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Friday 8th September 2023

Woke up stupid early today, not because we are flying though. Had a full day of work ahead (Mando day too so that was O so fun). Spent all day with that feeling you forgot something. 

Eventually we made it through our work day and got ourselves ready to head to the airport. Our flight took an official delay about 5 hours out but it was a given looking at the schedule it was doing today. What idiot at Alaska decided a 20 minute turn was a smart idea. 

We got a ride to the airport and it was pretty smooth sailing not much of a wait anywhere we went for check in or security, it was smooth sailing pretty much. We had managed to get some cheap upgrades to first class so we had priority lines in most places. We took the upgrade because it would be cheap after taking out the checked bag fee. Some extra room and a small meal onboard for about $65 why not. 

Once through security we went for a bit of a walk around through the terminal and headed towards the N Gates. We got over there with plenty of time to chill out and watch the sunset by the windows. 

After a snack and some time spent by the windows, our inbound flight arrived (on time mind you) and our original boarding dissappeared obviously. But we didn’t matter too much. By the time they all got onboard of course there was a further delay while they did some mechanical sign offs. 

Alaska Airlines – AS1102

Seattle Tacoma to Los Angeles (SEA-LAX)

2035-1127

Boeing 737-9 Max (N946AK)

First Class – Seat 3A

Boarding: 2035 (Gate N13)

Push Back: 2111

Take Off Roll: 2121 (Runway 34R)

Top Of Descent: 2312

Touch Down: 2337 (Runway 25R)

Shut Down: 0010 (Gate 64B)

I stood up to stretch after 10 or so minutes of waiting out the mechanical delay and they were pre boarding, so off we headed over towards the gate and as we came up they called First Class. So onboard we went where we promptly stopped at the door for about 5 minutes, not sure why. We were boarding a 737 Max 9 and it would be my first time on this type of aircraft and to get a special livery was a rare treat. We were on the San Francisco Giants livery, not that we could see it in the dark. 

We grabbed our seats quickly and settled into the nice set up available to us, it looked great! Nice big comfy modern seats, a far improvement over the older seats we had back in April to the east coast. I got everything stashed and wanted to get the wifi entertainment going but it wasn’t working. O well. 

After the flight was fully boarded we eventually pushed back and a short safety briefing was done and we were taxiing pretty quickly down to the active. We didn’t even get a line up and wait, we were just told to do it, get er done! 

We took off heading north and a big swing around to the south in the dark as we headed towards California. Orders had been taken for drinks shortly before departure, so once we were past 10000ft service started and we soon received our meal. Thankfully pre order was available last night so we already had our options sorted. I had the Guajilio Chili Chicken Rice Bowl. It was pretty tasty, however the brownie that it was served with was delicious. 

While the onboard streaming entertainment didn’t like my tablet, I decided to just use what I had on the tablet, which was just as easy anyway. Soon enough we were cruising over the central California area around Fresno and heading south towards Bakersfield and top of descent. 

As we passed the grapevine and started to descend the amount of lights out the window really started to pick up and there was lots of stuff to see, however not much in the way of photo opportunity at night. The descent was pretty quick and as we started to clear downtown LA we turned over Dodger Stadium, heading towards the southern runway. 

After a long roll out, we came to a halt at the end of the runway on the middle taxiway. This meant one thing, penalty box. While the pilots said it would only be a minute, it was about 20. Sigh 

We eventually made the gate and after pulling in, we had plenty of people pushing their way forward. I wasn’t in too much of a rush as we had checked bags to pick up. After a brief pit stop and collecting bags it was out to the street where there was a rental shuttle stop right in front and then like some miracle, a National Shuttle appeared and it was empty! 

The driver quickly (and I mean quickly) took us to the lot for vehicle pick up, where we selected our car. 15 minutes later we were safely at our hotel and in our room, ready for bed after a really long day. 

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The annual trip down to Dorkfest is about to begin, but this time it is going to be a little different (not that last year wasn’t more different). For the first time, This will not be an out and back trip when flying down. While we fly down tomorrow night (Friday the 8th) we won’t be coming back to Seattle after Dorkfest concludes.

On Saturday we are planning on heading to Hawaii for a good relaxation vacation. I haven’t been to Hawaii in 14 years, Heidi even longer. While this is not my first visit to Oahu, it is Heidis. I have done a few of the things were are going to do, there is still new stuff to me involved.

