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Last week while in LA before my flight down to Brisbane I hired a car for the day… as usual. Now I talked a couple of months back about how much I love National Car Rental. Well this day sealed the deal, because I scored again!

I have been wanting to try a Chrysler 300C for a while now, they seem to be the “pimp” car down in Australia, over here not so much. So after National managed to find me one in LA I gave it a good what for. I sadly didn’t take any photos of the interior (stupidly) but I did get a couple of the exterior of this fine beast.

From Wedding Time Down Under
From Wedding Time Down Under

This car was fully loaded! Electric everything you can think of. Leather seats, climate control, working sat nav (usually disabled in most rental cars unless you pay extra), sirius XM. But the kicker for me in this car was the cup holders. Wow… it had cup holders. Well yes. But it had dual action cup holders. One side of the attached switch and it chilled your beverage. The other side of the switch and it warms your beverage. And each Cup holder had its own switch. So I could keep my water cold and my coffee hot!

Plus the car wasn’t a slouch either. Probably just as good with the foot down as my truck (though I am pretty sure there was no hemi in this). It was a good car to drive around and now its a tough choice. Challenger or 300C next time? or better yet… something new…

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Introduction
Seattle to Los Angeles
Los Angeles
Los Angeles to Brisbane
Brisbane to Sydney to Canberra
Canberra
Canberra to Melbourne
Melbourne
Qantas First Lounge Melbourne
Melbourne to Los Angeles
Los Angeles to Seattle
Conclusion

                                                                                                                                                                   

A number of years ago before I moved to the USA and before I had even lost all the weight I did a contiki through the USA. That trip was great and I made quite a number of friends on that trip. Two of them who met on the trip, lived in Canberra. They had met on the trip, moved in together a few months after the return to Aus and eventually got engaged. Their wedding would be in Canberra and I would not miss it for the world. So with the date set and a half portion of ticket still to be used back to Australia a number of points that needed to be used this trip just had to be done.

The wedding was not the only reason for the trip but it was the main one. There was a couple of side reasons:

1. Visit Family
2. Visit Friends
3. Get 4 minimum segments with Virgin Australia to requalify

So with all of that set and a wedding date advised I set about arranging what would be an extremely short trip. With my ticket to Aus covered from LAX to Brisbane with Virgin Australia unfortunately due to the days of the week of this flight I could only get into Australia the day before the wedding. O well. It meant that whatever time I could get with the family would be between my flights in Brisbane. This worked out to be barely anything at all (3 hours of family time).

My flight home was dictated by the availability of points redemptions which when I booked it as soon as it came out pretty much meant that I had a few days after the wedding to get myself to Melbourne (as there was no Sydney availability with what I wanted). My points redemption home though was something I had dreamed of for quite some time. Qantas First Class.. on the A380. I was going to enjoy that flight and everything that comes with it. I was going to do it in Style! Pyjamas the lot!

With the two over water flights handled I just had to do the flights internally. Since I needed 3 more Virgin Segments it meant that my flight from Brisbane to Canberra could not be direct and there would be a forced 90 minute minimum between flights in Sydney thanks to segment rules (at that time). So with that arranged and the 4th and last flight from Canberra to Melbourne booked I was all set. Eventually once the flight prices went on sale for Seattle to LAX I ended up with Alaska down nice and cheap and Virgin back for the right price. Virgin on the way back was perfect as I could get Lounge access in T3, Alaska down was purely a timing thing. If United had of been cheaper I would of gone with that but they were sadly not. It meant I had no priority treatment at all and would even have to pay for a checked bag 🙁

The flights all handled it was then onto hotels. Canberra was dictated by the wedding so that was set (At least I got a good rate). LAX is always a crap shoot and for so long I couldn’t make up my mind. In the end I was checking out the Radisson and the rate was super cheap, so i booked it. When I got home from work that night I saw that the website had stuffed up the dates and booked it for THAT night! O Dear! I called the Radisson and they got it Fixed up but the price wasn’t as cheap as before but it was cheaper than the others so I sucked it up and kept it. Melbourne was a bit tougher. I had a number of options but I wasn’t going to spend much time in the hotel as I was planning on catching up with plenty of friends. Eventually a co worker suggested I use a contact at the Langham to see what they would offer and the rate was DAMN good. Add on the 1865 program error that was floating around and I could use that to get elite status and possibly an upgrade! score!

