Rosie's still in REM-land. She will be up at 0300 once the alarm goes off. Here on the mountain it's 48F, overcast, damp, with very little wind however, the good news - the rain has stopped! I'm feeling more anxious than anything else. Can't pin down exactly why. Pretty sure it's a combination of many factors I won't go into. As expected Rosie's up and already jumped into the shower. My mind is doing mental gymnastics between travel checklists and things I may have forgotten to do work related. What have we forgotten? Is everything turned off? Clorox in the toilet bowls? Out-of-Office alerts turned on? Where'd we put our house keys? Regardless, as long as you have your passports, some cash/cards, some clothing - everything else is gravy and you should be good to go. We did take photos of our passport details pages, just in case those get lost/misplaced/stolen.
Side note: Can't remember where I learned this travel tip - most likely online. Over the weekend I filled a small ramekin with water, froze the water in the freezer, then placed a coin on top of the frozen water and left it in the freezer. Why? Well, if you're going away for a long time, there's no good way of knowing if you lost power to your home for an extended period of time. If your power does go out long enough for the frozen water in the ramekin to melt, the coin will fall to the bottom of it. When power comes back on, the water will re-freeze. You come home, see that, and now know that you should probably throw out all the food that would most likely have spoiled.
We were ready to leave at 0345 so, packed up the car, and departed. Turned on Arlo (our poorman's video security system) while enroute to Mo-town. This early in the morning, it's very quiet and mostly devoid of vehicular traffic. We saw more foxes (3) than cars/trucks on the way to Chez Nile. Pulled into Skyline Dr right at 0430. Two of the girls were out to greet us, Ginger and Lola, which meant that Russell was up and most likely Trish. They were. The matriarch of the house, Chewy, was also there to greet us and say hello.
We got to spend a comfortable 20mins with Russell and Trish, had a cuppa Joe, while marveling at the nearly complete kitchen-mahal! It's very cool, impressive and has all kinds of gadgets, counter space and, cabinet space.
Didn't want to linger too long since Russell needed to be back in time for some early morning conference calls. Bid our farewells and jumped back into the 'beater' with our most reasonably priced Uber driver, Russell, at the helm for the 1/2hr ride to Newark's Liberty International Airport. Traffic was very light along the way and we safely arrived at Terminal C right around 0530. Forgot to tip our driver... will make it up to him on the flip side.
Check-in was a breeze via kiosk. Having said that:
Side Note: It still chaps me that now-a-days we, the Traveler, does most of the work when checking in for flights with no obvious, appreciable benefit from the Airlines. In fact just the opposite: ticket prices have gone up, leg room and seat width have shrunk and, since they routinely practice over-booking, you could - worse case - be forcefully removed from a flight you legitimately bought a ticket on for a higher 'value' passenger! Everything you might want to do with the Airline costs $$$ including buying food from them if you're hungry (and forgot to buy something at an overpriced vendor in the concourse area), upgrading to a roomier seat, extra miles and, paying for checked baggage! I'm sure there are other examples. The Airlines basically verify you look like your passport picture and take your luggage from you. You've already printed boarding passes and tagged your luggage.
Bitch, bitch, moan, moan.... OK, got that out of me.
At this time of the morning on a Thursday, security was also a breeze. Virtually no queues at all for economy travelers. It's still a PITA to have to dress down, lug out your laptops, take off your shoes, empty all your pockets, etc. So if life today in our world. We were through security 15mins after we got dropped off - 0545. No real complaints.
Immediately made our way to Starbucks for a hot beverage before heading down to our gate. Latte and Blonde in hand, headed over to Gate 108. Passed a handful of center thoroughfare 'phoo-phoo' eateries eventually sitting down right across from our gate at one of them: Happy clam. Virtually, not every one but most chairs, now in Terminal C have a flat surface in front of it with an anchored iPad. Not unlike checking in with the Airlines, companies have moved away from humans providing service to Travelers and making those same Travelers do all the work ordering food except for delivering it to your seat/table. Very impersonal and many continue to struggle with how to do so at arms reach vs placing an order with a waiter. Here come the Jetsons.
Navigated our way through the online menu and ordered some highly over-priced breakfast: scrambled eggs, home fries, 2 strips of bacon, 1 piece of toast, no beverage (we had our Starbucks). $30 and 10min later, we're digging in. To be fair the food was pretty good.