So we are combining our usual Dorkfest trip with a jaunt over the pacific (sadly not all the way home, but I can dream right) and some usual Avgeek fun involved. At least 1 new aircraft (possibly two if Alaska doesn’t change the aircraft on us like they did last time) some new routes to me (two actually, though one is only new in the reverse direction) and a hotel in Hawaii that is pretty famous, at least for Hawaii 5-0 viewers. I have put aside some time in LA for some spotting but also some in Hawaii as well.

So stay tuned for all the fun as we go on our Avgeek Escape to Paradise!

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Had to wake up again at O’Dark Thirty (this time only 4am, so yay for sleeping in, though thats 1am PST so it was going to be a LOOONG day) and got myself all packed up ready to head towards the airport. While the drive should take about less than an hour from our friends house on the opposite side of Charlotte, who knows what traffic or accidents could lead to, especially with road works on the main interstate (I485). So I headed out early about 5am, for a flight that should board about 8am, but I had rental car stuff to deal with and a new company I have never returned to before so who knows what will happen.

The roads however were absolutely empty and the sat nav on the BMW sent me through the middle of downtown Charlotte, not even remotely close to the way I was expecting. The road was empty and I made it through to the airport in about 30 minutes. This allowed plenty of time to find a gas station to top up (I filled the tank fully the night before, so I only had to top up) and it turned out to be a 1 gallon top off, which made the guy look strange when I asked for a receipt. Then it was off to drop off the car in an unfamiliar place.

By the time I was dropping off, it was 5:55am and they didnt show up until 6am apparently so I waited a few minutes and when no one was still there, I dropped the key in the drop off box (with no envelopes mind you), kept the fuel receipt, took a photo of the mileage and also a full video of the car in case they tried to ding me for some BS reason. It was time to then navigate over to the terminal the easy way (fuck following the signs this time) and drag my bags up to the Delta check in which was empty! I dropped off my bag, they changed my seat to an exit row and then it was off to find my way to security. No clear here in Charlotte (booooo) but Precheck was in one central location, and thankfully the line was not all that long. While I was waiting, I got to the front and then rather than being called over to the line that was packed full of people, I was called over to the line handling employee entrance instead so I was through to an empty screener and it only took minutes.

Once through security, I just headed to the gate to find where it was and then I was going to go find a coffee, but the lines for Dunkin were too long, so I just stayed at the gate. It was at this point I realized I had just carried a half full bottle of water through security and TSA didnt say anything. Good job guys! I ate some of the breakfast I had carried with me and just sat at the gate listening to music and working on the trip report some. It was a pretty chill time at the gate. I was a little nervous as I had not had a connecting itinerary in a very long time (2016 was my last connecting flight, coming back from Japan with Heidi), and 2013 was my last proper domestic connecting itinerary when flying alone).

It was a bit of a wait at the gate, but our plane was there and eventually the crew showed up and went down, the Delta gate agent showed up as well and got the area set up to go.

Delta Air Lines – DL2327

Charlotte to Detroit (CLT to DTW)

0919-1115

Boeing 717-200 (N945AT)

Economy Class – Seat 21E

Boarding: 0846 (Gate A5)

Push Back: 0924

Take Off Roll: 0941 (Runway 18C)

Top of Descent: 1031

Touch Down: 1057 (Runway 21L)

Shut Down: 1104 (Gate A51)

When boarding began, I had to wait till most of the way through (Main 1) but when it was time I made my way down and stashed my camera bag in the overhead bin. Which I then promptly got in trouble for using that bin. The 717 has a smaller overhead bin on the left side of the aircraft, the larger bin on the right, I put it on the right, because thats where I was sitting, the flight attendant got upset I didnt put it on the left side. They then started announcing to use the bin on the left for full size suitcases, but it should have been the right, so they were getting upset a lot for people who were just following orders.

I stashed my backpack under the seat in front but as I had an exit row and an unlimited legroom seat (thanks to a missing seat infront) the person in that middle seat on the row in front got upset I was using “Her bag space”. Ugh no lady, thats my bag space but I eventually moved my backpack to fill the middle seat between us when no one showed up.

We began push back and got told of our quick flight up to Detroit. This was good news as it meant I wasnt going to miss my connection. First time on the 717 and it was perfectly fine, apart from the fact there is no IFE system, not even streaming, on the these aircraft. It was fine, I finished off watching my netflix downloads. The flight went by pretty easily, I looked out the window every now and then, ate a Biscoff, drank some water and just chilled out. Fairly soon we were descending into Detroit. What became obvious as we started to move down towards finals was that the Canadian border was directly across from the airport, and the airport was not far from downtown Detroit at all.

