by ·Comments Off on Impending Doom… or maybe not..

So like any Expat Aussie living in the USA the one thing you know before you even come over here is that the Health system over here is farked. I don’t mean its dodgy, it’s just retardly complicated and expensive… or is it? Obviously back home we Aussies are all used to medicare and the fact that you have the choice to supplement this with your own private health insurance. Over here things work a little different. The quality of care is just phenomenal. But if you don’t have insurance. Bend over and prepare to take it… royally! Things will not be cheap if you do not have insurance, I’ve heard of bills of several thousand dollars.

Now I was a little bit intimidated the last few days, my throat had been acting up and I knew what was coming, Tonsilitis. I get it several times a year, know exactly when its coming and now what the treatment routines are here. What I was not really looking forward to was the fact that I would have to navigate my way through the US Health system for the first time. At the moment my cover provided by work has not fully kicked in yet, so I have some stop gap coverage (at least that’s what I call it) that means I don’t have to empty my life savings into the health system. So I was covered. But here is how a visit to the doctors works over here.

1. First work out what doctors you can visit thanks to your insurer. Using all their online tools I finally worked out what doctor I can use, thankfully, it was the Medical Centre in the same building I work in. Convienient++
2. Make an appointment as usual, be totally suprised they can accomodate you within a matter of hours and at a time that will mean very little time off work out of the very little sick leave i get… (looking good so far)
3. Show up 15 minutes early to appointment (as instructed) and fill out the mass amount of forms and paperwork for a first time visit, hand over all insurance cards etc
4. Visit Doctor
5. Walk Away treated

Now 3,4 & 5 are vague because I want to explain some peculiarities and some awesome things that happened today. I was pretty much knowing going into this morning what I was gonna be diagnosed/prescribed. It was a given. However going through the process of first visit was totally different. The set up of the surgery at the Clinic I went to was amazing. The technology was well beyond what I was used to back home. The thermometer for my temperature was connected to the same device that monitored my blood pressure, heart beat etc and all fed directly into the computer! So easy, no hassle of juggling through the doctor going back and forward.

Then there is the Doctor. Or in my case, the Nurse Practitioner. Essentially a more qualified Nurse who handles the easy stuff like what I had today, they can prescribe, treat do all the crazy stuff. Not a normal nurse, but not a full doctor. Awesome++ Then once all was said and done, I knew what they were going to prescribe because I have been taking the stuff to treat my tonsilitis for as long as I can remember. It’s cheap, generic and works a charm. What I did not expect was the fact that I wasn’t given a physical prescription. I said to the Dr/Nurse “Ummm so wheres my prescription” with a reply “O its already at the Pharmacy you nominated, you should be able to pick it up in about 10 minutes” I hadn’t even intended on going down for several hours till my lunch break but to know I could just walk in, give my name, show some ID and away I could go with my drugs… Convienient! Then as I was leaving, I was expecting to have to sign bills, fork over credit cards etc to still pay something I mean we did back home. Nope no extra money, no “CoPay” as they call it over here. I could of just walked right on out. Awesome++ I could not believe how easy it was! I was essentially bulk billed thanks to my insurance. Something I have not had happen for what feels like forever!

Today just made me think, If you combined Medicare back home with the Technology and convience of today. That would be one amazingly good health system. I know it might be a one off situation but for those Doctors visits where its simple and easy like this. I may not be so dreading off ever heading to the doctor… A win for the US Health system?

by ·Comments Off on Book Review: Panzer Commander

Book Review: Panzer Commander

The last in my reviews of real books for the moment, as this is the last one I brought with me.

C360_2012-07-06-09-20-10

The book is Panzer Commander by Colonel Hans Von Luck. The memoirs of one of the more famous Panzer Commanders from WW2. He participated in just about every single Campaign the Germans had. From the Invasions of Poland and France, fighting with the Legendary Afrika Corps, to the “Eastern Front” with Russia, the defence of France and Germany and finally trying to battle the Russians in the final days of the War to try and defend Berlin.

This was a very interesting book. The first book I had ever read from the German perspective of the war. This is by no means a story about “Nazis”, but more about the every day german, who went to defend his country and do his duty. They were not all Nazis and this book does show you that side of the conflict. I was genuinely interested in this book, it was recommended to me by my tour guide in Normandy last year when I was touring the battlefields.

This book also follows the life of a German Prisoner of War in Russia. This is definitely something I had never read about before, I didn’t even realize that a lot of the POWs were not returned until the late 40s early 50s. That is astonishing to me and truly brought about a respect for these people who were captured and interned for so long (wether they be on either side).

This is definitely a book that I would recommend to anyone looking for a read about the War from a different perspective. The perspective from the German side shows that they to were just doing their job (for the most part) and not everyone was a crazy Nazi or anything like that. Definitely a book I would recommend!

by ·Comments Off on Trip Report: 4th July Shenanigans

With a public holiday approaching and one more Radisson stay required to complete my trio of points and an impending deadline for my annual *G status qualification I had the perfect opportunity to get away.

I decided to head to LAX where I would have the opportunity to get in some spotting, a night at the Radisson LAX wasn’t to bdy priced and the flights to LA were not bad with United. So I racked up some time in lieu and booked it all in. Closer to the day I was considering a car for the day to make visiting the spotting locations easier. I found a lovely credit for priceline bids and bid away. I had denied bids till I put $30 for a convertible, Bingo! A car with Hertz was obtained.

Tuesday July 3rd (see I’m adjusting to the American way)

I finished work at 1pm after a quiet morning in the office, jumped in the truck and headed onto the 405. Traffic was fairly heavy till Renton and the 167 off ramp and took about 35 mins to make SeaTac. I had been worried I would have problems as I kept getting told there would be lots of issues due to the holiday.

I had decided to use the MasterPark “Garage” over the outside lots for an extra few dollars. The costs would still be less than a shuttle or a cab in each direction. As soon as I pulled up I was greeted and helped, even the shuttle driver was itching to get me to the terminal but I just had to get a few things sorted first (paperwork, gps put away etc), but I was on the road to the terminal in less than 5 mins and in the walkway to check in, 5 minutes later.

