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Saturday 9th September 2023

After a busy day of getting up early & getting going to spend time with lots of friends and plane spotting,we left our last spotting location, dropped a friend off where some others were hanging out and we headed to drop off the rental car.

We jumped the shuttle back to the terminal and it was quick until we hit the ring road and then it was bedlam. When we finally got to terminal 3 we did some stuff to adjust our bags and get changed. Then the zig zags of Delta’s terminals in LAX began. It started at terminal 3 where you are meant to check in, but Sky Priority was allll the way down at Terminal 2. So off we go making our way down. 

We checked in and they said “Straight up the escalators to security”. Easy! We head up, get ok’d after a boarding pass check into the Pre Check line and then walk the entire length of the terminal back to Terminal 3 where it dumped us back out to have to be checked again and then go through security. Once through we had to walk back to terminal 2.

We found a spot by our gate and chilled out for the 30 or so minutes until our flight was due to depart. We didn’t really want to do much as we were so tired after a long day in the sun. 

Delta Air Lines – DL371

Los Angeles to Honolulu (LAX-HNL)

1759-2057

Airbus A321Neo (N530DE)

First Class – Seat 2D

Boarding: 1717 (Gate 25A)

Push Back: 1813

Take Off Roll: 1826 (Runway  24L)

Top of Descent: 2041

Touch Down: 2102 (Runway 4R)

Shut Down: 2107 (Gate F1)

Before boarding was called and the gate agent laid down the law when it came to how things would work. She wasn’t going to take any drama. They offered pre boarding to those who needed more time and a few elderly people went down, they then offered military to board early and this is a flight at a major connection point to one of the biggest military bases in the Pacific, half the dang plane boarded in this group and even the gate agents were shocked. 

After all the military were finally done they called First Class and off we went. We got settled in our fancy new seats that had tonnes of storage but a lot of the good functions didn’t work, like no moving map. Wifi worked (to begin with) and so did the Bluetooth headphone connections. There was plenty to choose from on the IFE and you could make a Playlist, so I got stuck into choosing things and got ready. 

No pre-departure beverage other than a bottle of water at our seat but the boarding was so full on they wouldn’t have been able to do anything. Departure time came and went and our pilot let us know it would be a bit while we took on “bags” code for “we are adding more cargo”. When we finally pushed back we had a really quick taxi to the north active runway and was soon heading west bound towards the Pacific. 

As we took off they had warned us it would be a bit bumpy, now it wasn’t awful but it was constant and it didn’t let up for about the first hour meaning no service during that time. That wasn’t an awful thing as we had some water if needed. Once the seat belt sign finally went out, the crew got moving quickly. 

They started by giving us a couple of snacks and taking drink orders. I didn’t get the drink I asked for, but I didn’t care really, I was too tired to worry. Dinner orders were offered and all I could really stomach was the salad option of a chicken Caesar. Thankfully the dressing was on the side, so that was easy. On the side was a fruit salad and a packaged cookie (not as good as the brownie from the day before). 

Dinner was consumed and then I just chilled out and watched a number of movies. The crew mostly kept to themselves but if you wanted something they were happy to get it for you. 

We seemed to chase the sunset for a while before it just won and it was all black out the window. After a couple of passes of the snack basket (apparently gummy bears have to be vegan now?) we began a descent into Honolulu passing over some of the other islands as we lined up for an approach from the south. 

We touched down really hard onto the runway, as though we had blown a tire or something and came to what felt like a full stop. It was a fairly short taxi as we headed to our gate and it wasn’t long before we were let off. 

The one thing you notice quickly about HNL is that it is open air. Right as we came out and turned a corner you could see the planes around us. Mind you it was 9pm local by now and it was a ghost town. We headed down to the baggage claim, met up with our transfer company representative, got a Lei and grabbed our bags. We had a shuttle ride booked to take us to our hotel and I didn’t mind because I was in no shape to drive and it was essentially free with the hotel booking. We were the first stop on our run to the hotel so life was easy at this point. We were dropped at the door and pointed towards reception at the Ilikai Hotel, our home for almost a week! 

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Friday 8th September 2023

Woke up stupid early today, not because we are flying though. Had a full day of work ahead (Mando day too so that was O so fun). Spent all day with that feeling you forgot something. 

Eventually we made it through our work day and got ourselves ready to head to the airport. Our flight took an official delay about 5 hours out but it was a given looking at the schedule it was doing today. What idiot at Alaska decided a 20 minute turn was a smart idea. 

We got a ride to the airport and it was pretty smooth sailing not much of a wait anywhere we went for check in or security, it was smooth sailing pretty much. We had managed to get some cheap upgrades to first class so we had priority lines in most places. We took the upgrade because it would be cheap after taking out the checked bag fee. Some extra room and a small meal onboard for about $65 why not. 

Once through security we went for a bit of a walk around through the terminal and headed towards the N Gates. We got over there with plenty of time to chill out and watch the sunset by the windows. 

After a snack and some time spent by the windows, our inbound flight arrived (on time mind you) and our original boarding dissappeared obviously. But we didn’t matter too much. By the time they all got onboard of course there was a further delay while they did some mechanical sign offs. 

Alaska Airlines – AS1102

Seattle Tacoma to Los Angeles (SEA-LAX)

2035-1127

Boeing 737-9 Max (N946AK)

First Class – Seat 3A

Boarding: 2035 (Gate N13)

Push Back: 2111

Take Off Roll: 2121 (Runway 34R)

Top Of Descent: 2312

Touch Down: 2337 (Runway 25R)

Shut Down: 0010 (Gate 64B)

I stood up to stretch after 10 or so minutes of waiting out the mechanical delay and they were pre boarding, so off we headed over towards the gate and as we came up they called First Class. So onboard we went where we promptly stopped at the door for about 5 minutes, not sure why. We were boarding a 737 Max 9 and it would be my first time on this type of aircraft and to get a special livery was a rare treat. We were on the San Francisco Giants livery, not that we could see it in the dark. 