We touched down rather strong in Detroit and made our way slowly to the gate, from the air, it doesn’t look that big, but when you get to ground level, the size of the A concourse at DTW just is massive. The 1 concourse is probably the size of Seattles whole terminal from end to end. We pulled into our gate in the high 50s and when I looked at the Delta app it told me I was going to the low 20s. Guess that is going to be a walk!. But I waited my turn to get out of the plane and then it was into the terminal.

I was stunned the moment I stepped into the terminal. It was bright, open, airy, massive ceilings (to accomodate the train that runs along the ceiling) and it was wide as well. The only downside, the little dots on the windows to stop people from taking photos. Bah, one little downside aint bad. I wish Seattle’s airport could look like this. I could have found the train station and taken the train down towards my gate, but figured I now had extra time, so why not walk. It was about a 20 minute slow stroll down to my new gate, but it was worth it to look around.

The terminal was so nice and new looking (but I dont think its that new) and it was like everything you see at international airports, just not on the West Coast anywhere. I found my gate, tried to see if I would have an empty seat next to me or could move to a aisle seat and was told it was no to both, and then it was time to sit back and chill out while I worked some more on the trip report, and relaxed for a bit while I waited. I finished off the small breakfast I had brought with me (trying to readjust to PST at this point) and waited it out at a nearby gate, one that had no one really at it. Eventually the crew and pilots showed up and soon enough it was time to go.

Delta Air Lines – DL728

Detroit to Seattle Tacoma (DTW to SEA)

1246-1446

Boeing 737-900ER (N871DN)

Economy Class – Seat 31A

Boarding: 1205 (Gate A24)

Push Back: 1245

Take Off Roll: 1258 (Runway 22L)

Top of Descent: 1343

Touch Down: 1407 (Runway 16R)

Shut Down: 1415 (Gate A2)

Boarding began and it was time to wait, wait and more wait. Being in Main 2 this time meant it was a long way to wait, and this was a fully loaded 737-900ER, it was going to be a while. By the time it got to main 1, it felt like most of the plane had boarded and as Main 1 started to get towards the end, I snuck into the dregs of Main 1 before they called Main 2, which they did just as I started down the tunnel. Score! I was mainly worried about getting my camera bag in the overhead, while its small, I didn’t want them to try and make me put it under the seat, what with my backpack going there.

I got into the seat and got set up as quickly as possible and from here, I really didnt move at all for the next 5 hours :(. It was a packed flight, every seat was taken and the joint was overflowing really. We had a quick taxi and were told even with substantial headwinds, we would still be in early, with a 4 hour flight time. Gotta love schedule padding! It was mean’t to be 5 hours gate to gate and we were looking at 4.5 hours. Thankfully with Seat Back IFE, i plugged in my headphones and off we went.

We took off out of Detroit with a few bumps, but it smoothed out not long after and it stayed that way for a good portion of the flight. There was multiple services and instead of the biscoff I tried the “Granola Bar” option, which was really a protein bar, like a cliff bar. I watched a few movies, but otherwise the 4 hours just pretty much went by without any hassles. We did have the seat belt sign come on for about 10 minutes while we went through a section of “light chop” which made me think of some memes that go around regarding Delta and the term “light chop” because it was really nothing, not close to what I had going into Newark.

Clouds were out around Seattle and we didn’t even get a break through until we were on finals over the city and coming in over the southern suburbs north of the airpot. We touched down on 16R and that meant a nice long taxi to our gate, but we were early, so it didn’t really matter to much. Thankfully our gate was empty when we pulled in, and it was to the A gates as well, so it was a quick easy walk out of air side to the way down to baggage claim. But first I had to wait for what felt like the entire plane to get off first, since I was WAY down the back. It was fine, I wasn’t in all that much of a rush.

By the time I was off, it was only a few seconds to hit the bathroom (across from the gate) and then downstairs to Baggage claim but I did have to wait for my bags. I didn’t bother looking at the times for the bag to be hitting the belt as I couldn’t remember if Delta offered their bag guarantee like Alaska does. Once I had my bag, I ordered a pick up from a rideshare app and before you knew it, I was at home, to an empty house and a big mess to clean up from a messy kitty.

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After a lesuirely morning of exploring the White House Visitors Centre, breakfast at the hotel and slowly packing up in the hotel, we checked out and headed for the Metro station. 

We decided to take the metro to our airport today because the station was close to the hotel, we still had a few dollars on our metro cards and the metro goes directly to the airport from the stop near our hotel. No changes, no hassles.