I had expected bedlam, I shouldn’t of worried, not a single person in front of me and I was checking in moments later and pointed towards security. I cleared security after getting an explosive swab down (first over here) but no nude o scope.

As United use the North Satellite I figured might as well just go relax in the club for a while, so off I went to the train station and the train was waiting so moments later I was in the Satellite. I had noticed an unusual Alaskan aircraft on the drive in but it was already gone by the time I got up there so went back to the basement where the club was located.

This was my first time in a United Club and I had heard so many people moan about them, how basic etc. Compared to a Qantas Club or a Virgin lounge yss they are basically, but it’s quiet, there are power points and complimentary drinks. Snacks were limited but enough for a snack or nibble. I grabbed some baby carrots, some trail mix and a diet coke and was about to put my ipod on when I found out I had made a rookie mistake, I forgot to charge my ipod.

I tried to turn it on, dead. I checked my camera bag. I had an ipod connector cable, but no charger. Damn! I scoured the lounge, no usb ports or computers. Double Damn. Went to the reception desk, yeah no chance there! So I figured I would check out the cost of anther charger (not that I needed one, if it was less than $15 I would do it. Yeah $35 for the cheapest charger… um how about no. By this time I had left the lounge and there was only 10-15 minutes till scheduled departure, so I sucked it up and just stayed near the boarding gate.

United Airlines (Operated by Skywest)
UA5358
Seattle to Los Angeles
1546-1825
Canadair CRJ-700 (N762SK)
Economy Class – Seat 12F

Boarding: 1523 (Gate N11)
Push Back: 1544
Take Off Roll: 1554 (Runway 16L)
Top of Descent: 1745
Touch Down: 1819 (Runway 24R)
Shut Down: 1829 (Gate 87)

Boarding was eventually called after the Gate Lice were queuing everywhere. Prepping for the boarding had been done every 2-3 minutes advising that people may need to gate check bags and that they needed to collect special tags etc. I was worried that being my first flight in a CRJ if my camera bag would fit in the overheads, but was advised it would be fine (it was). Eventually Boarding Group 2 was called and I strolled onboard and pretty much all the way to the back. One thing about being *G with United is that since I have no status with United im relegated to the back of the plane, but since I have status and can board early, I’m usually one of the only people AT the back of the plane.

I boarded onto the CRJ and the first thing i noticed was I am 6ft tall and i was skimming the roof. This does not bode well. I had read and been told about how the CRJs irrespective of size were the bain of many people’s existence. They are passionately despised. I wasn’t going to make that decision yet and was going to give it the benefit of the doubt, but things were not looking great so far.

I had managed to snag an exit row when I got to the club so that was ok. But the legroom didn’t look all to bad either way. One thing I did notice that was slightly peculiar about this exit row was not only did you have seat back tray tables, but you also had arm rest mounted tray tables. Very different. Also what is truly peculiar is that even though my camera bag did not fit in the overhead bin, it fit under the seat in front and I was legally allowed to leave it there. That through me big time! Back home that is a MASSIVE no no. Over here, yeah not so much. Thankfully I had the exit row so I didn’t end up sacrificing to much leg space in the end.

Boarding took up the entire alloted time, with what seemed and endless stream of people trying to fill every single overhead bin space. By the time boarding had finished, we actually pushed back pretty much spot on. Good work United. It was time for the manual demonstration since there are no facilities onboard the CRJ’s for any form of entertainment (not even audio) so I was in for a quiet time on my flight south. With offset windows it seems as well, I wasn’t even going to be able to spend my time looking out the window as much without leaning all the way forward.

We taxiied out fairly quickly to the active runway (the 16s today with L,R & C all being used). and there was no real delay in getting the clearance for take off as we barely even had turned onto the runway before the Captain was pushing those throttles to take off power. A quick trip up through the cloud layer and unfortunately as I was in a D seat, i missed the sight of Mt Ranier on the way out. But I was head down in my book by this stage, just chilling out. I had pre grabbed an apple from the United Club for the flight so that was at least a smart way to get over the wanting of a snack onboard. Thankfully drinks are free of charge.

I settled in to the book and eventually the service got around to our row, it was fairly slow but it was a 2.5 hour flight. Unfortunately no full can on this flight it was just a little cup of water and a little cup of diet coke. To tiny cups. I had enough coffee already that day so didn’t want to be adding more coffee to my system but the cold drinks were fine. A 2nd water service was offered a bit later in the flight so that at least helped out if you hadn’t brought anything with you.

A friend of mine had suggested checking out the “Bathrooms” onboard the CRJ for a bit of a laugh. I wasn’t quite sure why he said this, but I did anyway (after much waiting in line to actually get in there since it seemed like a constant stream of passengers in and out of the 1 bathroom at the rear. I almost smacked my head on the way in so it was not a good sign of things to come. The bathroom follows the curvature of the aircraft at the back and god damn is it small. You either have to lean and hunch forward, or lean all the way back like your spine will snap in half. This was a contortionists dream, now I am 6ft tall so anyone taller than I am, I pity them.

The flight just cruised on pretty well, first we were going to arrive ontime, then late, then early, then late. In the end I am pretty sure we ended up drilling holes in the Sky over LA because we ended up coming in what felt like it was late. But either way it was a pretty quiet run down the coast. We pulled into T8 and by the time we disembarked and I walked the endless way through all the corridors to the Baggage Claim it felt like it was forever. This is where United needs some help. We were told Baggage Claim 2 for our bags. WRONG. Their was 1 screen in the entire baggage claim area to find out where your bags come out, and it took me forever to find it after going to Baggage Claim 2 and seeing no bags and the belt not even moving. Turns out it was Baggage 4. Then i followed the instructions for the Radisson shuttle by using the “courtesy” phone in baggage claim, accept apparently the Radissons phone number has been disconnected. Yeah right. So I managed to find the number in my phone (with tripit dying left right and centre (something I still haven’t had a chance to resolve). I finally got through after several minutes on hold (thank you unlimited plan) and was told the shuttle would take 10-15 mins as the Radisson runs its own shuttle, they don’t use offsite companies. This was fine as I was just wanting to chill out after the scurrying back and forth but what the lady at the Radisson said threw me a little. She asked me what Terminal I was at. I said “Terminal 8 (as thats where I had landed) to which I was told “there is no terminal 8, who did you fly in with?” Eventually she told me where and how to locate the driver after I prompted her. But I am sure she would of told me?

