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I arrived in Madison and headed off to pick up my car.  Unfortunately there is no Emerald Aisle at Madison so it meant that I was at the whim of the staff as to what I was going to end up with.  The bags were not even close to rolling when I reached the area and the car counters were right there, so I got my keys first and was handed the keys to a Chevy Equinox.  Considering I was hoping for something like that for a week so I had some space, guess it worked out ok.  As I turned around the bags were rolling and I had my bag in hand quickly and out to the car.  But I got lost in the car park trying to find where I was meant to be going (I should pay more attention to the directions).

One the flight coming in I had noticed FiFi the B-29 on the ground on the opposite side of the airport and the ladies at the National Counter had given me directions to that side of the airport.  So that is where I was headed, I got around to the far side and there wasn’t all that much of a crowd which was good.  What was dissapointing though was they wanted $15 just to walk up near it, let alone get in it, and then the line to get near it was huge.  With no real cash on me, I just gave in and walk around the fence line, since I knew it would be at OshKosh later in the week.  I bode my time!

I headed into the city via the nearest Walmart to pick up the chair that I was suggested to buy and a slab of water for the week.  The hotel I was staying at was right in the middle of downtown and it was an easy find via the GPS.  I was heading to the Doubletree by Hilton Madison.  When I arrived I had to wait for the hotel shuttle to stop blocking the driveway so I could stop blocking the street and once that happened I was able to park the car briefly.  Checked in nice and simply and my status was not mentioned and if I had of not mentioned it, I doubt I would of gotten any of the benefits.  I had been “upgraded” to a Deluxe room, which is really just a normal room but on the top floor (her own words).  Can’t complain to much I guess.  With check in completed I was handed the Doubletree Cookie.  It was warm which was wierd as the staff had pulled it out of a draw (turns out the draws are warmers and they are baked in the morning and kept warm all day).  I was handed some parking tokens and I put my car away for the moment.

The room was not to bad, for a standard hotel room.  Clean, efficient and nothing to complain about.  Crabtree & Evelyn products in the bathroom and nothing at all to complain about really.  Pictures should do the talking but there was a distinct lack of outlets around the bedside (as expected),  I counted 1.  After a quick settle in the plan was to walk into town and just explore a little, get a coffee to keep me going (since I had been up since very early) and then possibly just chill out for a bit.  I got some directions at the front desk and off I went to the State Capitol and a few other places.

After some exploring and some chilling out I headed out for a dinner to a place that was close to the hotel that apparently served fantastic burgers and I was up for some goodness.  Dotty Dumplings Dowry apparently serves the best burgers in town and it was less than 2 blocks from my hotel.  Score!  I walked over and it was  nice quiet bar kinda atmosphere and when I walked in, was told that there would be a wait for a table, as soon as I said “Bar?” “You can go right over” was the reponse.  Love it!  You get the same menu and I can sit and enjoy it.  Funnily enough as I was sitting down one of the other people at the bar cleared some space for someone else and it turned out to be the owner!  Funny.  I was starting to crash out a bit by now so just took it easy and enjoyed my burger.  I had the Alumni Burger which was really just an awesome Cheeseburger.  Prices weren’t bad and it was a good simple, easy, tasty cheeseburger.. What’s not to like?

I had seen on the drive into town a really weird looking place that was meant to be an ice cream parlour so that is where I headed for dessert and it was a unique experience to say the least.  Ella’s Deli was a bit out of town (almost back out to the airport) and it had the most undescribeable eclectic decor inside.  On the outside it was 50s diner, meets carnival (including Carousel).  Famous for their Grilled Pound Cake sundae, that’s what I went with.  But it was pretty generic and nothing at all special.  BIG dissapointment.  Headed back to the hotel pretty unsatisfied with that part of the adventure, ended up crashing out half way through a video.  Sad sad end to the day.

Sunday 28th July 2013

I woke up pretty well rested and since I couldn’t sleep as long as I had wanted to as probably had to much energy, I hit the gym for a big workout.  9.2 miles on the bike, a mile run and that should do me right?  Well not really, some ab exercises thrown into the mix as well.  Right at that moment all I wanted was to burn off some of the crap from last night and expend some energy and damn sure that is what I did.  What was good for me though was the fact that I had breakfast at the hotel, so I could at least get some coffee into me prior to hitting the road.  Breakfast was in the hotel’s restaurant/sports bar and it was a pretty simple affair.  I wasn’t expecting much but as long as they had plenty of fresh fruit and coffee, I would be sorted.  I was not dissapointed as I was given the entire pot of coffee.

With breakfast out of the way and my route out of town planned I packed up my gear, into the car and checked out.  I mentioned that the cookies were great to reception as I was leaving and she handed me a couple more for the road.  AWESOME!  I settled in for a good drive out of town, I had about an hour and a half up to the hotel where I would drop off my stuff before another 20 minutes to get up to OshKosh from there.  Sadly it was on this drive that things didn’t go to plan.

About 10 Miles out of Madison I got a tire pressure warning.  I figured one of the tires must of been under inflated by the car rental office, so as soon as I found the nearest gas station I would pull in, get some air in the tire and keep on going.  Sadly no.  The nearest gas station was another 10 miles past where the warning came on, but after paying to put air into the tires (not free… wtf!) the warning wouldn’t go off.  I even tried inflating with the car running to see if it was just not enough air and the gauge on the pump was wrong.  Nope that wasn’t it either.  So I called up National as I didn’t want to drive all the way to OshKosh and find out that the problem got worse as I would then be without a car (nearest offices are Madison or Green Bay).  They told me I should start heading back to Madison to switch the car out.  So that’s what I did.

When I got back to Madison airport (only depot open on a Sunday), they told me I should of been instructed to fill the car first (even though I was swapping out a faulty car wtf!) so I had to redrive the 2 miles I had just driven in, back to the nearest Gas station.  #FAIL!  Filling up the car cost me a further $10 and when I got back I wanted to make sure I had a decent car.  Again they gave me another Equinox, but this one had 1/4 of the miles of the other one, and was more pimped out with Leather seats.  After transffering all my gear between the cars (and making the National staff come get the keys of the old vehicle as I wasn’t wasting any more of my morning) 2 hours after I set off for Osh originally, I was this time, really on the way.

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Wow… If you have ever seen a guy with his jaw on the floor, that was me yesterday.  It was my first experience at OshKosh and I was just stunned.  The trip report will have a full run down of the mornings happenings (and it wasn’t good but it was eventful) and I got to the show around about 1:30pm ish.

Sunday for me was not going to be a full on day, it was meant to be a quiet, get myself orientated morning where I could get myself situated and scope out where stuff was so that Monday morning I could hit the ground running.  Well that was the smartest idea ever.  When I walked through the gates my jaw dropped.  My god how huge is this place.  Describing it in words is tough, the easiest is “imagine a sea of aircraft as far as the horizon, turn around and picture the same thing.”  That is OshKosh.

I got a basic tour of the place by one of the guys from EAA (thanks Brady) and it was a great way for me to figure out where to go and what to see.  I have my ideas in place of what I need to see and who I need to speak to as well.  By the time I got out of there around 4ish my head was swimming.  I still don’t know how it is going to happen all week but this is going to be pure overload this week I just know it.

I finished off the night by getting myself set up at the hotel and just getting my bearings on the small town that is Fond Du Luc.  It is a half decent base and it seems a lot of the guys from EAA are going to be here as well.  So far I know that Shell Aviation is staying here and some other exhibitors as well.  Good hotel choice!  Plus I found the best ice cream in town just a couple miles down the road 😉

Today is going to be my first real day at the show and things are bound to be just as crazy!

Current Location: Country Inn & Suites – Fond Du Luc, Wisconsin

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Introduction
Seattle to Madison

Saturday 27th July 2013

Early mornings suck, but for the first time in almost 2 months, there was no workout this morning, I was taking a day off.  So after the usual morning details and last minute packing stuff away, cleaning up the apartment etc.  I jumped in the truck and headed south for SeaTac.  The roads were empty (as expected) and within a brief 25 minutes I was entering WallyPark to park the truck up on the rooftop.  Gazing at the sunset for a brief second before heading on the shuttle over to the airport this adventure was about to begin properly.

The airport was a bit of a shambles, but the Delta Check in was relatively quiet.  There was a line at Check in and I was using the Sky Priority lines rather than self check as I wanted to see if I could get Delta to comp my checked bag.  Though not a benefit I should get, apparently a lot of staff get themselves confused and just check it free of charge.  I must of lucked out because I got my bag free.  Even though to begin with she asked for my credit card, when I handed it over with my VA Gold Card she eventually gave it back.  Not sure if she charged it or not, but it did look like she swiped it, I was told there was no charge… we shall see.  I had my boarding passes (though they were going in the bag as I didn’t want the TSA to draw all over them) and I headed for security.  I turned the corner and saw what looked like Hell on Earth…. ahhhh crap!  The normal security lines at the South Check Point were huge!  Not what I wanted to see at all.  But way off down in the distance the priority lane had no one there at all…. SWWEEEEEET!  Thank you Delta #2!  I headed for the Priority line and was through to a scanner in a matter of minutes.  Sadly though I had to go through secondary as apparently something was setting off in my camera bag that looked like a knife.  Pfft whatever.

