{"id":3533,"date":"2013-03-07T12:00:43","date_gmt":"2013-03-07T19:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bigmal.net\/?p=3533"},"modified":"2013-03-04T20:17:59","modified_gmt":"2013-03-05T03:17:59","slug":"trip-report-the-comfy-run-san-francisco-to-atlanta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bigmal.net\/?p=3533","title":{"rendered":"Trip Report – The Comfy Run: San Francisco to Atlanta"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/a>
\nSeattle to San Francisco<\/a>
\nAloft San Francisco Airport<\/a>
\nSan Francisco to Atlanta<\/a>
\nAtlanta to Newark
\nFairfield Inn & Suites Newark
\nNewark to Minneapolis
\nMinneapolis to San Francisco
\nSan Francisco to Seattle
\nConclusion<\/p>\n

Saturday 2nd March 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was dropped off pretty much exactly where I had gotten onto the shuttle a mere 5 hours prior. \u00a0Not much time really for any form of relaxation but I was freshly washed, watered (though not caffinated yet) and looking forward to a bit of WiFi to resync back into the world. \u00a0There was no one in the Sky priority lane at this hour but the Frontier\/US Airways check in at the other end of T1 with their own security point was an absolute mess. \u00a0After waiting in the line for a few seconds as though the lady standing right in front of me couldn\u2019t see me I was beckoned over to a different desk and handled quickly and efficiantly. \u00a0My Velocity card was accepted without a question and I was soon checked into Newark. \u00a0Back up boarding passes in hand (was going to try and use the mobile boarding passes again as Delta only seems to issue flimsy paper receipt style boarding passes) and I was going to head through security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Thankfully i stopped to clear up my stuff as the signs to the Skyclub seemed to point outside of security. \u00a0Odd.. I headed to a sign pointing the direction towards the Skyclub and it stated \u201cThe Delta Sky Club is outside security\u201d. \u00a0Well that kind of sucked, as I was hoping to clear security now when the line was quiet and not closer to the flight boarding time when it would probably be a zoo. \u00a0That and the fact it was about 20 minutes till the club opened would of been perfect had I been clearing secuirty now. \u00a0O well. \u00a0I went up to scope out where it was and came back to use the free WiFi in the terminal for a bit. \u00a0I caught up on my blogs that had downloaded over night in my RSS feeds and headed up to the club once it opened for a coffee.<\/p>\n

The Skyclub has a bare entranceway to it, and felt ok but it was the fact that it had coffee, some breakfast (not that I wanted any, other than a bit of dried fruit\/trail mix to get me through to the time breakfast would be served onboard) and some comfortable quiet seating, it was fine. \u00a0There was a small view of the ramp and I could see my A330 dominating the ramp. \u00a0It must of come in from somewhere in Asia overnight. \u00a0The lounge wasn\u2019t the new look of the MSP or Seattle club but still good and nice none the less.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Usual breakfast offerings and the oatmeal looked half decent with not much water present today (not as bad as Seattle\u2019s water with some oats mixed in). \u00a0I grabbed a coffee, some trail mix (oo0o0 yoghurt coated pretzels are awesome) and grabbed a seat to get the first part of the trip report online.<\/p>\n

With about 30 minutes to boarding I packed up and headed out to the security checkpoint, knowing it was going to more than likely be a zoo. \u00a0Which it was. \u00a0An absolute zoo of people waiting in both the Sky Priority lane and the general security queue. \u00a0Got to love it. \u00a0One thing that suprised me though was they had Clear access. \u00a0A service kind of like a paid priority line, in the 10-20 minutes I was in line at the check point, no one used it. \u00a0Although it wasn\u2019t a TSA checkpoint but private security they were as ruthless about carryons and pat downs as the TSA are. \u00a0No big difference really. \u00a0Just no screaming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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With 5 minutes to boarding I made it through the check point and made a brief bathroom pit stop before scooting straight to the gate and after tying my shoe in what I thought was going to be an empty part of the boarding area as I stood up I was in the queue for the Skypriority line. \u00a0I had inevitably become gate lice without even trying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Delta Airlines – DL1580<\/strong>
\nSan Francisco to Atlanta<\/strong>
\n0630-1402<\/strong>
\nAirbus A330-200 (N859NW)<\/strong>
\nFirst Class – Seat 5A<\/strong><\/p>\n

Boarding: 0545 (Gate 46)<\/strong>
\nPush Back: 0630<\/strong>
\nTake Off Roll: 0639 (Runway 01R)<\/strong>
\nTop of Descent: 1315<\/strong>
\nTouch Down: 1345 (Runway 28)<\/strong>
\nShut Down: 1356 (Gate E26)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pre boarding was done and this included a guide dog. \u00a0What a site was to see all these people part ways for a lady and her seeing eye guide dog. \u00a0As they got priority boarding way before a lot of people, and there was even a few disgusted looks. \u00a0I didn\u2019t mind. \u00a0As long as the guide dog wasn\u2019t my seat neighbour and if it was, it didn\u2019t pee on my legs \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