Either way, now I was puzzled. Did i dream the Terminal 8, or was I going insane. So I tweeted my LAX experts and they both confirmed T8 is really just an extra satelite for T7. So really there isn’t technically a T8 but there is. All check in is done at T7 but you then move over to the gates at T8 post security (more on this later). So with that resolved I ended up finally at the Radisson. Check in was a few minutes wait but no big deal and I was greeted by a friendly staff member and thanked for being a Gold Member and was told I had been upgraded and that all my details were on file (the best news I like to hear when I am scamming). Nothing was mentioned during the time but i noticed a sign saying the hot water would be shut off between midnight and 4am. Thankfully I wasn’t intending on being awake during that period (nor taking a shower) so that would be fine.

When I finally got up to my room, I had a fair nice location in the building (close to the lifts which i don’t usually like but sometimes its ok) but the view was pretty damn awesome. then I noticed the interconnecting door was half open. Umm what the hell. So I pushed it. It wasn’t an interconnecting door. I had been given a suite! w00t!!! Not that I needed it as I was barely going to be in the hotel 12 or 13 hours. To be upgraded to so much space… happy as. The room itself was a bit of a mismatch. It looked old and run down but the TV’s looked new. The fridge in the suite was nice, would of been nicer if it was plugged in and turned on. The Cheese, Meat and Fruit platter was pretty awesome and provided a spectacular dinner with some vegies that I picked up at the local grocery store about a 15 minute walk away.

Either way, my night was pretty uneventful, TV (Masterchef w00t) some Vegies, a bit to much cheese and some Yoghurt eaten with a fork since they wanted a $5 delivery fee to deliver a spoon to the room… are you kidding me Radisson. The sleep number bed didn’t work but to be honest, I didn’t care, I passed out either way.

Wednesday July 4th

I woke up to lots of looming cloud… damn. But it didn’t deter me from going for a run outside. Why not run around the Perimiter of an Airport if you can? So I did. I had been in #Avgeek heaven the night before walking to and from the Grocery store with planes coming over me time after time. As I was out running, I was running when a Qantas 747-400 and a Qantas Airbus A380 both landed on 24R right next to me. Awesome++ Buzzed by a number of small ERJs etc but by the time i managed to get back to the hotel after running to find the location of Hertz on the way back, It turned out to be a 7km run. Been a while since i’ve done anything that long.

I cleaned up quickly (since the hot water failed to come back on… not happy jan) and as I was checking out I was going to complain about the lack of hot water when I was informed by the Front Office Supervisor (who checked me out) that I would be provided with a bonus 10,000 points for the hassle of a cold shower. Considering i was already getting a decent amount out of this stay.. I could deal with that. I headed off to the Hertz Depot on foot (About a 10 minute walk from the hotel), while consuming my breakfast of mini baguette and banana which all to much reminded me of my times in France last year where that was my daily breakfast while touring Normandy (though no coffee this morning).

Buzzed by many a plane as I walked my way to Hertz and upon entering the lot I saw a large amount of Mustang and Camaro convertibles… o this was good news. I managed to find the Hertz #1 gold office since the lines for the main office were HUGE, and they didnt mind that I had booked with Priceline. She offered me a Mitsubish Eclipse to which my words back where “Got something better?” I was pretty happy at this stage and in a good mood so didn’t mind forking over a little bit extra. In the end she said she could do me a high end mustang or a Volvo. The Volvo wouldn’t be covered by my insurance, no go. The mustang had GPS.. pass I had mine with me.

In the end they brought around a Camaro convertible for me. It was an additional $40 in the end because all the non crappy convertibles came automatically fitted with it and it turned out to be the Top of the Line prestige version of the Convertible. It was an Camaro Convertible SS. Nicely tuned V8 engine, fully optioned including reversing camera, reverse sensors, Heads up display, the Hertz GPS, Sirius XM radio, Onstar, flappy paddle gear box… just about everything! Did I mention it was bright red? Yellow would of been to much!

The car was super sweet. Amazing sound, but I didn’t put the top down till I got back to the hotel as I was in a bit of a rush to get back and get over to Imperial Hill to catch up with some fellow spotters. With my bags in hand and the GPS set, I sped over to Imperial Hill and rolled up to what looked like a full contingent of spotters. Awesome signs for the day! Even though the guys i were meeting couldn’t be around all that long, it was great to just spend a bit of time and get some tips from the locals.

For the morning I got some good shots of some of the heavies coming in including a Qantas A380 with the new “Spirit of Australians” titles that were only applied to one side? err wtf. Also kind of got a shot of a Cathay Pacific Cargo 747-8F (blocked by a building since he turned off short) but otherwise there was plenty of good sites. I did snap the new Southwest Airlines 737-800 (one of their newest in fleet) and also a few special liveries that came in. I did battle with the runways all morning as usually the heavies land in the morning on 25R, but not this morning. So I moved over to In n Out eventually (After a quick little detour via the beach to give the Camaro a good push) and then the runways swapped over to the otherside so all the stuff I really wanted to see, went to the other side.

At In n Out i did manage to get 2 x A380s at close quarters with Singapore Airlines and Air France and boy do they look huge from underneath. I enjoyed my lunch of a Double Double and Fries Animal Style for my once a year treat and being 4th of July, I figured it was fairly patriotic? The afternoon soon died down and tired of losing shots, I moved back to imperial hill, where low and behold the runways swapped back over to In n Out! God damn it! No luck at all.

Eventually I had to take the car back to the Hertz drop off, the staff all loved the fact that a guy was driving in with the music pumping and the top down in the sun (it eventually came out), typical tourist in California look, but I did not care. I was into the shuttle and heading back to LAX for my flight home (via San Francisco). After the driver pulled up at T6 and said “this is for United” i corrected him and said T7. So he dropped me off at T7. When i approached the door, the guard asked me what airline i was flying, i told him United and showed him my Gold Card, he then sent me back to T6… damn my feeble brain. It seems United do all premium check in regardless of destination at T6. So i trudged all the way back to T6 to check in.