The metro station was only a couple of blocks away and there was a train within minutes of getting to the station. 20 minutes later we were pulling into the DCA metro station ready for a long walk from the station to the American Airlines check in, along with security. 

AA’s check in was way at the opposite end of the terminal from where the metro drops off, but because we were at the wrong end of the metro train we had to walk about half the platform and then back the other way. We eventually found the AA check in desk so I could drop my bag off (already paid online) and after self printing a bag tag you then take it to an AA staff member who taps a few keys and tells you to take it to a different part of the airport. Lots of screwing about! 

We made it to the Clear checkpoint and headed through and then it was a short walk to the gate where we had about 45 minutes to boarding. We just hung around the gate area reading and chilling out. 

American Airlines – AA620

Washington DC National to Charlotte

1355-1535

Boeing 737-800 (N946NN)

Economy Class – Seat 32F

Boarding: 1320 (Gate D45)

Push Back: 1356

Take Off Roll: 1408 (Runway 19)

Top of Descent: 1443

Touch Down: 1502 (Runway 36R)

Shut Down: 1515 (Gate B8)

Soon enough boarding began for our flight and the gate scrum started. There was people standing everywhere and I waited a whole before trying to get in line, but it was still a bit of a fight. Once onto the jet bridge it was a slow slow process getting onto the aircraft. Eventually I did get onboard for more slow process getting to my seat and getting my bag sorted. 

Once in my seat I just chilled and waited we closed up 100% full and we waited a bit before we could push back. There was a lot of traffic headed out around the same time. We made our way to the active and after what seemed like a very short penalty box wait, we took our turn and headed into the sky. 

It was a bumpy climb out, not sure why, big it stopped after a few minutes, as we climbed out the crew were up quickly to provide a basic service. They were quick and looked like they were hurrying quite a bit. We got a pack of pretzels da drink and soon enough we were top of descent into Charlotte. Service was still being worked on even into turning finals which was a crazy thing. We came in over the city Charlotte which seemed to come out of no where. 

Once on the ground we waited a bit of our gate to open up and then we waited for what felt like every single person to get off the plane ahead of us. Once we were allowed to leave it was through the maze of bags headed to baggage claim and the rental desks. We were renting with SIXT for the first time so it was going to be an adventure.

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While not up too early we were up early, our train to Washington DC was at 8am and I wanted to be there with plenty of time to not rush, get my tickets printed as the app was having problems, and I wanted to make sure we were in the line for the train early so I could stash my suitcase as they did not do a baggage service between DC and New York. 

We got to the station with plenty of time, got a spot sorted and then ran the errands. I picked up some breakfast from H&H, some liquids from the drug store (cheaper than the convenience store) and my ticket printed, all with plenty of time. 

Lines were forming and trains were being called, all the back and forth of a large train station with limited platforms. Only 5 or 6 platforms were being used by Amtrak.  The new Moynihan train hall was visually stunning, it was amazing to look at and had a lot or good features. It was signed well, really well laid out, every time you wanted in a modern facility, and it was built in an old historic building. Wins all around. 

Amtrak Acela – Train # 2203

New York Penn Station to Washington DC Union Station

0800-1058

Eventually the platform was called and a giant rush began, not that we were lined up long, thankfully our train was the first departure of this consists day so it was at the platform empty and ready. So we were down the escalators to track level and off to find our carriage. Thankfully we were right at the front of the train in the 2nd car, but it was so confusing because the train was pointing what I thought was the wrong direction. 

We found our seat (thankfully facing the right direction) and settled in. We rolled out right on time and started cruising towards DC. While the train seemed to pick up speed fast it jumped around a lot. More than I remembered. Maybe I just couldn’t remember back to 2009 much where I did this exact journey in reverse. It was really bumpy. 

The ride was very bland. I ate the breakfast we took with us, I watched multiple episodes of TV. We passed though Philadelphia, Delaware and Baltimore and eventually began hitting the suburbs of DC. It had flown past really quickly & easily, no delays, no hassles, what travel should be like. No hurry up and wait, no security etc. 

We pulled into Union Station in DC and we let a lot of people get off ahead of us so I could get my bags and suitcase without obstructing other people. We were still off the train within minutes of pulling in and then off to the Metro Station to take the metro a couple of stops to our hotel in Penn Quarter. 

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The morning started off at 0 Dark Thirty (aka 330am) but it would be worth it. Spent some time getting ready to go and helping to fend off the craziness that was DB Cooper, in prime crazy play mode. After leaving the cat to fend for himself (jk) we took a Lyft to thd airport. We ended up getting a Mustang Mach E as our ride so that was an interesting start to the journey for all of 4 minutes. 

