Flights | Jason Around the World

Dili to Darwin, Australia on Air North and overnight in Darwin

Airports, Australia, Flights, hotels, Restaurants, South Pacific Tour 2014, Timor-Leste 3 Responses »

Oct 302014

Hotel arranged a taxi to the airport for me for $10, and it was a quick and uneventful trip. Got there about 2 hours before flight time, and check-in wasn’t open yet. Chilled..well not really chilled since it was hot and humid…in the arrivals area for about 30 minutes until they announced check-in was open.

I was steered to a check-in counter, and my bags tagged to…Bali. Wait, what? I’m going to Darwin, not Bali! Oh, that’s the other check-in counter. Yes, they issued me bag tags and boarding passes without even verifying I was on the flight. Well done Sriwijaya Air, well done. Checked in with Air North, and paid up $30 for being overweight by 6kg on baggage…26kg when 20kg was the allowance. Yuck. I’m not used to flying like this!

Immigration was easy, except for the detour to another counter to pay the departure tax. Then it was through to the departure hall, where it was still an hour before the flight. Oh well, lesson learnt…no need to arrive the least bit early. Boarding was called about 15 minutes before the flight, and we walked out to the plane>

Once on board, a couple shots out the window. Welcome to Timor Leste posters:

Air North flight 519
Dili, Timor-Leste (DIL) to Darwin, Australia (DRW)
Depart 17:00, Arrive 18:45, Flight Time 1:15
Embraer ERJ-170, Registration VH-ANV, Manufactured 2009, Seat 15F Continue reading »

Singapore to Bali in Singapore Business and 24 hours in Bali

Airports, Flights, hotels, Indonesia, Singapore, South Pacific Tour 2014 3 Responses »

Oct 272014

Ah Asia. I got to the gate area about 10 minutes before boarding, and there was nary a gate louse in site. I politely sat in the first row of seats near the boarding door, and nobody was anywhere near. There was going to be no fight for overhead bin space on this flight. There was a guy sitting a few seats down who had his own Singapore Airlines personal assistant, and she was filling up his Indonesia immigration card. I caught something about “you must be having people to do this for you as next in line to the throne” but couldn’t figure things out. Based on looks, I’m going to guess somewhere in Northern Europe, but once we boarded he was in economy, so who knows!

Singapore Airlines flight 942
Singapore (SIN) to Bali, Indonesia (DPS)
Depart 9:35, Arrive 12:05, Flight Time 2:30
Boeing 777-200, Registration 9V-SRH, Manufactured 2001, Seat 12A (bulkhead window)

First on the plane, and this is what regional business looks like on a Singapore 777-200:

…bubbles are delivered, and I’m happy.

Brunch looks tasty, and it was a tough call between nasi lemak and dim sum, before I remembered that I’d pre-ordered via book the cook:

Flight was looking about 75% full in business, despite showing completely sold out online. Was looking like I was going to get lucky with an empty seat next to me. Until. Heavyset 30-something guy boarded, holding two small infants, maybe 2 months old, which looked like twins. Yes, I’d booked the bassinet row and know it’s a possibility, but ugh. I have nothing at all against children in business, especially if you’re going to pay to get them there, but be considerate. Seemed he’d upgraded last minute, and his wife was in coach, so he was holding both of them until departure.

Cabin filled up about five minutes later when a delayed connection arrived, and the agents came on board and upgraded his wife as well. Few last minute seat swaps, and the heavens opened up and I was spared. Nice Indonesian woman ended up to me, and I was relieved to have no small children. Until…

She asked me if I had peace in my heart? Did I have the true inner peace which could come from meditation? I couldn’t pull the “no speak english” card because I’d already thanked her for saving me from the children, so I had to cowboy up. Told her I was happy with my spiritual situation, and prefered not to discuss it with strangers…thanks.

