Tag: flights

S. Korea: overnight hotel in Guam on way

Got a good night’s sleep, though I was awake before daylight. Now I can see the ocean from my room – will be walking down the hill for breakfast and a swim soon. Not surprisingly, it’s warm and humid here in tropical Guam.

Then I should book a room in Seoul, as well as a DMZ trip which seems to be selling out fast (it doesn’t run daily), before I head to the airport. The internet connection is quite fast at the hotel, so I can easily make some skype calls.

As an unexpected bonus, I’m on the upgrade list (currently #2 of 8 with 5 business seats available) for the 4hr Continental flight to NRT today – unexpected because I didn’t think flights in/out of Guam on CO were eligible for upgrades.

Equally surprising was the lack of free alcoholic drinks in economy on the UA flight to Guam from Honolulu, and this CO flight out of Guam. I thought all international flights provided drinks in economy.

Guam view of ocean from my hotel room (there is a beach hidden by the hill and those buildings)

Felt up by the TSA at FLL – sort of

So I finally had to officially refuse (“opt out” is the official term) the full-body scanner and get the TSA full pat-down (usually I can pick a line where there is no such scanner, or they are picking random people instead of everyone). My pat-down wasn’t as intimate as reports suggested (though it did take more time than the scanner would have). YMMV (your mileage may vary).
Still, better than the unknown health risk of the scanner, IMHO.

Amtrak train, Vancouver to Seattle (final leg)

I’ve only taken an Amtrak train once before, and not across the border, so I was curious to take the train instead of the bus, even though it’s 1 hour longer (but more comfortable).

First I had to pick up my ticket, since you can’t print it online – you get a reservation code which you give to an agent (actually, they only needed my name this time) who then gives you your ticket and picks a seat for you at that time (i.e. no advance seat selection).

Then I had to go through immigration and customs at the Vancouver train station (much like large Canadian airports have US immigration and customs onsite) and baggage x-ray. There is checked luggage which you hand in after customs, and your luggage appears on a carousel at the destination terminal, much like at an airport.

The seats (2 on each side of the aisle) were pretty comfortable (more so than an economy airplane seat), leaned back, with a regular power port and free wi-fi (ok speed, and it worked on both sides of the border). Unlike the bus, you can get up and stretch your legs, and there is a dining car with hot and cold snacks and alcoholic beverages. I just bought a cup of Ivar’s clam chowder which hit the spot. (Steve picked up a snack for me while I was in line because I thought I heard someone say that there was no dining car. Oops)

The train stopped at the border for 10 minutes, literally right next to the big Peace Arch car border crossing, where 3 US agents went through the train checking passports and collecting the customs forms (though they didn’t look at bags).
Semi-surprisingly, about 8 people around me were visiting boyfriends or girlfriends across the border.

A few stops and hours later the train pulled into Seattle. Voila. End o’ journey!
(32 hours door to door including the train; for a while on the train I could barely keep my eyes open, but I wasn’t able to sleep)

San Francisco to Vancouver (third leg)

SFO-YVR flight (2hr15min)
Enjoyed a nice meal in “first” class (thanks to my status upgrade) consisting of asparagus soup, Asian chicken salad and a warm cookie. Also the little bowl of warmed mixed nuts is always tasty.

The one downside was the plane was super cold – I put on my socks, zip pant legs and Icebreaker merino wool cardigan.

YVR airport
Walking from the plane (I think 90% of flights arrive at the 2-3 gates at the very far end of the terminal wings) to immigration, I passed through a First Nations display that included a water feature, and then next to the stairs/escalators down to the immigration hall itself, there was a pebbly-bottomed waterfall.
Breezed through immigration using the Nexus kiosk, then waited and for bags again.

So far, from wake-up alarm, this was from 2 pm Thu until 1:30pm Fri (both Pacific Times), or almost 24 hours.

But wait, there’s more!

After taking the SkyTrain downtown-ish to meet my friend Steve, he kindly drove me to the train station for my 4hr10min Amtrak train to Seattle…

 

 

Tokyo – San Francisco (second leg)

NRT-SFO flight (9 hours)
This flight was on an older 747 which, in stark opposition to the 777 I flew westbound, had no power outlets by the seats and no seatback entertainment system (and only one third of economy was economy plus). Three and a half movies were shown on the overhead monitors (they started the fourth one too late to finish). I enjoyed Kung Fu Panda 2 and Midnight in Paris which were the only ones I watched, as I took a sleeping pill after dinner with wine and actually managed 5 fairly solid hours of sleep in my window seat I even slept through breakfast :-(
Surprisingly I didn’t feel chilled (barefoot, shorts, no sweater).
I did arrive in San Francisco at 9am feeling a little refreshed.

SFO airport
I used the global entry kiosk at SFO to bypass the immigration line (and the questioning by a customs officer), which got me to the baggage carousel quickly so that I could wait. Of course my bags were one of the last ones off (it didn’t help that I didn’t get a “priority” sticker on it like should have been done at checkin).

I had to clear customs and re-check the bags, after which I quickly went into the Red Carpet Club (I had received a status “domestic” upgrade on this international flight) for a coffee with Bailey’s and as light breakfast (half-size yoghurt, a banana, and 3/4 of a toasted bagel with cream cheese as the other 1/4 flopped onto the floor when I was separating the bagel halves for toasting duty).

