by ·Comments Off on Feeding an addiction

Well it was about time I took this new Hobby Addiction of mine to a new level. I was trying to renew my newly found Gold Status with Virgin Australia and it has been fun with it, so I mean I can’t lose it!

Well I am currently about 280 status credits off renewing it, and I have a bit of flying planned but not all that much. Well Virgin has decided to help with renewal… well kind of. They have put in a special for Double Status Credits on all Business Fares. Which means for a fairly cheap investment I can make my requalification all the more reasonable! Works out about $4 per status credit, much cheaper than most cheap Economy Fares which are around the $8-10 per status credit mark.

Pretty much my flights will be a little crazy for a 1 day trip but what the hell, I am up for some fun. I will leave it all a mystery till the day but it shall be fun none the less. I have a good amount of flights coming up over the next two weekends. First up will be my bucket list flight this weekend and then my status running the weekend after!

More to come but looking forward to getting up in the air!

by ·Comments Off on New Toys makes for good times

One of my dreams finally came true last week. I managed to get myself a new camera lens. One that I have wanted for so long yet never been able to do one of the following:

1. Justify the price brand new
2. Find one at a decent price brand new
3. Find one 2nd hand

Well last week an offer came up online for one at a price that was to good to be true, and well I just couldn’t let it slip past me. To make things ever better there was a scheduled flight coming in that would be a highlight of the year so far and if I could get it in time, it would make for some perfect photos.

The lens is a Sigma 50-500mm. Pretty much about as big as your going to get without going to the crazy lens range that only the professionals would use. It weighs what feels a tonne but thankfully the camera strap I use is pretty padded so it doesn’t really do all that much damage, cept to my arms (nothing some more muscles wont fix).

The lens takes some damn good shots so now my lens collection is almost complete. I really need something like a 10-24 or something similar. Something nice and wide for a difference or maybe an 18-50 or something for a walk around I dunno.

The special flight that came in though was Air New Zealand’s new 777-300ER in the All Blacks Livery. Thankfully I was able to get the lens in time to get it to me and that meant that I could use it for this one shot that would be amazing. When it was into Brisbane for the first time and I can make it, I will be there.

Managed to score some other goodies this weekend but here are a few samples that show just how awesome this new lens can make a photo.

From Brisbane Spotting 2012
From Brisbane Spotting 2012
From Brisbane Spotting 2012

and a link to the whole album:

Brisbane Spotting 2012

by ·Comments Off on Wild Blue Yonder…

Well not so blue today. This year as my “Goal” for things this year I want to cross as much off my bucket list as possible. Now that could be quite a challenge but there are lots of little small things on their that I can do easily. One of them that had been sitting there taunting me for ages and ages is:

* Fly a Plane

Well… That is now complete! This morning I took the Left Seat in a Cessna 172 (VH-YRQ) and took to the skies with my hands at the Controls. It was AMAZING. A Dream I have always had was to fly a plane and now I have. Part of me wants to keep going and get my license but I know that If I am going to go whole hog and get my PPL (Private Pilots License) I sure as hell want to go all or nothing. I don’t want to have to stop mid way due to time or money. I would want to set out and go for it. So that isn’t going to happen any time soon.

But it was an awesome experience. The Trial Instructional Flight I did was the best way to do this. About 25 minutes in the Air, an instructor by your side handling the radios and things like that and its a quick, simple way of learning the basics. Hell if I wanted to, they would credit my time in flight today towards my PPL and discount my first lesson that amount!

To be honest, I wasn’t as excited as I thought I would be in the lead up, but sitting in that cockpit this morning, I was all giddy like a little girl, but I stayed calm 😀 From the moment we turned onto runway 10L at Archerfield in “Yankee Romeo Quebec” I was at the controls, hands on, flying the plane. The only time I really went hands off was the actual landing which the instructor Tristan did (mind you he was like 20 and boy did he make me feel old). The whole time in the Air I was in control and even got a few compliments in my skills. I found the hardest part was steering the little cessna on the ground. That was the toughest thing following along the yellow line!

I would so do this again, just now I have to stay grounded! At least I will have a better appreciation for the pilots out there in the real world now!

Trial Instructional Flight

by ·Comments Off on On the road again…

Well I only just got back a couple of weeks ago from my last jaunt, and plans are underway again to be back up in the air. This time though I am not going to give away much till closer to the date but it involves 4 different airlines (across two weekends), 1 new aircraft type, 1 new class of travel, 2 new airlines and my first ever same day turn.

Bah stuff it! I will tell you now!

So after my bonus from the middle of the year was still burning a hole in my pocket I got to thinking what is a nice quick trip I can take that can easily fit into my available leave (ie none) and with the rest of my schedule. Problem being I barely get my roster a week in advance so I canned the idea. Then a few things happened.

1. The roster for work got released up till middle of February…
2. I got it back in my head about the original plan
3. I started reading about some stuff about new aircraft being used on some services and aircraft being subbed in on others.

My mind got ticking and ticking, could I do it, should I do it. I looked at timings and everything and the plans just looked like it wasn’t going to work, so I scrapped it.

Come boxing day though, things had changed, one of the airlines released a sale, someone else gave me a workable tip and things started to fall into place.

So here is the map of my upcoming journeys:

Map

Now it may look fairly stupid but bare with me here. One thing ever since Emirates released their fit out of their A380, I have wanted to do is fly in their first class cabin. Private Suites, Dom Perignon but the piece d’resistance is the onboard Emirates Spa. This may sound fancy and all but to put it simply. It’s a shower! Onboard the aircraft. So you can shower at 35,000ft. The shortest and cheapest A380 route is pretty much SYD-AKL and AKL-SYD and they let you use the shower during this time. Now SYD-AKL is costed at the Aussie Rates (ie extortion) but coming back the other way as I have previously talked about it BARGAIN!!! To make things even better, Emirates released a sale! dropped the price by nearly $250! Love it!

So that was one segment booked in, then I just needed to position myself to Auckland. Even though the flight the night before leaves at 630pm (cutting it way to fine getting out of work on time etc) I decided to do a Same Day Turn in Auckland. So I was going to fly from Brisbane to Sydney… via Auckland. I would have 4 hours on the ground in Auckland. Plenty of time to relax and enjoy the Emirates Lounge. Then due to the curfew in Sydney I would be overnighting at the Sofitel Wentworth (hello A|Club platinum status) then back home in the morning the next day (To get back in time for Superbowl on the monday).

Then on the next Sunday I would be doing my first ever intentional same Day return. I would be flying from Brisbane to Rockhampton and come straight back again (after 2 hours on the ground). I would be flying up on Virgin Australia’s new ATR Service operated by Skywest and returning on Qantas flying an Alliance Airlines Fokker 100 (operating for Qantaslink). Pretty good little trip to tick a few new things off my lists. So all up the travel looks like this.

04Feb – Brisbane to Auckland – Virgin Australia – Economy – 737-800
04Feb – Auckland to Sydney – Emirates – First Class – A380
Overnight Sofitel Wentworth Sydney (probably do my first ever hotel Trip Report after seeing what the status gets me)
05Feb – Sydney to Brisbane – Virgin Australia – Economy – 737-800
12Feb – Brisbane to Rockhampton – Virgin Australia (Operated by Skywest) – Economy – ATR-72
12Feb – Rockhamton to Brisbane – Qantaslink (Operated by Alliance Airlines) – Economy – Fokker F100

Excited!!!!!!!!!

by ·Comments Off on Ticking a Bucket.. List… Domestic City Hopping in Aus

Introduction

I had won a few free nights accommodation through work in Melbourne and needed to use them up before the end of the year. So after Qantas announced that you could upgrade their lowest fares now to Domestic Business, a plan was put in motion.

My bucket list has always had the item of “Sit on the Upper Deck of a Boeing 747” on it. That elusive upper deck, the inner sanctum of those privileged few. I had almost ticked this off during my recent round the world trip, however Asiana schedule changed the aircraft (again) so with no 744’s on my trip, this was still sitting there taunting me.

A plan was hatched though. Qantas released a nice cheap sale with fares to the southern states pretty good (about $95 to Sydney). This is where my plan started to take shape. I could pick up a nice cheap fare on QF8. A 747-400ER service from Brisbane to Sydney which was really continuing on from Dallas. With a lovely little 8000 point drop on the fare I could have a nice Skybed on the Upper Deck (and if I was lucky a Skybed MkII if the aircraft was a refit.