So all hotels were set up, flights set up. Time for cars! As I was flying down the night before in LAX I would have the whole day to do whatever I wanted. So the usual rental company was used (National of course) and then in Australia it wasn’t cheap at all as I would need a car to get around Canberra rather than relying on my friends for once (since they would be busy with the wedding). So I touched base with a friend at my old work and they set me up with a good rate and a possible car upgrade. Better than nothing right?

In the end the plan looked like this:

Australian Journey Map

April 2nd – Seattle to Los Angeles, Overnight at the Radisson LAX
April 3rd – Spend day in LA, Los Angeles to Brisbane
April 4th – Ceases to exist
April 5th – Arrive Brisbane, spend time with family, Brisbane to Sydney to Canberra, 2 nights Rydges Capital Hill Canberra
April 6th – Morning to explore Canberra, Wedding in Afternoon/Evening
April 7th – Morning free in Canberra, Canberra to Melbourne, 2 nights Langham Melbourne
April 8th – Meetings and friends in Melbourne
April 9th – Melbourne to Los Angeles, Qantas First, then Los Angeles to Seattle.
April 10th – Back to work cause I have no choice

Lightning Fast 4 Day trip covering god knows how many time zones and miles all for a wedding. Was I insane? Check out the map and you tell me?

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You know your home kn Seattle when you walk out the door and it’s grey, a drizzle and the 405 is backed up causing delays.   It’s good to be home!

The flight home was the most amazing experience I have ever had, the time just flew by and before I knew it we were approaching LAX signaling the end of it.

I will keep all the details for the trip report (which I have to finish writing mind you) but that should start rolling out this week.

Right nowy priority is getting back tk normal life, dealing with the curveballs that come through thick and fast (like coming back to a broken washing machine, thankfully I have enough clean clothes to keep me going till it should be fixed).

But right now my priority is sorting out all the goodies from my trip 😉

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Today has been a long time coming. A Dream flight that I have desired over, drooled over and just down right wished would hurry up for almost 2.5 years. That day has finally arrived.

It will be a quick blog post while I wait for check in to open but my time in Australia is coming to an end. Melbourne was great and I had a great time catching up with friends and a fantastic hotel stay at the Langham. I couldn’t of asked for more.

But now the entire point of this trip from Melbourne is here. As I wait in the very private and exclusive Melbourne Airport Qantas First Class check in area (leeching off the free wifi) my Spa appointment is booked, I am ready for an extravagant breakfast and lunch onboard.

O boy o boy!

So for the next 15 hours of my life (well once we leave) i will be relaxing in my first class suite, onboard the lower deck of the A380 hoping to god that it never ends

Current Location: Melbourne Airport Qantas First Class Check In

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My time in Canberra was brief but so worth it. I had a great time but it wasn’t all plain sailing. Let’s just say I cut it so close that had I been later than I was… I would of hated myself for ever. Lets step back a bit though. After flying all the way south from Brisbane to catch up with the folks and having a brief few hours with them and stopping by for a 10 minute catch up with my old team I flew from Brisbane to Sydney to Canberra. The only thing on my mind for half that time was “get my phone working” as the phone that was waiting for me was stuffed.

So $100 later and a cheap android phone I was good to go! I didn’t get it fully working till I got to Sydney so that was a relief when I was able to have the GPS nav ready for Canberra. I only managed to drive on the wrong side of the road once and that was immediately after leaving the rental car lot… woops! Indicating with the windscreen wipers, that is a whole other story.

I had a quiet night on Friday night and then spent Saturday morning at the War Memorial and it turns out it was Open Day so it was nice of the RAAF to put on a display for my arrival to Canberra. But because of this I was running late and a stop to grab some lunch at the slowest cafe known to man (confirmed by my Canberra friends) and I was running way behind.

It was a 215 wedding for a 230 start. I thought it was a 230 for a 245… When i realised this it was 2pm and I still had a 25-30 minute drive out of the city. I broke every speeding and road rule known to man and thrashed the crap out of the little car that Avis gave me (which is a whole other story) but either way… I got there directly ahead of the bride. So I did make it! If i had of missed the ceremony I would of hated myself for ever that I had flown all that way and then missed it.