We grabbed our seats quickly and settled into the nice set up available to us, it looked great! Nice big comfy modern seats, a far improvement over the older seats we had back in April to the east coast. I got everything stashed and wanted to get the wifi entertainment going but it wasn’t working. O well. 

After the flight was fully boarded we eventually pushed back and a short safety briefing was done and we were taxiing pretty quickly down to the active. We didn’t even get a line up and wait, we were just told to do it, get er done! 

We took off heading north and a big swing around to the south in the dark as we headed towards California. Orders had been taken for drinks shortly before departure, so once we were past 10000ft service started and we soon received our meal. Thankfully pre order was available last night so we already had our options sorted. I had the Guajilio Chili Chicken Rice Bowl. It was pretty tasty, however the brownie that it was served with was delicious. 

While the onboard streaming entertainment didn’t like my tablet, I decided to just use what I had on the tablet, which was just as easy anyway. Soon enough we were cruising over the central California area around Fresno and heading south towards Bakersfield and top of descent. 

As we passed the grapevine and started to descend the amount of lights out the window really started to pick up and there was lots of stuff to see, however not much in the way of photo opportunity at night. The descent was pretty quick and as we started to clear downtown LA we turned over Dodger Stadium, heading towards the southern runway. 

After a long roll out, we came to a halt at the end of the runway on the middle taxiway. This meant one thing, penalty box. While the pilots said it would only be a minute, it was about 20. Sigh 

We eventually made the gate and after pulling in, we had plenty of people pushing their way forward. I wasn’t in too much of a rush as we had checked bags to pick up. After a brief pit stop and collecting bags it was out to the street where there was a rental shuttle stop right in front and then like some miracle, a National Shuttle appeared and it was empty! 

The driver quickly (and I mean quickly) took us to the lot for vehicle pick up, where we selected our car. 15 minutes later we were safely at our hotel and in our room, ready for bed after a really long day. 

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The annual trip down to Dorkfest is about to begin, but this time it is going to be a little different (not that last year wasn’t more different). For the first time, This will not be an out and back trip when flying down. While we fly down tomorrow night (Friday the 8th) we won’t be coming back to Seattle after Dorkfest concludes.

On Saturday we are planning on heading to Hawaii for a good relaxation vacation. I haven’t been to Hawaii in 14 years, Heidi even longer. While this is not my first visit to Oahu, it is Heidis. I have done a few of the things were are going to do, there is still new stuff to me involved.

So we are combining our usual Dorkfest trip with a jaunt over the pacific (sadly not all the way home, but I can dream right) and some usual Avgeek fun involved. At least 1 new aircraft (possibly two if Alaska doesn’t change the aircraft on us like they did last time) some new routes to me (two actually, though one is only new in the reverse direction) and a hotel in Hawaii that is pretty famous, at least for Hawaii 5-0 viewers. I have put aside some time in LA for some spotting but also some in Hawaii as well.

So stay tuned for all the fun as we go on our Avgeek Escape to Paradise!

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Had to wake up again at O’Dark Thirty (this time only 4am, so yay for sleeping in, though thats 1am PST so it was going to be a LOOONG day) and got myself all packed up ready to head towards the airport. While the drive should take about less than an hour from our friends house on the opposite side of Charlotte, who knows what traffic or accidents could lead to, especially with road works on the main interstate (I485). So I headed out early about 5am, for a flight that should board about 8am, but I had rental car stuff to deal with and a new company I have never returned to before so who knows what will happen.

The roads however were absolutely empty and the sat nav on the BMW sent me through the middle of downtown Charlotte, not even remotely close to the way I was expecting. The road was empty and I made it through to the airport in about 30 minutes. This allowed plenty of time to find a gas station to top up (I filled the tank fully the night before, so I only had to top up) and it turned out to be a 1 gallon top off, which made the guy look strange when I asked for a receipt. Then it was off to drop off the car in an unfamiliar place.

By the time I was dropping off, it was 5:55am and they didnt show up until 6am apparently so I waited a few minutes and when no one was still there, I dropped the key in the drop off box (with no envelopes mind you), kept the fuel receipt, took a photo of the mileage and also a full video of the car in case they tried to ding me for some BS reason. It was time to then navigate over to the terminal the easy way (fuck following the signs this time) and drag my bags up to the Delta check in which was empty! I dropped off my bag, they changed my seat to an exit row and then it was off to find my way to security. No clear here in Charlotte (booooo) but Precheck was in one central location, and thankfully the line was not all that long. While I was waiting, I got to the front and then rather than being called over to the line that was packed full of people, I was called over to the line handling employee entrance instead so I was through to an empty screener and it only took minutes.

Once through security, I just headed to the gate to find where it was and then I was going to go find a coffee, but the lines for Dunkin were too long, so I just stayed at the gate. It was at this point I realized I had just carried a half full bottle of water through security and TSA didnt say anything. Good job guys! I ate some of the breakfast I had carried with me and just sat at the gate listening to music and working on the trip report some. It was a pretty chill time at the gate. I was a little nervous as I had not had a connecting itinerary in a very long time (2016 was my last connecting flight, coming back from Japan with Heidi), and 2013 was my last proper domestic connecting itinerary when flying alone).

It was a bit of a wait at the gate, but our plane was there and eventually the crew showed up and went down, the Delta gate agent showed up as well and got the area set up to go.

Delta Air Lines – DL2327

Charlotte to Detroit (CLT to DTW)

0919-1115

Boeing 717-200 (N945AT)

Economy Class – Seat 21E

Boarding: 0846 (Gate A5)

Push Back: 0924

Take Off Roll: 0941 (Runway 18C)

Top of Descent: 1031

Touch Down: 1057 (Runway 21L)

Shut Down: 1104 (Gate A51)

When boarding began, I had to wait till most of the way through (Main 1) but when it was time I made my way down and stashed my camera bag in the overhead bin. Which I then promptly got in trouble for using that bin. The 717 has a smaller overhead bin on the left side of the aircraft, the larger bin on the right, I put it on the right, because thats where I was sitting, the flight attendant got upset I didnt put it on the left side. They then started announcing to use the bin on the left for full size suitcases, but it should have been the right, so they were getting upset a lot for people who were just following orders.