Then it was just a matter of how to get to Melbourne. As a newly status matched Virgin Australia Gold I found some nice cheap fares to Melbourne and back directly to Brisbane so I could check out the new lounge in Melbourne and the current Sydney Lounge. This was looking to be a nice long weekend away from the office, especially during the busy busy times.

The end itinerary was going to look like this:

09Dec – Brisbane to Sydney – Qantas – QF8 – Boeing 747-400ER – Business Class
09Dec – Sydney to Melbourne – Virgin Australia – DJ842 – Boeing 737-700 – Economy
12Dec – Melbourne to Brisbane – Virgin Australia – DJ347 – Boeing 737-700 – Economy

09th December 2011

Up at Stupid O’clock as this was going to be a very early morning to get me to the Airport to clear international security etc (even though on a domestic service) before the early flight down to Sydney.

Traffic was light and I was dropped off at the International Terminal for the 4th time this year (seem to be departing more from this terminal than from the domestic this year). The whole departures area was totally familiar to me this year, but for the first time I was heading down towards the Qantas Rows, an unfamiliar experience for me this year.

After wandering my way down to the Qantas row I was the only person in the Business Queue but both agents were already serving someone. Took a little while (a minute or so in reality) for someone to free up and then actually motion me over. I was checked in and given the usual “Domestic Channel” briefing to which I advised the agent “I’ve done this before, I know the drill” to which he liked this and asked me if I knew where the lounge was, to which I confirmed to him I did (have been there in the past when flying JAL).

With this done the total time at check in was less than a minute! I was off to the lounge with my boarding pass, bag tag and an express channel pass (which I wouldn’t need considering the D channel is the Crew Channel and is usually empty). Quickly down through “immigration” and towards the lounge avoiding all temptations of the duty free store.

Up and into the QP and was greeted at the door and advised to “Head on through the Glass Doors and enjoy my morning” I headed on through to the main lounge area. Not much had changed in 2 years on the outside with a very tacky looking painting still evident at the top of the escalators, however inside the lounge a refurb had taken place. It was looking all nice and fresh, shiny looking IMacs were set up in 2 separate sides of the lounge.

The usual morning foods were evident, some cereals, yoghurts, muesli, toasts, even pre made pancakes. The kicker though for me was the barista service. I had seen this at some of the Virgin lounges (Brisbane in the morning usually has a long line) but this just made my morning! A couple of long blacks and a bit of a liquorice treat should get my morning started (if I hide the liquorice it doesn’t count right?)

I wanted to get down to the gate early making sure I could get as much time experiencing the upper deck as possible. I wanted to be first up those steps! I went down to the gate nice and early and managed to snap a number of pictures of the aircraft before boarding was called. Luckily a newly painted Virgin Australia 777 pulled up at the gate next door so managed to tick that one off my spotting list to (only the ATR left in new livery now).

Qantas Airways
QF8
Brisbane to Sydney
0745-1015
Boeing 747-400ER (VH-OEF)
Business Class – Seat 18K

Boarding: 0725 (Gate 19)
Push Back 0757
Take Off Roll: 0810 (Runway 19)
Top of Descent: 0955
Touch Down: 1017 (Runway 16R)
Shut Down: 1026 (Gate 33)

With boarding called I was first down that line, down the air bridge and greated onboard. I was a little bit giddy! I looked around.. Damn Skybed Mk1s
 the aircraft was not a refit bird. O well never mind! I turned right after Door 2L and their it was, the steps! Up the steps I went I was like a little boy again, just so happy to get to do something I had always wanted to do. I ascended the steps, snapped a few pictures and settled into my Skybed ready for departure, snapping pictures all the way really.

A Pre Departure beverage of either Strawberry/Apple Juice or Water was offered (took water as usual) and settled into the seat trying to get myself settled. The seat beside me stayed empty as the cabin filled (most of the upper deck was in fact empty by the time we pushed back).

No menu on this flight (although I did manage to see the menu from Dallas to Brisbane as it was left in the seat pocket). The Captain came on for a quick pre departure chat advising us of a short flight to Sydney but unfortunately a long taxi from the terminal up to Runway 19.

We pushed back pretty much right on time and started to turn towards Runway 19. The Qantas 747 from LAX was arriving just as we started to taxi off the ramp and it cleared the way for us. We headed off to Runway 19 ended up holding short behind a new painted Virgin Australia 737. We climbed out damn quickly as this was obviously a lightly loaded bird and the Captain was obviously not sparing the gas this morning as we were airborne barely before the Domestic Terminal.

As we climbed out leaving Brisbane behind the crew jumped up once cleared and started the service. First up was hot towels and then after a little while the meal service started from the front of the aircraft. Sadly by the time it got to me, I was informed bluntly “I hope you don’t want anything hot, because we don’t have anything”

Thinking that meant I had no choice at all, pretty much I was stuck with a bowl of “fruit” and some yoghurt and was offered some “Toast”. What was presented was a few pieces of melon and a couple of strawberries. A small bowl of yoghurt with what I think was honey and 2 slices of white bread (definitely not toasted). I did ask for some coffee to go with it, which thankfully was brought out piping hot and fresh from the plunger and after advising the crew to “keep it coming” they certainly did. Breakfast was a little bit disappointing for a “business class” flight, but to be honest, it was pretty much almost on par if not more than what I normally eat.

After a bit of turbulence during the meal service (and having my coffee pretty much cover the tray and the napkin) I decided to give up after 4 small cups of coffee (really the equivalent of one after spillages are taken into account), and just sit back because by this time we were pretty much about to begin our descent into Sydney. There was a little bit of cloud about around Sydney by this stage but not far out of the city we punched through the clouds. If I had of been on the left side I would have had a beautiful view of the harbour and the city but unfortunately I was not.

We descended into the airport touching down smoothly onto Runway 16R and around us was a bevy of heavies all either just arriving or heading off for the mornings (an EKA380 was off to Auckland and a UA 744 off to Melbourne). We taxied to the gate and there we sat, for quite some time, with the seat belt sign still on. We sat just off the gate, not able to do anything. The Captain came on to advise us that we had a last minute gate change and that they were waiting for the staff to come over to the gate we were sitting at, that as we were not yet safely pulled into the gate the seatbelt sign would remain on but he would keep us updated.

We probably sat about 10 minutes before they could shut down the engines and then let us out of our seats, but again we sat longer after this as we could move around but no gate crew still so that meant no aerobridge to let us off the aircraft. By this stage everyone on the upper deck had moved down to the lower deck and the main J cabin on the lower deck was quite packed with passengers.

Soon enough we were allowed to disembark and I snapped a quick shot of the F cabin still fitted on this aircraft (though soon to go I do believe?), the crew member working this cabin offered to take a photo of me in the seats if I wanted to but politely declined and decided to get my butt off the plane and through to baggage as I knew the lines would be quite big in Sydney to get out of customs due to all the heavies sitting at the gates at that time.

After making my way through what felt like the world’s largest duty free store without wanting to buy things (damn D sticker), I made my way quickly through immigration (about 4 people ahead of me in line) and by the time I got to the carousel my bag was doing laps, it seems priority tags do work for Qantas. After heading through to Customs, showing them my D sticker and then they took my boarding pass off me (noooooooooooooooooooooo a serious #avgeek does not let that usually happen) I was out of the sterile area, into the mass arrivals area, heading for the train to Domestic Terminal.

An expensive $5 train ticket, 10 minutes and a few sets of Escalators and I was heading up to Terminal 2 on the other side of the airport. After passing a picture of a Tri-Star on the wall advertising Sydney and the train connection (not that there are really any Tri-Star’s flying for commercial services these days), I headed for Priority check in.

Check in took all of a few moments by the Virgin Staff but for some reason I should of commented about the lack of Priority sticker not attached to my bag (something that would come to bite me later). After a quick security screening, a swabbing for explosives and a redress, I made my way into the Virgin Australia lounge at Sydney Airport for the 2nd time. I had made a short appearance here back in early October when connecting on the way back from Ayers Rock but that was just for a few moments to grab a drink and a place to have a private conversation with a friend away from the rest of the group.