Bag back from the TSA and I headed to the train for the South Satellite.  Boarding was due to commence in about 15-20 minutes so I knew it would only be a brief pit stop in the club for a coffee and grabbing some food for the road.  The club was fairly quiet but the family that had entered ahead of me was hogging the coffee machine with words like “what button do I push” and “I think I broke it” so I gave up on the coffee notion in the hopes of a Starbucks near the gate, as I had to get a banana anyway (Delta Sky Clubs NEVER have fruit, but United does… funny that).  I grabbed what I could, snapped a few photos, even scored some good shots of the Alaska Retro Jet parked at the Maintenance base at the south end and scampered out of the club with some yoghurt pretzels in hand… yum!  Time to get to the gate.

Delta Air Lines – DL2314
Seattle Tacoma to Minneapolis St-Paul
0655-1207
Boeing 757-300 (N586NW)
Economy Comfort – Seat 14A

Boarding: 0618 (Gate S15)
Push Back: 0659
Take off Roll: 0723 (Runway 16L)
Top of Descent: 1137
Touch Down: 1210 (Runway 30L)
Shut Down: 1214 (Gate G15)

I got to the gate area and it was in an area that was being refurbished (not sure what for?) but because it was S15 there was no way to get a shot of the aircraft I was flying, which would make finding out the registration tough.  Within about 3-4 minutes of me arriving at the gate area the preboarding started.  I joined the gate lice in the general vicinity so that I could get down to the aircraft quickly and as soon as they announced Sky Priority i was heading on my way onboard.  What greeted me was an absolute score.  I didn’t realise that the seat I had picked online was literally at Door 2L.  We boarded directly in front of my seat.  Which is a bad thing really for me, because it meant that I would have everyone almost standing on me while they boarded.  Doh!  But I got seated quickly and just stuck it out as the entire aircraft boarded right in front o my face.

I tried to get the registration of the aircraft off the flight attendant in my area as he was greeting people coming onboard and there was some lulls in the swarm of people.  Fail time for this crew member.  First off he told me he didn’t know what a “Tail Number” is (it’s what american’s call the registration) and then he said “Well I know this is a 757-200, but that’s it”.  He had no idea!  Because sitting right in front of him was a safety card that said 757-300 and it was definitely a 300 because the aircraft was and endless walk all the way to the back.  Sadly some crew just have no idea (turns out I think he was the crew leader as well!).  Eventually the door was shut and we pushed back.  I could actually open my window at this point (as before all I saw was the endless stream of people coming onboard from the jetway) and then saw that it was dirty.  *sigh*  Hate the fact that some airlines don’t wash their windows.  O well, I would just deal with it.  The aircraft taxiied out past the Alaska Retro (which must of been just starting up to head towards a gate as the beacon was running and it was under tow) and headed for the north end of the runway.  We would be taking off to the south but there was a long taxi and a hell of a lot of other aircraft ahead of us.  At one point we were 8th or more in line for departure.

As we were making our way to the active, the pilots came on to say we were up to 4th in line so should be off shortly and gave the crew their warning to get ready, although he kind of got himself mixed up.  His speech went as follows:

“Ladies and Gentlemen this is your Captain Speaking.  It seems we are getting closer and there is 4 aircraft ahead of us and one more about to take off, so we should be up in the air shortly.  Cabin Crew, prepare the cabin for arrival” *pause* “I mean, Cabin crew, prepare the aircraft for departure…. we are definitely leaving Seattle”

It made for a great giggle as the cabin filled with laughs, and helped to make this an interesting flight.  The two cabin crew seated at door 2L looked like they had been around the block (that’s probably the nicest way to put it).  Although it wasn’t just the grannies on this Delta flight, one of the crew was a man, and I heard them talking about retirement and he did say he was 63.  I have a feeling the other crew member (female) was way past that age, or at least she looked it.  They did well though no matter what.  My seat mate had a quick chat and it was suprising that she was allowed to sit at the emergency exit with her arm in a sling and the crew never said or did a thing about it… WTF!

We finally took off to the south, and I do love a 757 for one reason.  It was a long slow roll to begin with (which probably meant we were full of cargo) but like most 757’s once they get moving and they pull those noses up, it is up lick a rocket.  How such a long aircraft can get off the ground so quickly and so steeply I have no idea. We were quickly passing 10,000ft and WifFi went on, but due to no seat in front it meant my laptop was up in the overhead bin so couldn’t get to it, or anything really, till the seat belt sign came off.  People were already up and moving within seconds of that point and I was suprised the crew said or did nothing at all.  Gotta love North American airlines.  My last flight on ANA the crew would of been all angry at me if I even looked like I was going to move while the seat belt sign was on.  O how things are so different over here.

In the end the seat belt sign was no where near coming off, the service had begun and I had my first cup of coffee in hand so I gave in, I got up off my butt and hit the bathroom.  I became one of “those people”.  I grabbed my bags out of the overhead while I was at it and shoved them by my seat so I could access them.  Then it was time to get down to catching up with the world.  The tray table was just tiny and barely fit my laptop, but the mission was get myself online, read some blogs (though when I finally got into them, there was only one update since last night) and then do a bit of relaxing.  Since my session was free, it was all about doing the stuff online that I don’t normally do and not wasting the session.  So I sat back to reading through some trip reports on flyer talk while enjoying my peanut butter bagel, some more coffee and some of the dried fruit I had “liberated” from the lounge.

The flight sped by and we must of had a good tailwind as what was meant to be a 3-4 hour flight west bound, is only a 2 hour 40 minute flight today.  Awesome!  I got a good amount of stuff done and enjoyed my reading time.  I was slowly eating my way through breakfast and just chilling out and then all of a sudden the WiFi went down.  Well, it was about an hour to go, I had to put my EarPlanes back in, as good a time as any to shut stuff down.  So I packed up my gear and instead got the tablet out to do a bit of reading instead.  With a book and some more coffee (the male crew member had been drinking it most of the flight and it wasn’t half bad) I was a content traveler.

Descent began over cloudy skies (and to be honest I hadn’t seen much out the window most of the flight anyway) and it meant I had to pack my gear up and stow it.  I kept the tablet down as it was small and could fit in the tiny tiny pocket next to the seat.  I kept reading till I had to turn it all off and we started for the final approaches into MSP.  We cleared out of the clouds above the Minnesota country side and it was nice to see a very different landscape compared to the PNW (not that I don’t love living out there).  Minnesota was flat… super flat, and there was a lot of green fields.  Then it became light industrial with freight centers and things like that as we got closer and closer to the airport.  I couldn’t see the airport near me so figured it was out the other side of the aircraft (which it was).  We landed fairly gently and there wasn’t much of a taxi for us as we headed for the G concourse (where the heavies usually depart from at MSP).

We pulled into G15, almost at the end of the concourse and one good thing about row 14, your usually first or second off the aircraft. I was off quickly and out into the terminal probably before the staff had even thought we would be as the doors to the terminal at the end of the jetway were not even open!  I forgot to grab a shot of the aircraft I just wanted to get my butt towards my gate as it was a long long walk.  O well, I have plenty of shot of Delta 757s from my tiem at LAX and SEA spotting.  It was a nice walk as I trudged along getting the steps counted in the terminal.  The walk felt like it was going forever but things started to look familiar around the central concourse area and then I knew exactly where to head.  I checked my watch and had about 10 minutes to hit the Skyclub before I would have to get moving again.  Plenty of time for a bathroom break, a quick drink, grab a snack and head off.  So I did just that!

The club was pretty quiet and I did comment on that to the staff at the entrance and she told me that it was normal at this time of the day as it was just before the International departure guests should start flooding in, but she told me to enjoy it while it lasts.  I wouldn’t get long but it was still nice either way.  Grabbed a quick snack (no biscoffs again!  What is with my luck and Skyclubs lately), I mean seriously!  I was hoping to grab some for the road as I seriously love those things.  I grabbed an apple instead for lunch and some vegies and it the road towards my next flight.

Headed along the F concourse towards the next gate and when I got there, people were still coming off the aircraft, not a good sign as we should of been boarding literally the moment I arrived.  It did give me time to do a few things, like catch up on emails and stuff that had come through while I was in the air prior to arrival and make a few tweets.  I did get a decent shot of my next aircraft and then just waited.  I did approach the counter to see if I could get a better seat (figuring the flight was full) but they told me it wasn’t and then put me in a AB seat pair with a blocked adjacent seat.  Thank you Delta!  Though the system crashed right as he went to print my new boarding pass, I could sympathize with this and I was happy to wait a few extra minutes since I wasn’t going anywhere anyway.  My old seat ended up going to someone standing next in line at the counter trying to adjust the seats for his family of 5.