During check in, again not a single person in existence I was offered a bump from San Francisco to Seattle and if it eventuated would nett me $200 in travel credits. Awesome++ but my first thoughts were, get the hell to security and get to your flight cause it says boarding at 16:35, which was wierd since I thought my flight was 1730, which it wasn,t it was 1710. The time then by the time I got through security and had to walk really fast over to T8 where my flight was departing was almost time to board! At security I was held up by the TSA not even doing anything with the premium security line, he let me wait till he had cleared everyone out of the normal line (what the hell for I have no idea) and then I got put through the Nude O Scope (Back Scatter Xray Machine) to delay things even longer. Either way I still made it through fine, if not to long of a process (about 10 mins).

Without any time to hit up the lounge, I just got over to T8 as quickly as possible and by the time I arrived at the gate I had a few minutes before boarding began.

United Airlines
UA558
Los Angeles to San Francisco
1710-1825
Airbus A320 (N469UA)
Economy Class – Seat 29F

Boarding: 1640 (Gate 83)
Push Back: 1709
Take Off Roll: 1719 (Runway 25R)
Top of Descent: 1750
Touch Down: 1808 (Runway 28L)
Shut Down: 1816 (Gate 74)

The flight to San Francisco boarded and it seemed that a lot of people were not going to make it. I was tempted to offer to bump on this flight, but could not see any later flights at all Direct to Seattle and wasn’t sure what the options were as I didn’t have time to investigate, so Just left it (if I didn’t have a bag checked through to Seattle it would be a different story).

I boarded with Group 2 after again fighting my way through the Gate Lice (some of them in the Priority line, sorry Premier Access line with Boarding Group 7) to board in the first wave of people of my group. I made it allllllllll the way to the back of the plane and stowed my bag with no hassles at all. Gotta love a mainline aircraft. With audio fitted I settled in, plugged in my headset, tuned into Channel 9 and was instantly greeted with #avgeek goodness. I could hear LAX ground giving instructions. I previously mentioned what Channel 9 was in one of my last trip reports but pretty much you can hear what the pilots have tuned on their main Air Traffic Control radio. So in this instance it was Los Angeles Ground. I could hear them giving orders to all the aircraft for pushback and taxi.

The Captain was a female but the Co Pilot was doing all the talking it seemed so that was a bit different (first time i think i’ve had a female Captain before). The Co Pilot had this really strong Southern/Texan twang to his voice and in sometimes when he was giving his requests on the ground it was as though he was singing them back as they seemed to rhyme (or at least he made them rhyme).

We had a quick taxi to the Active runway after pushing back and it was so great to know when we got clearance etc and got some fantastic photos of LAX on the climb out of the airport. It was due to be a fairly short flight (about the same as Brisbane to Sydney) but the service (same as any standard united flight) just didnt seem to happen. I don’t know if they FA’s serving economy were doing something but it was almost up till descent before they started their service (where as first class had been served immediately). What that meant was that we were pretty much thrown our drinks. Now to complicate matters as we were well into Descent by the time I got my drink and the lovely person in front had reclined all the way back, my tray table was not even remotely level, so as soon as i was handed my drink and cup of ice and placed it on the tray table, It went sliding to the floor and before I could grab the ice, it was gone. Thankfully my can of drink (yep the whole can) survived this encounter and I grabbed it before it went flying.

Other than this and the requirement to rush through drinking the can as we were almost practically on finals by the time I got my drink, it was an ok flight. Dual arrivals into SFO however we were spaced due to wake turbulence so no side by side shot 🙁 I was looking forward to that on my first landing into San Fran. Either way we pulled up to the gate about 10 minutes early and I had plenty of time for my connection which was actually going to be at the gate directly next to mine. However I had to go for a nice long long walk to the club after disembarking.

By the time I found the club (i thought the map had said there was one closer to my gate, but there wasn’t) and had a mild panic I had lost my Gold Card I had enough time for a couple of cups of coffee, about 10 minutes of charging my phone up a bit since I wasn’t sure if it was going to last it through on the power it had, then rock back up to the gate a bit early to see if I can get bumped (with a bowl full of trail mix in my hand that is). Unfortunately no bump though… they cleared ALL the standby guests… damn it!

Either way I was still going to get home tonight without a hitch so I grabbed a salad for dinner from the Takeaway outlet of Gordon Biersch (somewhere I had dinner last year when I visited Seattle) and waited for the flight to board (mear moments away).

United Airlines
UA428
San Francisco to Seattle
1939-2136
Airbus A320 (N408UA)
Economy Class – Seat 35F

Boarding: 1908 (Gate 75)
Push Back: 1939
Take Off Roll: 1949 (Runway 1L)
Top of Descent: 2055
Touch Down: 2121 (Runway 34C)
Shut Down: 2128 (Gate N10)

Boarding began, again wade my way through the Gate Lice as some other guy just trys to push his way onboard without even showing a boarding pass and almost got himself arrested by the TSA doing ID checks at the gate. I hopped on board and head to the back and was greeted with silence on channel 9 (after I managed to turn my headphones on properly). By the time we started push back and the Crew were doing their last checks I asked if we were going to get Channel 9 at all today (it is at Pilot Discretion if they turn it on or not) and was promptly told no. I asked if she could ask the Captain and was told “the captain has already made his decision and WONT be turning it on.” The way it was said just shocked me and it felt like this was going to be another flight where the famous United “service” showed its head. But It was ok.

We took off on the same runway that we used last time I was in San Francisco and the take off was quick, powerful and with an abrupt pull out away from the Airport area. Soon enough we were heading north and since I was in an F seat on the right hand side, had a fantastic view of all the mountains the whole flight home.

By the time service reached my row I could see them sporadically dishing out full cans and figured that there is a bit of a trick to it.

1. Sit at the back
2. Order something obscure that not many people are going to drink (in my case Soda Water and
3. Be nice 😀

In the end I got my full can of Club Soda/Selzer Water and a cup of coffee to keep me awake till I could get myself home safely, and the salad was pretty damn tasty with plenty of Lettuce. A beautiful approach into the airport with a wonderful sunset over the mountains including Mt Ranier. The most amazing thing on the approach though was the amount of Fireworks going off. Everywhere you looked there was thousands of them going off constantly. It was a truly amazing site as they were exploding left right and centre and I wondered if it was affecting the flight crew at all in anyway.