This time I could have the full lounge experience after time to relax, enjoying some lunch and then lazily making my way towards the aircraft. I had my assigned seating in Row 3 all good to go in the hopes of a refit bird (the best seats now with the new fit out) and life was looking good.

The lounge in Sydney is apparently still in the old colour schemes but still looks quite good to me, is quite large and had quite a good amount of food, drinks and snacks available. I grazed over time for lunch with a sandwich, some soup, some nuts and plenty of salad to keep me going for the afternoon. I watched a bit of TV, read for a bit and explored the lounge.

About 10 mins before boarding time I wandered down towards the gate area and this is where the first part of the dreaded news came to light. “Your flight has been delayed approximately 30 minutes due to a late arriving aircraft, if you intend on leaving the gate area please return by no later than 1pm” Ok I can handle that, back to the lounge we go. After another round of drinks and some more nuts (god damn they were tasty), it was back to the gate but no aircraft still. This was not good. Another announcement was pending


“Due to the late departure of the aircraft from Melbourne the flight has been till approximately 3:30pm as the flight has only just departed Melbourne” With that the scrum for the service desk began. I was 2nd or 3rd inline before they had even said they were offering rebooking of passengers to the next flight. What they said next did not bode well for me. “Those passengers without checked luggage will be given preference for accommodation on the next available flight” Ah CRAP!

I still waited in line but when I informed them that I had checked a bag I was informed I would have to wait for a supervisor, I asked how long and was told not sure, but then she saw my gold and instructed me to go to the lounge. No compensation voucher was given to me but everyone else had been given one to this point. Stupidly I didn’t say anything as I figured I would get one at the lounge (I didn’t).

Back to the lounge again I went and this time there was a nice big wait at the service desk as there was a number of lounge guests also on this flight. I waited my turn, was put on the next flight (aisle seat at the back or middle up the front, which do you think I went with) and was assured my bag was being transferred over (warning bells should of gone off at this point but they did not). Now I was totally over it all and just wanted to get up in the air, so after another few dishes of nuts (stuff it, they were good, and I was peckish) I headed back to the gate ready for boarding of the new flight, via a quick stop at the old gate to pick up my voucher I never received (was reluctantly given it, and when I looked at it was very happy to notice that it was valid on board as well!).

I double checked at the gate of the new flight that my bags were definitely getting transferred over and asked for a non-shopping docket boarding pass. I was assured again that my bag was definitely on this flight and a new boarding pass was handed over reluctantly.

Virgin Australia
DJ846
Sydney to Melbourne
1400-1535
Boeing 737-800 (VH-BZG)
Economy – Seat 28D

Boarding: 1350 (Gate 33)
Push Back 1410
Take Off Roll: 1420 (Runway 16R)
Top of Descent: 1506
Touch Down: 1525 (Runway 34)
Shut Down: 1529 (Gate 5)

Boarding was called and this time there was a nice big queue thanks to the previously delayed flight, didn’t matter really. I knew the flight was going to be max so didn’t really matter when I was on board and since I was in an aisle at the back without too much hassle did not matter.

Today’s flight was the on board “Brett’s Jet” which was named after previous CEO of Virgin Australia Brett Godfrey. Thankfully even though on the outside this aircraft is in the old colours, it’s another sleeper! Yay! Gotta love it when you hop on board and its fitted out with the new seats.

Settled into the seat and as the plane filled up, this was pretty much a standard Virgin Australia flight. Pre-recorded safety announcement, taxi out, take off & wait for the seat belt sign to come off. Since I already had a drink with me (grabbed some on the ground cause its cheaper than on board) and settled in to read my book. Once the seat belt sign was off, out came the headphones and that made things all the more tolerable.

Service was offered first to those with flexi fares so they got their free meals, then they started to offer stuff for purchase. It was a pretty quick flight really, as they barely had time to do all the services before we were on descent into Melbourne.

Bit of a rough time coming in, getting bounced around quite a bit, the 3 guys on the other side of the aisle were holding on for their dear life (wasn’t that bad I’ve been in worse), and soon enough we were on final into Tullamarine.

With a bit of a rough touch down (maybe a bit of last minute cross wind) we started taxiing towards the gates.

Disembarked quickly through the back door and up the steps into the Terminal. Quick, easy, painless. Isn’t that what a flight should be like? This is where stuff just started going wrong. While waiting for my bag, I waited and waited, I waited some more. In the back of my head I was thinking “I bet my bag doesn’t come out at all”

Stupid me just should of carried on board rather than check the bag. Dumb, dumb rookie move. As I thought, the bag did not come out at all. This is the first time I had ever had a lost bag, after all those times of not even thinking about it, I guess it had to happen eventually.

After going up to the baggage service desk they just did not seem to care at all. It was very much a “If we find it.” There was no way they could tell where it was apparently, which was just crap. After being told that they would call me once they found the bag they would let me know.

So I jumped on the bus and headed to the city. After several phone calls during the evening and lots of wrong information provided I finally got my bag delivered to the hotel around 1030pm. Just dandy after being up since before 4am!

12th December 2011

After some meetings in the morning that just did not happen, I returned back to my hotel to grab my bag. This time I had intended on not checking the bag, was not going to lose it. A quick walk from Docklands over to Southern Cross Station to hop on the Skybus. As I walked up to the bus stop there was one just about ready to depart.

Within minutes we were pulling out of the station heading towards Tullamarine. Me I was head down in my book already and barely even noticed. Hell I barely noticed any of the ride out as I had headphones in and totally zoned out. After a bit of a rough weekend it was good to still be able to tune out.

I arrived at the airport way, way, way earlier than I should of. But as a Gold Velocity member, you have the ability to take the next available flight with no cost to change irrespective of the fare you booked on. So with my original flight scheduled for 6pm and me arriving at the airport roughly 1230 it was going to be my first test of this lovely benefit.

I headed up to the Priority Check in. Handed over my card and was greeted and after I was asked which flight I was on, I told her my flight but said that I would prefer to be on the next available flight if possible. After a few minutes and a lovely delayed computer issue (know that feeling thanks to work) I was moved onto the 2pm flight up to Brisbane (there’s a bit of a dead zone between 12 & 2 in Melbourne for flights it seems. This would give me plenty of time for a leisurely lunch in the lounge and some time to read.

As I was about to head off, they asked me the usual questions about sharp objects In my carry on and was asked if the one I had on my back was all I had. Next rookie mistake! I said no and pointed to my suitcase (which is carry on size). They then asked to weigh it and it was about a kg over the carry on limit (7kg). I was instructed I would have to check my bag due to the weight. Damn it! I said that was fine and did say that as long as the bag makes it to Brisbane with me on the flight that is ok. I was told it would not be lost this time and that they would ensure the priority tags went on this time.

I watched as my bag headed off on the conveyor with thoughts if I would ever see it again. I resigned myself to the 2nd rookie mistake of the weekend and headed off to check out the new lounge.

Melbourne & Brisbane are currently the only two lounges that have had the revamp since the rebranding to Virgin Australia has come into effect. I’ve seen the Brisbane lounge but it seemed awfully small, after being told I should enjoy this lounge as its quite a lot bigger and more spacious. They weren’t wrong.

I came through and instantly liked the look of the new lounge. To top it off, an old work colleague of mine was working in the lounge which was a total shock. She had just transferred recently to the lounge after working as Flight Crew for 4 or 5 years. So we had a good quick catch up. Then it was time to find a seat and start to relax.

The usual spread was out for lunch at that time, Salads, Sandwich fixings & Soup along with a tasty looking nut mix and some popcorn. After grabbing a spot by the window, a drink and some nibbles I sat down and read my book for a little bit. Going to avoid using the free Wi-Fi, mainly cause I just wanted to relax and enjoy the view.

As time progressed I had some lunch and they had the most delicious carrot salad out that I just could not get enough of, so much so I tried to get the recipe for it before I left but that failed to eventuate (thankfully my friend who works on the lounge is going to try and track it down for me!).

As I headed out of the lounge a bit early as I knew I would have to clear security since the lounge was landside not airside in Melbourne I was in a pretty good relaxed mood, my attitude had totally improved. After clearing security easily, managing to dodge the explosives swab this time while the guys were not looking, I started to wander down towards the gate after spotting a Shanghai Airlines 767 (don’t see them in Brisbane at all!).

