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The truck did awesomely over the weekend and it handled the drive north with ease!. Had a fantastic time in Vancouver, catching up with my mate Leighton and just enjoying it, even though it was freezing cold and absolutely positively wet (at times).

I went for a run around the city on Saturday morning on what will now be termed the “Macgyver Route” as it goes past a whole heap of Macgyver Locations and ends up back at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver right after a climb up of like 45 steps. It was a fantastic route and to top it all off, managed to knock a good 5 seconds off my best 5km run time. 27:55 is my new PB (that i can find anyway) and makes it all the more worth it (even though I kind of piked out on my run this morning and ditched the last mile for a 2 mile ride instead)

The rest of Saturday was filled with plane spotting, random walking around the city at night with Ross as I introduced him to Japadog and then we both went in search of what was reputed to be the best Gelati in all of Vancouver (and to be honest their Pumpkin Pie Gelati was pretty damn amazing) and also walking into a movie being taped on a wet, Vancouver saturday night. It was a pretty damn awesome Saturday night. Sunday was pretty easy as well, just a late wake up, hitting the road nice and late morningish to try and avoid the queues at the border (still took a good 45 mins) and then we did a bit of Outlet shopping before heading back home and getting home around 3ish (where i spent the rest of the afternoon doing all my normal Sunday morning chores, just condensed into less than 2 hours, something that normally takes me 4 or 5 hours).

I had a great time almost getting the truck to the 3000 mile mark, trying to drink my body weight in Tim Hortons coffee before recrossing the border and getting grilled by both Canadian and US Immigration (as usual) all in all a good road trip if you ask me!

Vancouver Road Trip

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Well this afternoon i get to take my truck for its first ever Road trip, the first time i get to drive it for a bit of a distance (ok its 200 miles or so which isnt much but it counts dammit).

I am heading up to Vancouver for the weekend so will be a little bit out of touch but will be back Sunday night! Shenanigans abound!

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Wow… just wow… Today was one of the most unbelievable days since I have moved here to Seattle. I have had some amazing experiences, Getting onto the Tarmac at Paine Field and also at SeaTac to shoot photos, flying in a B-17 bomber, getting to buy my trio of dream things (truck, coffee machine, kitchenaid mixer) but today just adds another one to that list.

One of the first things I did back at the release of the 2012 NFL Season Schedule was check to see who was coming to Seattle for games, figuring I would go to at least one game, no matter who was playing. The FSM (Flying Spaghetti Monster) was smiling down that day, because when I checked.. my beloved Patriots were scheduled to play in Seattle. That day was today.

I had breakfast with Ross at one of my favourite places in Seattle, Skillet Diner. It has the food I like (old school yet modern) in a kind of atmosphere that I like (that Diner feel). Everything about it was just spot on. But this morning I was up for a little bit of indulgence. So I had their famous Cinnamon Rolls and they didn’t disappoint (I did have some granola, fruit and yoghurt as well, just to offset that sugary sugary goodness).

After filling ourselves full of morning goodness (and a few mugs of their awesome coffee albeit not as quickly topped up as I would of liked) we headed downtown, to park the truck and wander on over to Centurylink for the game. We did a small amount of exploring while we went hunting for Ross to get some Seahawks gear and then we met up with my workmate Melodie who helped me get the tickets in the first place. We had a good chat and caught up before the game and then we climbed all the way to the top to our seats. We may have had seats up on the 301 section but the view was still pretty damn good and gave a good overview of the plays. Sure it was right up the top and I would rather be closer to the action, but this was a pretty epic match up with Bradys first visit to Seattle.

The game was DAMN close, I almost lost my voice from trying to out cheer the Seahawks fans (and that is a tough call), pretty sure both Ross and I lost some of our hearing but it was SO worth it. The game was super close with Seattle scoring a touch down just inside the last 2 minutes clinching the game by 1 point. We just could not recover the ball and get through the Seattle defence in time to get a Field Goal to win the match. Even though we lost, I don’t mind. Just getting to see the game is a special thing and sure if we had of one, I am sure it would be all the more sweeter, but still it was awesome either way. Next year I am so heading East to Foxborough for a game.

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Yesterday was a Big big day. Spent pretty much the entirity of the day out in the downtown area. After a bootcamp session in the morning and being able to shower, eat breakfast and clean a few things up in less than 20 minutes both Ross and I were out the door before 945, heading downtown. On the plans today was a few Seattle staples. Pikes Place Market, Columbia Center Sky Deck and Seattle Center. By the time we reached downtown after parking at Northgate and bussing it into the city (to avoid stupid parking charges) we headed towards Columbia Center first.