We eventually touched down on a direct approach from the South touching down on the Centre runway (my first time from that direction) and a quick taxi later we were at the North Satelite again. Exactly where I had left almost 30 hours ago. This time though, I had a long wait ahead of me while waiting for pretty much the entire aircraft to empty as out as i was in row 35 of 37… crap

By the time i finally got out of the aircraft, and had jumped on the train back to the main terminal, I was expecting to find my bag sitting waiting for me. But United baggage strikes again. WRONG BELT information! It was changed and no one notified… again! At least when I finally got to the right belt my bag was waiting for me. I headed over to the shuttle pick up area and the right shuttle was about to pull out from the stop so I flagged him down and jumped onboard and gave him my ticket so that they could have my truck waiting for me.

5 minutes later I was in my truck and 30 minutes after that I was driving into my parking space after witnessing fireworks explode everywhere all the way home. A Crazy way to finish a truly crazy 2 days!

LAX Spotting Trip

by ·Comments Off on Back in the Air

It has been 2 months since my last flight, I feel wierd this year having not yet flown since I got here, but today ends that drought. Off for a quick trip to Los Angeles thanks to a public holiday tomorrow for 4th july.

Flying down this afternoon (finishing work a little early) and heading down with United. So I am flying down with them to keep my Star Gold status alive (gotta credit at least once a year) and that should keep me going for a bit. This whole trip is a kind of mileage/mattress run almost, with some plane spotting thrown in for some fun.

I will put up a full trip report sometime over the weekend so that you can see all the exploits however I am sure the photos will be a while from the spotting as they will go to the end of the queue, after all of the other ones I have to touch up.

Plenty of good stuff to see/do today before I go, but stay tuned to the twitter feed 2moro, lots of #avgeek posts.

by ·Comments Off on Moving in Mayhem

God damn… what a week it has been. The last week has just been sheer bedlam. The two weekends were so full on it was almost a blur. Just flat out both Saturday and Sunday on both weekends that this is the first opportunity I have had to actually sit down and relax. I have finally got everything together. After spending the first two days in a blur of building Ikea furniture it is good to finally sit back and relax a bit. Lets recap a little… going back in time to the night before the move….

Friday 22nd June

Finish work, miss bus (as usual), feed cats (as usual) and then the packing began. I had planned to spend all Friday night, getting my clothes packed away ready for the Saturday morning. I didn’t really have much stuff out, but it was about a suitcase’s worth. I had also been waiting all day for Ikea to ring me to tell me when I would be recieving my stuff. They never called and around 730pm I was starting to worry a little, So I called.. and got told “well we cant guarantee any times, and we deliver till 10pm at night.” I was livid!! That was not what I was told. Then I was promptly informed of the additional cost of $50 if I would like to guarantee my time frame. Well it was the only way I could guarantee my bed that night as they wouldn’t even set the schedule till the next day… So I ponied up the $50. And in my angriness I began Tweeting about it (see previous blog post about that resolution!).

Saturday 23rd June

Manage to get myself up early enough to go for a run, pack the last few things, have some breakfast and walk into the old apartments office dead on 9am to pick up a package. 15 minutes later I was walking into the Office of my new apartment to pick up the keys, and this is where it all just became a blur. Within 45 mins I had a delivery from Ikea, the delivery for my Mattress and Couch, I had carried up all the stuff from my overflowing truck into the apartment. It was just a mess! But first things first. Bed. I managed to knock the bed out within 90 minutes on my own with no help. I was happy with that.

Next up it was off to walmart to pick up some stuff that I had on order and get my shopping done there, all the stuff I had spent a solid week preparing the 4 lists that I had made (adding on a hammer cause I forgot and needed it for part of the upcoming builds. Thankfully by the time I had finished the Walmart shopping, I had some help arrive in the form of Linda, freshly off the plane from Australia. With her help that afternoon we managed to knock out a heap of stuff, leaving me around 8pm to grab some Take Out Teriyaki and some Jelly for dessert.

Sunday 24th June

Started the day off with plenty of fog during my morning run, first run from the new apartment. Felt good! Managed to get the kitchen all cleaned up and the mess subsided prior to heading to breakfast at Pattys Egg Nest. That kind of diner style place you would expect here in the USA just not as full on pretty cruisy. The portions were HUGE! I had some Pumpkin pancakes and they were yum!!!! Pumpkin Pancakes with Syrup, Butter, Banana and a touch of Cream on the side. Bliss! After breakfast Linda again gave me a hand this morning as we hit the road to Frys for some purchases. The morning was spent at Frys, Loews (like Bunnings) and also getting the License plates for my truck. Big morning. Managed a number of bargains at Frys (24″ tv with a DVD player in built comes to mind, good enough for the bedroom, a project for a few weeks times, getting my AV setup fixed) and by late afternoon, that had all be done. So then it was off to the Fred Meyer in Alderwood because they had the better store than my new local which is undergoing renovations (still ok for the weekly shop, just not such a full on one the first weekend). $300 and a full Trolley later I had gotten enough to stock my pantry and my weeks worth of groceries. I cooked my first meal in the house that night. Tasty++! Felt good to be able to do that.

During the week It was more setting up, more adjusting, parcels arriving, appliances arriving, waiting for my computer to arrive. And arrive it did… late 🙁

Saturday 30th June

Usual saturday morning routine but no run this time as it was raining, so I hit up the gym for a 6 mile stint on the exercise bike before 9am. I drove the truck down to the leasing office to pick up my new computer, all 5 boxes worth of stuff 😀 Yep thats right 5 boxes!!! Even the girls in the office were suprised and said “did you bring the truck down?” to which i answered “of course.” Loaded the truck with my new baby and dropped it off at the apartment before reloading it with other stuff and hitting the road. A Busy morning with stops again at Frys to return something that did not work and get a refund, to Macys to pick up a coffee machine that has gone on sale this weekend and figured “why the hell not!” Then it was off to my first photo assignment here in Seattle working for Airline reporter (but thats a blog post for later this week). From there it was onto Ikea for a 2nd round of Mal vs Ikea on his own. Thankfully this time I came out ahead o and ps… Ikea Frozen yoghurt 110 calories… yum!!!