Despite waiting for the connecting flight we were off on time, and the crew was quick with the meals. They seemed confused when I told them I’d pre-ordered with book the cook, but found it quickly enough. Mmmm lobster thermidor:

Tokyo to Singapore in United First, and Singapore Transit Hotel and lounges

Airports, Flights, Japan, Singapore, South Pacific Tour 2014 No Responses »

Oct 272014

Headed down to the gate, and boarding was just starting as I got there. As usual, United was being super classy and all of “Group 1” was being invited to board at the same time. 1Ks, business class, first class, doesn’t matter. All lumped together. Not even a priority announcement for Global Services. We’re clearly not on ANA anymore!

United flight 803
Tokyo, Narita (NRT) to Singapore (SIN)
Depart 18:00, Arrive 00:10, Flight Time 7:10
Boeing 777-200, Registration N788UA, Manufactured 1997, Seat 2K

Welcome aboard…can I get you a glass of Krug? Oh, wait…I mean a glass of Veuve Smisek. Mmm…delicious!

Wait, where’s the caviar service?!

Quality construction. I went to put my feet on the footrest, and it fell off.

Takeoff was on-time, and in fairness the crew was very pleasant and efficient, I will say in general despite Jeff’s best efforts to the contrary, the hard product is pretty decent (not good, or great, but decent) and the crews are almost always very good.

There were two choices of red wine today, and I went with a glass of the Changes-You’ll-Like Shiraz. It was perfectly drinkable, and would make a reasonable $10-15 table wine for every day drinking. Certainly not international first class quality, but…

Vegas to DC and AmEx Centurion Lounge Las Vegas

Airports, Flights, Hawaii-France-Andorra-Vegas No Responses »

Oct 042014

Tame last night in Vegas, and after dinner ended up sitting around having a few drinks. Was watching some tv and texting on my phone and…

…and next thing I knew it was 5 minutes before I’d planned to leave the hotel in the morning. Ugh, I’d fallen asleep texting/watching tv…and my phone was completely dead so the alarm never went off. I’d never done that before. Quick shower, packing, and was out the door about 15 minutes later than planned. No big emergency, but incredibly lucky I woke up when I did. I guess all the time zone changing and tiredness finally caught up to me and the body just crashed.

Made it to the airport in plenty of time, there was no line at security, and soon I found the AmEx Centurion lounge. The agent asked me how I’d liked the LaGuardia Lounge (impressive CRM – and good database) and offered to show us around if we needed anything. I just wanted breakfast at this point.

Some tasty pancakes and fruit, along with a poached egg in tomato basil sauce which was delicious. Oh, and a glass of Veuve. Won’t want to go cold turkey and risk getting the shakes or something! One nice thing the Centurion lounges do for Centurion card holders is offer a special drink at each lounge. At both LaGuardia and Vegas it’s Veuve or a glass of Johnny Walker Blue. I figured 8a was ok for champagne, but later in the day it would be a hard choice….

Originally, I had ticketed Vegas-Houston-Chicago-DCA because I was afraid I might be short on qualifying miles this year. But at this point, I was exhausted…and there was one seat on the Houston-DC nonstop in P class so I called United to try and make a same day confirmed change. After being on hold 15 minutes, the agent had no clue how to do it, and pulled the “it’s under airport control” excuse. Ugh.

United Airlines flight 1236
Las Vegas, Nevada (LAS) to Houston, Jorge Bush Intercontinental (IAH)
Depart 9:32, Arrive 14:34, Flight Time 3:02
Boeing 737-900, Registration N47414, Manufactured 2008, Seat 2E

Not terribly much to say on this flight. I wasn’t very hungry after the lounge, but took the breakfast for photo purposes. Ok, I actually ate the fruit and greek yogurt and a couple bites of the egg, but that was all. I’d had way way too much United food on this trip, and was rather over it. The other option was the usual cereal and banana, which today was raisin bran.

Landed in Houston a few minutes ahead of schedule, checked ExpertFlyer, and there was still one P seat on the nonstop to DC, so I tried to use the app to change it…and it worked! Yes, United technology succeeded where an actual agent couldn’t…go figure! I’d get home nearly four hours sooner, which was sounding absolutely fantastic at this point!

I stopped at Le Grand Comptoir to wait for my flight, and had a couple of glasses of prosecco while waiting:

Not only had I gotten on the earlier flight, but I had an aisle seat in row 2 – my preferred seat. Clearly it was my lucky day!