Delta Air Lines – DL725
Minneapolis St Paul to Madison
1315-1416
McDonnell Douglas MD-90 (N948DN)
Economy Class – Seat 23A

Boarding: 1255 (Gate F8)
Push Back: 1324
Take Off Roll: 1335 (Runway 30R)
Top of Descent: 1357
Touch Down: 1413 (Runway 36)
Shut Down: 1417 (Gate 7)

I boarded once they called Sky Priority and headed down the jetway towards what would be a new aircraft for me.  The MD-90 is an ellusive aircraft in Australia (all of the MDs are) so I figured that getting myself on them when I can is a good idea.  This Mad Dog looked good on the inside and I could swear it had been refurbed recently as it looked slick.  The nice new Delta slim line seats were in evidence and that could not be laughed at.  Even the overheads looked like they had been refitted as they just looked awesome.

I settled into my seat and wondered if I was really going to end up with a blocked seat next to me.  The crew were pushing hard to get us out on time so they were trying everything to get people seated.  Near that family I had given up my seat for up front a lady was causing a bit of a ruckus and blocking the aisle.  That didn’t last long as the crew member settled her down in an instant with the words “it’s a 32 minute flight, perhaps you should just deal with it”.  The cabin laughed and the lady had been put in her place.  I mean seriously why bother for a 30 minute flight.

We did push back eventually and it wasn’t all that late, but I had a feeling this schedule had been padded pretty big if it’s a 32 minute flight with an hour block time.  That’s what happens in the hub cities, when you spend half the time taxiing or on the ground, they put in major block time. We had a fairly quick taxi over to 30R as the take offs were dueling at that point in time.  It was RJ central on our side though, with CRJ after CRJ after CRJ heading for the runway.  It was finally our turn in line.  No real view out my wet window though, till we got rolling at least.

Another rocket ship take off and it is slightly wierd to not see any engines when your sitting over the wing.  A great view as we took off with a 757 adjacent to us, though I am pretty sure I missed the perfect shot as we both banked away.  This was going to be a quiet flight though as the crew announced that this was a short flight so service would only be offered “if required”, which is code for “we can’t be bothered”.

I settled in to eat my apple and snacks and did not even see the crew at all during the flight, it was as though they did not exist.  The trash sat on the seat next to me till we were almost into Madison past descent.  What suprised me was how quick those MD’s could descend.  It felt like the pilot was throwing it around.  Speaking of the pilot, the Captain had the most amazing sounding Pilots Voice.  He had that voice that you expect all the pilots on TV to have.  That voice that just had that iconic sound, it is hard to describe but it just commands authority and calmness all at the same time.  As we headed into MSN on finals he gave his farewell speech and it was long winded but I didn’t care.  It was also the first time I had heard a pilot ask everyone to say thank you to a service member, like himself.  He must of been in the Air Force because he had said his rank was Lt Col and I was tempted to go up and hand over one of my cards.  I held back though.

As we came into Madison I noticed something off in the distance as we turned off the runway.  I saw a giant silver tail.  It looked awfully familiar, I wasn’t sure if I was mistaken or not but I could of sworn it was FiFi.  FiFi the B29 Superfortress, the only one in existence still flying, was due to be in Osh later in the week, but to see it here… Awesome!!  It was it and I made the decision right then and there to 100% go and see it no matter what.  We pulled up to the gate and by the time the aircraft emptied out enough for me to get out, it had been long enough for me to confirm via the web that it was in fact FiFi and she was on the opposite side of the airport to me.

Madison airport was suprisingly modern looking and the first thing that caught my eye wasn’t the store filled with cheeseheads but more the actual nice looking concourse.  This tiny airport in the middle of no where in the midwest was way better than Seattle!  So not fair.  I headed down to baggage claim but saw the car desks first with no one around.  Figure may as well get my car keys first since there is no emerald aisle.  I spotted my rental contract already printed ready to go from my side of the counter, and within 2-3 minutes I had the keys to a Chevy Equinox in hand.  Which is pretty good beause that is the kind of car I wanted.  I was hoping for a small SUV for the week so that I had space to spread out my crap when commuting back and forth to Osh.  Plus the hatch would make it easier getting the gear out when I needed it.

Keys in hand, bag in hand after about 10 or so bags came off the belt and I was headed out into the Car park to find my car.  I did get lost as I hadn’t listened to the directions properly and found the Equinox way way way way way out the back of the rental lot.  Farewell Madison Airport… time to hit the road!

 

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Around this time in 2012, I had been watching all the tweets going on for the OshKosh EAA AirVenture and was totally jealous of all the Avgeek good times that were going on. I couldn’t stand it any more after a solid week of it and decided right then and there, I HAD to go. I set it in stone that in 2013, come hell or high water, I was going. What is AirVenture? It is the largest gathering of General Aviation in North America, if not the world. Put on by the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) based in OshKosh Wisconsin, it is a week long Avgeek mecca where you can learn all about how to build your own aircraft or just sit back and watch the airshows happening daily.

The hardest thing I knew from the outset would be arranging accommodation for a week long trip to the middle of no where for a giant gathering like this. Thankfully I had a boat load of Club Carlson Points thanks to their promos last year. I made the booking for what accommodation I could get during the festival and was happy that from the Sunday to the Saturday I was covered, but there was a downside. The closest I could get was in Fond Du Luc which was a good 20 miles to the South, but to be honest, a 25 minute drive each day where I wouldn’t have to pay for a room, or camp (like so many people prefer to do) would make my life so much better. So I ended up booking the Country Inn & Suites Fond Du Luc and set about to make the following drive every day for a week:

oshkoshmap

After that it was pretty much sit back and wait, the rest I would deal with after a while. I ended up booking the accommodation at a good time, because a couple of months later I wanted to see if i could add an extra night once I had some more points with Carlson, yeah nope! Nothing left at all, so I guess I was going to have to find alternative arrangements. I left the first & night of my trip unbooked (as why go Sunday to Saturday only for vacation when I have two other days free) and waited till I could get flights.

Fast Forward 6 or so months and some airfares are starting to drop in price for my dates. So it’s time to get searching. I used the ITA Matrix and a few other tools to try and work out the best way to get to Oshkosh. Now Oshkosh is a small town in the middle of no where, so I figured I wouldn’t be able to fly in directly. Instead it meant flying into an outlying city and driving in from there. So I was looking at Milwaukee  Madison, Green Bay and Even Chicago, but the fare difference vs driving distance from Chicago just made it pointless, so that idea was scrapped. In the end Delta had the best fares (I was comparing Delta & United) but it wasn’t just cost I was looking at (since they were just extortion on any airline to that area). I wanted to try and get new airports obviously, since I am an avgeek after all. In the end i went with into Madison and out of Green Bay. I did however have to come home a day early. The map isn’t so impressive as I was connecting in Minneapolis in both directions.

My Daily Commute for the Trip

SEA-MSP-MSN/GRB-MSP-SEA… boring huh?

So with the flights all booked and when broken down look like this:

27th July 2013 – DL2314 – Seattle to Minneapolis St Paul – 757-300 – 0655-1207
27th July 2013 – DL725 – Minneapolis St Paul to Madison – MD-90 – 1315-1415
03rd August 2013 – DL4828 – Green Bay to Minneapolis St Paul – CRJ-900 – 1715-1824
03rd August 2013 – DL996 – Minneapolis St Paul to Seattle – 767-300 – 1930-2115

It was a good variety of aircraft with my first domestic 767 flight with Delta and my first 757-300 in quite some time.  I love these ultra long birds!  For some reason I was able to assign an exit row at booking for no extra cost.  Unsure why, as they don’t normally let me do that but hey, who cares!

With that all booked and having to forgo my final night of holiday and return home on the 3rd (which was probably a good thing as it meant I could clean up and do stuff before having to go back to work on the Monday without an issue.  But where to stay on the Saturday night?  Since I was getting in Mid afternoon, do I drive straight to OshKosh?  Do I stay in Madison for the first night and have a real vacation night, before driving off the next morning.  Madison it is!  I might as well have a day of rest right, before all the bedlam begins.

With that I searched around for where to stay in Madison.  Most places around downtown were around the $100 a night mark but that didn’t include any food, or parking.  Hrmmmmmm.  Since my Hilton Gold status was still floating around, and my Club Carlson status was still Gold as well, I figured that it would be easier to just target those two chains.  The Radisson included breakfast but no parking.  The Doubletree downtown (in a good location) had free parking and my Hilton Gold would give me breakfast.  I waited before booking to see if there was going to be any special promos or anything but sadly there was not.  So I used a promo that came out for a new service called Pointshound which allowed you to double dip as they would provide you with extra points for just making a booking with them, and still keep your program benefits with Hilton.  Sounds good to me!