I stashed my backpack under the seat in front but as I had an exit row and an unlimited legroom seat (thanks to a missing seat infront) the person in that middle seat on the row in front got upset I was using “Her bag space”. Ugh no lady, thats my bag space but I eventually moved my backpack to fill the middle seat between us when no one showed up.

We began push back and got told of our quick flight up to Detroit. This was good news as it meant I wasnt going to miss my connection. First time on the 717 and it was perfectly fine, apart from the fact there is no IFE system, not even streaming, on the these aircraft. It was fine, I finished off watching my netflix downloads. The flight went by pretty easily, I looked out the window every now and then, ate a Biscoff, drank some water and just chilled out. Fairly soon we were descending into Detroit. What became obvious as we started to move down towards finals was that the Canadian border was directly across from the airport, and the airport was not far from downtown Detroit at all.

We touched down rather strong in Detroit and made our way slowly to the gate, from the air, it doesn’t look that big, but when you get to ground level, the size of the A concourse at DTW just is massive. The 1 concourse is probably the size of Seattles whole terminal from end to end. We pulled into our gate in the high 50s and when I looked at the Delta app it told me I was going to the low 20s. Guess that is going to be a walk!. But I waited my turn to get out of the plane and then it was into the terminal.

I was stunned the moment I stepped into the terminal. It was bright, open, airy, massive ceilings (to accomodate the train that runs along the ceiling) and it was wide as well. The only downside, the little dots on the windows to stop people from taking photos. Bah, one little downside aint bad. I wish Seattle’s airport could look like this. I could have found the train station and taken the train down towards my gate, but figured I now had extra time, so why not walk. It was about a 20 minute slow stroll down to my new gate, but it was worth it to look around.

The terminal was so nice and new looking (but I dont think its that new) and it was like everything you see at international airports, just not on the West Coast anywhere. I found my gate, tried to see if I would have an empty seat next to me or could move to a aisle seat and was told it was no to both, and then it was time to sit back and chill out while I worked some more on the trip report, and relaxed for a bit while I waited. I finished off the small breakfast I had brought with me (trying to readjust to PST at this point) and waited it out at a nearby gate, one that had no one really at it. Eventually the crew and pilots showed up and soon enough it was time to go.

Delta Air Lines – DL728

Detroit to Seattle Tacoma (DTW to SEA)

1246-1446

Boeing 737-900ER (N871DN)

Economy Class – Seat 31A

Boarding: 1205 (Gate A24)

Push Back: 1245

Take Off Roll: 1258 (Runway 22L)

Top of Descent: 1343

Touch Down: 1407 (Runway 16R)

Shut Down: 1415 (Gate A2)

Boarding began and it was time to wait, wait and more wait. Being in Main 2 this time meant it was a long way to wait, and this was a fully loaded 737-900ER, it was going to be a while. By the time it got to main 1, it felt like most of the plane had boarded and as Main 1 started to get towards the end, I snuck into the dregs of Main 1 before they called Main 2, which they did just as I started down the tunnel. Score! I was mainly worried about getting my camera bag in the overhead, while its small, I didn’t want them to try and make me put it under the seat, what with my backpack going there.

I got into the seat and got set up as quickly as possible and from here, I really didnt move at all for the next 5 hours :(. It was a packed flight, every seat was taken and the joint was overflowing really. We had a quick taxi and were told even with substantial headwinds, we would still be in early, with a 4 hour flight time. Gotta love schedule padding! It was mean’t to be 5 hours gate to gate and we were looking at 4.5 hours. Thankfully with Seat Back IFE, i plugged in my headphones and off we went.

We took off out of Detroit with a few bumps, but it smoothed out not long after and it stayed that way for a good portion of the flight. There was multiple services and instead of the biscoff I tried the “Granola Bar” option, which was really a protein bar, like a cliff bar. I watched a few movies, but otherwise the 4 hours just pretty much went by without any hassles. We did have the seat belt sign come on for about 10 minutes while we went through a section of “light chop” which made me think of some memes that go around regarding Delta and the term “light chop” because it was really nothing, not close to what I had going into Newark.

Clouds were out around Seattle and we didn’t even get a break through until we were on finals over the city and coming in over the southern suburbs north of the airpot. We touched down on 16R and that meant a nice long taxi to our gate, but we were early, so it didn’t really matter to much. Thankfully our gate was empty when we pulled in, and it was to the A gates as well, so it was a quick easy walk out of air side to the way down to baggage claim. But first I had to wait for what felt like the entire plane to get off first, since I was WAY down the back. It was fine, I wasn’t in all that much of a rush.

By the time I was off, it was only a few seconds to hit the bathroom (across from the gate) and then downstairs to Baggage claim but I did have to wait for my bags. I didn’t bother looking at the times for the bag to be hitting the belt as I couldn’t remember if Delta offered their bag guarantee like Alaska does. Once I had my bag, I ordered a pick up from a rideshare app and before you knew it, I was at home, to an empty house and a big mess to clean up from a messy kitty.

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After a lesuirely morning of exploring the White House Visitors Centre, breakfast at the hotel and slowly packing up in the hotel, we checked out and headed for the Metro station. 

We decided to take the metro to our airport today because the station was close to the hotel, we still had a few dollars on our metro cards and the metro goes directly to the airport from the stop near our hotel. No changes, no hassles.

The metro station was only a couple of blocks away and there was a train within minutes of getting to the station. 20 minutes later we were pulling into the DCA metro station ready for a long walk from the station to the American Airlines check in, along with security. 

AA’s check in was way at the opposite end of the terminal from where the metro drops off, but because we were at the wrong end of the metro train we had to walk about half the platform and then back the other way. We eventually found the AA check in desk so I could drop my bag off (already paid online) and after self printing a bag tag you then take it to an AA staff member who taps a few keys and tells you to take it to a different part of the airport. Lots of screwing about! 

We made it to the Clear checkpoint and headed through and then it was a short walk to the gate where we had about 45 minutes to boarding. We just hung around the gate area reading and chilling out. 