United Airlines flight 292
Houston, Jorge Bush Intercontinental (IAH) to Washington, DC, National (DCA)
Depart 16:37, Arrive 20:18, Flight Time 2:41
Airbus A319, Registration N846UA, Manufactured 2001, Seat 2E

One last class of Domaine Ste Jeff and one last bowl of discount warm nuts:

Today’s lunch was some sort of sandwich on pretzel bread, bread on no plate, and scary halloween colored soup:

Chatted with my seatmate a bit, who was a flyertalker coming back from Singapore (or was it Bangkok?) and was a fan of my trip reports. Made the flight fly by, and soon landed at DCA ahead of schedule. A very busy, very packed, very successful trip down in the books.

So, was it worth it? Absolutely! Although I would have liked to have more time in Paris, Barcelona, Andorra, and Hawaii, it was a great trip. I had lots of really cool experiences, saw lots of new things, managed to visit a new country, and had a great time driving through the mountains. The trip made for some fantastic stories, and I’d love to do something similar again…but not any time too soon!

Honolulu – San Francisco – Las Vegas, review of Aria Hotel, Las Vegas

Airports, Flights, Hawaii-France-Andorra-Vegas 1 Response »

Sep 272014

I woke up early. Way too early. I somehow managed a shower and managed to cram things into my bag. I found the elevator. I tried to speak French to the check out people. “Aloha, j’voudrais faire le chcekout.” Um, non. Coffee. Stat. Medical need.

Hawaii Coffee Company was closed. I mean, yeah, it is 4:30am, but does the Geneva Convention on torture not apply here? They are denying treatment to someone with a serious medical condition. I’m calling Obama!

Quick…and chatty…taxi to the airport. Great thing about 4am is it’s 10am in DC, and friends back home were pinging me to make sure I was still alive and functional, and about to appear in Vegas for a bachelor party. Oh that. Yes, because I hadn’t put my body through enough in the last 5-6 days. There’s a bachelor party to do.

Got to HNL, Pre Check was closed, but went through the elite line with a special pass that meant I didn’t have to take shoes off or take laptop out, so colour me a happy camper. Less than 5 minutes from taxi through security – can’t beat the aloha. DO YOU HEAR THAT DULLES? HUH?!

Went to Starbucks in search of emergency supplies…and there was a line. A very long line. Filled with what appeared to be half of America’s armed forces. I’ve never minded a line so little.. I bought coffee. I supported the troops. Yeah…moving on…

Got to the gate, and it was time to board!

United Airlines flight 72
Honolulu, Hawaii (HNL) to San Francisco, California (SFO)
Depart 6:28, Arrive 14:32, Flight Time 5:04
Boeing 767-400ER, Registration N76054, Manufactured 2000, Seat 1D

Nothing like a glass of bubbly Jeff…I mean, it’s grape juice…to wake you up!

So what was for breakfast? Well, there was fruit, which was decent and semi-fresh. There was grape juice with bubbles, which was also pretty good. The carb roll was good for 2 bites as usual until I felt the need for an emergency dental appointment. Then, the main. The seasoned hockey puck, I mean sausage, was a total no-go as usual. The potatoes…well I’m not sure what’s in them…it could be crack or heroin, but I inhaled them. The eggs? Flavourless as usual, but I kept telling myself they might contain large amounts of protein, so forced them down. The tomato…well, I ate it because it was colour. The mean was far too tan and yellow without it.

Paris – San Francisco – Honolulu, and another evening in Honolulu

Airports, Flights, France, Hawaii-France-Andorra-Vegas, Restaurants No Responses »

Sep 262014

Running on only about an hour of sleep, huffed it to Châtelet station to catch the RER to Roissy. Didn’t have long to wait, and soon the train arrived and I shared it with a group of sleepy French commuters. I was wearing the “Ch’ten Vacances” t-shirt I’d been wandering in Paris in all night, which led to a fascinating conversation with the gentleman seated next to me. I didn’t think anyone in France worked in August, so was surprised to see so many people in business dress on the train.