Taipei to Tokyo (first leg of return journey)

To TPE airport

The air conditioned bus took 50 minutes at 6 am, and cost only NT$125 (US$4.50).
It looked like they are working on a metro line along the highway out towards the international airport.

TPE-NRT flight (3 hours)
This was operated by ANA (All Nippon Airways); all the announcements were in Japanese, Mandarin and English. Being a Japanese airline, I was surprised that there was no Sudoku in the inflight magazine!
I also got to experience regular economy (as opposed to economy plus) as the couple in front of me and my seatmate immediately leaned back all the way, bringing the seatback personal entertainment screen that much closer to my face. There were a few movie choices – I watched Happy Feet, an animated penguin movie, which was cute. The lunch meal was decent, with wine, and kudos to the airline for putting a real quantity of pepper into the little packet, as opposed to the usual barely noticeable amount.

I had a window seat on the right so that I could see the Taiwan coast and had a view of hazy Taipei (having arrived on a cloudy night I didn’t see much then)

Fun feature: the flight showed the image from a forward-facing camera on the overhead monitors for the last 10 minutes of the flight, including during the landing at Tokyo’s Narita airport.

NRT airport
The answer to my previous question is: I gate-checked my rollaboard bag. They were kind enough to put a fragile sticker on it (recall it was mostly empty so I was worried it would get crushed – it looked fine when I claimed it in SFO). Though when I rechecked it after customs for my next flight, the baggage guy really wanted to close it (no way).

I also lost my cold peanut soup can I had bought at TPE (just to try it for fun) since I forgot about it in my carry on bag when going through the connecting flights security area at NRT.

One of the things I bought at NRT (besides cough drops) was strawberry kitkats (chocolate bar), which I had never seen before. Not bad, though a little sweet for my liking.

In Vancouver for a few hours

Actual waterfall next to stairs and escalator when going down to immigration hall

Yes, I know it’s insane, but my cheap Taipei flight required me to return to Canada, so I flew to Vancouver and am taking the Amtrak train to Seattle in a few hours, after I visit with my friend Steve.

In short, my Toronto-Seattle one way flight, with a detour to Tapei, turned into:
YYZ-ORD-NRT-TPE followed by TPE-NRT-SFO-YVR-train_to_Seattle
Which also means I passed through US Customs & Immigration each way despite connecting through (unlike Japan where you could transfer through without immigration)

:-)

Sitting in NRT

I survived my 5am alarm clock and slog out to TPE airport. At least there wasn’t any bad traffic.

Exchanged my last TWD for JPY to buy some chocolates and, more importantly, some more cough drops as I’m coughing up a storm today. I’m sure my seatmate and others nearby appreciate that.

Now I’m debating if I should “gate”-check a nearly-empty rollaboard carry-on since the handle won’t close all the way (will it get crushed in cargo?), or put it in sideways in the overhead bin and annoy other people on a full 747?
(I have a knapsack which has my carry on stuff – it fit into the rollaboard)

Also a new blister today in a new place – on the side of my heel. Never had one there before that I can recall. Sigh

Taipei airport notes

–          Easy immigration (fast moving non-citizen line) and customs (just walked through “nothing to declare line”
–          Used an ATM with Plus symbol to withdraw cash (New Taiwan Dollars)
–          Took an airport express bus to downtown (not a regular public bus) which took about an hour to the main train station. It felt like the bus had a speed limiter on it, as most of the distance was on a highway but he was going slowly in the right lane.
–          The bus put numbers on the luggage which had to match your claim stub when leaving the bus (a little security is a good thing!)
–          My hostel was only 5 minutes walk from the train/bus/subway station

Some flight notes (to Taipei via Tokyo)

Some flight notes (all United Airlines):

On 1 hour YYZ-ORD flight
–          I did receive a status upgrade on the short YYZ-ORD flight, woohoo!

On 12 hour ORD-NRT flight:
–          Having Economy Plus seats on the Boeing 777 flights made it bearable (an extra 5” legroom vs regular economy). Surprisingly, ½ the plane’s economy section was Economy Plus (domestically it’s ¼ – 1/3 of the plane)
–          Woman next to me had Pepto Bismol and immediately asked flight attendant for an air sickness bag, which luckily she didn’t use (though she did manage to spill a cup of water on my socked foot
–          I watched 3 movies on seatback entertainment system (choice of 7 free movies and a handful of TV shows; I didn’t do the $10 premium package that gave some more choices and games) – X-Men First Class (fun entertainment), Bridesmaids (some funny moments) and something else escaping me at the moment (update: it was Pirates of the Caribbean – On Stranger Tides)
–          I managed to snooze a little (fee red wine with meal helped!)
–          Received a meal, a snack and a meal
–          Flight was very full – I only saw a few empty seats
–          2 regular power outlets

On 3 hour NRT-TPE flight:
–          Similar B777 plane, but less crowded (at least in Economy Plus)
–          Received another meal
–          Was able to sleep a little more
–          Different movie choices – this time I watched the animated movie Rio (so-so)