American Airlines – AA620

Washington DC National to Charlotte

1355-1535

Boeing 737-800 (N946NN)

Economy Class – Seat 32F

Boarding: 1320 (Gate D45)

Push Back: 1356

Take Off Roll: 1408 (Runway 19)

Top of Descent: 1443

Touch Down: 1502 (Runway 36R)

Shut Down: 1515 (Gate B8)

Soon enough boarding began for our flight and the gate scrum started. There was people standing everywhere and I waited a whole before trying to get in line, but it was still a bit of a fight. Once onto the jet bridge it was a slow slow process getting onto the aircraft. Eventually I did get onboard for more slow process getting to my seat and getting my bag sorted. 

Once in my seat I just chilled and waited we closed up 100% full and we waited a bit before we could push back. There was a lot of traffic headed out around the same time. We made our way to the active and after what seemed like a very short penalty box wait, we took our turn and headed into the sky. 

It was a bumpy climb out, not sure why, big it stopped after a few minutes, as we climbed out the crew were up quickly to provide a basic service. They were quick and looked like they were hurrying quite a bit. We got a pack of pretzels da drink and soon enough we were top of descent into Charlotte. Service was still being worked on even into turning finals which was a crazy thing. We came in over the city Charlotte which seemed to come out of no where. 

Once on the ground we waited a bit of our gate to open up and then we waited for what felt like every single person to get off the plane ahead of us. Once we were allowed to leave it was through the maze of bags headed to baggage claim and the rental desks. We were renting with SIXT for the first time so it was going to be an adventure.

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The morning started off at 0 Dark Thirty (aka 330am) but it would be worth it. Spent some time getting ready to go and helping to fend off the craziness that was DB Cooper, in prime crazy play mode. After leaving the cat to fend for himself (jk) we took a Lyft to thd airport. We ended up getting a Mustang Mach E as our ride so that was an interesting start to the journey for all of 4 minutes. 

Got to the airport to check in and thanks to first class tickets we were able to jump the giant lines that were there for regular bag drop, but the elite line was just a few people. After checking my bag, we went over to clear to get our ID and Biometrics fixed up (long story) and we finally got through security. Time from home to airside with a lot of faffing about, 30 minutes. 

Our flight was out of the N gates, so we jumped the train over to the Satellite and the Alaska Lounge. We thankfully still had access to the lounge with our F ticket, even after all the changes they made to the access policies. We sat down to rest and get a light breakfast while we waited. 

A short time before boarding we headed to thd gate and saw the door open & thought to ourselves…. It’s like 10 minutes to boarding thd gate area looks empty & the door is open, we thought we were one of the last people there. We weren’t, thank God. They were just checking bags to save overhead bin space. The gate area was empty because our flight was crammed into the adjacent gate and was made up of a high school band making it’s way to the east coast. Thank god for first class. 

Alaska Airlines – AS280

0730-1550

Seattle Tacoma to Newark (SEA to EWR) 

Boeing 737-900ER (N468AS) 

First Class – Seat 2A

Boarding: 0654 (Gate N2) 

Push Back: 0730

Take Off Roll: 0800 (Runway 16L)

Top of Descent 1533

Touch Down: 1630 (Runway 04R)

Shut Down: 1638 (Gate B40)

Boarding was eventually called and we got onboard to stash our stuff before the overhead bin space was filled with musical instruments. Waiting at our seat was a blanket (I did everything I could to not steal it) and a tiny carton of boxed water. 

The aircraft was not what we were meant to have as it had been scheduled for a long time as a 737Max9 but got equipment swapped a few days out. But a first class seat is better than coach so no complaints really. 

Settled in and the hoardes of teenagers boarded. We pushed back on time, down the back was full, up front still had a few empty seats. As we slowly made our way to the taxiway behind plenty of traffic they told us it would be a 5 hour flight time, which seems pretty good, however it would make us late getting in at the rate we were taking go get to the active. 

We made it to 16L eventually and headed up into the sky, It was not a horrible view as we climbed away from Seattle and turned east. We climbed out over the mountains and cleared the light cloud layer. As we climbed further higher towards cruise we started to pass places like Moses Lake and Spokane. 

Drink orders were taken and breakfast orders were confirmed, we were not in a rush and the service wasn’t either. It worked fine because we had already had breakfast on east coast time, best to try and adjust further to eating on a different schedule. Heidi was having the omelette, I was having the non egg option of an Apple Cobbler Oatmeal. I settled in to watch Netflix on my tablet since non of the onboard streaming even remotely seemed interesting. 

When the flight attendant started to bring around meals she apologized for the sight of my meal, she said it smealt great (it did) she was so apologetic about the look. I was already aware of the sight as had seen photos online. It was…. Interesting. While it looked like crap (literally) it wasn’t that bad. It tasted great, though I wouldn’t call it oatmeal, more like a pudding. The meal was rounded out by some ellinos yoghurt, a warm roll and some fruit. Heidi’s eggs was a sweet potato omelette with potatoes. 

After the meal was cleared away it was more of the same as we cruised east. Our flight attendant kept our drinks pretty topped up throughout most of the flight, a few hours out we were about to run parralell to some big storms near Chicago and that made it pretty bumpy for an hour or more. It also meant no bathroom options as they didn’t want us moving around, which is rough when you desperately need to pee after drinking liquids for several hours. 

What became evident as we got stuck in the turbulence was that we were going to be stuck in this for a while and when we cleared it we should be top of descent, but our top of descent came and we didn’t really descend all that much. When you looked down you didn’t see all that much. We then got told that Newark was under an arrival program. Dammit 🙁

That meant we got put in a stack and we were being held and it made for a very long descent, so much so that being 10-15 minutes late would have been a god send. We made our way slowly down towards New Jersey and our destination. It became evident just how low the cloud base was when we knew we were descending and on final (gear out, flaps down) and still could see the ground. It didn’t come into view until we were just about to enter the airport perimeter. Ouch. 