I’d managed to check-in on the United app, so had plenty of time to grab a tasty breakfast and some much-needed caffeine:

After fueling, passed the boarding pass control, and took the silly little escalators up into the terminal to try and find the Star Alliance lounge. Up some elevators, down a random corridor, and greeted with this sign:

…because even at 8am, well over half the lounge was drinking. Who knew there was actually a drinking age in France? Don’t tell all the French parents who serve their kids wine with dinner that.

There was a small but decent selection of snacks and light breakfast, and it was a perfectly respectable lounge. Internet was a reasonable speed, there was enough room to fit a seat, plenty of outlets, etc. Overall, not too bad, except for the fact it was brimming with loud Americans talking about their trip of a lifetime to Paris. Trust me, we don’t all need to hear about your shopping spree in Paris, or how much money you let your wife spend to make up for all those late nights you worked. Ugh!

Security is in the individual satellite, but took less than 10 minutes to clear. Made it to the gate just as boarding was starting, however, the boarding pass scanner was unable to scan mobile boarding passes. Go figure. After nearly half the plane had boarded, they agreed to just manually type in my seat number to board me. I’d been suggesting this for 15 minutes already… the United staff at CDG were not among the friendliest nor most competent I’ve encountered…

United Airlines flight 991
Paris, Charles de Gaulle (CDG) to San Francisco, California (SFO)
Depart 10:05, Arrive 13:00 , Flight Time 11:55
Boeing 767-300, Registration N676UA, Manufactured 2001, Seat 1D

Figuring I was operating on Hawaii time now, where it was 10 pm, I chose a glass of bubbly upon boarding. Door closed on time, takeoff was quick, and soon it was time for a glass of Château le Jeff and some cashew pieces. Overcooked and soggy/chewy nuts…mmmmm mmm good!

However, there was an upside. Garlic bread, and lots of it! This was the first of at least four or five helpings. Today’s appetizer? We present for your dining pleasure two shrimps and a lemon wedge!

Barcelona to Paris and Evening in Paris

Airports, Flights, France, Hawaii-France-Andorra-Vegas, Restaurants, Spain No Responses »

Sep 252014

After dropping off Pépé I headed straight for security, since this time I’d managed to get Vueling to deliver my boarding pass to my phone. Security was a piece of cake, and soon I’d made it through and eventually found my way to the Priority Pass lounge. Signs were very poor, and I couldn’t seem to figure out I needed to take the escalator upstairs.

At this point, I was starving. I hadn’t eaten any real food since breakfast, and it was now late afternoon. I probably should have grabbed something in Llívia, but wasn’t really thinking. I was praying for some food in the lounge. Um, no. here were a couple of stale looking sandwiches, cheese and crackers, and peanuts. But there was beer. Local beer. Which kinda made up for it. Beer on an empty stomach is good, right?

About 30 minutes before boarding I headed to the gate, and there was already a line 100 deep forming to board. Ugh, the indignity of flying low cost carriers. Eventually an announcement was made…in spanish only…to split into two lines…one for the first 15 or so rows, and the other for the last 15. Everyone looked confused…because most of them were french. Translated for a few nice old ladies, and managed to skip ahead in line a bit. It was a mess.

Vueling flight 8244
Barcelona, Spain (BCN) to Paris, Charles de Gaulle (CDG)
Depart 17:00, Arrive 18:50, Flight Time 1:50
Airbus A320, Registration EC-MBF, Manufactured 2008, Seat 14D

Flight was about 95% full, but fortunately the E and F seats in my row were empty…or were they. Two 20-something french guys moved into them from the row behind…but I wasn’t going to argue about it.

The flight attendant came around to do her safety briefing…asking first if we spoke Catalan or Spanish. Si. The two french guys gave her a blank look. She asks again “do you speak english?” Another blank stare. She tries to tell them in English that they must move, because you must speak Catalan, Spanish, or English to sit in the exit row. They looked at her like she was an alien.