Virgin Australia
DJ331
Melbourne to Brisbane
1400-1510
Boeing 737-800 (VH-VUV)
Economy – Seat 27F

Boarding: 1337 (Gate 9)
Push Back 1358
Take Off Roll: 1411 (Runway 34)
Top of Descent: 1443
Touch Down: 1511 (Runway 19)
Shut Down: 1515 (Gate 41)

Arrived at the gate literally as they called Priority boarding so did not even break stride as I headed to the queue and was first through the gate down the steps. No Air bridge today for this flight and as I snapped a photo of my ride today, one of the staff started to have a go at me saying “Don’t you listen when we tell you no electronic equipment” to which my quick reply was “No one said anything when they announced boarding” which he promptly gave me a dirty look but by that stage my camera was off anyway and I was half way to the rear door.

Again I was seated up the back, but I had a window this time so did not really care. I got settled in however this time, my seat mates arrived shortly after. A mother and her young son. Just dandy! Now I don’t hate children, I don’t normally complain about other people on the flight, I just take my seat and go off in my own little world. This child was just totally on my nerves.

I was glued to the window watching the ground staff load the bags, trying to spot mine and then I saw it. My little suitcase with priority sticker on it, going up the belt into the aircraft. YAY! A repeat performance was not going to happen. Doors were closed pretty much a few moments before schedule and we pushed back on time.

As we started to taxiing out the child next to me was constantly kicking my bag or almost reaching out in front of me to look out the window. At this point I know I should have offered the child the window seat and just moved elsewhere, but I was just not thinking properly. I just sat back and tried to ignore him.

A long taxi all the way to the far side of the airport, which is always good for a bit of avgeek plane spotting. Lots of heavies on the ground with EK, TG, MH & SQ all on the ground. Lots of JQ and QF as well as you would expect. A quick take off with a bit of cloud around as we headed out above the clouds and started to climb towards home.

Once the seat belt sign was off, I was back in my own little world again, no IFE on this sleeper aircraft again (which the guy in the row in front spent most of the time complaining about) but that didn’t worry me. A good book, headphones and iPod does me just fine. Pretty soon once service was out, I decided to use up that refreshment voucher I had gotten on the way down. An $8 voucher got me a cup of coffee and a loaf of banana bread (which I promptly stashed for later as wasn’t at all hungry after gorging on carrot salad in the lounge) as we cruised north.

A very uneventful flight really, as we started to descend we got a good view of the Gold Coast and all the lovely surroundings on the clear day and approach over Moreton Bay towards runway 19. With a VERY hard landing we were shortly on the ground and taxiing towards the terminal.

When released from the confines of the flight, it was up into the terminal and straight to baggage claim where my bag was the 2nd one out. It may have made the flight but it made the belt upside down somehow. Didn’t worry me all that much really, I was just happy to see it. Bag in hand, I headed out to the taxi queue and was soon enough on my way home
 a happy relieved traveller.

Conclusion

Would I do it again.. sure. Would probably prefer a longer route for the Upper Deck. Not quite sure if I prefer the Upper Deck over the Main Cabins. I mean sure its quieter but the main deck has more space and feels more open. At times the Upper Deck could feel a little claustrophobic.

The Virgin Australia lounges are fantastic! Especially Melbourne. It is going to suck if I can’t requalify for Gold Again (I might be able to, depends on what happens in the new year). The new Virgin Australia product will definitely be a game changer here in Australia. Can’t wait for it to be fitted fleet wide and all the new bits and pieces to finally come through (IFE being one of them).

This trip gave me the inspiration for some future craziness, it is still in the planning stages, but it could be a “Whale” of a time 😉

by ·Comments Off on Worlds Largest Game of Chicken

So it seems that since I am a bit of an avgeek its time for me to weigh in on this lovely Qantas drama. After getting home from work yesterday I was bumming around on the net when all of a sudden my twitter feed started going crazy. Thanks to @winglets747 and his coverage of the drama as it all unfolded in Sydney I was able to keep up to date on everything. But thankfully I was not at work! God damn I was lucky with that i swear.

For those who don’t know or have been living under a rock the last 12-18 hours, Qantas has grounded its entire fleet in preparation of a lock out that goes into effect Tommorrow morning. So in essence, Qantas has shutdown all mainline and international services. The only ones still operating are Qantaslink, Trans tasman Jetconnect and Jetstar services (in other words stuff not run by Qantas themselves). This is the world’s biggest game of chicken with the Unions on one side and Alan Joyce (ceo of Qantas) on the other.

While we wait to see who flinches first, this is going to be a rough week I think. I hope it won’t last that long but seriously, anything more than that and we are going to have mass problems here. I think it is a ballsy move to do what Qantas management are doing but I just don’t know if it’s going to work. The pilots union have caused problems in the past and the Transport workers union I am sure won’t flinch easily, but who knows what is going to happen.

I see this getting majorly messy if it lasts more than a week with total and utter choas and confusion. Work is going to be a crazy mix of hell this week I can guarantee that. Thankfully I have tuesday off! So who will know what is going to happen. I hope it just dissapears off the radar within a few days, but i doubt it. I really do!

by ·Comments Off on Trip Report – Around the World on a Star – Hong Kong to Singapore

A lazy morning for once considering I am normally up at OMG o clock (and will be for my final flight). I copped out on the gym as I just couldn’t deal with it and decided not to rush my morning and just potter around the hotel getting myself good to go.

After having issues at Breakfast in regards to how to cook a poached egg, I checked out around 10am (as planned) and dragged myself, my new suitcase, my old suitcase, my backpack and camera bag to a cab to the station. After again having the driver try to take me somewhere I did not want to go, I had to keep telling him “JUST TAKE ME TO KOWLOON STATION.” I didn’t have to lug my bags far as when we pulled up it was right infront of the In Town Check In for the Airport Express.

The check in was painless and after negotiating for a half decent seat (ended up in the Forward mini Cabin) I was out of the check in area and headed downstairs for a train. Now you might be thinking why is he going to the airport so so early for an afternoon flight. Well I was intending (note the word intending for later) on doing some spotting, some last minute shopping and also lounge hopping my way around Hong Kong Airport.

Once at the airport it was out into Terminal 2 rather than Terminal 1 to do a bit of spotting. However the skydeck was not quite open when I arrived so instead hit up a few shops and then went up to the Skydeck and thankfully used up some of my last HKD on my octopus card. The Skydeck is the “official” spotting location at HKIA and overlooks both the approaches for runways 25L&R. Awesome shots were obtained but the light was crazy++ No retro jet though (but not without trying) so I guess that part of the trip list is going not done.

After loosing track of time and then hiking my way back to the terminal later than I thought and having to get my boarding pass reissued with my Aegean number on the pass as for some reason it is just not crediting properly, it was through security, immigration and out into the massive terminal. I tried to find my way through to some of the shops and then realising what the time was, was going to skip the lounge hopping (i did it in Narita anyway) and just head to the SQ lounge. But a few of the shops were all the way down near the TG and UA lounge. But it didn’t last either because I never ended up buying anything at those shops.

I got told that I can’t come back on the train from the middle gate area, I had to walk which took me a solid 15 minutes at my pace so that was a bit annoying but you deal with what you can do. This ate into my time and I managed to get what I could shopping wise with about 30 minutes of lounge time. I rushed into the SQ lounge, took a few photos, grabbed a quick nut snack, posted on the web and pretty soon the 30 minutes was almost up.

I rushed out to the bathroom (bathrooms at this lounge are on the outside none inside) for a quick pit stop pre flight and missed the boarding call which was early! As everyone was boarding as I headed to the gate.

Singapore Airlines
SQ861
Hong Kong to Singapore
1520-1905
Airbus – A380-800 (9V-SKA)
Business Class – Seat 14A

Boarding: 1445 (Gate 15)
Push Back: 1531
Take Off Roll: 1556 (Runway 07R)
Top of Descent: 1834
Touch Down: 1901 (Runway 02R)
Shut Down: 1906 (Gate B7)

For the first time I was heading upstairs on an A380 and ticking it off my list of things to do in life. The little upward incline meant time for a few photos unfortunately couldn’t get a clear shot of the bird flying me to Singapore. When I stepped into the upper deck I was shocked at how low the roof felt and then I saw the size of the seats. The SQ business seats are MASSIVE. Wider than I thought they would be. Way wider.