Side note: I really do miss some of the fast food restaurants that used to grace the food court of Terminal C. There was nothing wrong with a reasonably priced Egg McMuffin or Bacon, Egg and, Cheese biscuit or a tasty Cinnabon. I'm hypothesizing that the airport authorities in conjunction with United Airlines felt a classier proprietor of food would help elevate Newark into more of an Internationally themed Hub more attractive to Business Travelers and Travelers in general (it definitely costs more to eat in the airport today and it's not necessarily healthier). That was part of the charm of Newark to me. Now it could be Airport anywhere. Just sayin'....
Our ride today is a B777-300ER - it's a huge plane for this Flight# 497. First time for both of us in the biggest of all 777s: 366 Pax; massive GE90-115B turbofan engines, each rated at 115,300 pounds of thrust; 212ft of wingspan; cruises at 550mph. Three classes of travelers - Business First, Economy Plus and, Economy. Folks were starting to queue up a good 20min before boarding time, 1410. We joined in and stepped over to the Zone 2 line. The Zone 1 line was a huge snake! Looked to be more privileged travelers than the other 4 Zones combined as boarding commenced. Our EconomyPlus seats were over the wing, port-side: 20B/C.
Thank goodness for Economy Plus seating. So glad we paid for the upgrade! We were still sitting in a 2x4x2 seating configuration BUT. the extra legroom really rocks! We were fortunate to find overhead space right above our seats. We have an elderly gentleman sitting by the window in 20A. Pleasant fellow.
Boarded about on time. Our scheduled take-off time: 0805. I was quite surprised at how many direct flights to San Francisco there were on the boards - 6 flights just through Noon on this day. We were a bit delayed during taxi phase and by the time we were rolling down Runway 22, weight-off-wheels (WoW) was at 0823. We'd end up easily making up for lost time. Still feels surreal that we're actually embarking on a holiday 1/2way around the world. ETA to SFO: 1027 PST. Big planes feel/handle a lot different than their smaller cousins.
Climb up to our initial cruising altitude of FL360 took 25min. I like monitoring the route of flight on the flat screen. Outside air temp (OAT) at that altitude was -49F. Our groundspeed varied quite a bit depending on where we were over the country and the effects of jetstream wind. The whole trip the windspeed indicator on the flight display stayed pegged at 0. However, it was easy to see the effects of the winds at altitude with our speed over ground varying from the high 490s to mid 540s - 8 to 9 miles/minute.
First 'shock' of the day for me - seeing how much it cost to use United's WIFI airborne: $17.99/1hr // $23.99/2hr // $28.99/Entire flight... Ahhh, no, I passed. I'll be blogging via notepad (forgot to activate MSOffice before I left home) and then pasting into my blog when I'm connected.
Second 'shock' of the day - We were served food in EconomyPlus! Food/Beverage service started about 45min into the flight. As the Flight Attendants started coming through, they not only asked us our beverage choice, but also whether we'd prefer French Toast or Eggs! Amazing! Who'd have thunk? Not quite sure why we were served a hot meal? Guessing it may have been a combination of being in EconomyPlus and the duration of the flight to SFO. Regardless, a very pleasant surprise. Rosie and I had already enjoyed breakfast in the Terminal however, we couldn't say no and both chose French Toast. :-) I took 1 bite of the French toast, it was fine, and then focused on the small cup of raspberry yogurt and fruit plate.
The plane was by no means full. Lots of middle seats open throughout the back and even in EconomyPlus - our row of three was an exception on this day and we were full. The B777 is quite spacious. I'm not completely happy with the entertainment interface. Not completely intuitive to me, older guy. Had to ask a Flight Attendant how to turn on my overhead light... took him a minute or two pushing buttons to figure it out too. Made me feel better. I most likely would have figured it out by pressing everything in site but, was just easier to ask.
One nit-noid I/we have with the seat lighting. All of the seat lighting for our row is mounted above the head of the person in window seat A. One would think the light closest to him, the one furthest from me, would light his seat - wrong, it lit mine. The middle light was for seat B and the light closest to me in the aisle seat C was for seat A. Just very odd and a bit annoying to Rosie in the middle. When I had my light on, it basically lit up the side of her head on the way to bathing me in light! Just feels like it's reversed. Oh well, not much to do about it.