At this point, the door was closed, and it was delaying the flight. None of the crew, it appeared, spoke french. So, in order to get the flight moving…and maaaaaybe because I wanted the whole row to myself. I translated…explaining to them. They wanted me to tell the flight attendants a long story about how they knew what to do, they could handle it, etc. I started telling them….and the flight attendant raises her voice. YOU. GO. TO. YOUR. OTHER. SEAT. NOW. OR. WE. WILL. TAKE. YOU. OFF. THE. FLIGHT.

Reluctantly, they finally moved, and we were under way.

About 15 minutes into the flight, as the crew was starting the drink service, I went to the washroom. I came back to find them in the E and F seats again. I told them the flight attendant was not going to be happy…and they just gave me a shhhhh!

Well, they came around with buy on board, and the fireworks started.

The flight attendant tried once again to tell them they couldn’t sit there. It ended with the two of them up in her face, and two other flight attendants’ faces, in the aisle, just shy of yelling at them. “Why can’t we sit there? Is it because we’re french? Why don’t you speak french when you fly to france” No translating needed, they weren’t even listening at all. Finally the flight attendant threatened to “have the pilot land the plane” and one of the french guys called her a “racist spanish pig” and took a swing at her.

Out came the zip ties. In a first after 2,000,000 miles of flying, I had to help a flight attendant hold down a passenger while his hands were zip-tied behind his back.

Oh, and he still didn’t get to sit in the exit row…and I got my pringles and beer comped 😉

Upon landing, we taxied past Concorde:

The Gendarmes met the flight, and I had to walk with them to an office and give a statement. Only took about 10 minutes, and I was pretty pleased with myself that my french was adequate for giving an official statement. Let’s just hope they don’t call me back for a court appearance or something. That would absolutely suck 😉

Took CDGVal to the RER station, and ended up waiting nearly 15 minutes for a train. Straight shot to Châtelet, and then roughly a 10 minute walk to my hotel. I was pretty tired by this point after driving nearly 8 hours through Spain and France, but was determined to enjoy my night. Headed to Les Philosophes for dinner, where I had no problem scoring a table for one. It was nearly 9pm by this point so they were out of lots of things, but the restaurant was packed. Ended up having a nice chat with a couple from Québec on their honeymoon at the next table over.

But first, red wine and bread. I still don’t understand why red wine in France is always colder than anywhere else in the world.

…and an amazing onion soup, with onions from their own garden.

…and perhaps the simplest, yet most amazing, steak tartare I’ve ever had.

Unfortunately they were out of the apple tart dessert I wanted, but this chocolate mousse was absolutely terrible and went terribly with my wine 😉

Now, it was nearly 11pm, and the smart thing to do with a 10am flight would have been to go to bed. I wasn’t smart.

Went back to the hotel, made a few phone calls, and a little bit after midnight, I was thinking “it’s only noon in Hawaii…if I go to bed now, I’ll never sleep in Hawaii. Let’s go for a walk.” So, I started walking.

Past the Pompidou, the Jardins de Luxembourg, up the Champs Elysée to the Arc de Triomphe. Back down Ave. Kléber to Trocadéro, over the Pont D’Iéna, and to the Eiffel Tower. It was an amazing stroll, Paris by moonlight, and absolutely magical. I’ve been to Paris probably 50 times, but this was a whole new side of Paris, and I loved it! Walked back along the left bank, and finally got back to my hotel around 5am…this was not going to end well…but it was 5pm…an appropriate nap time in Hawaii.

So, I aid down in my hotel for a 1 hour nap:

Alarm woke me up fortunately, quick shower, and I was out the door…the long trip to Hawaii was about to begin…again!

Paris to Barcelona, and driving to Andorra in a little Smart Car

Airports, Andorra, Flights, Hawaii-France-Andorra-Vegas, hotels, Restaurants, Spain 2 Responses »

Sep 182014

After fueling up at Starbucks…

…it was time to find terminal 3 at CDG. I made my way to the CDGVal train, which was pretty self explanatory, and then there was the maybe 200 meter walk to T3. It seemed kind of silly, but I’m used to the C-terminal train at Dulles which also involves a long walk to the terminal, so I’m used to strangely planned train systems.