The ceremony itself was great and then the reception was back at the hotel where I was staying and it was great to meet all of Stuart & Michelle’s local friends and family. I did get singled out for travelling so far but like I said every time someone mentioned this to me, I would of travelled there no matter what! That’s how good of friends they are!

So as I headed off to Melbourne before returning home, they head off on their Honeymoon to LA and beat me there by One day (18 hours actually). Either way it was a short but brief time in Canberra, the wedding was great and they had a great time! Now the trip was all worth it… now to head home tomorrow!

Current Location: The Langham Hotel Melbourne

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I touched down at 7am this morning after my flight from LAX and damn I am running on a mix of adrenaline, caffeine and who knows what else. My body probably doesn’t know what hit it, but I am continuing forward, pushing through the stress, the fatigue as I try to get myself to Canberra without falling apart.

The flight down was good, nothing to complain about at all. I had an exit row seat and it went well. I hit the ground this morning and headed home with the folks for a few hours. Sadly the phone I was meant to have access to didn’t work so that was the end of that and I had to scoot down to the shops to pick up a cheap phone for the weekend. But I can get it unlocked when I get back to the USA and then I will have a backup/visitors phone for anyone who comes to visit.

I did manage about a 10 minute visit to my old work to say hi to everyone and see their new office. Things have changed so much back here with so many new things to look at it is crazy! The new airportlink tunnel is open and dad took me through it on the way back to the airport. But sitting in the passenger seat feels wierd cause there should be a steering wheel there!

Anyway I need to try and get this phone fixed before my flight to Sydney, so I will do some work while in the air!

Catch you all in Canberra…

Current Location: Virgin Australia Lounge – Brisbane Airport

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Well I just finished packing a suitcase because tomorrow, I am back at it again. But this time, it is a big trip. A flash in the pan journey all the way back to Australia!!

I will be posting a full trip report when I get back and probably a few updates from the road, but I just wanted to get a quick and dirty post out on the site before I speed away. heres a quick rundown of the plans:

Tuesday: Fly to LAX – Overnight Radisson
Wednesday: Spotting, catching up with people, Midnight Flight to Brisbane
Thursday: Does Not Exist in my timeline 🙁
Friday: Land in Aus, catch up with parents for a few hours, hug mum and dad goodbye, Fly to Canberra
Saturday: Catch up with friends for a Wedding, maybe do a touch of sightseeing
Sunday: Friends in the morning, wave them bye as they head to the airport for honeymoon, I fly to melbourne
Monday: Meetings, Lunches, catch ups, shopping for supplies, the usual
Tuesday: Fly home to LAX, Go back in time, touch down in LAX before I even left, Fly home to Seattle!

Its going to be full on, only a total of 4 nights in Aus, but hey thats what you gotta do!

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

This trip though seemingly was meant to be a comfortable one, by the end of Sunday night I was about ready to murder people. I was tired, cranky and bored and I just wanted to get home and sleep. Totally different to how I ended my Dallas run, and it was in economy!

I got a lot out of this trip, I have worked down my processes on booking/organising these runs. I have helped develop my choices and rules in regards to hotel stays etc. I even decided I need to get my butt back to Atlanta. But the main thing I got out of this run was the points.

Lets break it down. My United flights were credited to Aegean and got me the following:

SEA-SFO – 500 Points
SFO-SEA – 500 Points
Total – 1000 Points

Not much, but its better than nothing.

My Delta flights though… they earned big time:

SFO-ATL – 3209 Points & 80 Status Credits
ATL-EWR – 1118 Points & 40 Status Credits
EWR-MSP – 1512 Points & 60 Status Credits
MSP-SFO – 2384 Points & 80 Status Credits
Total – 8223 points & 260 Status Credits

That is well over the half of the 400 Status credits I need to requalify for the year. I am well and truly requalified now for 2013 and the awesome thing is I am stretching towards platinum. The only thing this trip did not get me was my minimum 4 segments with VA. This has been covered by my trip home in April.

Looking back at what I actually did and the reviews, I will have to say that Delta Skyclubs are far superior compared to United Clubs, that my experience comparing say premium check in and services between Delta & United is pretty much on par with each other (though the Delta Phone App still has a bit of work to go compared to United in keeping boarding passes active) and there is no real winner here. Onboard services looking at the two. I would say United is better for hot drinks with the bigger cups, Delta better for cold drinks and the free snacks (Untied gives you nothing). First class, well I only did Delta on this but compared to United. I would go with Delta.