We touched down (finally) and then held on a taxiway for what felt like an eternity, but we eventually headed to what was described to me as “a shit show” and they weren’t wrong. It’s not a good look when everything around where your plane is going was surrounded by fences with consatina wire. O dear. 

We finally pulled into the gate next to a newly arrived Spirit A320 and that meant crowds. Add on that we were late and it was like swimming upstream during salmon spawning season. It was packed!  But we pushed our way out of the mess and headed towards baggage claim. It is never a good look when your bathrooms are essentially fancy portable toilets. 

My bag was not apparently priority tagged (thanks Alaska) and was way at the end of coming out. But it showed up which is the main thing and then it was off to find the train station. The air train is not really convienient to people collecting luggage, but we found it. Then it was more waiting, because those trains run sloooow. Well it’s not really a train but a monorail and reminded me of the monorail that ran at Expo 88 it looked almost the same and thd cars were just as small. People were jammed in everywhere just to make it on the train. My bag was jammed at my feet while I tried not to hit people with my backpack. 

We eventually got dropped off at the train station where we just missed a train and had to Wait 30 minutes for the next one. NJ Transit was meant to run 6 an hour, but 4 of those trains were coming within 6 minutes of each other (turns out they were all late). By the time the train showed up I was ready to get onboard! I struggled to get my suitcase up the steps inside of the train but it was lightly loaded in our carriage for the 30 minute ride into New York Penn (it’s not thst far, bug it runs slow apparently) 

By the time we pulled into NYP I was just done with travelling for the day, I was tired hungry & needed a bathroom, thankfully it was 3 blocks to our hotel, and some relief, we just had to get out of the craziness that was the station at the same time the Rangers fans are showing up for games at Madison Square Garden. But we did it… 

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Tuesday 3rd July 2018

After waking up super early when I didn’t need to I checked my phone to see the time and saw that the burglar alarm at home was going off. I checked my phone and saw that it was probably because of the person coming to feed the cat. So I disarmed the house, cleared all the problems and set it back up again. Nothing looked out of place, the activity log matched what I would expect, so all was fine. The cat didn’t seem to care.

We both rested in bed and watched some TV before we got ourselves ready for the last big internal travel day of the trip. Today we would be heading back to Tokyo on the Shinkansen. We had decided to take it easy this morning so that we would not stress ourselves out worrying about time. We gave ourselves plenty of time goals to ensure we made it to Shin-Osaka on time. We used our last breakfast coupon to get some pastries to go from a place in the station and then we scoped out a way to get to the subway line without steps (which we found).

After going back to the hotel, grabbing our stuff and checking out we made our way through the rush hour crowds of people coming out of the station into the hellmouth. When we got down to the platform, then it became apparent things were not going to be easy. The trains were pulling in almost packed full of people and there was still plenty of people piling themselves onto the train. When we finally found a spot where we could get on, we missed the first train because we were not game to throw our bags into the scrum. Then on the second go (trains were running about one every minute) only Heidi was able to get on and she got rammed into the train with everyone else. So it looked like we were going to seperate.

It took me two more trains before I could get on and i barely made it on with my suitcase and i got crushed in the process. Then I found out the train I was on did not go to Shin-Osaka but stopped short. So I had to get off at another station and risk the whole train jam thing again…. Fun. I made it through though and caught up with Heidi at Shin-Osaka. Thankfully we had given ourselves plenty of time.

We made our way through Shin-Osaka Station up to the Shinkansen platforms and found where we were departing from. We camped out for about 40 minutes or so (after several contemplations of ditching our train and heading for an earlier train to Tokyo, but we didnt). Our train pulled in and we jumped onboard and stashed our bags in the usual spot. We swam upstream to our seats and got settled in for the long (well not really) ride up to Tokyo.

Today’s train was a Hikari and would stop at Kyoto, Nagoya, a couple of other stops before Yokohama, and then into Tokyo. We had the usual seats and just enjoyed the ride. We finally ate our pastry breakfast and I worked on the trip report while Heidi did some of her japanese lessons. The train cruised north as we watched people get on and off. We pulled through stations we had seen in the daylight and some we had only seen at night. Sadly though the clouds were out so there would be no sighting of Fujisan today 🙁

As we pulled in towards Tokyo Station it was sad to be getting off. Waiting there at the carriage though was a staff member from the Shangri-La Tokyo, they were waiting to assist us with our bags and take us to the hotel. It was crazy though that they would offer this. It was not a problem though and they took one of our suitcases for us and escorted us through the craziness towards the hotel. After checking in and getting stuff sorted in the room, Heidi wasn’t feeling to crash hot so she crashed out in the room. I grabbed my rail pass and my camera bag and I headed out towards the station again. I have been wanting to take photos at Haneda for a long time, so that was my goal tonight. It was pretty easy to get out there. Take the Yamanote line to Hamamatsucho and then take the Tokyo Monorail all the way out to Haneda. The best part is the whole thing was free with the rail pass.

I checked the spotting sights to see which terminal was going to be better in the afternoon and it said Terminal 2, so ANA it was going to be. The terminal was great, bright and clean. It felt more like a shopping mall and even had a Lawson in it. So i grabbed a drink and a sandwich (since I had not had lunch yet) and grabbed an elevator all the way to the top floor. The observation deck was on the very top of the terminal and the sun was shining. I spent several hours on the roof of the terminal getting plenty of photos (and sunburnt at the same time). I got some good special liveries and a few airlines I had not gotten before.

After finally watching the weather start to get iffy, I retraced my steps back towards Tokyo Station and met up with Heidi for some dinner. We wandered the surrounding streets as we were both pretty tired and didn’t wish to go far. We came out of the night finding a small, local possibly chain, restaurant and had a great dinner. We picked up some treats for dessert and headed back to the hotel to crash out for the evening.

Wednesday 4th July 2018

This morning I got up early and went to the gym (while Heidi groaned and rolled over). It was relatively easy morning in the hotel as we had a breakfast meeting with the hotel (work requirement). The breakfast at the hotel was great and the pastries were excellent! It was a good morning and by the time we were finished it was around 11am. So Heidi and I decided we would take the opportunity to go out to Omiya & Saitama so that I could go to the JR East Railway Museum.