Got to the airport to check in and thanks to first class tickets we were able to jump the giant lines that were there for regular bag drop, but the elite line was just a few people. After checking my bag, we went over to clear to get our ID and Biometrics fixed up (long story) and we finally got through security. Time from home to airside with a lot of faffing about, 30 minutes. 

Our flight was out of the N gates, so we jumped the train over to the Satellite and the Alaska Lounge. We thankfully still had access to the lounge with our F ticket, even after all the changes they made to the access policies. We sat down to rest and get a light breakfast while we waited. 

A short time before boarding we headed to thd gate and saw the door open & thought to ourselves…. It’s like 10 minutes to boarding thd gate area looks empty & the door is open, we thought we were one of the last people there. We weren’t, thank God. They were just checking bags to save overhead bin space. The gate area was empty because our flight was crammed into the adjacent gate and was made up of a high school band making it’s way to the east coast. Thank god for first class. 

Alaska Airlines – AS280

0730-1550

Seattle Tacoma to Newark (SEA to EWR) 

Boeing 737-900ER (N468AS) 

First Class – Seat 2A

Boarding: 0654 (Gate N2) 

Push Back: 0730

Take Off Roll: 0800 (Runway 16L)

Top of Descent 1533

Touch Down: 1630 (Runway 04R)

Shut Down: 1638 (Gate B40)

Boarding was eventually called and we got onboard to stash our stuff before the overhead bin space was filled with musical instruments. Waiting at our seat was a blanket (I did everything I could to not steal it) and a tiny carton of boxed water. 

The aircraft was not what we were meant to have as it had been scheduled for a long time as a 737Max9 but got equipment swapped a few days out. But a first class seat is better than coach so no complaints really. 

Settled in and the hoardes of teenagers boarded. We pushed back on time, down the back was full, up front still had a few empty seats. As we slowly made our way to the taxiway behind plenty of traffic they told us it would be a 5 hour flight time, which seems pretty good, however it would make us late getting in at the rate we were taking go get to the active. 

We made it to 16L eventually and headed up into the sky, It was not a horrible view as we climbed away from Seattle and turned east. We climbed out over the mountains and cleared the light cloud layer. As we climbed further higher towards cruise we started to pass places like Moses Lake and Spokane. 

Drink orders were taken and breakfast orders were confirmed, we were not in a rush and the service wasn’t either. It worked fine because we had already had breakfast on east coast time, best to try and adjust further to eating on a different schedule. Heidi was having the omelette, I was having the non egg option of an Apple Cobbler Oatmeal. I settled in to watch Netflix on my tablet since non of the onboard streaming even remotely seemed interesting. 

When the flight attendant started to bring around meals she apologized for the sight of my meal, she said it smealt great (it did) she was so apologetic about the look. I was already aware of the sight as had seen photos online. It was…. Interesting. While it looked like crap (literally) it wasn’t that bad. It tasted great, though I wouldn’t call it oatmeal, more like a pudding. The meal was rounded out by some ellinos yoghurt, a warm roll and some fruit. Heidi’s eggs was a sweet potato omelette with potatoes. 

After the meal was cleared away it was more of the same as we cruised east. Our flight attendant kept our drinks pretty topped up throughout most of the flight, a few hours out we were about to run parralell to some big storms near Chicago and that made it pretty bumpy for an hour or more. It also meant no bathroom options as they didn’t want us moving around, which is rough when you desperately need to pee after drinking liquids for several hours. 

What became evident as we got stuck in the turbulence was that we were going to be stuck in this for a while and when we cleared it we should be top of descent, but our top of descent came and we didn’t really descend all that much. When you looked down you didn’t see all that much. We then got told that Newark was under an arrival program. Dammit 🙁

That meant we got put in a stack and we were being held and it made for a very long descent, so much so that being 10-15 minutes late would have been a god send. We made our way slowly down towards New Jersey and our destination. It became evident just how low the cloud base was when we knew we were descending and on final (gear out, flaps down) and still could see the ground. It didn’t come into view until we were just about to enter the airport perimeter. Ouch. 

We touched down (finally) and then held on a taxiway for what felt like an eternity, but we eventually headed to what was described to me as “a shit show” and they weren’t wrong. It’s not a good look when everything around where your plane is going was surrounded by fences with consatina wire. O dear. 