The seat was just huge and they had heaps of cushions to try and keep you in the seat and they just did not help at all! Another thing I noticed is even though the windows are at a good level, because your on the upper deck, you are set further back from the windows making it difficult to get many photos of the ground or down below you.

We waited for a while to push back due to the brakes not being cool enough according to the Captain after his pre flight briefing and the Singapore Girls just could not do more to keep you happy. The service was great. We taxiied out eventually towards 07R (runway switch must of happened as when I was spotting it was the 25s) and it was a long long taxi. Eventually we took off, and headed for the sky.

Service began extremely quickly after take off as orders had been taken on the ground for both drinks and “dinner.” The menu had plenty of choices and I was looking forward to some good cuisine (although I am tempted to “book the cook” on my next flight. As I settled in for a movie and dinner progressed through the courses I was totally lost in the moment and not realising how time was going or what was going on.

The lunch service was a little slow and was suspended for a few minutes due to some turbulence which wasn’t all that bad imo but eventually we were heading towards Top of Descent. I had to get my AVOD system to be rebooted after it crashed and then pretty much 5 minutes after it came back up, it was shut off for landing and approach. O well.

As we approached into Singapore I was again snap happy as much as I could but it was not possible to get as many photos as I normally do. O well. Gotta deal with it. We landed on 02R and taxiied quickly to B7 one of the A380 gates. This is where things got wierd for me as when we deboarded it was out into the normal terminal area. No sectioned off area for arriving guests. Crazy. Immigration was a breeze (was one of the first people there) waited about 10 mins for my bag to pop out and then I was in a Limosuine Taxi (wanted the pre set price option) on my way to my hotel. A Quick flight that just made my day.

by ·Comments Off on Trip Report – Around the World on a Star – New York to Zurich to Paris to Bayeux

5th/6th August 2011

After getting my stuff together back at the hotel after an awesome day, I was going to do something I had not done before in New York when leaving. Get the Train to the airport after being told it was extremely easy and cheap. $12 was meant to be the cost (worked out at $11.25) and should have been easy. But things did not go to plan from the Start. I figured rather than walk the 5 blocks dragging a heavy suitcase I would jump in a cab. Unfortunately the porter at the hotel would not get me a cab. So I walked up to Port Authority Bus Terminal and their cab rank about a block and a bit up, and jumped in what was a long line. But the thing is there was about 30 taxi’s waiting and yet the ladies at the front were just not moving, I mean WTF! Hell once the line started moving it stopped again while an old lady just stood there, I told her to take the next taxi its waiting there or I am going to.

She didn’t move, so I did and jumped the queue by about 5 people. I was kind of in a bit of a hurry as I was running a bit behind schedule. With that I was now in a cab heading to Penn Station, but at the end of the block, we stopped, for 5 mins. And this was to be the longest/Shortest taxi ride I have had in new york. I should of just walked. I was mega frustrated and then to add insult to injury the taxi driver tried to rip me off. I handed him a $20, told him to make it $11 change and we will make it even (fare was $7). Sounded good to me at the time, cept he decided to keep some of the money and gave me $9. WTF! I told him off, made him give me the extra money, told him to fuck off and jumped out.

Into the station I went (after being dropped off at the wrong side of the station) and went in search of a vending machine to get my metrocard topped off. None of the machines would let me do anything or even sell me a ticket, so I jumped in the growing ticket queue. Which had people moving slower than a snail. The time for my train was fast approaching, and then the lady behind the window told me she couldn’t top up my card, so I said fine, sell me a new ticket (there was like $1 on the metro card so couldn’t be bothered). No she told me. WHAT THE FUCK. Why is everything getting so stupid all of a sudden. My blood was boiling by this stage and I was pissed off. So I told her to just shove it and went in search of another ticket machine, one that would sell me a ticket. Some idiot at the vending machine jumped in line ahead of me and mouthed off at me. Whatever. I got my ticket then tried to find the next train to Jamaica Station, unfortunately this is almost impossible at Penn Station it seems as no where has any information. So I asked a cop who was nice enough to tell me any train really and that the next train was Platform 20. So down I carried my case.

When I got down there, there was not a person in sight, not even a soul. This didn’t seem right. Then I saw a sign “Do not Board”. Why is it so hard!!! I dragged my case back up the steps to the waiting area as a crowd of people started flocking another platform and an announcement was made that the next train to depart would be from Platform 16. So off I went. When I got onboard it was already packed. I found an out of the way place to put my case which was convientiently right infront of a free seat (albeit with a ladies bag on the seat). After a 4-5 minute wait and the lady not moving her bag I asked her if she could move her bag so I could sit. She grumpily said “Fine” and moved it. I mean WTF! I was so over it all at this stage, just wanted to get to the airport, get to the lounge and chill.

The train ride was pretty uneventful, a lovely gentleman helped me get off at the right station, making sure that I was all good as I must of looked frustrated or stupid (probably the latter) and I was soon on the AirTrain from Jamaica to the terminal. I got an SMS from a flyertalker, due to transit through JFK and this brightened my mood. I could tick that challenge off my list and relax and chat at the same time.

With that I checked in, found somewhere to sit and relax and waited for CMK10 to arrive which he shortly thereafter did. We attempted to try and get into the lounge which turned out to be before security but they wouldn’t let both of us in, just me. So we sat at a bar and had a quick drink and a good chat. Then they started calling people to the gate through security. This was almost 2 hours prior to departure
 WHAT! So I ran up to the lounge to make sure this was ok, but they said not to worry and to relax and they will let me know when. But I had other plans anyway. Grabbed a quick drink, cleared out the facebook messages backing up for my birthday and a few quick spotting photos before heading down to security to get through and get some Euro currency.

With the last of my USD changed to EUR I was strolling towards the gate and about to ask how long till boarding so I could do some spotting as the pier was right infront of the active runway, it was then that I saw “Now Boarding all rows” It was an hour prior to departure, whatever!

Swiss International Airlines
LX17
New York John F Kennedy to Zurich
1750-0755+1
Airbus – A330-300 (HB-JHI)
Business Class – Seat 11K

Boarding: 1650 (Gate B27)
Push Back 1739
Take Off Roll: 1800 (Runway 22R)
Top of Descent: 0640
Touch Down: 0711 (Runway 34)
Shut Down: 0715 (Gate: E23 )

I headed to board and was totally unprepared when I walked onboard. I was the first person into the main business cabin (there was one or two in the mini cabin forward of Door 2L. So had ample opportunity to take lots of photos, and with so long before departure I just really got myself comfortable, taking some photos, sending texts and emails, calling home to say im alive as I had not called home in the month I had been travelling.

About 1730 I heard the “Boarding Completed” announcement which shocked me as we still had 20 mins to go, then around 1735 I heard “Refueling Completed” and then a few moments later “Cross Check Doors” and with that we were pushing back early. I had expected a long delay when taxiing to the runway but we were like 4th in the queue and was distracted by all the good planes out the window including El Al, Kuwait Airways, Royal Jordanian, Aer Lingus, Jet Blue, American One World, BA One World & a Qantas One World as well. It was photo snapping central.

Pretty soon we were lined up and ready for our turn (thankfully I had remembered to put my seatbelt on with all the distraction. It was now that I started exploring the pockets in the seat and came across the previous flights menu as well
 Score!

Once airborne service started fairly slowly about 20 to 30 mins after take off with the full dinner service wrapping up almost 2 hours after take off. I took my time enjoying each course. Pre dinner drinks with nuts and chips, then salad, then the main. Of course it wouldn’t be a swiss airline without a cheese course and of course, dessert & chocolates. All consumed with lots of water, diet coke, coffee and a Pretzel Roll. O how I was hoping they would have these. I had seen them on so many other trip reports, I was dieing to try one. And it was GOOD!

After dinner I settled down to do a bit of work on the laptop (finances for the trip, writing a blog post for my time in new york and working on the trip report really) and half watching a movie. During the service I had commented to one of the cabin crew that it was my birthday. A short while after finishing watching the movie and working on the trip report, she was back to offer me some champagne, but since I was not in a drinking mood (was going to keep that for paris) I declined. Shortly there after she returned with a Happy Birthday and a box of chocolates as a gift. YAY!!! I think I might try this on my next flight (cause it would technically still be my birthday when I get on that flight as I was to amped to sleep).