What I’m not used to is airport terminals that feel like a warehouse. Or bus terminal. Some place that not only doesn’t have first class facilities, but no lounges whatsoever. It was a terrifying place. I started to break out in a cold sweat. What’s this…a line…and there’s no way to cut to the front of it. What’s worse, after 20 minutes standing in it, I was still stuck in the line! Dear God, I take back every thing I’ve said about how being elite on United no longer is what it used to be…it was traumatizing. 30 minutes later, I was at the front of the line…and based how slowly the line moved I expected the Spanish Inquisition (see what I did there?) before I could check in.

J’ai déja enregistré et j’ai besoin seulement de mon carte d’embarquement….” (looks at passport, tap tap tap, clunk clunk clunk) and out comes my boarding pass. That’s it. 15 seconds. I waited in line for 30 minutes for a 15 second transaction. Dear Vueling: YOU NEED KIOSKS. KTHXBYE LOVE YOU.

I still had about an hour until my flight, so find a little store selling bottled water…it was reasonably priced and I decided to head for security. Took all of 5 minutes to get through, and the waiting area on the other side was just a large collection of seats for 5 or 6 “gates” which were really just doors to busses since T3 has no jetbridges.

Bus to the plane at departure time, and we finally left about 20 minutes late. I’d paid an extra 10 euro to sit in the exit row, which at 6’3 is more than worth it. I shared the row with two very lovely ladies from Kansas who were going on a Mediterranean cruise. They spent the next 90 minutes telling me all the fascinating things they’d discovered in their few days in Paris. I did lots of smiling and nodding and pretending to be fascinated 😉

Vueling flight 8243
Paris, Charles de Gaulle (CDG) to Barcelona, Spain (BCN)
Depart 9:50, Arrive 11:35, Flight Time 1:45
Airbus A320, Registration EC-JSY, Manufactured 2006, Seat 14D

So, what was it like to fly a low cost carrier? Well, not that bad.

I had legroom. Chatty, but nice row-mates. I got a Coke Light…it cost me like 3 euro, but I got one. We were only 30 minutes late, so all in all, I can’t really complain too much. The best part was the exit row briefing…you had to speak and understand either Catalan or English to be allowed to sit there. I got briefed in Spanish, which I was super proud of being able to pass well enough in, and the nice ladies from Kansas got briefed in English. All went well.

Then…it was off through Barcelona to find my car. I have a confession here. I can’t drive a manual transmission. About 100 countries ago I said I’d learn. I still haven’t.

My options? A Mercedes E Class at 199 Euro a day (for two days…ouch!) or a Smart Car for about 50 Euro a day. You can guess what I chose. The rental agent spoke basic english, and combined with my basic Spanish we got the song and dance done…including the “are you SURE you don’t want extra insurance?” Yes. “Oh, and one last thing…se llama Pépé.” Yes, my car had a name according to the rental agent.

Introducing…Pépé:

Now, it’s important to remember. I’m not a small guy. I’m 6’3 and north of 200 pounds. There was enough room in this car for me and my one tiny bag, but that’s about all. I was welcomed with this hangtag in the car:

She’s winking at me…there’s something she knows I don’t. Oh, wait, it’s how to drive this thing! Wait, I have to shift even though it’s an automatic? Yes, there’s no clutch, but still the shift from 1st to 2nd up to 5th etc was a manual shift. Once I kinda got the hang of that…I was off. Fortunately it took a long time to get out of the car park, which gave me lots of practice. Programmed Google Maps on my iPhone to read me directions to Andorra…and I was off to brave the highways of Spain!

The first hour was a bit of a hot mess. I made several wrong turns, forgot to shift, got stuck doing 80 kph on the highway, it was a wreck. But eventually after 90 minutes or so I was getting the hang of it. Just in time to pull into a rest stop and refuel. I needed caffeine and calories. See, isn’t Pépé gorgeous in the sunlight? It was about 85F and a gorgeous day.