We took the Shinkansen up to Omiya (since it was free) and then connected on to the local strange subway thingy over to the Museum. When we arrived though, unfortunately there was a big sign saying “Closed”. No reason given (at least in english). Nothing online stating they were closed on the english site. They close tuesdays, but not wednesdays. This was confusing. We tried walking around wondering if it was just that entrance, but nope closed. Turns out that it was closed due to the preparations for opening the new section the next day. So that plan was out because it would be extremely crowded for the next few weeks. Pass!

So we got back on the shuttle thingy back to Omiya and then got back on the train towards Tokyo. We managed to time it pretty well because a few minutes after we got there, one of the Double Decker Shinkansen (the Max) was scheduled. Score! So we got our tickets and headed off towards Tokyo. We jumped off at Ueno so that we could walk around through some of the market streets between Ueno and the next station.
We continued down to Akihabara for some lunch and a bit of an explore through the streets. But during the middle of a pretty tasty lunch, my nose started to spew blood and lots of it. This was not good when I was running short of tissues, japanese bathrooms don’t have paper towels and there was lines to get into the restrooms. Ugh!

I did what i could and it eventually stopped but that pretty much killed my mood for the rest of the afternoon. I just was not in a good frame of mind. So Heidi and I went back to the hotel and settled in to watch some netflix to keep us busy. We ventured out of the hotel for some dinner and walked around the station area to scope out the finally finished Marunouchi side of the station. We happened to find one of the sites of an assassination while we were walking around. Neither of us was all that hungry for a big dinner, so we grabbed some food from the Daimaru department store and headed back to the hotel to relax. Not the best day, but it was still a good day in Tokyo.

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Wednesday 27th June 2018

Waking up earlier than we really needed seem to be the way things were going to happen this morning. Sadly it looks like sleep patterns may be off because it just did not go to plan. Instead we bummed around in the room trying to keep ourselves on a relatively normal fashion. Today’s plan was to go for a walk this morning to get some breakfast, then head out to a museum out of town and then who knows what the rest of the day.

So we rolled out of the hotel (which we were really liking so far) and started to walk out of the neighbourhood. We followed the railway lines up towards Nagoya Station and our chosen spot for breakfast. Located in the depths of the surrounding areas of the station was a lot of different, i guess you could call them strip malls. They were rows of shops and restaurants for all differents kinds of things. In amongst this haven of deliciousness was our intended destination. We wandered streets till we found Chapeau Blanc.

This little cafe had a fantastic deal. For the cost of a beverage (490 Yen) you would also get all the pastries you can eat. So for $5 you can have pastries and the drink of your choice, that is a bargain. Don’t get me wrong the pastries may not have been the best you will ever eat, but the iced coffee was good, the pastries were decent enough (we went back a few times) and they throw in hard boiled eggs too. What more could you ask for?

All filled up we walked back through Nagoya Station to get our bearings, book some train tickets for the rest of our trip and head out to our destination for the day. We were to jump the same train we took to our hotel last night but this time go all the way to the end. Which we did, via getting stuck in some railway works. It was interesting to see how the city differed from the small amount that we had seen so far. You went from very commercial, to very industrial relatively quickly.

Our destination was the end of the line and the museum right next door, the SCMaglev Railway Park which is the JR Central museum. It mainly covers the Tokaido Shinkansen along with also the new Chuo Shinkansen being built (the Superconducting Maglev). It was an amazing museum with so many things to see and thankfully not crowded at all. We explored all kinds of trains and I had been wanting to come here for quite some time. Although I did not win the lottery draw to drive the Shinkansen simulator, I did get some time driving a normal train (I did good, or at least that is what the lady said).

We both enjoyed the museum a lot and we even managed to have an old train to ourself for lunch. That is right… for lunch. They sell Ekiben’s at the museum (because of course you would) and you can eat them outside, in an old train that is air conditioned. We had our lunch in there and at one point, we were the only ones inside! We both tried not to purchase everything in the store before leaving and we headed back to the hotel to rest a little bit as we were both feeling a little jetlag.

After a couple of hours of resting we walked back up to Nagoya station but this time in a different direction. We checked out some stores in the station area before jumping on a subway over to Sakae. From there we had dinner at a Japanese Curry house (CoCo for anyone who cares) and did some more wandering through shops. We cut things early because I wasn’t feeling good and hadn’t been for a good portion of the day. We got back to the hotel around 730ish and i was passed out in bed by 8pm.

Thursday 28th June 2018

This morning we were heading south to Kyoto. After another pastry breakfast (this time from the 7-11) we headed off to the station. I was definitely not feeling well at all so Heidi made the decision that when we made it to Kyoto I was to ask the hotel about seeing a doctor. We made it back to Nagoya Station with plenty of time and waited for our train. While waiting on the Platform almost six Nozomi trains came through in the small 20 minute or so window. Those trains are really constant! Our train rolled in and we scrambled on with our bags. Soon enough we were in our seats and cruising out of Nagoya towards our next stop of Kyoto. Since this was Shinkansen we didn’t have long to wait.

We pulled into the Kyoto Station and found the nearest taxi rank (on the opposite side to I remember using last time) and we headed on our way to our hotel, the Ritz Carlton Kyoto (thanks work!). Upon arrival we were met by almost 4 staff and quickly sent off to our room. One staff member got a quick hand off of documents from the front desk and we were whisked off to our room for check in. Almost 6 staff helped us from the moment we got out of the taxi, amazing!. We had a beautiful room and even though it was on the floor above the lobby, it didn’t matter. We had a view of the river and it was quiet and peaceful.

After a site inspection with the sales rep, we headed off to get information on someone to go see to get me fixed up. With an appointment made for 5pm, we found the local 7-11, grabbed some lunch and then headed off to Inari station (took 2 subways and a train). After exploring the Fushimi Inari area with the million other tourists who were there, I left Heidi to explore on her own around the mountain while I headed down towards the town to explore. I found a cat cafe, the prices were cheap and included a free ice cream, so I was sold.

