{"id":3538,"date":"2013-03-08T09:00:06","date_gmt":"2013-03-08T16:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bigmal.net\/?p=3538"},"modified":"2013-12-13T21:14:58","modified_gmt":"2013-12-14T04:14:58","slug":"trip-report-the-comfy-run-atlanta-to-newark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bigmal.net\/?p=3538","title":{"rendered":"Trip Report – The Comfy Run: Atlanta to Newark"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

After touching down in Atlanta there was one thing that hit home about Atlanta airport. \u00a0This place is HUGE! \u00a0The taxi over took at least 10 minutes and then once I got out into the terminal itself I was dumbstruck at just how big it was. \u00a0When I got down to what they refer to as the \u201cCenter\u201d point of the terminal… just wow. \u00a0I was in the E gates at this point, there was like 7 terminals and the departures monitor was MASSIVE! \u00a0It seemed to go on forever! \u00a0I knew Atlanta was big, but I didn\u2019t think it was THIS big.<\/p>\n

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Atlanta is dominated by two Airlines. \u00a0Airtran (aka Southwest) and the biggest airline out there, Delta. \u00a0It is a see of Delta everywhere. \u00a0I was leaving from the A gates and not really sure where to go or what to do, I figured I would head to the nearest Skyclub to my gate and just camp out. \u00a0WRONG! \u00a0Dumbest idea everywhere. \u00a0The club was a Zoo! \u00a0Absolute mess. \u00a0I couldn\u2019t even get someone to serve me a drink at the bar even if I had wanted to offer them a tip they wouldnt even recognise that I existed. \u00a0The club was in the new layout and design which was nice and it was good to see it in it\u2019s full glory. \u00a0But DAMN!<\/p>\n

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I tweeted and facebooked out to see if someone would give me a better tip and a friend of mine who is East coast based suggested I either check out the secondary club on the A concourse (closed weekends) or flick over to the T gates which was one terminal over and a smaller non refurbished club. \u00a0So that\u2019s what I did. \u00a0Smart move! \u00a0It was super quiet. \u00a0Though by this stage I only had about 20-30 minutes in the club before having to move head on back. \u00a0I figured if I walked back to the A terminal I could justify snacking on some of the goodies, like the Chocolate covered popcorn *drool*<\/p>\n

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Atlanta airport is still pretty sweet though, it is well staffed, well signposted and the trains between the terminals run every 60 seconds like clock work. \u00a0They have a timer at each station telling you when the next train will arrive, and it is not wrong. \u00a0Down to the very second that train will pull in and disgorge the masses of people. \u00a0I know I want to come back and do some work with Delta here now, there are an endless opportunities of things to write about here.<\/p>\n

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As I headed back towards the gate past the throngs of people I got a snap of my A319 that was going to wing me to the end of my 2nd day of this run and then I saw the snow start to fall. \u00a0I didn\u2019t think it was that cold and it didn\u2019t seem that bad at the time but it must of been just getting enough for a light sprinkling to start. \u00a0It was still pretty cool though.<\/p>\n

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Delta Airlines – DL2142<\/strong>
\nAtlanta to Newark<\/strong>
\n1635-1900<\/strong>
\nAirbus A319 (N361NB)<\/strong>
\nFirst Class – Seat 1A<\/strong><\/p>\n

Boarding: 1600 (Gate A1)<\/strong>
\nPush Back: 1636<\/strong>
\nTake off Roll: 1659 (Runway 27R)<\/strong>
\nTop of Descent: 1804<\/strong>
\nTouch Down: 1834 (Runway 4R)<\/strong>
\nShut Down: 1843 (Gate 42)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Boarding was called and there was a little throng of people clammering to get onboard quickly. \u00a0Thankfully taking Row 1 i was guaranteed overhead bin space. \u00a0Which was fine with me. \u00a0The legroom though, no way! \u00a0Next time I am going Row 2. \u00a0This crew were super chirpy and friendly which started off good and I had barely been in my seat 2 minutes before I was offered a PDB. \u00a0Diet coke for me and I was set to start this flight. \u00a0I got myself settled and waited for everyone else to board and watch as bags got gate checked etc. \u00a0Ahhh the joys of people watching onboard.<\/p>\n