So that was all my hotels arranged and the car was booked with National (though there isn’t an Emerald Aisle at Madison Airport, so this would be interesting experience at the least).  The rate on the car was not to bad for a solid 8 day rental so I can’t really complain.  With my passes to OshKosh arranged via the Media desk thanks to my work with AirlineReporter it was all settled, now it was just time to wait.  The emails coming in from the Media announcements did not help with the excitement and pretty soon… It all began!

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My next adventure is fast approaching, Just a quick, short post (As there will be a full trip report and also posts from the road) to say that on Saturday I get to embark on what could be an epic adventure, but then it might not be.

Last year during the OshKosh airshow I saw all the tweets of everyone having a great time full of Aviation goodness, and I was jealous. So jealous that I decided I couldn’t stand not going, so I decided that this year, I was going. So now I am! I managed to get a weeks worth of accommodation out of a Club Carlson promo last year that was run for points, so my accomodation is essentially free. I have a media pass for the show thanks to my work with AirlineReporter and I had to end up paying for my car hire and the flights, so all up a weeks vacation would run me about $800. Which ain’t half bad really! (the flights were super expensive to the middle of no where).

I have started an extra little category that is just for Osh Adventures but the trip report will be written that is for sure and I will try to keep a running blog on the go from the road about adventures each day. I am looking forward to not only getting out to see everything but just what each day is going to hold since there will be so many new experiences and people to meet. Not only that but all the new tech coming out for the avgeeks and the media access I should get as well (let’s see if I can get myself in the air!).

Stay tuned for lots of fun times ahead!

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O how life has become so boring for me lately. Workout, Work, Eat, Sleep rinse repeat. To be honest though, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I have been working hard this week getting more serious about my training and with two days of running (Monday & Thursday), two swims so far this week (Tuesday & Thursday), I have been pushing it hard.

But other than working out, what has been going on in mal’s life? Well to be honest, not much. So here is some photos of planes, this should keep the #avgeek friends of mine happy:

Norwegian Air Shuttle’s first 787

From Seattle Spotting 2013

Qatar Airways Cargo 777F

From Seattle Spotting 2013

A Hello Kitty painted Eva Airways A330

From ANA Ambassador Spotting & Artistic

Singapore Airlines New 777-300ER

From Seattle Spotting 2013

The ANA 787 that took me to Japan last month

From ANA Ambassador Spotting & Artistic

KLM MD-11 sucking in some Vapor at LAX

From LAX Spotting June 2013

Star Alliance painted 777-300ER from ANA departing LAX

From LAX Spotting June 2013

A Phillipines 777-300ER departing Vancouver

From Memorial Day Spotting

Transaero 777-300 in New York

From Memorial Day Spotting

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Saturday 08th June 2013

I awoke nice and early and snuck out of the apartment to head to the gym, trying not to wake my friend on the couch. Since we were heading down to LAX for some spotting on the first Virgin flight of the day it meant that I was up way way early, but it had to be done. I got in a good gym session while my friend woke up and got himself ready for the day ahead. By the time I was back and showered, he was good to go so we hit the empty roads heading for SeaTac.

Since this was only a day trip for me and a one way for my friend, no need to pay for parking just a cheap $2.50 one way Orca fare for my friend and free for me! So we pulled up at the Tukwila Park & Ride for the Link Train and headed up to the platform. While waiting for the Train (light rail really) a couple came up asking us if this train will take them to the Airport so they can rent a car. This made no sense as the rental car facility is offsite and pretty much across the street from the station. We tried explaining this to them but it just did not get through to them. When the train arrived we walked away!

On the brief ride in, saw a few Alaska specials at the North gates including the new Spirit of Hawaii livery that was only released earlier in the week. Sadly as Virgin Depart from the B Gates and we were cutting the time came relatively close, there was no time to get over to the B gates for a look and photo. Once off the train, you then start the trek to the opposite side of the airport to get to the Virgin America check in. It’s a long way to dodge what felt like every single person in Seattle leaving that morning.

During Check in we were proudly told we had been put on the Standby Upgrade list (not first class just Main Cabin Select) and I again had to remind them to put my priority information on the boarding pass. Sadly the booking again was not picking up my Gold Status to the boarding pass without any information as to why. *sigh* Once we had gotten the much needed priority stickers we headed towards security in the south, figuring it would be quieter…. WRONG

From LAX Avgeek Run

Security was a mess. The South checkpoint was rammed full of people, the centre was just as bad. It was a matter of choosing the lesser of two evils and trying to get through. Thank god for the priority stickers as it was definitely needed. Even with priority it still took almost 20-25 minutes to get through security and that pretty much canned any time we had spare in the terminal. Hell once we got through we were pretty much right on boarding time!

Once through security (yes I got nude o scoped), hot footed it over to the boarding area where I had to at least get a proper boarding pass as we were on the standby upgrade list and they hadn’t issued us any seat assignments (I have a feeling flight was oversold). We were offered either standard service seats in Row 4 together, or two separate middle seats in MCS. Since I hadn’t had any breakfast and figured the free food onboard would help and my friend didn’t care either way. We took the upgrade.

From LAX Avgeek Run

Virgin America – VX1780
Seattle Tacoma to Los Angeles
0700-0940
Airbus A320 (N639VA)
Main Cabin Select – Seat 3B

Boarding: 0635 (Gate B11)
Push Back: 0700
Take off Roll: 0710 (Runway 34R)
Top of Descent: 0858
Touch Down: 0923 (Runway 24R)
Shut Down: 0930 (Gate 35)

Boarding was well and truly underway by the time our seats were all solved and thankfully they had not called full general boarding just as we walked up so we were able to avoid the full throng of people when we boarded. There was a bit of a line up as we walked down the airbridge but nothing horrible. What greeted me on board was not the sight I wanted to see.

From LAX Avgeek Run

Already in place were the people in 3A & 3C. I will say at this point that I am not angry about this or anything but when your brain sees what I did, it instantly reacts the same way with utter regret. There was a lady of size in 3A. She wasn’t spilling over into my seat or anything like that but she blocked the window she was that big. I wasn’t even sure if there was a window! My friend on the opposite side didn’t have it that bad, but part of me at that very instant was extremely regretful. Should of taken Row 4!

From LAX Avgeek Run

I settled in as best as I could and shoved my book into the space infront for storage (take note of this). As we waited for boarding to complete I apoligised to my friend (via Twitter since he couldn’t hear me from the other side of the cabin) and tried to settle in. I was getting myself sorted since I didn’t have time before boarding (obviously). By the time we started to push back I was reaching for my book in the front storage when it wouldn’t come out. I had put it in upside down to the way it should of gone in, and now it wouldn’t budge. I tried for a few minutes before we started to actually move and as the crew came around to do last minute checks I took one big yank on my book.

With that my book came free and so did the entire front panel of the storage area. Uh oh! There was headphones & safety cards going everywhere and the panel fell straight to the floor with a thunk. Great… just what I needed. I ended up holding it up till a crew member finished her safety demo, then as we were taxiing out she was in the row trying to fix it. Mind you neither myself or the person next to me could move as the seat belt sign was on and the lady on the left didn’t allow for ease of movement at times.

It was fixed and all without a hassle from the crew and we ended up taxing to the runway at the South and as we taxied out I got a brief glimpse out of the window from the row behind. I saw the Alaska Retro jet at one of the C Gates… dammit! Along with that we also passed the Delta Skyteam 737 and the Habitat for Humanity 767. Dammit again! One day I don’t go for the window and I utterly regret it!

We climbed out of Seattle and turned right using the usual departure. During the climb out the crew asked everyone to “Close the window shades, so as not to blind everyone else”. Bit of a bad call if you ask me, who said they get to make that decision. Not that it affected me all that much. Pretty much this flight was going to be me settling back reading my book as much as possible without causing too many problems (since I hadn’t gotten off to the best start).

I was trying my best to not fidget or move but it had to be done at times. I browsed through the menu and saw that the yoghurt and granola was missing and so was the peanut butter & jelly sandwhich (my back up plan if the granola wasn’t available). None of it was there.. just the chicken protein plate (which so was not a breakfast food) and the cheese plate. I figured either the menu was wrong or they catered the flight wrong. When I asked the crew, they told me that it was right and that is what was offered on the morning flights. Pass on that! Considering I was trying to eat as healthy as possible this morning I had no chance of that happening. So not only had I given up a window seat to get food, the food I wanted I couldn’t get. should of stayed in the window seat. Rookie move! In the end I just choose the least worst option and went with it (I took the Kuko bites which were close to a granola bar as possible).

From LAX Avgeek Run

The flight other than that was pretty boring. I tried to keep myself caffeinated as much as possible and my plan to order double coffees failed, but when the flight attendant came out she asked me if i meant to order 2 and i said yes. So I didn’t have to keep bugging her for more coffee. So she bought me 2 coffees the next time around with the comment that i should be happy she brewed it strong that morning (I was). On my last delivery of coffee (was up to my 5th by that stage) she told me to just flag her down so she could refil my cups so that it doesn’t waste the cups.