We finally pulled into the gate next to a newly arrived Spirit A320 and that meant crowds. Add on that we were late and it was like swimming upstream during salmon spawning season. It was packed!  But we pushed our way out of the mess and headed towards baggage claim. It is never a good look when your bathrooms are essentially fancy portable toilets. 

My bag was not apparently priority tagged (thanks Alaska) and was way at the end of coming out. But it showed up which is the main thing and then it was off to find the train station. The air train is not really convienient to people collecting luggage, but we found it. Then it was more waiting, because those trains run sloooow. Well it’s not really a train but a monorail and reminded me of the monorail that ran at Expo 88 it looked almost the same and thd cars were just as small. People were jammed in everywhere just to make it on the train. My bag was jammed at my feet while I tried not to hit people with my backpack. 

We eventually got dropped off at the train station where we just missed a train and had to Wait 30 minutes for the next one. NJ Transit was meant to run 6 an hour, but 4 of those trains were coming within 6 minutes of each other (turns out they were all late). By the time the train showed up I was ready to get onboard! I struggled to get my suitcase up the steps inside of the train but it was lightly loaded in our carriage for the 30 minute ride into New York Penn (it’s not thst far, bug it runs slow apparently) 

By the time we pulled into NYP I was just done with travelling for the day, I was tired hungry & needed a bathroom, thankfully it was 3 blocks to our hotel, and some relief, we just had to get out of the craziness that was the station at the same time the Rangers fans are showing up for games at Madison Square Garden. But we did it… 

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It has been a while since I updated this site, life has changed a lot in the last year. I usually spend my annual post about being in this country talking about how much has changed in my life since I left, but since the last time I did one of these posts in 2019, a LOT has changed.

A global pandemic pretty much changed everything and the last post on this site was one of the last international trips I have done since. Since then two of my friends got married in other countries and I couldn’t go to it. Both of them I had to watch on either my computer or on the tv. It was gut wrenching to be honest. Add on the fact that I lost my job, well life turned to shit.

But life has rebounded, I have a great new job, been spending time working on the house (my office moved, Heidi is in the middle of reworking my old office into a new combined office/guest room. There has been stress, there has been yelling at ikea furniture, the main thing that has been missing is travel. I miss travel, not working in travel has been hard for me, as that has been most of my life.

The biggest thing in the last year was that I applied for my US Citizenship. I am still waiting to hear when the interview will be, but I know it is a long long way off to be honest. But eventually I will need to buy two passports (and considering I went down to Los Angeles at the end of 2019 to update mine, I am glad I did that to be honest).

Anyway today is my 9th anniversary of moving to the USA. Boy has a LOT changed.

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Saturday 21st September 2019

Woke up this morning and opened the windows to find out that we were pulling into Canada Place into our berth right on 6am.  There were two ships coming in behind us as well, so it was going to be a full morning in Port. The ship was beginning to wake up, just as we did.  The port was coming to life as ships were pulling into port and stevedores were getting going pulling in lines etc

We headed off up to the Lido Market for breakfast and made sure to get a good decent feed as we weren’t sure when we would have lunch.  The Lido was packed solid, but then it was only one of the two venues open for breakfast and room service was not available. It was crazy though as the Lido Pool was practically empty, so that is where we sat.  I made sure to have a hot breakfast today and before we knew it, it was time to head down and start getting stuff together. On the way back you could see the cabin stewards getting their stuff ready for cleaning, like making sure to have keys ready for each room for lights etc, even door stops. 

We packed up the last bits and pieces and made sure we hadn’t left anything behind (in the end, I certainly did, the vegas card I left in the power key slot).  When they called our group, we headed for the 2nd deck and it was time for this cruise to end. We disembarked to as usual a group of staff waiting at the end of the gang plank saying goodbye.  Into the terminal we went to find our bags which were waiting for us. Then through the non event that was CBSA. This time no questions, just hand over the customs form and off we go. This was when the shit show began.

We had booked a rental car to get us home.  It was with National using one of our free days.  They have a rental agency in Canada Place and the last time the desk had been in a great spot right where we came out of customs.  Apparently this has now changed as when we came out they directed us to the parking garage, down an elevator to level 1. So off we went, confirming with staff along the way that is where they were.  Yeah… nope. We got off the elevator to find… nothing. No people, no cars, just a note saying go to the other building, this desk doesn’t exist. Let the frustration build begin. I came back up to go to the other building it said to go to and asked some staff giving directions.  Both of them sent me back where I had just been. I let them know there were signs saying this was wrong (mind you heidi was sitting on a bench right where the signs had posted).