I stumbled upon the Columbia Center last year when I was on my big trip and it was a good find. It is essentially an office building with a Viewing Deck on the 73rd floor. What makes it different to the iconic Space Needle? Well for one its almost half the price ($9 vs $20) and 2 its higher. Way higher. Hell there is a Starbucks at the 43rd floor, which is free to enter, and has the same height views as the Space Needle. There is only one downside and that is it does not have 360 degree views of the city. I think i know which one i am staking still. What made this one even better, I picked up a 2 for 1 on living social a couple of weeks back. Total win!

The views from the Deck weren’t the best overall but they were still better than they would of been earlier that morning during the rain. Still a good way to start the day giving Ross plenty of perspective of the city and the Bay/Sound area from way way up. Even got to see Centurylink field getting prepped for the Huskies game. After Columbia Center we walked our way (we had decided to walk the day to work off the days indulgences) towards Pike Place market passing the Seattle Public Library (love that building) the Fairmont Olympic and a whole heap of Trojan Fans in town for the USC vs UW game.

We did the usual things at Pikes Place despite the crowds, the Bubblegum wall, Pikes Place Fish, the fruit and veg stalls etc. Ross bought some Prints as gifts for home, I bought some old school prints for the walls of the apartment, I showed Ross what he claimed were the best cinnamon donuts he had tried in Seattle (well the only ones but they were fresh out of the fryer) and we had a good time before heading over to Three Girls bakery for a Bite to eat. Now this place is hands down my favourite place to eat in the market. The most freshest sandwhiches I have had in Seattle and possibly the best sandwhich outright. The yummiest Dark Rye bread, fresh pastrami, fresh vegies all good.

We ended up finishing off Pikes Place with that tourist staple, linig up at the “First” starbucks (even though it isnt really the first) and getting a drink (me a coffee, Ross a hot chocolate) before walking our way further north to Seattle Center. We were heading the Pacific Science Center to see the King Tut exhibition. We had picked up tickets cheaply at Costco a few days prior and I had wanted to see it eventually, Ross was interested, why the hell not. Couple of shots of the Space Needle while we waited for our entry but the lines were not to bad. The entry fee came with an audio guide which was ok I guess. Overall the exhibit was a little bit dissapointing. Yes it was crowded, it was a wet Saturday so I will not complain about that (even though I want to) but the dissapointing thing mainly was just they didn’t have the items I thought they would. They talk about the Treasures of King Tut the boy Pharoah. There wasn’t really all that much about it, it was mainly about the Pharoahs overall. But either way it was something to tick off the list.

By this stage we were both pretty beat, so we walked back from Seattle Center via Top Pot Doughnuts (i was hoping they had some pumpkin donuts left, they didnt though 🙁 ) and we headed back on the bus back towards home. We made a pit stop so I could do some shopping but when we stopped at a Vegie stand with plenty of pumpkin there was one last highlight of the afternoon. Seeing all the different fall pumpkins, the selection was a like a Demtel ad, “But Wait theres More”. We even saw a pumpkin that weighed the same as I did.

By this time we were back home and well and truly beat!

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What a day… Today surely has been a great day. With my friend Ross having flown all the way over from Australia for a couple of weeks to visit and enjoy a free couch to sleep on. What it meant for me other than someone to talk to at times was I could get a chance to play tourist for a few days.

Day 1 was scheduled to be the true Avgeek activities. Since it is usually better to see the Boeing factory on a weekday we would do the factory tour first thing. Then the afternoon would be spent at the Museum of Flight. A good half day would be needed at Paine Field for tour time, spotting and allowing ample time to shop.

The tour was great and Ross really enjoyed it. It was my third time doing the factory so I had seen it all before but getting to see the aircraft half built and seeing them come to life is always amazing to me.

I was excited afterwards though for some spotting time. Plenty on the schedule with two Dreamlifters, some 777 movements and a 767 or two. What was unexpected though was a Ryanair 738 doing touch and gos and rejected landings and 2 brand new 787s on their first flight. What made it all the more amazing was the fact one of thosr first flights was this amazing beauty from China Southern

From Seattle Spotting 2012

After picking up my bike and grabbing some lunch on the move we spent a few hours at the Museum of Flight including their annual book sale (where I picked up a few titles i had never expected), Ross exploring the Concorde for the first time and the arrival of one more 787!

Damn good first day, loved it all! Tomorrow will be just as much fun I hope!