I picked up the last of the big furniture stuff I needed to finish off my “office” and thankfully it all fit in the back of the truck. What I did not count on however was it bucketing down rain the minute I drive out of the undercover car park at Ikea after deciding not to cover the boxes. Rookie move. Pretty much my afternoon after this point was much the same as last weekend. Build build and build. But thankfully once I had done the Ikea builds, it was time to build the new PC. Something I had not done in quite some time. The apartment was full of rubbish by the end of it so a quick tidy down and off to the store to pick up a few things for dinner (btw Ben & Jerrys Oatmeal Cookie Ice cream == AWESOME). I spent the rest of the night getting the pc up and running to the basics, thankfully I had set all the back ups of programs etc before I left Australia so I knew that the minute I had the new pc, I could get it going. I had also christened the new PC that morning. In my usual tradition, I called her Dee. As in Dee signer, as in Dee Layed. So its appropriate I think.

Sunday 1st July.

Not to much in the way of apartment set up etc but I needed to get things working on the pc so I was up super early (couldnt sleep anyway) to make sure I had the stuff for the blog post ready to go asap in case it was going to run tomorrow. With nothing else done apart from that, I managed to get a lot of it pumped out. Hell it felt good to actually be sitting at my pc again. Did my weekly grocery shop along with picking up more stuff for the apartment I had forgotten about and managed to get it all done and now here I sit… in front of the pc, with a fully set up apartment and actually being able to relax… finally!

A few photos to keep you all happy.. more at the folder link at the end.

From Expat Life
From Expat Life
From Expat Life
From Expat Life
From Expat Life
Expat Life

by ·Comments Off on The power of twitter…

I have been a member of twitter now for about 3.5 years. When i first heard about it and heard the usual “im eating a sandwhich” style stories, i always thought, ill never join. Well I did, and now, i’m definately and avid tweeter. It has become a large part of my life.

But it is people I know who don’t use twitter always ask “why?”. Well Twitter is a massive tool in helping people communicate but it also can help people meet others, gain new friends, but one thing lately it has been able to do is help solve problems.

We recently had an issue with some flights at work and was trying to track down a sales contact. So I did what so many people I follow have done. I tweeted the airline to their social media team. this was about 4pm on a Friday afternoon. I got a response within 20 mins and we had the contacts email first thing monday morning!

I also recently had some problems with the move to my new apartment. A few tweets, a direct message from them and the situation was resolved… to my benefit! I could not believe it! (full details of the move to come). It has been amazing meeting so many new people around the world via the power of twitter. I have had blog posts syndicated out to other sites, met new friends in other countries as I travelled around the world and now I get to enjoy the power of twitter here in Seattle as I get around the city with recommendations from fellow twitter users.

It has gone from a way to tell people what im doing, to interacting with others and also a way of connecting people to the world, to help solve problems and get things done!

To Twitter… thank you!

by ·Comments Off on Busy busy

Not much content right now for the site as I’m currently in the process of moving hosting from Australia to the USA so posts will be a bit sparse, but I am alive and well.

Crazy busy at the moment as I move into my apartment on Saturday, which means Mal has plenty to do and not much free time to do it in. The shopping has been mostly finished with some bits and pieces still to get, but it’s only small stuff or stuff I get with the normal weekly shop.

Stay tuned lots to discuss with the move. Hilarity almost guaranteed with the shopping adventures and trying to set up the apartment for sure.

by ·Comments Off on A Giant store

So as most aussies back home know, Costco is just starting out down in Australia. Well what you probably don’t know is that Costco is a Seattle based company. They actually started about 5 or 6 miles from where i work. The original store is still there!!

I figured it was about time i hit up CostCo, and if I was going to do it, I was gonna do it right! I was gonna hit it up first thing on a Saturday morning with the hordes, and I was going to visit the very first ever CostCo. Now you need a CostCo card to enter the building (thankfully work has one) and I managed to score it for the weekend. It wouldn’t let me buy anything as apparently they are id’ing at the checkout lately. But if i decided I wanted to buy, I could just sign up and fork over the $55 fee.

So i rocked up nice and early, right on opening time (and was joined by Clare my friend from work who was also interested in checking it out to see if it was worth it or not). It was pretty bedlamish as people were flowing in straight away. It kind of felt like an Ikea almost as by the entrance was a bit of a cafe with cheap food and definately competing with Ikea as Hot Dog and a Soft Drink… $1.50!

As we explored it seemed some stuff was worth it, some was not. There was definately things that were a little to big like Washing Detergent for your laundry. For a single person a bottle that does 110 loads is definately not worth it, thats seriously almost a years worth! I dont need that much!

There was some good deals on brand name tvs, and watches and stuff (hell you can get phones and diamond rings) but to be honest, those tvs can be matched elsewhere (like Frys… but thats a story for another day). The biggest savings are on booze in some instances (now that Washington has changed their liquor laws) and on the fresh/Frozen food.

Speaking of food, around 10am the samples come out, and so do the people. As they start offering out the samples the hordes come from no where all clambouring for some free food. It was a little more like bedlam around the food area during this time, but a quick exit and I was ok!

Did I buy anything, nope. Is it really worth me getting a membership, nope. If I was going to buy anything I would just tag along with whoever goes from work and as Clare put it “hit the road for a Costco Run!”. This way I don’t have to fork out for the $55 a year for something that probably wouldn’t save me all that much per year.

If I had a big family, that would be a whole different story, but I don’t. It was still fun though, do you think I could eat 10lbs of Rolled Oats?

by ·Comments Off on Trip Report: Bolting North

Introduction:

I had been having a bit of a rough time in life and had decided it was time for a getaway, flights were pretty expensive at the last minute to anywhere really and I wanted to try and get some stays for the Club Carlson promos done and out of the way. So I was hunting down a Park Inn and found either a few options in Texas (but flights were a no go) however there was one in Vancvouer! Awesome. I could get the stay done, visit some friends and it would be a quick trip. Originally had planned on driving till I found some stuff on Bolt Bus.