From LAX Avgeek Run

Descent was quick and effortless as we came in to the airport from the North and touched down passing in and out (as expected). We were at the gate pretty quickly and once we could actually get off the flight and into the terminal (there was a hold up for some reason) we both got out of the squish as quickly as possible. I can’t really complain about a flight where I get a free upgrade can I? We both only had carry on so once we were out of the main gate area we were free to head straight to the rental shuttle, where the one National Shuttle was already past us. The next one was only a few minutes away but the douche bag driver just drove straight on past us. Even with me flagging him down! What a jerk!

From LAX Avgeek Run
From LAX Avgeek Run

The next shuttle took what felt like forever (at least a good 10 or so minutes) so we were in jeopardy of missing some good arrivals). We eventually made it to National’s rental lot and after walking up to the Executive Aisle it was all Dodge Challengers today.

From LAX Avgeek Run
From LAX Avgeek Run
From LAX Avgeek Run

Even though there was plenty to choose from today there was nothing that just instantly took my fancy (or my friends). There was a few trucks, couple of decent SUVs, even a KIA hybrid which is what I was leaning towards. I asked the lot attendant what the newest was and he said he had no idea and just check the mileage on the windscreen ticket. We started doing this and then he came over and pointed out a Hyundai Genesis with 13 miles on it.

From LAX Avgeek Run

We both ran for it. What better than a brand new vehicle! The car was so new the plastic protection sticker for the stereo was still there. We got ourselves sorted and headed out of the lot to go spotting. The car wasn’t bad my only complaint is you can’t charge a usb or power plug while the engine is off (at least it wasn’t working for this vehicle). We spent day spotting with another friend crisscrossing the area to different spotting locations. I won’t bore you with the specifics but the haul was ok.

From LAX Avgeek Run
From LAX Avgeek Run
From LAX Avgeek Run
From LAX Avgeek Run
From LAX Avgeek Run
From LAX Avgeek Run
From LAX Avgeek Run

Around 4ish I started to pack up my gear and bid farewell to my friends, it was time to head home, on my lonesome. I returned the car (only adding 20 miles to the clock) and jumped on the shuttle back to the airport, getting dropped off at Terminal 3. The Virgin Check in desks were deserted, just no one around but it seemed all the staff working where fixing problems as the wait was long. I contemplated using a kiosk but I knew I wouldn’t get the priority status that way. When it was my turn I had to push the issue again same as in Seattle and this time the staff member said I was a red member and not entitled. Which was weird since she was holding my Gold Card and I was in the priority check in area. I pointed out this fact and she fixed the priority stickers.

From LAX Avgeek Run
From LAX Avgeek Run
From LAX Avgeek Run
From LAX Avgeek Run

I headed up to security and the line was maybe 10 people long. BUT the TSA don’t like the term priority it seems as today you’re not entitled to it, you go to the end of the queue, no using those hard earned privileges. So I did and grumbled to myself about what’s the point, to which the person behind me in line agreed. I still got nude o scoped (i can never avoid that machine) and got the usual secondary pat down. After that it was off to the lounge.

The staff at the Virgin Loft were as great as always, joking around saying I should just move in if I am around so much) they even double checked I knew about the secret door. I was up in there to grab a snack before my two flights home and to get a few spotting photos thanks to the awesome views. I thought I ran into someone i knew but wasn’t sure. Pretty much just got the photos, loaded up on a few snacks (for now and later) and got some power to my phone.

From LAX Avgeek Run
From LAX Avgeek Run

I headed out just before boarding stopping to see if there was anything further forward seat wise, which there wasn’t.

From LAX Avgeek Run

Virgin America – VX941
Los Angeles to San Francisco
1810-1925
Airbus A320 (N641VA)
Main Cabin – Seat 20F

Boarding: 1745 (Gate 35)
Push Back: 1818
Take Off Roll: 1826 (Runway 24L)
Top of Descent: 1854
Touch Down: 1916 (Runway 28L)
Shut Down: 1920 (Gate 54A)

I boarded from a crowded gate area, into the relative calm and I headed way towards the back, not that I minded as I had a window seat on this short flight. I got myself settled quickly and plugged into the power just in case, as my phone was running pretty low.

From LAX Avgeek Run
From LAX Avgeek Run
From LAX Avgeek Run
From LAX Avgeek Run
From LAX Avgeek Run

The flight filled up pretty quickly and my seat mates eventually arrived. Seems they had ridden down from San Francisco as they had bike helmets in their carry on bags.

From LAX Avgeek Run

The sun was slowly diminishing in the area as we pushed back but managed to miss a good shot of Air Berlin One World taxiing past us. We headed out to the North Runways which is always a quick taxi. Take off was quick and effortless as we climbed out of LAX over the beach and eventually turned back towards the north.

From LAX Avgeek Run
From LAX Avgeek Run
From LAX Avgeek Run
From LAX Avgeek Run
From LAX Avgeek Run

The cloud layer was fairly low so after we got up through the layer, it could be a flight to anywhere. All you could see was cloud below and blue sky above. I settled into my book and let California pass me by outside. Drink service was super slow on this extremely short flight. We were well into descent before I got my drink. Which had to be consumed quickly (along with a banana from the lounge).

From LAX Avgeek Run
From LAX Avgeek Run

As we descended over the “South Bay” area (as I heard my seat mates referring to it) i spotted San Jose just outside my window. Passing SJC where the week before I had flown out to Japan from was a bit surreal. It was a nice clear descent, not much in the way of clouds around, meant I could enjoy the view of a United 737 joining up off our right side.

From LAX Avgeek Run
From LAX Avgeek Run

As the United 737 got closer and closer it meant I would get my first real tandem touch down. It looked to be good for photos to as the light was great and the two aircraft were battling it out as if in a race. As we both levelled out and drew in side by side the United 737 touched down just half a second ahead of us on the Right side. As full spoilers and reverse thrust was engaged on both aircraft I was still trying to take photos as we took the first available high speed exit. What I would’ve given for Channel 9 during a landing like that.

From LAX Avgeek Run
From LAX Avgeek Run
From LAX Avgeek Run
From LAX Avgeek Run

An extremely short taxi to Terminal 2 at SFO and we pulled up at the gate. I had about 20 minutes by now to make my connection, plenty of time! More than I needed actually, as it took a while to extricate myself from the back of the aircraft, however when I did and checked the monitors for the next flight it was the same aircraft I had just flown in on. Awesome.

Just enough time in T2 to get a few photos of the refurbished terminal (it looks super slick), grab a sandwich for the flight and head back to thd gate. I checked if there was any better seats free and was offered an exit row without recline. I’ll take it!

From LAX Avgeek Run
From LAX Avgeek Run
From LAX Avgeek Run

Virgin America – VX748
San Francisco to Seattle Tacoma
2015-2207
Airbus A320 (N641VA)
Main Cabin – Seat 9F

Boarding: 1940 (Gate 54A)
Push Back: 2007
Take Off Roll: 2015 (Runway 1R)
Top Of Descent: 2123
Touch Down: 2145 (Runway 34C)
Shut Down: 2150 (Gate B14)

As I was handed my new boarding pass the flight was called and I headed back on board the same aircraft I had just gotten off. There had been a crew change as there was not a single familiar face.

I headed back to my seat and got myself set up, figuring I would be joined by a seat mate, so I stored my stuff in the overhead. I was to busy reading my book (trying to finish it off) to notice no one sat next to me. I looked around just before we closed the doors and it was a pretty light flight. Not only did I have a row of 3 seats to myself, i had 2 full emergency exit rows. 12 seats to myself… Score!

From LAX Avgeek Run
From LAX Avgeek Run
From LAX Avgeek Run
From LAX Avgeek Run

I moved my stuff down to the empty space in front of the seat next to me and we pushed back. The sun was fully setting by now and as we taxied out it didn’t allow for the best photos which was a pity as we passed the Shamu 737 from Southwest and also the Delta Skyteam 737 and 757. I don’t know what it is with those two aircraft but I have seen them more than any other special livery aircraft.

From LAX Avgeek Run
From LAX Avgeek Run
From LAX Avgeek Run

We climbed out from a powerful takeoff roll and turned right to clear the runway path, then it was a nice gentle climb to altitude. Again much more of the same on this flight. Once above the layer it was just fading light as the sun set on the other side of the aircraft.

From LAX Avgeek Run
From LAX Avgeek Run
From LAX Avgeek Run

I had myself some dinner and a few drinks as we cruised north and thankfully by the time we reached descent over Portland, i had finished my book and was enjoying the last little hints of light as it faded away. Passing Mt Rainier was great and we descended for a southern approach.