When First Class was called the queue started to move forward and off I went down to the aircraft. \u00a0Everyone was boarded by one door into 2L which was lucky for those in the Front F cabin as they wouldn\u2019t have everyone trudging past them but I chose the mini cabin for a reason row 5 had more space than any other row from what I remembered of these seats from years ago. \u00a0A good start when you are greeted onboard by a fun sounding flight attendant, especially at this hour. \u00a0I settled into 5A pretty quickly and asked while he had a few moments for the Tail number. \u00a0This puzzled him as he had apparently never heard this question before and asked me why I wanted to know as I could track it online with the flight number. \u00a0I told him that I kept a record of the actual aircraft I flew on. \u00a0This got a wierd look.. hah!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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As everyone boarded we eventually got a PDB (being on the door side they were trying to let the cabin fill up so as not to get in the way) of my choice. \u00a0A lot of people were choosing Bloody Marys at this hour but I stuck with some coffee as there was already a mini bottle of water at my seat (though no where to put it). \u00a0The seats were the old Northwest BusinessFirst seats from a number of years ago but they had been recovered into Delta colours\/feel. \u00a0Though angled lie flat it is way better than a standard domestic class seat on any of the other airlines, and not bad for a 4 hour flight to be honest. \u00a0The only thing is the lack of storage, \u00a0there is just none at all! \u00a0Not good for an international flight. \u00a0It wasn\u2019t all bad though I could cope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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By the time the door was shut I had a quick chat with my seat mate at times and as we were taxiing towards the runways i was asked to \u201cturn off that device\u201d to which he pointed at my camera. \u00a0Wierd. \u00a0First time thats ever happened (didn\u2019t last long as I had it back on taking photos of the amazing run rise once he was out of sight). \u00a0The taxi was quick as we were heading for the 1\u2019s for dual take offs. \u00a0Though with our size, we probably wouldn\u2019t be racing anyone. \u00a0They were staggering the take offs rather than racing them (which would of been more fun to race a CRJ down the strip).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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I barely thought we were airborne and we kind of gracefully headed north a few wierd turns before turning right and east towards Georgia. \u00a0As we climbed out breakfast orders were taken and I settled in to wait for the seat belt sign to come off so I could get up and grab my laptop as the bulkhead row doesn\u2019t allow any bags to be kept down. \u00a0Once off I jumped up and grabbed my bag but by this time they were laying out tablecloths for breakfast way before they normally would have as we didn\u2019t even have a drink order yet and had barely had a hot towell handed to us. \u00a0I was just going to chill out, watch a movie on the TV (first movie I saw I went with… Lincoln) and wait until I had finished breakfast before whipping out the laptop and working on the trip report and some letters that needed to be written. \u00a0I was going to enjoy these next 2 days. \u00a0Stuff it! \u00a0I have worked hard the last month and I was going to relax for once, in preparation for what was sure to be a busy couple of weeks prior to heading home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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I was offered a beverage of which I already had water so, the coffee was consumed in earnest, sadly it was a bit cold so would probably have to wait for a fresh pot. \u00a0No complaigning though. \u00a0By the time I had finished my coffee my breakfast tray showed up along with a choice of bagel or crossaint. \u00a0I went with bagel but declined the cream cheese in favour of some butter (just a little) as I had some yoghurt on the tray for a bit of extra calcium today. \u00a0Raisin bran with low fat milk, fruit, yoghurt and a bagel with jam. \u00a0Not a bad breakfast really.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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By the time I had finished I was well into my movie and got stuck into the trip report and just wrote away for the next few hours. \u00a0The flight just zoomed on by really. \u00a0A few coffee refils (be it extremely slowly offered… VERY slow). \u00a0The crew must of been new as there were numerous times I heard \u201cwow I like this\u201d or \u201cdo you know where this is\u201d or at times when they were obviously trying to communicate with others and a PA announcement was made hearing \u201cHello? Hello?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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About an hour and a half out of Atlanta the snack basket was handed around offering Banana\u2019s, chips, muffins, chocolates, biscoffs and some other things I could\u2019t quite see. \u00a0I grabbed a banana (as they seem to be a rarity whenever I fly) and a blueberry muffin. \u00a0With some more water that was offered (though my glass of ice was forgotten about until i had to ask again, and no refils of water offered either) I had a good snack. \u00a0As we neared the 1 hour out mark, a bit of bumpiness as the seat belt sign was turned on and then 5 minutes later an annoucement advising us we should be following the seat belt sign and NOT getting up (didn\u2019t stop people though).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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With about 45 minutes to go I started to pack up my trash and get myself sorted as I knew I would have to put my bag away earlier than most people would. \u00a0The flight had been good but the service spotty. \u00a0I eventually found out what the aircraft was and we were done and dusted. \u00a0Started initial descent into Atlanta and all I could see below was clouds. \u00a0Nothing all that bad really. \u00a0A pretty quick descent and soon enough we were on the ground at Atlanta. \u00a0Way off in the middle of now where. \u00a0I knew Atlanta was big. \u00a0I didn\u2019t know it was THIS big. \u00a0The taxi from the runway we landed on over to the Terminals was almost 10-12 minutes. \u00a0Crazy!!! \u00a0It was a sea of Delta and Airtran jets everywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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I saw 2 US Airways, 1 american and a lone United but other than that, it was Delta everywhere. \u00a0MD\u2019s and 737s as far as the eye could see! \u00a0We pulled into the E gates (which seems to be the international terminal as the gate information said the flight was heading to Rome after Atlanta and once pulled up and parked, people were already scrambling for the door. \u00a0Meer moments after that door opened i was being pushed towards the door and the massive airport that is Atlanta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Introduction Seattle to San Francisco Aloft San Francisco Airport San Francisco to Atlanta Atlanta to Newark Fairfield Inn & Suites Newark Newark to Minneapolis Minneapolis to San Francisco San Francisco to Seattle Conclusion Saturday 2nd March 2013 I was dropped off pretty much exactly where I had gotten onto the shuttle a mere 5 hours […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,4,8,9,1,18,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventures","category-spotting","category-expat","category-food-drink","category-life-in-general","category-travelling","category-tripreports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p49RU0-UZ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigmal.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigmal.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigmal.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigmal.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigmal.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3533"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/bigmal.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3533\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3556,"href":"https:\/\/bigmal.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3533\/revisions\/3556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigmal.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigmal.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigmal.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}