The trip overall was a major success but I know a few things I will be doing in the future with these kinds of runs:

1. No layover Greater than 2 hours if possible
2. Try to pick hotels that are either close to food or have a restaurant on site
3. If less than 6 hours at a hotel, cheap and comfortable is ok.
4. Try to get back home at least before 10pm so I can get some sleeep!
5. Steer clear of the Trail mix and Chocolate coated pretzels

Comfy Run

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

Apoligies in advance but this is going to be the most boring portion of this trip report.  By the time I made it through to Check in at T3 and found out that I couldn’t get home any earlier.  I was just totally over it.  I was tired and wanting some sleep.  But that wasn’t going to happen.  I had 5 hours to waste, so I figured I would clear TSA and head to the International Terminal to the United Club there, I had never been there before and figured it might as well be worth visiting.

I cleared TSA (and at the same time, forgot that I had a bottle of water in my bag… absolute fail move) and then by the time I was finally through I had missed out on the Air China 747 pushing back.  I walked on over to the United Club, and wow… is it crap compared to a Delta Sky Club.  I have to admit… Delta wins the lounge competition that is for sure!

I settled in and caught up on the trip report and some other work, and then by the time that was finished I figured incase I fell asleep in the lounge, it would probably be smarter to at least be in the right terminal.  So I walked over to Terminal 3 and the united club there, and then promptly did the most boring thing ever.  I sat back and trolled the internet.  I wrote a couple of letters, I did some reading, I spent some cash ordering a new running watch.  O so thrilling.

What I was not to proud about doing was eating my weight in Chocolate Coated Pretzels.  Yes they are tasty, but it was a stupid move doing that.  Pretty sure I made myself sick eating them.  I got so tired and angry at myself that i decided to go and do a lap of the entire terminal, then go hang out by the gate and remote into work with the free wifi and test out the laptop connection ready for my next trip.

The gate area was ok, fairly empty and I just settled in with the rest of the crowds waiting for the flight to board as I did a bit of work.

United Airlines – UA971
San Francisco to Seattle-Tacoma
1932-2141
Airbus A319 (N863UA)
Economy Class – Seat 25A

Boarding: 1855 (Gate 68)
Push Back: 1930
Take Off Roll: 1845 (Runway 1R)
Top of Descent: 2103
Touch Down: 2131 (Runway 34C)
Shut Down: 2136 (Gate N16)

The flight was called and the scrum began to get onboard as they were telling people if they were in Boarding Group 5, you have no chance of overhead bin space and to just gate check the bags right there and then.  I got onboard and asked if Channel 9 was going to be active.  This was the first time in like 10 United flights that I was on a legacy United aircraft so was looking forward to some Channel 9.  But sadly… nope!  I was rudely informed by the FA that they would NOT be having Channel 9 on, even if I asked nicely.  I tweeted my displeasure about said incident.

The cabin was old school, but comfortable and it filled up pretty damn quickly.  Even though I was way down the back, by this stage I didn’t care.  I was to busy trying to keep my eyes open.  I read my book as we pushed back and headed over to the dual 1’s.  We lined up next to another aircraft and although I didn’t have Channel 9 I was kind of pretending I could hear it with my brain thinking “United 971 Cleared for Takeoff Runway 1 Right”

We took off (without a companion on the dual runways) and climbed into the sky.  The flight was going to be all sorts of boring.  Reading, nodding off, and a drinks run in the next 1 hour and 45 or so minutes.  Yay!  The only highlight of the flight was getting the whole can during the drinks service!  I was impressed at least.

I managed to finish my book and also have a bit of a chat with my seat mate as we descended into Seattle (maybe a 3rd client for the trip) and we touched down in Seattle with a nice thump.  Not bad!  We taxiied quickly to the N terminal where I was not in a hurry to get off as being up the back, I knew it wouldn’t be quick.  By the time I was off, it was onto the Train to the terminal, then the shuttle to the car park, then home to my apartment.

22 hours after I woke up in Newark… I was putting head to pillow in Seattle.  Way to long of a day 🙁