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What a week!

It has been a crazy week full of photo work, touching up photos not only from last weekends trip to LA for some spotting but also from Dreamliner Day on Monday and some time at Paine Field after my friend Kinny came to visit.

I did get some amazing shots though including the following:

From Dorkfest LAX Spotting

My First Ever 747-400 Combi and the 2nd of the KLM Asia schemes (i now have both a 777-300ER and the 747 Combi in this scheme, just need the 777-200ER and i have the full set).

From Dorkfest LAX Spotting

The Skyteam Liveried 737-800 belonging to Delta

From Dorkfest LAX Spotting

The Beard!!!!

From Dorkfest LAX Spotting

A 747 belonging to Air New Zealand, these shoudln’t even be in Los Angeles.. so its kinda rare!

From Dreamliner Day Spotting

The Huskies Dash 8 from Horizon

From Dreamliner Day Spotting

A 747-400 belonging to Atlas Air (only ever seen their freighters not their passenger jets)

From Dreamliner Day Spotting

Two Brand New Emirates 777-300ER’s. One on its Delivery Flight (Above) and one on a Photo Flight with a Loud as hell LearJet (below)

From Dreamliner Day Spotting
From Dreamliner Day Spotting

So many photos in there so… heres the links to all the folders from what was an epic epic long weekend (and another long weeked coming up as well).

Dreamliner Day Spotting
Dreamliner Day
Dorkfest LAX Spotting
Dorkfest 2012

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Well it was bound to happen. Swiss Airlines cancelled my ticket. They decided not to honor the fare (shock horror) and just outright cancelled the ticket.

They did apoligise and sent me the following email:

Dear Sir/Madam,

We are writing in regards to the travel you recently booked with Swiss International Air Lines Ltd. from Yangon (RGN), Myanmar. Unfortunately, as you must have been aware of, the fare you purchased was incorrect and resulted from an inadvertent error that was out of our control. While SWISS honors its commitment to the highest level of customer service and safety in air travel, it must also honor its obligations to its employees and shareholders.
We are not obligated to provide our services for compensation that is obviously erroneously published and commercially infeasible. We are aware that good travel bargains are quickly recognized and booked, however principles of fare bargaining dictate that a service provider does not give away its services for almost free or at a loss.
Because the fare you booked was not valid, we will unfortunately have to cancel your reservation and ticket. We are extremely sorry for this error and we are not increasing the price of your ticket; rather we will promptly issue you a full refund for the total price you paid for the ticket. The full amount will be automatically credited using your original form of payment. In the event that you would like to rebook your itinerary at the appropriate price, please contact your nearest SWISS service center or your travel agent.
SWISS deeply regrets the inconvenience caused by the publication of the erroneous fare to the passengers who may have thought they had booked and purchased a valid ticket for an erroneous cost. We apologize for this unfortunate situation and trust your future travel on SWISS is comfortable.
Sincerely,
Swiss International Air Lines Ltd.
Malzgasse 15, Basel/Schweiz
Registereintragung/Registration:
Handelsregisteramt des Kantons Basel-Stadt

 

Not exactly the most nicest of emails, not even addressed to me personally. Total fail there. The booking is still showing live on Travelocity, so i will give it a few days to see if it dissapears, my card hasn’t been refunded yet. I sent a complaint to Swiss, not demanding they honor the fare but more the usual “blah blah blah i thought it was real, blah blah blah”. What i did ask for is that they cover the foreign currency fees if I get charged any by my credit card due to the refund. But I doubt they will do that, but hey.. worth a shot right?

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Well Monday this week was pretty damn busy for me. A day full of driving, fun, awesomeness and just down right #avgeek nirvana.

I spent a fair amount of time in the truck monday, as I had to drive down to Kent (bout 10-15 mins South of SeaTac) to pick up my boxes which have finally arrived from Brisbane. After the stupid import company withheld the packages for 2 weeks to get extra cash out of me (part of the reason i had been stressed so much lately) I finally was able to pick up my stuff which was just awesome to see those boxes and my bike! My Glorius bike.

But the Avgeek portion of the day was truly awesome. As my 2nd time as a Correspondant for airlinereport.com I was on assignment to cover the Arrival of the First commercial service for a 787 to Seattle. It was an awesome experience and you can read all about it here The time was great (though adding to my sunburn i am sure), getting ramp access is truly a priveledge and I am really grateful I could do this.