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We boarded pretty quickly and the door was shut a good 10 minutes prior to push back, but we still had to wait for our slot. \u00a0This was fine with me as it was my last leg for the day and all that awaited me at newark was a bed, some dinner and some sleep before getting up and doing it all over again, but a LOT longer day ahead, plan for this flight. \u00a0No technology. \u00a0\u00a0Book, Ipod, Lunch, Window. \u00a0That is it.<\/p>\n

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The one thing you have to remember with Atlanta when you leave, is those schedules HAVE to be padded. \u00a0We were taxiing for a good 20 minutes before we were #1 for the runway. \u00a0There was plenty to see though. Delta MD88, Delta MD88, Delta MD88, Airtran 717, Airtran 717, Delta MD88 (you get the picture here). \u00a0But there was a good couple of shots obtained including a Southwest special livery and an Air France A330.<\/p>\n

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By the time it was our turn for takeover it was a spritely run down the strip, wheels off the deck, up and climbout. \u00a0The wierdest thing with the A320 family of aircraft is just the sounds it makes. \u00a0Unlike the CFM engines on the 737 it kind of makes a whiney noise. \u00a0This is where noise cancelling headphones come into their own and once I had mine going, I was set. \u00a0As we got into the air lunch orders were taken and it was a choice of a Pastrami and Swiss on Rye or a Cold Fried Chicken plate. \u00a0I figured i\u2019m heading almost to New York, I gotta have a Pastrami sandwhich. \u00a0Diet coke ordered along with it and I was set for happiness.<\/p>\n

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Service started quite a while after that, almost 25 minutes into the flight. \u00a0I was kind of happy for this but not. \u00a0Sure it was good that I was in a leisurely mood but to be honest, I was thirsty. \u00a0But first up came the tiny little hot towels that Delta offers on their domestic service. \u00a0Tiny tiny tiny little flimsy towels. \u00a0But it was better than nothing! \u00a0Now the service started getting wierd. \u00a0Stuff was kind of just thrown at me and it felt as though the crew leader serving the first class cabin did not want to be there. \u00a0Well meh to you to! \u00a0The lunch looked good. \u00a0I was super impressed to see the Giant pickle and after realising all the vegies I had scoffed in the lounge would make the vegie portion of my lunch the sandwhich had a good serving of what looked like half decent pastrami and some nice cheese. \u00a0I figured I would avoid the cheesecake thingy and just stick to the fruit.<\/p>\n

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By the time I had finished lunch the tray was collected before I coud eat the cheesecake (which is good cause therefore I wouldnt have the temptation), my drink was offered as a refil and back to my book I went. \u00a0It was about this point as we were about to start descent mere moments later and my seat mate still hadn\u2019t been served the meal he ordered. \u00a0The crew member had given his sandwich away and just never served it to him at all. \u00a0So he was stuck with nothing. \u00a0If that was me I would of been making a nice little complaint to Delta right there and then via the web app. \u00a0As we were descending before GoGo was switched off I checked in for the next days flights (thanks for free Delta app access in flight) and I had my boarding passes ready.<\/p>\n

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As we were into full descent I ended up chatting away with my seat mate as he was trying to work out if he had to go airside at Newark to go from Terminal B to C to be able to make his flight to India. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sadly yes he did and this started to worry him a little but w were WAY ahead of schedule (almost 30 minutes at this point) and we just had a good chat on the way in. Talked about the usual things you do with a seat mate, I slipped him a business card and hopefully I will have a new client \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

The flight dropped below the clouds and it was by now dark out so all you could see was lights everywhere. \u00a0Industrial facilities mainly and Jersey isn\u2019t exactly known for it\u2019s amazing scenery or anything \u00a0like that. \u00a0It is known as being i guess a nice term the \u201carm pit\u201d of New York \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

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As we touched down and taxiied to the gate I was happy to be early as it meant that I had time to try and find myself some dinner. \u00a0What I did not expect was the shoddy looking nature of Newark Airport. \u00a0This place looked like a dump. \u00a0What did not help the fact was that just about everything was closed and the fact that the train connecting the terminals was shut down for the weekend. \u00a0Joy o Joy.<\/p>\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 After touching down in Atlanta there was one thing that hit home about Atlanta airport. \u00a0This place is HUGE! \u00a0The taxi over […]<\/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":true,"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-3538","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-V4","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigmal.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3538","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=3538"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/bigmal.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4119,"href":"https:\/\/bigmal.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3538\/revisions\/4119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigmal.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigmal.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigmal.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}