Lets discuss the Swiss long haul set up. The A330-300 has a double cabin business class set up. You have a 2 row mini cabin forward of Door 2L and the main cabin to the right of 2L. I was in Seat 11K in the Main Cabin. The seats are unique in that they have like a column to the side of the seat which you can use an extra table and its essentially where the person in the row behinds feet go. So in some seats like the A seats you have two columns (often reffered to as the “Throne Seats” In the other seats it Alternates between on the left and on the right. In most cases the seats are set 1-2-1 some are set 2-2-1 others have random set ups. 11K has the column on the aisle, giving you just a little more privacy with your aisle access.

The seat goes fully flat and has a half decent AVOD selection (although not touch screen unfortunately) but the one thing that confused me so much was the Tray table. It has a very unique design which drove me INSANE! But hey what can you do!

As the flight progressed, I still could not sleep so just relaxed and chilled out watching Thor and also chatting to the flight attendant, about my trip and my birthday etc. It was a good, easy flight. Business was 100% full so there was people crammed everywhere. About 90 minutes prior to arrival, the lights came on (no mood lighting unfortunately)) and it was time for a light breakfast to be served. These were done the night before really when you filled out your breakfast card and handed it back to the flight attendant. However they forgot my coffee. Service as a whole although good was spotty at times but it wasn’t anything horrible really. Breakfast was a light European style, so Fruit, yoghurts, Pastries/Bread really. I wasn’t really hungry and since I still had another breakfast flight, just stuck with a serve of fruit.

Soon enough we were given a pre descent brief by the Captain and we started to come down into the low cloud around Zurich. It was a weird approach though, we could of come in on a nice straight direct approach but maybe for Noise purposes they fly a spiral descent. It was extremely weird. Soon enough we were on the ground and taxiing towards the dreaded E gates at Zuirch, which meant the Heidi train. I wasn’t to worried, as we landed a good 45 minutes early so I had heap of time to connect it just made it a lot easier for me as I would e able to get into the Lounge for a bit more time and a shower, rather than have to skip it altogether.

The disembarkation process seemed all to quick and I barely even had my stuff on my shoulder before I was being forced towards the front of the plane by the pushy people at the back. I made my way off the plane and headed quickly for immigration with one thing on my mind. A shower. Onto the next Heidi train and off we went towards the A Gates. I headed into European immigration where I was asked one question “Are you on Holidays” to which I answered Yes and was admitted. No forms, no nothing, no worries! All to easy.

The Swiss lounges in Zurich are in one main complex which makes things all to easy really. It made my life all the better. I queried seat allocations when I arrived at the gate to see if I could get something better than the 6F I was assigned and was given 1F. Anything in Row 1 is better than Row 6 imo. With that I was handed a shower key, explained how the weird system worked and off I went. The lounge was very empty which was fine, with very basic breakfast offerings (nothing hot) but again wasn’t worried. They did have Movenpick iceceam and free wifi vouchers available with 30 min sessions at a time. Jumped on the wifi to get my phone ready and working and then it was grab a quick drink, banana, steal all the swiss chocolate in site for my friend and then off to do some more plane spotting and clear security. Unfortunately gate A85 where my flight to Paris was departing was the very last gate on the A pier. A good 10 minute walk after security. They were not wrong. Add on time to take photos and security itself and you have a good 20-25 mins from start to finish. By the time I got to the gate, boarding was just about to begin. They preboarded special cases (ie very old people) and soon enough boarding was called.

Swiss International Airlines
LX634
Zurich to Paris – Charles de Gualle
0905-1020
Airbus – A320 (HB-IJS)
Business Class – Seat 1F

Boarding: 0840 (Gate A85)
Push Back 0903
Take Off Roll: 0910 (Runway 28)
Top of Descent: 0936
Touch Down: 1000 (Runway 27R)
Shut Down:1005 (Gate: 66)

As boarding was being called I was already half way down the Air Bridge as had been boarded just seconds after the last special needs person. This meant I had a nice empty cabin to deal with. But being that the seats are the same as economy, I wasn’t to worried. What did shock me as tehe lack of entertainment, including a radio,. Not a thing was fitted at all, so it was a bit of a shock really. The trusty ipod would come in handy on this flight.

Not a full flight in either cabin this time and business was empty apart from me in `1F and another gentleman in 2A. What tehe hell. Why assign me Row 6 in business if only 2 people. Whatever. At least with plenty of space I could spread out either way. I took heaps of photos of the taxing aircraft around us as everything came in right next to me really. Lots of stuff I had never seen beofore in my life. Awesome!!

Pretty soon we were taxiing back after the flight attendant gave perfect translation to 3 different languages. With a quick taxi to a different runway and a very hasy pull up and ascent, pretty soon we were airborne and winging out way to France. Not much to talk about on this trip, a quick 50 minute flight, up, down, wham bam thank you maam.

I did end up getting a warm pastry breakfast, including several offers for extras (declined) and some of the famous swiss chocolates just prior to arrival into Paris. On the ground in CDG it was more of the same forme. Photos Photos photos. I am loving all these aircraft I have never seen before. Love it! Getting a lot of Star Alliance painted aircraft including Swiss, Austrian and United.

With the arrival into CDG, I went into a kind of scared over protective mode. I had heard of the sheer craziness of the airport itself and how confusing it is, along with the whole “people will rob you” advice of Paris. So I wasn’t sure what I was doing or where I was going. I just followed the signs and tried to make sense of the French words around. I found the baggage belt and was hoping that my bag made it here. In a good strike of smarts the people who run CDG tell you how long your expected to wait for your bags, so gave me plenty of time to sort things out. When the bags started to hit the belt, mine was first off, priority tags really do work!

Then it was working out how to find my way to the RER with the very confusing directions and after a bit of help and guidance from the information booths, I was on my way to T3 and onto the RER. I was smart enough to have some Euro Coins on me to get the RER ticket and I was onboard and heading to Gard du Nord, and my hotel
 some luxury for one night. The Paris Marriott Hotel Champs-Elysees.

Sunday 7th August 2011 – Paris to Bayeux
SNCF – Intercities
Paris St Lazare to Bayeux
2nd Class

Up nice and early after a very very long 37 hours or more of no sleep and a massive day in Paris of exploring, wandering, indulging and an amazing birthday Celebration at Les Ombres, I hit the gym for a bit of a wake up and then repacked some stuff into a smaller bag for the trip down to Bayeux and the Normandy region for some Battlefield explring.

After having done a bit of half assed research the afternoon before, Yena (who has joined me for france) and I made our way after a quick caffeine hit in the lobby down a very, very empty Champs-Elysees to the Franklin D Roosevelt Metro stop for a 3 stop metro ride to Gare St Lazare. With that completed we sussed out where we needed to go and with plenty of time to spare, we hit up a local café for another caffeine hit (can you tell we both enjoy our coffee). We had pretty much planned that this would be a quiet morning with a 2 hour train ride to catch up on things all the way down.

Coffee consumed we headed back over the street to the station to suss out some take along breakfast pastries and to figure out what platform we were departing from. There was a massive crowd at one end of the station and what we didn’t realize was that was for our train. All the crowd was waiting for the platform number to be released and when it came up we got bumrushed by the crowd and it was like O M G I am about to be run over by a billion people. Then we realized it was our train, and knowing that the train is unreserved seats we split up. Yena to get pastries (she was hungry, I didn’t care really) me to get our seats (was more worried we wouldn’t get a seat). We need not have worried at all as I found a 4 seat with table all the way at the far end of the platform and soon enough was joined by Yena carrying our breakfast. With an apple and drink pilfered from the Hotel Gym, it was a tasty if not all that healthy breakfast (it was my first “French” breakfast so it counts as ok really and its really hard to find a French breakfast without some form of Chocolate, you will know what I mean if you check out a cereal aisle over here). With that we settled in and dead on time, the train rolled into the station.

Pretty much as the train sped on, Express to Caen the French countryside rolled past the window and I worked on my trip report and blogging while Yena worked on her journal and we both got out the ereaders for a light spot of reading. Pretty soon Caen approached and the train was stopped for about 10 minutes or so, then it pulled out again nice and speedily. We had roughly 15 minutes or so till our scheduled arrival into Bayeux.