Bolt Bus is like the Low Cost Carrier of Greyhound (if that was possible). In reality they are more like an express service. They had only just opened up services in the Pacific North West. Fares were cheap! I also managed to get a great deal on a 2nd night at an amazing hotel (but I shall leave that to later). Plans were set but no bookings were made. Weather did not look good, so the plan was to hold of as long as possible. This would be a very spur of the moment trip, definitely not me.

Thursday morning, weather improved, it was looking passable. I pulled the trigger and booked it all. I was set to head north!

Friday 8th June 2012

Finished work on a high note thanks to figuring out a very complicated itinerary and getting something to fare so I was extremely happy. I just missed the bus to Downtown as I needed to make my way down to the King Street Station area. So after waiting around and still unable to find any information on any lockers at King Street Station (there aren’t) , I caught the next 550 to Downtown. Damn was it a long long journey. Almost an hour! Wasn’t able to read, as I only had the Spinner suitcase it rolled around way to much on the bus and had to spend the whole time holding onto it on a very packed bus going stop start for almost an hour.. not a good way to have your mood go from good to frustrated.

Frustration got a little bit worse when I finally got to King Street Station as there was not a single sign for Bolt Bus anywhere! It was still about an hour till the bus so I figured I could get some dinner at Uwajimaya (conviently opposite the station) and pick up some supplies for the journey. After checking out the shops for a little bit and picking up some weird Green Tea Cookies (that were yummy by the way) and some water I managed to grab some dinner and after rushing to finish it before what I thought would be the time I would need to be there for the bus.

I rocked up back to the street around 730 for an 8pm bus figuring I needed to be there. WRONG!!! Bus was no where in sight, no one was in sight at all. There was literally nothing to even tell me if I was in the right spot. As time went by more and more confused travelers stumbled around all asking the same thing “Is this the stop for bolt bus?”. This is obviously not a good sign for Bolt Bus at this stage. Even a sign would have been a good thing.

Eventually about 7:55pm the Bus rolled up after a fight almost broke out at the dodgy looking pub across the street. Damn the driver for taking away our focus on the entertainment. Almost the entire bus emptied off and a large crowd was gathering around the bus by now. From here the driver went through his speel. Boarding by Groups on your boarding pass. Make sure you have your passport out and open and feel free to sit wherever you want.

Thankfully I was in the A Group even booking the day before so that was a good thing if you ask me. Maybe the closer you book you get a better boarding group? Who knows. But I dropped my suitcase underneath, lugged the camera bag up into the bus and took the customs form off the driver.

Onboard the bus it looked good. Bolt Bus has only been around a few weeks in the PNW so the bus is obviously still pretty fresh. Leather seats, power points at each row, plenty of leg room and free wifi onboard. Definitely a good thing if you ask me. All it really needed was a Tray table for laptops and it would have been perfect.

Wifi was active straight away, powered up and logged in, I didn’t even realize we were on the way. We probably pulled out about 5 minutes late. To be honest this was great. I had the time to settle down and get through all the emails and stuff I had put off for 2 days and catch up on life a bit. By the time we reached the border I had seen a beautiful sunset, enjoyed finishing off some snacks and then had also spent the time chatting with friends as well. At the border your informed the Wifi probably wont work after that point, so good to get any stuff you want done before the border (or after it on the Southbound).
We arrived the border at around 10:05pm really about 5 mins behind schedule so can not complain. I believe Bolt Bus allow approximately 30 minutes for the crossing but I have heard stories of buses taking over an hour. But this was good. We were running on time really and the border crossing was a non issue. A number of questions grilled by Canadian Immigration (same as last time but not as bad) and I was greeted in for the weekend with a stamp.. yay!

Back on the bus and on the road around 10:35pm so only 30 mins! Awesome! Book out, last few messages out before the Wifi dies and as we power north to Vancouver I chill out. Next thing I know after tuning out we are in Vancouver, rolling into Pacific Central Station at 1135. That is definitely good news, only 5 mins behind schedule the entire way!

Jumped in a taxi at the Station and I was at my hotel just minutes later. I had booked Friday night at the Park Inn & Suites Vancouver mainly to get their promotion stay where I can get about 44,000 free points with a 1 night stay. Would I stay here normally, nah I would stick more downtown. But I was not worried all that much. The rate was fairly good, I would get a room upgrade thanks to now being Carlson Clubgold thanks to a status match and I wasn’t going to spend all that much time at the hotel.

Check In was a bit slow with lots of paperwork required (more than usual) but eventually I was handed a “Letter” and directed up to my room on the top floor. I had been upgraded “according to the registration sheet” to a King Vancouver Vista room (possibly a business class room not sure) but either way the room was good. Didn’t see much that night as I was in bed, 10-15 minutes later.

Saturday 9th June

Woke up and the weather looked good, the view was amazing, just stunning, so decided to go for a run along the Seawall. After some quick directions down the Seawall and stuffing up my run tracking (yep im that retarded) I had a good run along the waterfront along False Creek. Felt good! After a slow morning of finding out the blog was offline, reading my email updates and general goofing around. I headed off to get some currency exchanged and then the first hit for the weekend of Tim Hortons… Conviently across the street!

After grabbing some breakfast and chilling out for a little while catching up on life, it was time to hit the road and get out to the airport to meet my friend. Leighton was kind enough again to take me spotting for the day and I was looking forward to a relaxed day without much else to do. I packed up all my bags and strolled on down to the Broadway Skytrain station. This station is on the Canada line which runs directly to the airport so I didn’t have to spend the time playing change trains to get out there while toting a suitcase.

Why dragging my suitcase? Well I had managed to score a room at the Fairmont Vancouver Airport for an insanely cheap deal. VERY VERY cheap rate. $69CAD for the room. For an amazing hotel, at the airport itself, I couldn’t believe it!

So I jumped on the train and 20 minutes or so later I was jumping off at the airport and strolling my way over to the Fairmont. The one thing I love about the Fairmont at the airport is that it looks super modern just like the rest of the airport but there are certain little things that keep it in line with that Chateau styling of the Fairmont brand. You actually enter the airport itself and then head to a level above the check in facilities to the reception of the hotel.