From LAX Avgeek Run
From LAX Avgeek Run
From LAX Avgeek Run
From LAX Avgeek Run

After coming on a little fast in my opinion, we touched down and taxied back over to the B gates. It was good to be home. After disembarking I started the long long trek over to the Link Station, retracing the same path I had walked that morning. I watched as a Link Train pulled away in front of me. If I could of run I would’ve made it, but it didn’t matter there was another in 10 minutes. 15 minutes later i was at the truck, 40 minutes later I was at my apartment, safe & sound. 20 hours since I had woken up, What a long day!

From LAX Avgeek Run
From LAX Avgeek Run
From LAX Avgeek Run
From LAX Avgeek Run

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Introduction
Seattle to San Jose
San Jose
San Jose to Narita
Narita to Hong Kong
Hong Kong Part 1
Hong Kong Part 2
Hong Kong Part 3
Hong Kong to Narita
Narita to Seattle
Conclusion

                                                                                                                                                                   

The trip is all done and dusted. It was a total blast. I would have to say probably one of my best trips to date. It wasn’t about visiting friends or family or anything like that. It was the experiences that made this trip unique. Flying Business Class with ANA was great and I totally enjoyed it, but the once in a lifetime experiences made this journey amazing. I doubt I will ever have something as special again.

Let’s break down the journey for a bit of a summation:

Southwest: It’s good for what it is. It gets you from A to B, effectively and efficiently. The service was ok, the seats were ok. The free seating was a bit different but I can manage that. All in all I can’t really complain.

Fairfield Inn & Suites San Jose Airport: Pretty nice hotel for what I paid for it ($44+tax). For a quick overnight stop it fulfilled all my usual requirements in an airport hotel. Shuttle on site, clean, comfortable, non hotel food options close by, a good gym (or somewhere to run). The breakfast at the hotel, though lacking decent fruit options, was pretty good. The renovations they had been through made it spick and span and I did like it. I would definitely return!

All Nippon Airways: I won’t break down each invidiual flight but I will just say outright, they still are great. I last flew them back in 2011, when I flew around the world. I flew them from London to Narita and that flight was fantastic. I still think they are a fantastic airline. The service I received on my flights was great (albeit at times with a language barrier) and the food was good. The Japanese meals are still only really all that good out of Japan (and my contact at ANA agrees with this point) so that is one thing to be mindful of for those lovers of Japanese cuisine.

The Seats are good. I really did like the new “Business Cradle” seat for short duration flights and the “Business Staggered” is good, albeit felt a little bit smaller on the 787 vs the 777. The older business though still comfortable, was definitely a product that would be eventually phased out (hopefully). The 787 is not a scary aircraft and you can feel the differences with the cabin environment after you step off the 787 and get onto a different aircraft, it is not till then that all the changes are noticeable. I would not hesitate in any way to fly on a 787.

Peninsula Hotel Hong Kong: Wow… just WOW! What a hotel. I don’t know if I could ever afford to stay there on my own dime, but this experience showed that they are worth the money in my opinion. The service, the food, the room, everything was just downright perfect. Nothing was ever to much for the staff and the service levels represented that. All the fun we had at the hotel with the Dim Sum class, the spa treatments, the heli ride etc were amazing and it was a great second visit to Hong Kong for me. I wondered to myself just what I would do in Hong Kong a second time around originally, I am glad I didn’t have to decide because I don’t think I would of done some of these things but they were fun and I had a blast.

After travelling 14,303 miles on this trip, it is good to be back to earth, back to reality, but now comes the daunting task of writing up all the articles and then the even scarier thought. Can I top this trip?

Map of my journey on the ANA Ambassador Trip

Map of my journey on the ANA Ambassador Trip

ANA Ambassador

by ·2 Comments

Introduction
Seattle to San Jose
San Jose
San Jose to Narita
Narita to Hong Kong
Hong Kong Part 1
Hong Kong Part 2
Hong Kong Part 3
Hong Kong to Narita
Narita to Seattle
Conclusion

                                                                                                                                                                   

Getting down the steps at Narita Airport heading towards the bus allowed the best views of the aircraft around us and also meant that I was technically touching Japanese soil again! This time though I would sadly not get to stay and there was no 787 in my future. *sigh* I did what any true Avgeek would do and I jumped onboard the bus with my camera out and tried to get as many photos as I could!

From ANA Ambassador
From ANA Ambassador

The bus soon got way to crowded… way way way to crowded and after a little while it finally started to move on our mini ramp tour past the cargo gates where we pulled up, towards the Skyteam Pier at Terminal 2, where we would be dropped off just around the central point. Before getting off I noticed a special livery at the other end of the Terminal with a brief glimpse of a flower on an Aircraft and figuring that makes it something worth getting a photo of. I had one mission during my brief layover in Narita. Kit Kats! So this time my frankness towards others wasn’t because I was hungry it was because I wanted to get as much done as possible and get it over and done with quickly! I was in search of Wasabi kit kats but the first hurdle was security.

From ANA Ambassador
From ANA Ambassador
From ANA Ambassador
From ANA Ambassador

Seurity was excrutiatingly slow and Nao who had been behind us in the security queue had actually beat us to the exit. Dammit!!! They did the dumbest things and asked the silliest questions that made no sense and they repeated them over and over again for some reason. Meh whatever!

Once we were through security and on the other side of the glass barrier my first job was to secure my belongings safely (which I did) and then it was to get the WiFi going on my phone. But I did need to find out where I was going though at some stage. This was possible as there were banks of monitors directly outside the entrance and the funny thing was that as soon as we got to the monitor it flicked to Japanese from english for a bit. DOH! Once we got our gate info it was off in search of Kit Kats but what did we see first. Hello Kitty!!

From ANA Ambassador

One of the Eva Airways A330s that is painted in the Hello Kitty livery was just pushing back out of the terminal as we got there. Lots of photos and a couple of tweets later and I was hitting up the duty free shops trying to find the kit kats I wanted. Most of the places only had 3 flavours. Matcha, Sakura & Strawberry (these were the predicted flavours that I had been told) though I was adamant there would be wasabi somewhere. The majority of stores were only selling boxes of 10 for 1500 Yen all of the same flavour but I didn’t want that. I didn’t even really want 10 packets either. So I sucked it up and got on with the hunt. There was plenty of places to shop at.

From ANA Ambassador
From ANA Ambassador
From ANA Ambassador

I tried asking at a couple of them to see if they knew of anyone who might have it and I did get a tip off which was entirely accurate. Awesome! So with some kit kats in hand I was still hunting Wasabi flavoured and I had plenty of time to be able to find them but it meant I could not dawdle so I was walking as fast as I could through the terminal with all my gear. I managed to cover almost the entirety of the Star Alliance side of Terminal but by the end of the search I was wasabi kit kat empty but still had enough to keep most people happy. With a good portion of Yen leftover I could even get a couple of models from the flight home!

From ANA Ambassador

I left the search and head over to the Lounge but went to the wrong one first (though they did have a giant 787 in Star Alliance livery at the door) and headed back over to the lounge closest to the gates I needed to be at.

From ANA Ambassador

The lounge was pumping as it was the same time as we landed last time with the US bound flights departing, flights coming in from all over Asia so it was tough to find a seat. I was also trying to get one of two things for my flight. Either a seat in rows 1 or 2 or a blocked seat next to me. After getting nowhere with one staff member I gave up and headed elsewhere but she was there to block me off at the pass so that didn’t happen but I was assured the seat next to mine was blocked. So that was at least something.

From ANA Ambassador

I didn’t do to much in the lounge other than scarf down the cookies and the sushi the same as last time and just before I was about to walk out the lounge i was in the middle of grabbing a yoghurt (thinking I had time to eat it… I didn’t) and I hear a “What the hell are you doing here”. It was one of the fellow travellers who had flown out from SJC on the 787 with us and he had been staying in Tokyo for what was the same time as we were in Hong Kong. It was funny because out of the Avgeeks who went over to Tokyo, he was the only one going back on the same flight. All of us were returning on different flights. Nao was off to Los Angeles, Jason to New York and me home to Seattle. I bid my farewells and wished him a safe flight and scurried back to my gear before heading off to the gate to try my luck again at a seat.

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All Nippon Airways – NH1078
Tokyo Narita to Seattle Tacoma
1725-1055
Boeing 777-300ER (JA781A)
Business Class: Seat 3A

Boarding: 1658 (Gate 51)
Push Back: 1732
Take Off Roll: 1800 (Runway 16R)
Top of Descent: 1000
Touch Down: 1018 (Runway 34L)
Shut Down: 1027 (Gate S11)

I was sweet out of luck and this time they explained that the seats in Rows 1 and 2 on this aircraft are only for the very top tier elites of ANA Mileage Club and if you are not one of them then you don’t sit anywhere there at all. So if there are none on the flight, then no one sits there. As soon as I was told this I was ushered into the queue and I was first in line! Score. Boarding was called after the Special assistance people were pre boarded. The boarding gate was pretty empty so I had a feeling this flight was going to be fairly light on people. Which would be interesting at least.