I spent a little while there (around 30 minutes or so) before walking off to meet up with Heidi. After heading back to the hotel for a little bit, we jumped into a taxi to head to the doctors. Low and behold after what felt like the quickest doctors visit ever I was given a prescription and then spent more time waiting for drugs than I spent with the doctor! We start to wander the streets after this in search of some dinner and found an Ippudo, however the wait was long, so pass on that! Around the corner from Ippudo was a good looking ramen place, with no wait and plenty cheap too. So we went in there! They had an english menu but we didnt need it because pointy talky ordering worked well.

After a stumble back to the nearest subway station and two trains and a walk back to the hotel, we flopped into bed to rest up before a big day the next day.

Friday 29th June 2018

Today was our big tour day of Kyoto. We were planning on getting in as much stuff as we could. We had arranged a tour guide with the Good Samaritan Club and they would help us get around the city. Our guide was due to meet us at 9am in the lobby of the hotel and we would head out from there. When we got down to the lobby it was full of guides waiting for their groups, so I guess a lot of people do it! Once we met up with our guide Nao we headed off on the subway. Umbrellas in hand today because the rain looked pretty nasty.

This morning we visited the Nijo-ji castle and the Imperial Palaces. The first being the spot where the Emperor would meet his guests and the second being his places of residence. Both were outstanding to visit and not that crowded thankfully. The rain was on and off all morning though so that was annoying. After the morning of the old reign of Japan we headed down to Nishi market for a stroll through and a look at all the tasty morsels on offer. I snagged a croquette for 100 Yen and ate it as we walked (although my guide was shocked since we had lunch upcoming but it looked so good!). After that we bought him lunch around the corner from the market at a place that had Curry Udon. I had a cold ramen dish with plenty of vegies and sesame dressing. It was delicious!

After lunch we jumped on a bus and headed out to the Golden Pavillion. This is where there were tourists and lots of them!! It was beautiful and stunning but holy crap it was like shooting fish in a barrel. From there we headed over to another temple which had less people. By this time we still had some time left with the guide so we headed off to explore a very little known perk of Amex cards in Japan. Apparently there is a VIP lounge inside one of the temples. The guide knew of the temple, but had never seen the lounge before we we headed over. It wasn’t much but it gave free access to a temple and some privacy away from the rest of the city. It was a good way to wind down and finish our tour.

After finishing the tour we headed back towards the city and it started bucketing down. Thank god for hotel umbrellas because we needed them! The rain was coming down hard and fast so we took refuge in a store that had over 300 different ice cream parfaits on offer! Yes please! With that as our early dinner we stopped by a store on the way home for a sandwich and a drink and soon enough back at the hotel after being gone all day. Tomorrow we would be leaving Kyoto and moving on. No doubt we will return.

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Monday 25th July 2018

It’s Monday morning, my alarm goes off and I have a needy cat annoying me. Must be the weekend, well not today. Today it is vacation. I get to spend some time taking a trip that my wife and I have been waiting to take for almost 4 years. The day was finally here, but yet I was excited but not overly so. Which is strange, but not really.

A lot to get accomplished around the house today before taking my first flight of the year and the first in at least 7 months. The morning went by quickly but not without its hiccups. I forgot to take a jacket to keep warm if needed (woops… hopefully won’t be a problem) and pretty sure i forgot to arm the house alarm. The ride to the airport was easy and the lyft took mere moments to arrive.

After making our way from our drop off point to check in, the wait took a few moments and we were checked in. It was super simple and our bags were right on the money in regards to weight. We took our boarding passes and headed off to security where we had no issue thanks to clear. Well that was meant to be the thing, however this is where I started to get hassled. Clear was stating that I did not have a Pre Check boarding pass. However I had one printed and a mobile boarding pass that both stated the same. After being verified by Clear they then dragged me in front of a TSA rep to get the same done (which is not meant to be the way) just to prove I am Pre Check (which I already knew).

So once into the line for the security I get stuck behind the family that doesn’t know what they are doing but I am stripped down ready to go in moments and then… wait. More waiting, lots of waiting. Finally get through and my Camera bag gets pulled to the side. No word all I hear is “Bag Check”. Just dandy! Doesn’t help that there was like no TSA agent listening to anyone so I had to wait over 10 minutes for someone to finally get to my bag. I waited more for TSA today for a bag check than I did at check in and clear. How is that even possible.

For my bag check they wanted to check my camera lenses apparently. Which I wasn’t aware was a thing for precheck. The guy working it was not that great either and I didn’t want him damaging anything. He asked me how to open the bag and I told him “I would prefer to do that” and he finally let me do that. He went for the lenses and I told him he better be careful with that or the TSA will be footing the bill for new equipment. Soon enough I was on my way and they still couldn’t find a complaint card to make a complaint about the poor service today. So that was convienient.

Next stop was the lounge, after a breif stop by work for a little bit. The Club at SEA was the required lounge to visit today and this was my first real visit. Holy Crap is this place small. Like REALLY small. This lounge is meant to have all the people who are flying international flights, which is crazy. It was like an endless stream of people coming into the lounge and it was rough to find a seat. The offerings were limited but I did not really want that much to be honest.

I made sure to relax a little, try to get into the holiday mood. I was dissapointed that onboard the flight today I wasn’t going to be able to sit with Heidi and to add insult to injury, an aisle seat because the true windows were taken. Not exactly my favorite way to start a vacation. Soon enough we escaped the lounge and headed off to the gate to get ready for boarding.

All Nippon Airways – NH177
Seattle Tacoma to Tokyo Narita
1320-1540+1
Boeing 787-8 (JA814A)
Business Class – Seat 7K

Boarding: 1250 (Gate S12)
Push Back: 1318
Take Off Roll: 1339 (Runway 16L)
Top of Descent: 1421
Touch Down: 1505 (Runway 16R)
Shut Down: 1511 (Gate: 208/29B)

Boarding came soon enough after what felt like a mountain of children boarded. I swear about ⅓ of the plane was preboarded. Thank god I was not down the back of the bus today because holy crap would that suck. Heidi and I were in the first half dozen or so Business Class passengers onboard and that was when we waved good bye to each other. When I got to my seat the person in 9A was settling in and he said hello, so I said Hi back. I let him know that if he didn’t want his seat to let me know, I would be happy to swap.