After monitoring our inflight tracking data for a few hours now, it's not completely accurate due to the fact that the winds aloft stay pegged at zero (0). Guessing I'm the only passenger aboard that's noticed the changes in our airspeed - all without any change in winds that may be heading or tailing us - and that it's bugging me for no particular reason. Took note of this while we spanned Michigan, Iowa and over to Nebraska. We'd also climbed to FL380 somewhere over Iowa or Nebraska most likely to gain some fuel burn efficiencies. We used to do the same in the F-14 'Tomcat' back in the day, said it was how we 'made' gas while we were on extended flights: less burn higher up and more time back on the throttles as we came downhill. We're over halfway done with this 1st leg of our travel journey to Sydney.
Started our enroute descent from FL380 into the San Francisco terminal control area (TCA) about 165miles out. I've spend the last 1+30 blogging into notepad and will hopefully post it to my blog from somewhere in the terminal. We made great time, about a 5hr flight - that's fast! We touched down at 1025 local time about 1/2hr early, exited the runway and then taxied up and held way short of the Terminal. Apparently, San Francisco International Airport is so busy and has just so many gates the being early doesn't necessarily buy you many dividends. We ended up burning jet fuel for 45mins before we could taxi up to our gate, 102 in Terminal G. Fortunately, we had a bit of a layover buffer in San Francisco - we'd need it!
Deplaning was fairly fast and easy since they use multiple exits. The walk to baggage claim was a bit of a hike and we've seen better signage for directions in airports. By the time we made it to baggage claim, our flights luggage was spewing out of the carousel and within 5mins we had both of our bags. Approached a United Airlines clad person and asked for directions to Air China. She did a nice job of pointing us in the direction of the International Terminal, again, another long walk.
Found Air China occupying Ticketing Counter 3. The fun starts....
We were happy to see that there was no one queued up in the First Class and Business First line so we sauntered up and waited to be beckoned up to the counter. Passed over our passports and politely waited. Noticed some intense scrutiny of our passports and the computer terminal by our ticketing agent. She was coming across a bit surly in our opinion. Their system was not letting her check us in because they had no record of us having valid Australian VISAs. Needless to say, we were not happy. We explained that the online application process for an Australian ETA VISA had been completed, paid for and, accepted - all online and that the ETA website said nothing was required to be printed and we were in the system, the ETAs tied to our passports. The Air China agent wasn't buying it. She called over her line manager who basically told us that they were not able to check us in without proof of VISA! Rosie's temperature was definitely rising as was my irritation level. However, we remained calm - mostly. We passed over the only documents we'd printed out proving we had applied for, paid and, had been granted said VISAs. It was becoming apparent that the line manager was not familiar with the ETA VISA process and she was not accepting our confirmation numbers verifying the fact that we had VISAs even if their system didn't see them! So, the agent took our passports and headed over to United to see if they could help her determine our VISA status.
While our agent is away, Rosie and I take a breath and think... what do we have and can we prove that we have VISAs? Of course we could! I just needed our confirmation numbers and passport numbers - we didn't have our passports but fortunately, we'd take photos of our information pages! She pulled those up while I went to the ETA website and entered the information. Wah lah! Proof. Passed my iPhone over to the line manager who appeared to read what I'd pulled up out of the ETA website and then still insisted it didn't prove anything!? She even passed my phone back to me and asked me to read the top few lines - which I did - which basically said my VISA was valid through August of 2018!!! OK, I'm patient but OMG was she being thick!!! She walks away. Soon thereafter the original ticketing agent walks back with our passports and basically confirms everything that we had been saying and had just proved! She was much nicer to us from then on - like a different person. She checked both our bags all the way to Australia (I fervently hope our luggage shows up with us!), printed out both sets of our boarding passes, went out of her way to make sure we were sitting together in Business First and, politely directed us to our gate, 99, via security and the United Club lounge which we rated since we were flying their Business First class! We both felt much better but, really needed a stiff drink!