To add more greatness to the day, a friend of mine from Twitter was arriving on the flight for a couple of days so after making him wait several hours thanks to the ANA festivities, we ended up hitting the road up to Paine Field for a little bit of spotting, catching 2 new Emirates 777s (one delivery and one doing a photoshoot with a lear jet) and then we headed out for some Sushi, Tempura and Teriyaki at Rikki Rikki in Kirkland.

It was great having someone visiting, getting to play host and tour guide all at the same time, also seeing a familiar face was a great thing, helped improved my spirits 1000 fold. Now my time this week will be spent with doing up the photos not only from Monday but also from Saturday still as I struggle to get through them all!

It sure has been a thrilling long weekend, with more fun and frivolity coming up!

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Well tonight was the 2nd of 3 burger installments for September. But this one was meant to be pretty neat. It was definately more what I was expecting for a “typical” American burger… well.. in some ways. Last Saturday was chatting with Dan and he told me about a place in Mukilteo (about 5-10 minutes drive away, just down the road from Future of Flight really. It was a crazy place, part burger joint, part Avgeek nirvana. The way he described it, I was in! Z’s Burgers it was to be!

They close kind of early on a Saturday night (8pm) so considering we were there at 7 it was REALLY quiet, which kind of breaks my rules about eating in empty places. BUT i think its cause it was just “late” for them. Most people think that it would of been closed. At least the sun gave a half decent show as it went down over Whidbey Island. Snapped a couple of photos of the sunset as usual

From Expat Life
From Expat Life

But the main attraction was Z’s burgers itself. Being that they are just near the Boeing Factory, its all Boeing here baby! Aircraft on the walls, aircraft on the roof, aircraft on the counter. It was all boeing and it was all awesome! There was also a good stock of Coke memoribilia in the corner but I was here for the Avgeekiness of this place.

From Expat Life

Hell even the burgers are named after Boeing planes!

From Expat Life

Who seriously isn’t going to try the 747! So i ordered it, all the while being told I will regret that decision in life. But I just had to at least once try it! We sat up at the window for a little while, but it was getting a bit chilly so moved further indoors. The burgers are cooked to order so ours took about 10 minutes or so, which is fine with me, I like them fresh. Just before I go into how the burger tasted. Lets look at the description of the “747 Jumbo Burger”. A Cheeseburger with Ham, Turkey and a Grilled Hot Dog. Yep thats right. The wierdest ever hamburger I have ever seen. To hell with it! This is right in the territory of my Man vs Food showdowns but they should of had this place on it!

From Expat Life

The burger was DAMN good. Yeah it may sound wierd and the hot dog did give it the wierdest texture. But the Ham worked and the Turkey to some extent. But everything on it was super fresh. When looking at burgers like this, it reminds me of the Fish & Chip shop burgers back home. Fresh, tasty, a nice looking bun filled with awesome looking ingrediants. A sauce that runs down your hands and arms and requires mountains of Napkins (the sauce actually was pretty close to what is on a Big Mac, not sure how they managed that!).

Add on the fact that Z’s burgers is Avgeek heaven, fresh made burgers, good size, price wasn’t bad $10 for burger, drink and a freaking huge burger is pretty good if you ask me! This was the type of Burger place here in the USA I was looking for. A mom and pop place that is 100% local and totally crazy to boot! This kind of place you would expect off the highway somewhere remote, not in the middle of Subrubia, down the road from one of the largest buildings in the world.

From Expat Life

I did finish the burger by the way… but barely.. Couldnt get through all my fries.. #fail? Nah #win! The end of the burger chronicles will be next Saturday… with the Ultimate avgeek burger journey.

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Well i have been so slack lately in updating but to my own defence I have been both slack, busy, stressed and just totally not in the mood to post.

Life has been pretty up and down the last week wtih way to much stress lately both Work and Personal related, but with the weekend approaching it should lessen this. What I am looking forward to now is October (well actually starting sep 29th, next Saturday). There is going to be some epics times coming up next month with Seattle Restaurant Week dates and menus released (planning already underway to visit a couple), Friends coming to visit, a quick day trip to LAX for some spotting, shenanigans cross border, road trips and probably some unpacking as well!

My stuff that was shipped to me months ago is somewhere between Seattle and Los Angeles and hopefully I will get it next week sometime as I really miss my bike (bet you never thought you would hear that word) and I have to take some time this week to give the camera a decent clean ready for some pretty heavy duty it is going to get over the next few weeks (probably a good 2000 or 3000 photos to go on it).

Pretty much my life is all good, nothing I can’t handle and the stress, although its there, is nothing more than normality really. the things you deal with in life.