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I was escorted to board by one of the cuter gate staff and soon was thanked for flying ANA and pointed in the direction of the aircraft. I was first onboard and when I got to my seat I could see the First class seats just the other side of the curtain. I figured one last chance to get a seat up there and asked the cabin crew who said they would see and come back to me. They couldn’t do it so it was my seat that I was stuck in. What I did not realise up till now was that in the mini cabin I was in of 2 rows of Business there was only a total of 2 of us!

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Loads were super light and again we boarded quickly but pushed back way late. It’s funny the way this seems to happen but in places like Narita and Hong Kong the schedules are super padded because of the taxi time on the ground because the airports are just so huge! By the time we pushed back I was hoping that the special scheme I had seen just before leaving the lounge was still going to be there and thankfully it was. I had scored another special on this trip! It was the ANA panda! I managed to get a nice picture out of the dozen I took as we were taxied backwards out of the horseshoe area we were in.

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By the time we had finally got underway I was starting to get tired but was happily snapping away at all the good stuff we passed, again missing an aeroflot but the best few shots were as we got closer to the runway. There was a JAL 787 in line for take off (probably heading to either Singapore or Boston) and it was fun timing the Beacon as usual (still possible even with my little camera) and a nice long line of ANA behind us (missed the shot of the ANA Dash 8).

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When it was our turn for take off the roar of the GE90s was great and we were airborne much earlier than I expected to be and within 10 minutes we were well out of Japanese waters. Past Narita and climbing to cruise altitude. There was so many crew on this flight so little amount of people that I felt like I had a first class service anyway! I deferred my meal for a couple of hours and had a chat with one of the crew about Kit Kats while I was sorting stuff out and then got stuck into some work.

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This is where this flight gets super boring. All I did was either work or eat. Nothing eventful was happening as most of the other passengers ate as soon as they could and tried to get to sleep. I never sleep anyway and considering we would be touching down around 10 or 11 it meant I might as well just suck it up and stay awake. The flight time looked much shorter than it should have been (probably due to tail winds) and the time flew by.

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I was fawned over by the staff even before my meal service as I was offered drinks and snacks constantly. they were always there to make sure I was looked over. So although this was the older business seat, I still had phenomenal service! I couldn’t believe the luck I was having. Almost a private cabin with staff waiting on me hand and foot.

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I had pushed back my dinner till around 8pm Japan time and then figured I would wind down my work about 15 minutes before that, borrow some pyjamas and then sit back and relax for my meal and then get back to work after that. Just before the meal the duty free was offered and I used up all the remaining Yen I had from my leftover HKD and had to throw in 1 USD to get what I wanted. So be it!

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Dinner was served!!! This was the meal I had really been looking forward to. I had never flown ANA long haul out of Japan till now. I had flown into Japan and flown short haul out of Japan but never the longer US flights departing. I was reassured that the Japanese meal out of Narita was the option so that is what I went with! All I can say is WOW! I had no real idea what order to eat it all in. All I know is that it was damn tasty!

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I ate the meal in the lonely cabin as it was darkened by then so people could sleep. Stuff it! The Amouse Bouche was tasty, the starters all amazing and the main just freaking good. I had never really enjoyed eel till now! if I could get it like that at home, I would take it! I was going to enjoy this flight as after this weekend it is into training mode, trying to get my leg fixed and back to running full speed again!

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Cheese and fruit came before dessert and the parfaits they serve out of Japan are indeed yummy. The fresh coffee I was served with it was followed by several cups and I was fully satisfied. The meal had gone so well I didn’t realise the movie I was watching was almost over and I just went back to working and watched the time roll by. The trip report getting more and more finished the longer the time went on. I got up a couple of times to keep myself awake and to grab a drink from the mini bar set up they had, but other than that I worked in silence.

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As we started to track past the Alaskan coast way off in the distance the crew I think were getting a little bored as they came up to me to check on me a few times just in case I needed anything. Awfully nice of them! With such an empty flight they probably wanted something to do. I figured I would eat my pre arrival meal about 2 hours or so out as they shut it all off about 90 minutes out. I was going to skip the meals they had on offer and instead go for 2 of the snacks Ramen and the “cheese burger” just to see what they are like.

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First up though I would get my stuff sorted out as I had what looked like a trail of destruction at my seat and to pack away the laptop as I had been working on it by then for almost 6 hours! With my mess all cleaned up and out of the way, I asked for the ramen which was a signature item from a very famous outlet in Japan. It came out pretty soon after and damn was it good! I loved it! Though the bowl was not that big it was perfect snack size and had it been a much longer flight, It would have been perfect for a mid flight snack.

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The burger though… hrmmmm. The bacon was floppy (best way to describe it), the bun though was perfectly soft and a good snack size burger. It looked so much like you would expect a fast food burger to look. The kicker that made it unique was that it was served with Tartare Sauce. Yep I made sure to try it in case it was a Japanese thing and it wasn’t half bad. Almost like Mayo but that little bit of extra tang. Kind of made it pretty tasty!

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Soon after this I started to watch the world go by and read my book a bit. One of the crew came around to offer me something else from the menu and I gave in and ordered some ice cream! What the hell! It was rock solid so I let it sit there and melt as much as possible. The ice cream did eventually melt enough that I could try and eat it.

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As we started to get closer to that hour time frame and I needed to put my ear plugs in anyway, I set about getting back into my civvies. The Pyjamas on ANA were so good! I wanted to keep them so badly. I even asked but they again said no 🙁 I wish I could find a way to get a pair. They are extremely comfortable! After settling back into my seat and packing up all my gear I was sitting there watching out the window and next thing I know I am drifting in and out. This was not a good thing!

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I woke up somewhere in final descent over Everett/Mt Vernon and pretty soon out the window I could see Lake Washington. Totally missed the top of the descent and the seat belt signs going on. Crazy! The cabin crew returned my jacket and soon enough we were tracking for final approach into SeaTac. We were heading into the 34s and I was expecting to land on 34R since it was where the heavies usually land. Not today though we ended up on 34L and that meant a nice long taxi back to the gates.

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Even though it had been an amazing flight, I was happy to be home, yet I didn’t want it to end. The crew had been so good! One thing I was looking forward to was just how good it would be to clear immigration at Seattle. The flight home had been pretty empty with only 12 in Business and I asked the Chief Cabin Crew member, when I was speaking with her at the end of the flight, and she said there was only 60 people total!

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We had pulled up at the S gates (which is where the immigration facilities are) and it was a quick offload and I was last out of the forward J cabin. But this meant that I was 5th off the aircraft! Can’t complain about that. Immigration was empty and the only people ahead of me were the other Japanese men from the flight ahead of me. Easy as! I waited longer at the immigration desk than I did in line to get to the desk. They asked me what “food” i had brought in and rather than explain the kit kats, I just pulled them out of the bag. It got weird looks and when I got to customs after my bag came out (mere moments after arriving) I got the same weird looks. Love it!

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I missed the train from the S gates since I couldn’t really run, but the next one was a minute or two after it luckily. Off the train, up the escalators and since I already had my bag in tow, I was straight up to the parking shuttle point. Plane to parking garage in 30 minutes. Freaking WIN!!! Normally its that off a domestic flight, off International that is unreal! Pretty soon I was at Wally Park picking up the truck and then before leaving I spied one last special shot. Star Alliance United 737 sitting at one of the A gates right next to the parking garage. Good way to end what had been a fantastic journey!

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Introduction
Seattle to San Jose
San Jose
San Jose to Narita
Narita to Hong Kong
Hong Kong Part 1
Hong Kong Part 2
Hong Kong Part 3
Hong Kong to Narita
Narita to Seattle
Conclusion

                                                                                                                                                                   
Wednesday 5th June 2013

It was going to be an early morning today. Trying to get myself back to reality meant a work out before the flight at least and that meant I had to make sacrifices. I couldn’t sleep all to well, not sure why so a bit earlier than I had planned (even with the workout) I tried to head outside for a run. I figured if I couldn’t get up to speed I would hit up the ATM close by to get rid of the last of my HKD off my card. Fail on both counts as the ATM kept spitting back my card and I couldn’t run even to the end of the driveway of the hotel without pain. So that meant it was back to the hotel gym again. 10km ride complete, some burpees and some push ups and I was all good.

I decided to test out a little facet that the hotel had mentioned the night before. The rooms were apparently sound proof and with an amazing stereo, it was worth a try. The rooms at the hotel are all controlled by an android based system by 3 tablets, a billion small tablets mounted around the room and they all controlled every little feature you could think of. The stereo was linked into the sound system in the bathroom as well and the two systems were indepedant of each other. One in the bedroom and one in the bathroom. So you could have Trance in the living room and news in the bathroom, all at once.