Soon enough an annoucement was made in french about 30 seconds from arrival and we jumped up and grabbed our bags, making it out of the train shortly after arrival into Bayeux. The platform was pretty bare but we followed the mass crowd towards the exit and then it was off on foot to our hotel for the next 4 nights. The Hotel Chateau de Bellefontaine.

by ·Comments Off on Trip Report – Around the World on a Star – San Francisco to Chicago to New York – 3rd August

An early morning wake up and no running this morning as to dark and the “fitness centre” at the hotel opens to late. Not to worry, will enjoy a day of rest and relaxation as I fly across the country. A light breakfast and a final check of emails before I jump onto my free shuttle to the airport.

Upon arrival at Terminal 3 at SFO I noticed that this was not a good thing to be here at this time. It looked like a madhouse at the Economy check in and security. Fortunately I had access to Premium Check In and also Premium Security. Thank the lord. No real wait, was directed to a self check in machine and figuring it wouldn’t work for me, I waited for someone to come up and offer assistance. After 2 or 3 minutes no one came. So I gave up and put in my confirmation number still expecting it to fail on me. It didn’t. Now this is where I should of figured things were not as expected. My boarding pass spat out both flights as United First. Hrm thats wierd. I figured I would deal with it at the gate and get through security while I could.

I was directed to premium security after asking where it was, and soon enough I was in the queue. I grabbed a few zip lock bags as I didn’t have the right size and some spares will come in handy later in the trip. Security was a non issue, not even a grope from the TSA 🙁

Once through I went in search of the gate so I could get my bearings before running a few errands. I found the gate next to a customer service point so queried my boarding pass. I was told all was fine and it was just a system issue. I double checked my seat on seat guru and I was still allocated a backwards facing seat. Awesome. I convinced the agent to reprint me passes on real stock rather than the flimsy crap the self service kiosk spits out.

With that done I went in search of a banana, some coffee & some water. No access to Red Carpet Club meant I couldn’t get this free. I explored the terminal for a while getting heaps of photos and searching for a retro jet. No dice 🙁 I browsed the shops for a bit (if u walk into the Ghiradelli shop they give you samples) and soon enough I could see a crowd gathering at the gate. Figuring the gate lice were starting early realised there was only 15 mins to boarding and a plane was at the gate. Unfortunately my worst fear had come true, an aircraft swap. We were changed to a domestic configuration 757-200 🙁 No more backwards facing seat.

I was a little dissapointed but thems the break. What was good for me though was that I was not in economy as a lot of people were about to get bumped. Volunteers were bound to be asked for. I ended up joining the back of the scrum rather than sit down as it wasn’t worth it by this stage with only a few minutes till boarding time.

United Airlines
UA972
San Francisco to Chicago O’Hare
1011-1625
Boeing – 757-200 (N581UA)
First Class – Seat 6A

Boarding: 0941 (Gate 82)
Push Back 1020
Take Off Roll: 1032 (Runway 1R)
Top of Descent: 1530
Touch Down: 1604 (Runway 10)
Shut Down: 1610 (Gate C26)

With boarding called on time, I gave it a few minutes to let the scrum die down a little before getting in the boarding queue and then having to fight through the pushing and shoving of the DYKWIA crowds. I got through soon enough and was shortly on my way down the jet bridge.

At the door there was quite a wait for people to get into the aircraft as their million & one carry on bgs were stored. I was welcomed on board, directed to my seat. Jackets were hung, no pillows on offer but blankets at the seat. No sign of headphones or menus (neither ever offered). But I settled in and was soon offered a pre departure beverage of choice. As we waited during the boarding process the Captain gave a very thorough flight introduction including telling us where we were going to fly over (Sacremento and Sioux Falls were the two I distinctly remember. Channel 9 was active (yay) and soon enough we were pushing back. Numerous times the crew were advising people to fix, up there bags before takeoff.

We pushed back a little late and listening to Channel 9 was awesome for this as i could tell exactly what was going on. We taxiied pretty quick to Runway 01R and after a little hold we were airborne. Right turn towards Oakland and Sacremnto and a nice long climb to altitude. Orders were taken and was originally told the only option was a Turkey Sandwhich, however after being told that a salad was also available and I had the option due to status I took it.

A beverage was offered next and I took a diet coke with lime and some warm nuts as my tribute to lucky from “One mile at a time, a blogger I enjoy reading. With those cleared away lunch was soon brought around and my Southwest Chicken Salad with soup and Breadsticks was offered and I settled in to enjoyed this lunch while watching the movie, Water for Elephants.

Lunch was cleared away, coffee and an oatmeal cookie fresh from the oven were offered and I savoured this with one of my samples of San Fran chocolate, while writing part of this trip report as well. After a while I gave up watching the movie and settled into reading my book on my tablet while listening to channel 9. Now lets discuss this lovely function that is only available on United. Channel 9 is an audio channel which feeds the air traffic control feed from the cockpit direct to the audio system. Whatever the pilots hear, you hear. It is an avgeeks dream. I loved it. While I sat there enjoying it, the world passed away below.

Eventually we started to descend and with Ch9 running I could hear it coming. It was a very slow, gradual descent but as we got closer to Chicago you could hear the ATC get crazier. The O’Hare airport is one of the busiest so you can expect it to get crazy. The landing was silky smooth and I was to distracted shooting photos to really notice. We had a fairly quick taxi to the gate and we were released to the masses about 20 mins early.

Once on the ground the emails flooded in and the tweets were flowing as I was trying to get some tickets to the daily show. Some where released and as I ambled through the terminal trying to get the tickets i had no idea where I was going and ended up walking the whole length of the C concourse. Unfortunately no tickets 🙁

One good thing about going from Concourse C to Concourse B is the use of the trippy tunnel. O yeah. I had camera ready to snap away. Took a number of photos in the tunnel all while I am sure annoying lots of people as I was gawking.

Once out into the B concourse I went scouring the terminal for any signs of a retro jet, but sadly no luck. I wanted it so bad I swear I walked that terminal about 3 times and those terminals are not small either. By the time I had realised what the time was I was meant to be boarding so rushed to the gate. But it was still full of people. Just then the gate agent made an announcement that he had no computer access to either of his terminals so he could not board till further notice.

We waited and waited, with no updates. Pretty soon departure time came and went but then the announcement came. He said and I quote. “Ladies and Gentlemen. This will not be pretty at all. I am going to board two classes and two classes only, no status, no zones. This will be a slow manual process. We will board First then Economy. If you are standby on this flight, you will not be clearing this flight. Unfortunately I can’t do anything about this, I do apoligise. We will now board First Class.” With that the masses pushed the gate but those of us in First made our way to the front.

United Airlines
UA692
Chicago O’Hare to New York La Guardia
1730-2046
Airbus – A319 (N840UA)
First Class – Seat 1A

Boarding: 1735 (Gate B6)
Push Back 1752
Take Off Roll: 1812 (Runway 9R)
Top of Descent: 2011
Touch Down: 2107 (Runway 22)
Shut Down: 2112 (Gate C7)

Once through I manged to get down the gangway fairly quickly after my beloved boarding pass was cut in half. Can’t have everything I guess. I made my way down to the aircraft where most people were in a jovial mood. Even the crew were in good spirits. Joking around. I found my seat, stahed my gear easily and made myself comfortable as somehow, a passenger made it onboard the wrong flight. This was not going to be pretty.

As boarding progressed it was obvious this flight was not going to be full but that didn’t matter to me much. Channel 9 didn’t sound like it was active, so I asked one of the crew if they could ask the captain to turn it on. I was informed it was and after a bit of playing we got it to come on. What more could an avgeek want. A comfy seat in the pointy end, live ATC on the audio and the chance to spot at a busy airport on the taxi out.

We eventually pushed back from the gate and as we got clearance to taxi it was obvious on Ch9 we were not going anywhere anytime soon as we had missed our slot, we were heading to the penalty box. Where we sat for about 5 or more minutes. A string of United and American Eagle CRJs were cleared infront of us. We were told to clear our holding spot and move and do a 180 turn to get out of the way. The pilots did not like this at all and protested to which they were promptly told to do as told by Chicago ground control. As we were doing this we got our paperwork and were given clearance to the active.