Being 11ish in the morning I did not expect to get access to a room, the plan was to drop bags and head straight off spotting. But the hotel had a room ready for me so I headed on up. There was a few issues with Wifi reception so the room I was originally in, was swapped for another room but the hotel was more than gracious. In fact their service was fantastic!! I could not fault this hotel, large spacious rooms, lovely luxurious beds, big bathroom, the only downside was a lack of power outlets (a common theme). Big picture windows overlooking the US Flight ramp (in the 2nd room) and I was in heaven! But no time to waste!

Spent the afternoon chatting, spotting, taking photos, eating, drinking (had lunch at the Beaver Bar which was fantastic as always). I enjoyed the day so much I lost track of time as by the time I got back to the hotel it was almost 5pm! There was a lovely little gift waiting for me in my room and the choc coated strawberries were delicious! I could get used to this. With more time spent taking photos from the room, I eventually headed downtown for dinner after not being able to make up my mind what I wanted.

The night was a bit mixed, with my usual self getting in the way. Managed to get lost, not look into things better and after not being able to make up my mind had part of my dinner at one place and finished it off super super late back at the Fairmont after a stop at the Whole Foods on Broadway… not my finest moments!

Sunday 10th June 2012

The morning was spent with a gym session where I could have been on the internet on the exercise bike (it didn’t work though which is probably a good thing), cleaning up the absolute destruction I caused last night in the room and just generally relaxing while taking more photos. I had been woken up by an offending Dash 8 spooling up to full power right outside my window. I guess sound proofing just cant block a full power turbo prop. Either way I didn’t mind. After a stroll through the airport to Tim Hortons down at the Domestic Terminal, with a good view of the runway and the taxi ways I enjoyed more time catching up on life with photos and some Tim Hortons.

Made sure I was back in the room for the Asian arrivals of JAL, China Eastern and the Air Canada from Tokyo and the Air Berlin flight from Dusseldorf. With the active runway for the Heavies right next to my room, it was a good way to finish off my stay at the Fairmont as I would eventually have to leave ?

Made my way back to the Skytrain (I had pre bought my ticket at the 7-11 after yesterdays costly mistake) and headed into the city. I made my way over to Pacific Central Station to drop my bags in a locker then reversed my journey back to downtown to spend some time doing a bit of shopping. I figured that if I could find a jacket the last time I was in Vancouver for cheap when I was desperate, it may work a 2nd time.

It did. I did a fair amount of exploring, hitting up wherever I could find (even heading back over to West Broadway.. thank you to the North Face Shop on West Broadway for their tip) but I am now the proud owner of a lovely warm North Face jacket, one that will keep me warm and dry during the Seattle weather!

After some shopping and wandering and aimless nothingness I hit up Japadog for a Kurubota hot dog Japanese styles (YUMMMM) and then slowly headed back to Pacific Central station to get my bag and wait for the bus. At least this time there is 1 sign in evidence at the Bus station but since Vancouver is the terminus you aren’t going to miss the bright red buses.

Again boarding was done via 3 groups (A, B & C) but the drive had everyone line up so there was some order to everything. This was a bit out of place compared to Seattle but maybe this is how its meant to be done. Either way I was in the A Group with 2 other people. There was a very very small group this time, maybe 12 or 15 max. So we boarded and were gone right on time. The road out was quick and there was not much traffic on the road so we made really good time to the US Border. What was even more impressive was the quickness of the processing. No hassles only a few questions this time (compared to entering in LAX) but to be honest it was a quick stop and we were on the road before we were even meant to be arriving at the border. This meant 2 more hours south and we would be in Seattle early!!

The wifi signal kicked in about 2 minutes after the border, so this is good timing as that’s how long it took me to get everything sorted! With Wifi up and running and my phone back out of Canada roaming o it felt good to be back in touch with life!

We flew down the Interstate as there was very very very little traffic and it was as though the day was just for us. The sun was out, I had wifi, and as we approached Seattle a magnificent view of Mt Ranier (which I couldn’t get a good shot of).

To be honest this was a great way to end the trip. We got in 30 minutes early (how often can you say that on a flight) and within 10 minutes or so I was getting picked up and ferried back to the apartment after promising a box of Tim Hortons donuts to someone. Easy as pie!

Conclusion

Absolutely loved the weekend. Some definite highlights and one or two low lights but that’s the way it always goes. The weekend was definitely successful in what I had intended on it doing. Getting me reinvigorated with life. It was great to spend Saturday with a mate and get to catch up on life and have a good afternoon where you can switch off and not worry about a thing.

Bolt Bus was definitely a fantastic thing and I will definitely use them again. It is silly to drive to either Portland or Vancouver with tickets so cheap, seriously cheap!! They are bargain fares but your not getting bargain service out of it. My only suggestion to them is some form of sign at the Seattle stop so people don’t mill around so much.

The Fairmont Vancouver Airport… well what can I say. I am in love with this hotel. Amazing people, amazing service and to top it all off… the location and the views. Found out this morning that I could of borrowed a BMW bike which would have been cool and next time I stay there I most definitely will take advantage of that and go for a ride somewhere. The hotels views were just stunning in my opinion and the airport has a lot to offer (the food there isn’t all that expensive in the main terminal either! So you don’t really need to head into the city for a decent feed).

Plans are afoot for another trip north, but for now I am ready to hit the streets for more adventure in life!

Vancouver Weekend

by ·Comments Off on Reflections: Part 2

The last 24 hours have been pretty rough, but i know that it is a far cry from what some people are feeling back home. Some pretty tragic news came to light last night that seemed to have forced some issues home.

I had been dealing with some personal stuff (as eluded to on Friday night) but to be honest, this all means nothing now. The petty things that have been going on in my life lately are now essentially nothing to me.

I can’t let that crap dictate my life, or get in the way. I need to make sure that I try and keep those friendships that I cherish, do everything I can with it all and savour each moment that I can. Even if this means giving up the way I feel at times and doing the right thing instead.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the people back home (you know who you are) who need my love, care and affection right now and I can’t be there to give it. Last night managed to hit home very very hard making me feel very very alone for the first time. Something a lot of people will say “your not alone” but to be honest, its not the same. But I will take what I can get. A conversation with a friend, a kind word here and there, a warm look, a smile from a random stranger. It all helps to make things just that little bit easier.

Right now I will keep pushing forward, try to keep myself focused on the job at hand, to keep my self moving forward and live my life as much as I can each and every day!