Finally someone sent me in the right direction and pointed me to where I should be going.  The other two staff looked at her and said “when did that change”. This got me super frustrated, as someone who deals with this kind of stuff on a daily basis, directions and information are key to keeping people moving!  So over to the other building I went, waited in line, picked up my keys and when I told them about what happened, a shoulder shrug and the response “we told them that months ago”. Numerous people were laying into them about it so it seems like I wasn’t the only one and that it had been ongoing for quite some time, with not a single person who cares.  I returned back to where I left Heidi trying to swim upstream through all the people flowing out of the ships. I made it back to the elevator which now had a considerable line and asked someone if there was steps to go down (as I had come up steps but spat out at a different spot). Again I shouldn’t have asked as I got the answer of “Down the Elevator”.  To which I just looked forlorn as it was going to be a 20 minute wait just to get down! But then the lady looked at me and said “where are your bags” and i said “downstairs, which is where I need to go!” She pointed me to the stairs as though I was an idiot. I went back downstairs, collected Heidi and then got in the elevator again to go downstairs one more floor to the car.

Once we found the car, I inspected it and then we tried to leave the car park.  The signage just had us going in the same circle around and around again as though it was a final insult to anyone wanting to leave Canada Place.  A final “fuck you” to anyone thinking they could escape the shit show that wanted to do anything but get a cruise provided shuttle bus. We left Canada Place and headed out of the city towards the border.  Once out of the city the freeway made it a straight shot to the Peace Arch and before we knew it we were at the Nexus lanes and with just one car ahead of us when we pulled up, a few questions about what we were doing in Canada and off we went.

We hit I5 and got going south towards home.  We stopped off at Snow Goose Produce for a final ice cream before they close for the season (October 6th for anyone who cares).  This ended up being our lunch and about an hour or so later we were approaching the city. We stopped by the grocery store on the way home to pick up some food so we don’t starve tomorrow morning and we were home by 1pm.  This was around the same time as the bus would have been leaving Vancouver for us if we had used it to come home. A 1pm time to get home vs a 1pm departure from Vancouver. Let me think about that! Home and the trip was now fully over… *sigh*

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Friday 20th September 2019

Woke up this morning, our final full day onboard. We were due to be crossing Haida Gawaii today towards Vancouver Island. Last time we did this was on our first full day onboard, and there was some movement. So today we decided to get up late, have some room service breakfast and just relax through the morning. 

In the end I need not have worried. It was dead calm throughout the crossing, however it was a real pea souper. The fog was heavy so every 2 minutes what you heard on deck was “baaaaaarrrrrppppp”. There was no view, no looking at sunshine etc, just fog, glary fog. I was ok with this as it allowed me to sit in bed for a bit working on the trip report. 

Around 930am I got myself up and moving to go for some laps around the deck before heading to my first activity of the day, Ask the Captain. Unfortunately they don’t offer tours behind the scenes apparently (which is wrong because I heard people did it in the end). They offered the chance to sit in the main stage and ask the Captain questions about the ship and Holland America. When it started unfortunately the Captain was unable to attend as he was required on the bridge due to the fog. So they sent the Staff Captain instead (the executive officer essentially). 

It was a good talk, covering some stuff that I never would have thought to ask, and some information that would come in handy later. After the tour Heidi went and picked up our photos from the gallery and we both got ready for our lunch today. We were invited to the Mariner Society lunch for all returning cruisers. Some people got some medallions for excessive days at sea. It was a relatively good lunch but we never got our tiles, so that was dissapointing. 

After lunch we journeyed around to a few different activities like America’s Test Kitchen, I also did an animal towel folding demonstration and also a talk about women in Alaska. My favorite activity that afternoon was Team trivia which we ended up winning on a tie break. The winning question, well that was how many people in a lifeboat onboard the ship. An answer we got from the talk that morning! Score! 

After heading up to the Neptune Lounge for a small afternoon tea we headed back to the room to begin the long process of packing our bags.  This was as though we were making the trip come to an end, but we also spent some time on the Balcony as we cruised through past Vancouver Island.  This part this afternoon had parts of islands and mainland so close together it was maybe two ship widths, and we were not the first ship in line. We followed the Alaska Marine Highway Ferry through the area.  It was so beautiful even the whales and seals were out playing. It was such a fun afternoon, that it made packing feel almost tolerable.