Again we held, longer and longer, but no word from ATC as to why. But to the front I saw 2 CH46 Bullfrogs take off. Thats a bit wierd what are they doing here, wait Obama is in town. Yep sure enough 2 minutes later, Marine One takes off (at least one of the VH3’s was Marine One). Twice now I have seen Air Force One… score.

A few minutes later we were cleared for takeoff and on our way. We roared past the VC25A (Air Force One) hiding off to the side and went airborne heading over Lake Michigan. Since they were going to play the same movies I got stuck into the trip report waiting for the “snack” service (which is really a light dinner). Options were again a Turkey Sandwich or Chicken this time over Pasta Salad. Chicken it is, but no offer of nuts 🙁

As the flight cruised on I worked on the trip report some more while listening to channel 9 and tried emptying the aircraft of diet coke with lime. As we approached the mid flight point I could hear lots of deviations for weather and as we were cleared to descend we were told it was gonna get bumpy. It wasn’t that bad really and to be honest i’ve been through worse. It was a long long slow descent almost an hour as we were held over New York. Eventually those lovely words “United 692 cleared to land” were said.

We landed and a quick taxi to the gate and everyone was in a mad rush to get off the flight it seemed. I wasn’t in a world of a rush so lolligagged a bit before heading to the baggage claim area and by the time I had my jacket on my suitcase was out. I quickly dialed the limo company followed instructions and waited for the car. After a while, eventually found the driver (what do you expect when every car company uses black Lincoln Town Cars) and I was headed to my hotel, the Element Time Square West.

by ·Comments Off on Crazy++

Wow
 what a time San Francisco has brought me. I pretty much have been on the go non stop since I got into San Fran on Saturday. After an amazing breakfast in what is known as the “Tenderloin” area of San Fran it was go go go. I ended up at Dotties True Blue CafĂ© for breakfast (where I was blogging from on Saturday morning) and it was an amazingly good breakfast. What I didn’t realize at that point was that the “Tenderloin” is the kinda dodgy part of town
 woops! After breakfast I got out of dodge pretty quick and got myself down to the Visitors centre and worked out a plan of action for my 2 full days in San Fran.

I ended up with the following plan after working out what I wanted to see etc.

Day 1 – Saturday – Hop On Hop Off tour to get the general city tour, Golden Gate bridge etc, then Ferry Building for Lunch (farmers markets o yeah), then also along that area to the Street Car Museum, Fishermans Wharf, SS Jeremiah O Brien, More fishermans Wharf, Boudin Bakery Tour, Ghiradelli Square, try and fit a Cable Car in, meet up with a friend and then over to the Mission District for some dinner. Pretty full on first day.
Day 2 – Sunday – Yosemite Day Tour – Full Day Booked with Extranomical Tours
Day 3 – Monday – Cable Car Museum, Filbert St (steepest St in San Francisco), Lombard St (Crookedest St in San Francisco), Coit Tower, Union Square, Macys and Burger Bar for lunch to Celebrate my Birthday with my friend Brad), Then Market St shops (checking out the big name stuff like Ferrari Store etc) then a quick repack of my bag etc before going to see the Giants play at AT&T Park.
Day 4 – Tuesday (today) – Alcatraz in the morning, then out to the airport to change hotels as we are staying out here tonight then an afternoon of plane spotting, feeding the Avgeek in me.

It was a damn full on stay in San Francisco but I loved every minute of it. The Golden Gate bridge was crazy as hell, the wind is insane as you cross that bridge, I felt like I was going to get blown off the top of the open top bus. But it was an amazing site. The food at the Ferry Building was amazing for a farmers market. Had a fresh cut air dried salami, tomato chutney and arugala (rocket) sandwhich . It was delicious with every bite. Top that off with some organic yellow baby carrots and some fresh grape tomatos picked that morning, what more could you ask for. Seeing the SS Jeremiah O’Brien was cool as well, this is a “Liberty Ship” built in WW2 for the transport of goods across the Atlantic and is still in operation today. It landed in Normandy on Dday+4 so it was a good prelude to my upcoming venture to Normandy in a few days.

I tried that afternoon to get on a cable car back to the hotel, failed after waiting 30 mins and still couldn’t get one to stop as they were all full, so jumped on the bus. Thankfully the hotel is right next to the start of the California line so I jumped on it that afternoon when I went to visit my friend Chris, an old buddy from back in the www.radioactive.net.au days. After visiting Chris, since Brad didn’t come with me I knew I had a chance to finally get some good Mexican in after being denied that priveledge really so far. I went to Tacqeria La Cumbre in the mission district. This was shown on Man V Food for their Giant Burritos and apparently where the whole Mission style Mexican started from. This place did not disappoint and I had an amazing Carne Al Sada (steak) burrito filled with Meat, Rice, Black Beans, Lettuce, Tomato, Cheese, Guacamole and Pico De Gallo. It was yum++++++ By the time I got back to the hotel that night it was after 10pm and I had left at 730am that morning.

Yosemite was an amazing day. Got to go out and visit the National Park, hiking in the Giant Sequoia trees, getting to see and experience the beautiful surroundings, I can see why people go there, the views are amazing. The rock climbing at places like El Capitain and North Face would be mental, won’t catch me there. Took about 400 photos or so that day.

Then yesterday. Another early morning wake up to make sure I get some fitness in, before heading out to the Haight Ashbury district for Breakfast. Again my pre planning had failed somewhat as I had not checked what time the place opened only that it was open that day and unfortunately it did not open for several hours after we were standing in front of the store. Woops. This was meant to be an amazing place for breakfast. Instead we ended up going to a place called “The Pork Store” a good little whole in the wall style diner that was AMAZING! Turns out it is the most popular breakfast spot in the whole district. Thankfully we were there on a Monday morning and not on a weekend where the lines can go for almost 2 hours for a table! We were 2 of only 10 people in there at the time.

Again a full on morning exploring the city and also managed to send home all the clothes I had bought in Oregon ($1500 worth of stuff condensed into a 12kg box). Walked up the steepest street (well more like ran up the steps) and then ran down the crookedest street). I then hiked it half way to Coit Tower, got the bus up the incline then walked back down again to where I had just got the bus from and got over to Union Square for lunch with my friend Brad who was treeting me to lunch at Burger Bar for my birthday. Burger Bar is the restaurant run by Hubert Keller. He is a famous TV and Celebrity chef over here in the USA and I have seen him numerous times on Top Chef and Top Chef Masters. Good enough for me! The Burger was AMAZINGLY good. I didn’t go to over the top just a good Bacon, Cheese Burger but I went with Pepper Bacon & Provolone Cheese with some Buttermilk Onion Rings. Yum yum yum. The afternoon was spent exploring the shops but the only thing I bought was a jersey for the game at AT&T park.

The baseball game was great, the Giants lost (of course) but I had a good time, albeit in the Freezing cold as we were in the Bleacher seats and the stadium is right on the bay, with the wind blowing in off the bay it was freaking cold, like ice cold. We left at the top of the 8th inning cause the giants were losing and my hands were going blue. Still had an awesome time.

This morning I got to visit Alcatraz (albeit a little rushed as we had to check out by 12) but I still got to see and do the things I wanted there. The island is crazy as hell. I was amazed at how bare bones it is really. I was shocked. But in saying that a lot of the old signs etc are still there and it is in amazingly good condition. They look after the place really well. Back into the city I went to start my trek by Cab, Bart & Bus to my hotel for tonight here in Millbrae. I wanted to get some plane spotting in as I knew I would have the chance to get some good stuff and it wasn’t to far from the hotels around the Airport. Plus I have to be at the airport around 730-8am in the morning. So airport hotel makes it easier.
Managed to take 1500 photos in the 2 hours I was out spotting but got 2 more A380s to my collection (Lufthansa & Air France, leaving only Korean remaining) and some special liveries like the Alaskan Hawaii Birds, lots of old Battleship grey uniteds, a special US Airways scheme I had never seen and the Air Berlin A330 from Berlin (where else). A great afternoon really! So here I am, totally beat, doing my laundry and blogging. Will sleep well tonight as tomorrow I start the crazy part of my trip. Its time to start getting some miles under my belt!

Current Location: Millwood Inn & Suites, Millbrae, California