Day in DC…a 10 hour connection…and IAD-CDG

Airports, Flights, France, Hawaii-France-Andorra-Vegas No Responses »

Sep 162014

Having landed right on time, I grabbed a triple iced espresso for fuel at the D-gates Starbucks, and headed straight to the Washington Flyer bus, where I learned that the bus doesn’t start until 7:45 on weekends. It was only 7:10. Grrrr. In an attempt to (a) be fiscally responsible and (b) curious about the new bus to metro service on the silver line, I waited. This meant a $5 bus plus about $5 metro ride vs a $55 taxi….

Shortly, the bus arrived, and the Washington Flyer bus is no longer a nice coach bus, but a glorified public bus with luggage racks. Actually was glad to see this, because the bus now runs every 15 minutes instead of every 30, and is $5 instead of $10, so it’s definitely a win. Soon we were at metrorail, and I was enjoying a quick ~25 minute ride to my place. Can’t really complain about 40 minutes door to door on public transit from Dulles!

Emerging from metro, looking a bit scruffy, bags already forming under the eyes, but none the worse for wear:

So, I had exactly 10 hours in DC, one of which was eaten up getting home. So, first order of business was a load of laundry. Then packing a weekend bag for Andorra. See, I’d left my luggage in Honolulu, to be picked up on the way to Vegas, so I had only my laptop bag with me. Packed a weekend bag, and by 10am I met some friends at a local restaurant for a quick brunch and catching up on this crazy trip. One of the friends did a 48 hour Johannesburg mileage run with me about a year ago, so the insanity was easily related to.

Now 11:30 and still 6 hours before my flight….so I unwisely went and played an hour of hockey. Why not, right? It’ll make me tired for the flight! Had a great time, more than a little amused at my own insanity, and by 2p was home, showered, and right back on Metrorail to take me to Dulles.

I’d checked in online, so it was straight to security where there was almost no wait at pre-check, and less than 15 minutes after arriving at Dulles I was already in the D-gates Red Carpet Club, which I don’t think I’d been to in years. It was time for some delicious Tilamook cheese and a few glasses of Château le Jeff. Despite a huge brunch of french toast and two sides of bacon, I was starving from hockey, so I went to town:

The Dubai flight was also leaving from the D gates shortly, and the people watching was nothing short of fascinating. Several younger military looking types getting absolutely tanked on Bud Light (their lack of tolerance made me ashamed to be American) and perhaps the scariest part…a middle aged portly Texan guy who ordered “6 shots of Jack Daniels on the rocks.” Yes, he paid like $70 for it and didn’t seem phased. I’m gonna guess he has a fear of flying…more surprisingly the bartender didn’t seem surprised at all.

Day in Honolulu, and redeye to DC

Airports, Flights, Hawaii-France-Andorra-Vegas, Mileage Runs No Responses »

Sep 152014

Thanks to an early night, managed to wake up early…around 530, and headed out for a “short” run to fight off jet lag. Headed down Kalakaua towards Diamond Head, before realizing it was too early and it wouldn’t be open yet. Slight detour to Starbucks. Had coffee, read the paper for an hour, and then started the run. Got to Diamond Head, hiked up to the peak, and ran back. Around six miles total, and the perfect antidote to jetlag!

Got back to the hotel, and had a huge container of pineapple and some aloe juice from the ABC store before giving up on being productive at all. Grabbed a towel, headed down to Waikiki, and just sat in the sun for a few hours.

I may have only had 24 hours in Honolulu, but between a walk, dinner at Duke’s, the run up Diamond Head, and beach time, I’m pretty sure I maxed it out!

Around 1:30 I called for the car, put down the sun roof, and headed back to the airport on a gorgeous day. No problem dropping the car off, and soon I was at the extremely empty United check-in area:

Thanks to the United mobile app and TSA pre check, I was already checked in…which was sort of a pity because it would have been entertaining to see the look on the agent’s face when I checked in all the way to Paris!

Less time in security means more time for liquid Aloha! Went to the Kona Brewing Company in the terminal to grab a lite lunch…and of course a few Big Swell IPAs:

I told the waittress to bring me the tastiest app on the menu whatever it was…the kalua pork quesadillas didn’t disappoint!

After a quick lunch, I decided to do some plane spotting. HNL is great for it, since it’s an open air terminal and you can get up close and personal with the planes.

Delta and a Korean Air A330:

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