Dinner tonight for one final time was in the dining room in the same area we had been eating in, at the same table as the night before.  I had pre ordered a usual to ensure they didn’t put any garlic in my dinner, but Heidi was still choosing from the menu. Dinner was fun as there was the occasional possible whale sighting out the window, and a couple of tables of Aussie’s half way across the dining room begging for the windows to be opened.  Fun times! 3 courses, coffee and an adventurous ice cream flavor later, we headed off to some after dinner entertainment.

First up on the entertainment choices tonight was Billboard Onboard.  This is the piano bar onboard with dueling pianos. It was an “icons” selection but it felt more request like.  The best one was an american singing John Farnham & Paul Allen. I was so impressed with that!! The show went for about 45 minutes which was perfect as we were heading to another show due to start 15 minutes after that, so we would be right on time.  The second show we were going to was the final Main Stage show which was a mixed variety show of a short show of the Aussie comedian and the Illusionist as well.

It was a really good show, the comedian was on the ball in my opinion and the illusionist had some good, single person stuff including the show finishing escape from a straight jacket.  A fantastic show to end a fantastic night. We strolled back to our room after the show not wanting the night to come to an end. But we needed to pack up the last of our clothes as we had to have our bags outside the door by midnight.

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Thursday 19th September 2019

Woke up this morning and it felt like the ship was not even moving forward it was so solidly calm.  The weather was good outside, cloudy but not raining. This was a good sign, with plenty of islands around us as we cruised down into Ketchikan.  We were not due to arrive until mid morning but it didn’t stop us from going on a morning walk on the Promenade deck. Hell maybe we would see some wildlife.

After our walk we had breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill and then stopped by the Neptune lounge to arrange some stuff for dinner that night.  I wasn’t sure if they would have enough time to get my dinner prepared in mind for my allergies, but we would see how it went. After coming back to the room and finding Jas still cleaning, we hurried to get through packing up our stuff, but in the end I had forgotten a major thing.

We pulled into Ketchikan as the ship was the last of the 4 ships to arrive.  We pulled into Port with two Princess ships (Golden and Ruby, our Skagway neighbors) and sister ship Eurodam.  It was a beautifully calm morning and the best part was watching the seaplanes take off right next to the ship. I even saw a Hovercraft leave the waterfront area.  While we took time to get aside I watched as the bits and pieces all came together. The moment they got the gangplank set up, it was as if someone opened a spigot and all the crew just flowed out of the ship on to the dock with all their gear.

Soon enough we were off the ship and headed out into town on a walking tour led by my wife and her phone.  She had downloaded an app that showed all of Ketchikan local landmarks and how to get around. This few dollar app cost us less than a walking tour led by the ship and would have covered much of the same information if not more.  Saving us hundreds! The one activity we had planned today was the Lumberjack show but this was not until the afternoon.  

So while doing our walking tour it was now that I had realised I had forgotten something important.  I had forgotten to strap my foot. This was not going to be good. One little mistake and my foot would be in pain for all the day.  But I soldiered on, even being a bit of an ass to my wife at times, Sorry honey!. But I still tried to keep going as best that I could.  We ended up back in downtown right as my foot was giving me problems, so we made our way back to the ship for some lunch and I fixed up my foot ready for the afternoon.  

We hit up some of the stores we wanted to see, as well as the ones for all of our freebies.  The best part was the fact that our limited time meant we could skip out on the hard sells. Awesome!  We made it to the Lumberjack show and had a great time. While very similar to the woodchop displays I had seen every year at the Ekka back home, this was a very well done version.  Lots of humor, lots of talk of history and skill and how Ketchikan was not always just about the Salmon and the tourists, it was once about timber as well.

The show ran about an hour and when we came out it was as though someone had turned on the best way to finish an afternoon.  The sun was out and shining and best of all the town was calm and quiet for our walk back to the ship. We stopped in one final shop a few blocks from the ship but made it onboard for a quick snack and a rest on the balcony. 

The ship began to pull away right after 530pm as the Captain came on for his evening briefing.  He let us know that there may be a little bit of movement but it was unlikely to be much compared to the night before.  We had a dinner reservation for 6pm and knew that we would be taking a while to get out of the narrows around Ketchikan.  We sat down for dinner just as we finished pulling off the dock and headed out of the city, so as we cruised out we watched the city disappear.  We saw one whale off to our side out the windows of the dining room, and the Pilot boat come out to collect our pilots (who will somehow get back to Kake in a day or two for pick up.

We watched the illusionist on the stage show, who was really good, and finished off the night watching BB Kings Blues Club for the Orange Party (celebrating dutch heritage).  We made it back to the room to watch TV and finish off a movie before falling asleep as the boat cruised south towards British Columbia.