Side note: Ever since my 10week stint in APJ (China, Japan, Australia, Malaysia and Singapore) back in 2010 when I was asked to do an Ops Review of their Enterprise Storage Services business, I found out the hard way that one needed an entry VISA to get into Australia. I showed up at Narita International Airport outside of Tokyo with my cousin Hiro (who flys for JAL), who'd be hosting me when I wasn't working, and was dropping me off to catch my flight down to Sydney. It was fortuitous that Hiro wanted to hang with me until I was checked in. I was basically turned away at the ticket counter for not having a VISA. Needless-to-say I was surprised and my conversational Japanese wasn't good enough to cotton on how to fix things. Hiro to the rescue. He ascertained that I could in fact purchase an entry VISA right there in Narita at a kiosk somewhere in the airport. We went in search, found it, I paid my $35 and, was back in good graces. By the way, before I left the U.S., I'd gotten (I believed) everything sorted out for my business trip through our Corporate Mobility Services Partner, CIBT. I specifically asked them if I needed a VISA to get into any country including Australia and they emphatically said NO - I'd just need my passport for Australia so, I believed them.
Security's a pain everywhere but, we got though it fine. Unfortunately, in the rush getting processed through security, I left/forgot my brand new mechanical pencil, been using it to write in my journal, in one of the bins and didn't realize that until after we'd checked into the United Club lounge. A bummer - it was purple and 0.7mm lead. I'm sure someone will get some good use out of it. Thankfully, I have a spare in my backpack.
After the deplaning from the first leg of our journey, Rosie and I decided we could each use one of those padded neck braces that aide in supporting one's head while sleeping in an airline chair (that was before we realized how unnecessary they are in Business First!) for our 2nd leg. So, went in search of some cheap neck braces, found some on sale - 2 for $18 - bought them and then headed over to the United Club.
At the entrance to the Club, there were some folks already in line and they were being turned away with recommendations to go to a different United Club further away. According to the United Reps manning the desk, the lounge was quite packed and they needed to ensure they managed the flow. Then we step up, pass over our Air China boarding passes and get immediately admitted to the lounge?! We felt a bit cheesy but, went upstairs nonetheless. The lounge was quite busy and full of many Travelers. It's not a wide lounge but, it did wind around for quite a distance with the bar being farthest away. The entire lounge had a wrap around window with a view to the foothills south of San Francisco and some of the Terminal ramp area. While I was looking out, a Lufthanza A380 was taxiing in to park. We found two seats together in a corner and while Rosie dialed up Conor in LA, Mommas in Long Island and, Meg in New Jersey, I went in search of some cocktails. Found the bar and $40 later, I had a double Glenfiddich on the rocks and had made Rosie a Grey Goose drink with club soda and a splash of cranberry (pretty sure Trish has a name for it, I just couldn't remember what it was called.) Our first drinks of our holiday were quite refreshing - and needed!
We'd made it up to the lounge just around noonish and we were feeling a bit famished. The food spread in most U.S. airline lounges - in my limited experience - have much to be desired compared to what I'd experienced in Asia. This lounge was a bit different since it catered to all types/nationalities of Travelers. The spread in this lounge included: New England Clam Chowder, a decent salad spread, a very nice Mexican bean salad, cheese and crackers platter, veggies platter and, a variety of cookies for dessert. Plenty of hot and cold beverages to chose from in addition to what was offered at the bar. Bar beer on tap, wine and non-top shelf spirits were complimentary - what I ordered earlier was not. :-) We both took turns getting some chow and just made time to chill... I posted my blog from yesterday while in the lounge. Using only our iPhones right now for photos, getting those photos onto my laptop to add to the blog is a bit 'clunky'. It'll get easier once we're in Country and I transition to the DSLR.
Boarding time for our 1st leg with Air China was 1410 so, we left the lounge at 1345 - it was a pretty good stretch of the leg to get to Gate 99, the very last gate in the International Terminal. Our ride would be the B747-8. Once again a jet either one of us have flown before. It's second only in size and Pax capacity to Airbus' A380. Still, not bad and quite massive in and of itself.
Turns out that when we finally boarded, our 'cubes' were 1 row from being as far forward on the lower deck Pax cabin as possible, right underneath the flight cockpit and just forward of the nose landing gear. My surmise is that all of the upper deck Business First seats were taken so, we got slotted in the lower deck. There are 12 cubes total this far forward and 3 of them are empty. Rosie and I are in 12A & 12C. She has the window and I have the aisle. Talk about feeling spoiled!! This feels luxurious. We've never had so much room, comfort, doting on and gradu on any flight we've ever taken. Very cool. Luggage space is expansive - we basically have an entire overhead to ourselves. The seats in our cubes lay out completely into beds. They come with big fluffy pillows and lush, heavy blankets. All the entertainment they offer is gratis. Everyone gets a toiletry kit and house slippers - which I keep forgetting to slip on when I go walking since I already have socks on.
