome experience!

From Aviation Geek Fest 2013

The big thing I have to say is thank you to all those involved. Including Boeing, Museum of Flight, all the companies that donated prizes and time, The Paine Field Fire Department but most of all the guys at Future of Flight. The biggest thanks go to the few who planned the majority of the weekend. David, Toni & Sandy. They deserve the biggest thanks and without them, the weekend would not of happened.

Amazing times and Amazing people!

From Aviation Geek Fest 2013

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Good book that you get engrossed in means you finish it quickly (plus it is a small paperback):

Combat Swimmer

The Book is “Combat Swimmer: Memoirs of a Navy Seal” by Captain Robert A Gormly. A Now retired US Navy Seal Captain Gormly was a seal from an era I had not read much about. I have always had a fascination about Navy Seals ever since I first saw the Navy Seals movie (from back in the 80s, not GI Jane). The one thing you mostly read about these days are modern day seals, what you hardly read about is the history of the seals and where they first got their real taste of action. Vietnam. This was close enough.

Gormly was a seal from the Vietnam era so it was great to read up on how things happened back then. I really need to read some more on this war as it is fascinating to me on so many levels. It saw leaps and bounds improvements in war fare but yet was so close to modern war fare in the fact that they in some cases were fighting a more guerilla style war (like today with the Taliban in Afghanistan). It looks at the basic rudimentary technology and weapons they used back then compared to now and it was great.

Definately a good read for someone who is into this sort of thing.