While getting myself dressed and packing things up quickly, I had cranked the sound in the living room on some Trance from last.fm in Amsterdaam and then had the same running in the bathroom (though the bathroom was a few seconds later than the main bedroom). The sound…incredible! I pity the room next door 😉

I made sure my bag was packed and then I headed down to the lobby a few minutes before my ride to the airport was due to go. I checked out and waited a few minutes, using the last remants of the hotel WiFi before all 3 of us were ready to go (Nao, Jason & myself) and we headed outside to the driveway to get moving again. One last bit of Peninsula Hospitality though, it was off to the airport in the Phantom!

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This time it was a different one to the first so I am now 2 down and 12 to go on that list 😉 The ride was awesome, I tweeted a few times, got a couple of photos but most of all I relaxed into the journey. I was starving though as I did not have time to grab breakfast thanks to the gym not opening till 6am and our departure time of 730. O well! Pretty soon we were dropped off at the hotel and another Peninsula staff member was waiting for us as we pulled up. He took our suitcases (although this time the distance was extremely short from the driveway to check in) and I was in the Business class queue.

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The line just did not move and eventually I was beckoned over to the Economy queue. They had me filling in paperwork with my address for some reason as they thought I needed an ESTA and even with my assurances I did not, they still made me fill it out. I did as instructed and after having to head over to the ticketing desk to grab a ticket wallet (since it was a bit easier to carry the mountains of boarding passes etc that way), it was off to immigration. I saw a currency exchange and tried to fix up my HKD issue, still no deal they would not do it and the ATM line was huge. So it was immigration time.

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We had about an hour till boarding and at Hong Kong airport that isn’t much time really. The airport is just so freaking huge! We cleared security and immigration and as I was hungry and rushed, I was getting into old habits. Rushed and Hungry mal means frustrated and little things cause me to get a bit shitty. I took it out on Jason a little bit as he had no idea where to go (but neither did I for certain things) my job right then was to find an ATM and sort the money situation out. So I said I would meet him at the lounge and I would be there as soon as I could.

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I really wanted to check out the Thai Lounge but we were invited to the United Lounge but these were way out in the middle of the pier, where as right then I was just past immigration in the main concourse. So I went in search of an ATM, but again, giant line. So I figured I would give the hunt a bit of an easier time and go out to the middle of the pier since I was wasting time wandering around trying to find one. I hot footed it to the train and out we sped to the middle of the pier.

Once off the train and moving as fast as I could back to the concourse, I went off in search of an ATM again and this time as I passed the lounges I made a mental note of where to go and then out of no where I found the atm. Money issue resolved, next stop currency exchange. I got that done and as I stepped away from the currency exchange I found Jason, wandering about having no idea where he was or where he was going. So we went off to the Thai Lounge which was funnily enough directly above where we stood. Good enough for me!

I was still pretty shirty as again the time was running out quickly and I just wanted to sort things out as I had stuff everywhere in pockets after immigration and security and I wanted to get myself sorted, and get some breakfast, and I still needed to tweet and do other things. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to get my ass handed to me for not doing things I should of been. the Thai lounge was nice, though small. The food offerings were not as extensive as the hotel buffet or as other lounges, but much better than what the United Club probably had to offer.

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I grabbed some toast and a banana and some raisins and tried to get some breakfast into me along with some water. I figured the easiest thing to do at that moment was to just get what I could into my system and try and relax on the flight. Stuff emails or whatever, deal with that when you next get a chance. So I got what food I could into my system as quickly as possible and we headed off to the gate which was a good 5-10 minute walk away.

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The gate wasn’t all that busy but people were already lining up and within 5 minutes we had to join the lines or it would be days before we could get onboard. It was into the lines we went and had to wait there to make sure we could get onboard in a timely fashion. The boarding time came and went. In the line we stood and I soon figured out why my phone was having issues. The Hong Kong sim was out of money!! woops! Thank god for free airport wifi.

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All Nippon Airways – NH912 (Operated by Air Japan)
Hong Kong to Tokyo Narita
0940-1500
Boeing 767-300ER (JA619A)
Business Class – Seat 2K

Boarding: 0919 (Gate 30)
Push Back: 0942
Take Off Roll: 1010 (Runway 07R)
Top of Descent: 1430
Touch Down: 1455 (Runway 16R)
Shut Down: 1500 (Gate: Bus)

Boarding was eventually called and we were let loose into the 767. The flight boarded pretty quickly and even though we were 10 minutes late boarding the flight pushed back on time. In that mean time I had settled into my seat and tried sorting out a lot of my stuff for the flight, taken a few photos and just generally spread out. The crew on this flight though were absolutely stunning. every single one of them was as beautiful as the next! This was going to be a good flight!

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Funny thing was, even though they were beautiful, the crew were unique. I was not allowed to have my bag under the seat in front, instead it had to be safely secured on the seat next to me. As though it was a diplomatic pouch or something it was safely seat belted into the seat next to me. Whatever! Before leaving we had to have our meal orders taken as they said that there would be turbulence for the first hour or so of the flight and the last hour, so to make things quicker they would do the ordering on the ground. So I ordered the Western meal (it was catered out of Hong Kong so go with a western option over the japanese) and asked if I could have it about 2 hours prior to landing.

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We taxiied out of Hong Kong Airport and it took quite a long time to taxi all the way to the far side of the airport, but that is always a treat in foreign lands. Lots of things to spot and take photos of (after the crew tell me to turn off my camera that is). We passed a number of different A330s and 777s from Cathay, Dragaonair, Hong Kong Airlines and United. But then there was the rare stuff as well. Hong Kong Trader was getting some work done, Cebu Paicifc had a A320 following us. There was an SEAIR A319 in the queue and again I missed out an opportunity to get Aerflot.

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Eventually it became our turn to hit the runway and we lined up and waited for clearance (it felt like an eternity) but we eventually rotated into the sky right past the freight ramp and unfortunately I missed a good shot of a KLM Cargo. Can’t have everything. This time I had forgone my usual idea of getting the A side and instead gone for the K side of the aircraft. #FAIL! We had a departure directly over the city and had I been on my usual side I would of had a spectacular view of the city (mainly Kowloon) and the clouds were not covering that portion. Damn.

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It wasn’t all that bumpy on the way out, but there was definitely a few different bumps about during the flight. I got stuck into my book, since the IFE was pretty limited and nothing was going to be of interest to me. As the drink service finally started I was informed that I should eat now as they can’t guarantee they can serve me later on at all. Whatever! I did as I was told and decided to try and get as much work done before the meal showed up and then continue working afterwards.

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Drinks and snack mix were served first and it always seems like the towel and mountains of trash sit there on these flights as they just never get collected. So while I had my snack mix, I was listening to my ipod and tuning things out as we went along. The meal was served and the as the way down it was a one tray affair, but I took my time in eating it this time. I wanted to get through it, but I also didn’t want to ruin the meal by scarfing it down. It was a nice meal but not all that interesting really. Maybe I should of gone the Japanese meal! Sucks to be me!

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With the meal packed up (I kept the dessert for later) and the tray was collected. The rest of the flight was seemingly spent with me having my head into my laptop writing away on the trip report to get as much of it done as possible, getting the occasional message from Jason who was further back or just looking out the window. The funniest moment though on the whole flight came when the Captain came on for his announcement. He was HILARIOUS. No idea where he was from, what he had been doing or anything like that but to be honest, he was funny++

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We cruised a long and without even realizing it, we were almost at time for descent. I got a drink of some water and they had the little tubs of ice cream (though this time smaller than the ones out of japan) and it was funny that the ice cream tasted 100% awesome no matter the size of the tub. Just as I finished that up, we were about an hour or so from descent so began the slow packing up as ANA announce their descent 45 minutes prior giving people plenty of time to get things stowed.

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We got the 45 minute warning and a few minutes after that I had everything of mine stashed away and ready for the arrival into Tokyo. The flight had gone by smoothly and there wasn’t much to do at all after that. I had a bit of a read through my book and enjoyed the sights as we descended. It is flights like this that go smoothly that calm me back down and I enjoy them. The rushing about between flights never helps!

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We came into Narita over the runway I was hoping for. We were approaching right in front of the Hilton I had stayed at the last time I was in Japan and within mere seconds of passing it, we were wheels down on the ground and I heard something that other people would’ve hated to hear “You will be bussed to the Arrivals section of the airport”. w00t! Bus gate!!! Always good news for an Avgeek. Unless you’re in a hurry, or don’t like busses. What it meant for me was the ability to get up close and personal to some good unique aircraft.

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Once we were pulled up, the crew had to wait till the steps were in Position before opening the door. It wasn’t as humid in Tokyo but it was nice and warm at 27C. Perfect!!! I was probably heading back to coldness so I would rather enjoy it while I could. I was off the aircraft and down the steps soon after the doors were open. Bring on the goodies!!

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