The look on Rosie's face and the joy she's feeling is priceless. She's in airline heaven! We were offered champagne, Rosie opted for that, and I asked for a Bailey's on the rocks, to enjoy while the rest of the plane boards and we await taxi. The Air China Flight Attendants are very attentive and nice. We couldn't be more pleased with our circumstances starting off this 2nd leg of our journey to Sydney, Australia. Certainly aides in putting our ticketing experience behind us.
Once we started taxiing around 1500, discovered that our cabin gets a bit noisy due to the location of the nosegear. You feel every bump along the way and hear the hydraulics and brakes. The engines are so far back you don't even hear them. We were headed over to Runway 28 and eventually took off on 28R, an 11,000' runway. On takeoff roll, you really feel every crack and bump in the runway surface until rotation. WoW: 1515.
We're taking the Great Circle route and will fly over parts of Alaska, the Bering Sea (home of the Deadliest Catch Reality show narrated by Mike Rowe) and, parts of Russia (Siberia I believe but will need to check a map) before skirting the northern border of North Korea before landing in Beijing for our 7-8hr layover. Overall distance to travel: 5,904miles/9,502km; ETE - 11+40; ETA ~1734 Beijing time Friday afternoon since we'll be crossing over the International Date line.
I guess I shouldn't be surprised at the turbulence you do feel this far forward on occasion, most of it comes across as lateral shake. We are as far forward away from the plane's CG as possible. We're so far forward and part of the rounding of the nose of the plane that Rosie can't even see a wingtip out the port side.
I'm hoping for a mostly uneventful 2nd leg. I have spent a good deal of time typing up my journal notes for the blog. Our initial cruising altitude will be at FL320 doing ~575TAS. OAT at altitude is -43C/-45.4F. We're getting a good push from winds aloft and making ~600mph over the ground.
By the way, our inflight 5 course dinner was fabulous! We were very pleasantly surprised. I'll post the menu. All served up with red wine and water.
880 miles into the trip, the aircrew bumped us up to FL340. We've been airborne now for about 1+30 and we're located just west of Vancouver, BC. OAT up here: -48C/-54.4F. 3+15 into the flight and I finally decided to lay down for an attempt at a nap - Rosie is having no problem sleeping! :-) At this time we were approaching a close pass by Anchorage, Alaska. Got up 2hrs later, we'd crossed the International Date line and, we're now somewhere over Russia, I'm guessing Siberia.
This may be a TMI moment but, I've finally had to go do a #2 in flight - 5+15 into the sortie. Fortunately, my dump was executed over Russia! :-) As I type this, we're flying over the Sea of Okhotsk. We have about 3+30 to go. Even though we've maintained our FL340 the OAT has dropped significantly since we crossed over into Russia. It's -55C/-67F - quite chilly.
Side note: For most of the flight so far, all of the window blinds have been pulled down creating the ambiance of night so Everyone can get some sleep - see Rosie - however, the whole flight has been in daylight. We've been chasing the Sun and losing the entire flight. The Earth rotates at ~1000mph in the same direction as we're doing about 600mph... night time is catching up to us and we'll be landing in late afternoon Friday in Beijing.
Another Side Note: right behind us, there appears (I say appears since I'm not 100% he's American) to be an American male who's been drinking quite a bit all along the way. He had a young Asian man sitting by him until he spilled something all over the guy and onto his seat. The Flight Attendants moved the Asian to 1 of the open cubes in front of us. He got really loud talking a few hours back, remember most folks are sleeping, and one of the Chinese passengers loudly told him to talk quieter. As I type this, he's asking for some wine, Couvosier (sp?), some water and, slurring his words. He's also yawning very loudly from time to time as if he's trying to shake off being drowsy while driving at night on a long trip!! I'm trying hard not to be judgemental at this moment and mind my own business. He's drunk.
Rosie's up now and we're about 3hrs out of Beijing. In another hour the Flight Attendants will be serving us another light meal... feels like I just ate but, that was 8hrs ago.
Quite verbose father... to be expected, I know. Couple of typos I can redline later. Ps you should check out Evernote as your blogging electronic notebook... then I could make redlines on the fly! I'm glad you two got an excellent flying experience under your belts, hopefully many more to come!
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