Then he said something I never thought I would be happier to hear. “My wife, she is in 7K, will you swap with her”. Win win on both sides!! They get to be together, and I get my window seat. Holy crap this would be the luckiest thing the whole day. I gladly swapped and also made sure to thank them several times over. Every staff member I spoke to after that started to thank me for swapping so the couple could be together. I was very happy to let them know it was not that big of a deal.

I got situated as the rest of the plane came walking past my seat and soon enough we were pulling off the gate. As we started to get ready to taxi all the staff lined up, bowed and waved to everyone. The traditional ANA departure… always a site to behold. The long taxi line out to the North end of the runway and as we went past I noticed two fire trucks having water cannon practice. Fun times!

We took off to the South and turned towards the west and back to the northwest as we started the long haul westward toward Asia. The service took a long time to get started and they handed out the wrong menu to begin with. Which must have been awkward… but still, I wouldn’t need to keep it because it would be the same on the way back. Since the service was so slow i started to watch the first of many movies for this trip to ensure that I kept myself entertained.

Lunch finally began with the canapes and drinks. Because we were leaving the USA it would have to be the western options. I would keep the Japanese options for the departure in two weeks time. So the western menu started with a Cajun prawn thing and some corn soup. The soup was delicious and Heidi agreed because I recieved a message through in seat messaging to confirm it. The main I chose was the beef and expecting it to come out tough when it was actually deliciously tender. The sauce was pretty spicy so that wasn’t what I expected. Finished off the meal with some cheese, the japanese dessert (because I didn’t feel like cheesecake) and some coffee.

After lunch I relaxed the seat back and kept watching my movies. After finishing up the 2nd movie it was time for some more coffee and some trip report writing. Trip report, coffee and a movie, felt like the good old days! I didn’t want to eat all of the food on this flight, it just isn’t that long and with the late start, well I wasn’t that hungry. So i decided to have some of the lighter dishes for the 2nd meal. Ramen, Ice cream and some fruit maybe? I dunno… too many choices.

It had been a pretty easy comfortable flight, getting away in Business class is always fun right? This could be the last long haul flight for a while in the front as well, So I would need to enjoy it.

The rest of the flight went relatively smoothly. As I watched the third movie around two and a half hours out they switched on all the lights (rather than using moodlighting) and got everyone up. It was a tad shocking but it was ok, since I had not slept anyway and kept a good amount of light trying to come through my windows anyway.

As the movie progressed and began to finish I started to choose something for the final service. I didn’t really feel like eating much as it was only a few hours since I had just eaten so I decided to eat the Ippudo ramen (which has always been a good choice on ANA). They did not dissapoint with a nice bowl (albeit not the special ippudo bowl) of noodles and broth for …. Dinner? Or was it lunch again? I dunno… so confused.

We started our descent relatively early but as with any approach into Tokyo they warned of turbulence. Thankfully it was not as bad as that night back in 2009 when it was the roughest approach I have ever had in my life. This time thankfully there was a few lumps and bumps but nothing out of control. As we approached Narita it was the usual routes past Narita township, the AEON mall and then over the hotels like the Hilton and touching down. We were a good 30+ minutes ahead of schedule.

What I didn’t expect on arrival into Narita was a bus gate. Usually the USA flights all get gates in the 50s, as they usually turn the plane right back around. Apparently not us today as we were headed to “Gate” 208. This would be only the second time I have had a bus gate in Narita and that was back in 2013 on the way back from Hong Kong. We pulled up, the crews took a while getting the steps up to the plane and then to hand over paperwork. But finally we were let off the plane and I was the second person off. You better believe I am going to step down and take some photos!

A quick bus tour around the ramp and we were let off at Gate 29B, the bus stop that would let us up into Immigration and Customs. This would be the real battle as you try to get a spot in what is usually the really long line. Today though both Heidi and I breezed through. There was no wait and all and in fact we were both helped in seconds. Last time we came to visit the process took almost 45 minutes for customs, today, no more than 3. We waited longer for our bags to come out than for immigration and customs combined! What I had scheduled to take at least an hour took around 20 minutes!

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Saturday 24th June 2017

Why is it I seem to book flights that are first thing in the morning. Do I hate myself that much? Not a good start to my morning as not only did the shower have no water pressure, there was no hot water. Cold showers at 3am… Sounds great doesn’t it? Even checking out of the hotel was a hassle. They had told us when we checked in we would miss out on breakfast but that coffee was available 24 hours, that the yoghurt fridge should be open & possibly some fruit too. Nope! The shuttle should have gone 24 hours too on demand. We got to the desk around 345am & there was no one around. 5 minutes later the lady came up as though we were putting her out & when I said we needed the shuttle “4am only”. So much for on demand.

We finally made it to the airport & check in was a mess. People everywhere! This was my first experience with Midway & it wasn’t off to a good start. The thing that made this experience off was that it was not like my other Southwest experiences. No one was there to help, there was no typical southwest customer service, just a typical airport experience of people in bad moods.

After dropping our bags we made it to security where everyone was using the precheck lane up until we joined the line then they opened the main checkpoint & people got confused. Finally got through the crowds & security safely to the other side. Time to find our gate which was on the other side of the airport. One of the last gates. It was strange to me that our plane came into a gate late last night & wasn’t yet on the gate if it had been towed off for either maintenance or something else. This day was getting strange.

Nothing really open down our end of the airport so stuck to what I had on me, but just stumbled around like a brainless idiot. Around 20 minutes before boarding the crew shows up, still no plane. They start asking questions, the gate agent looks around aimlessly, pretty sure this is going to end in a gate change. Seconds later the crew start packing up & heading off, low & behold the plane wasn’t moved it stayed on its original gate. So 10 minutes before boarding was due, they changed our gate to the opposite end of the airport. Sigh. We were going to be delayed.

Off we trekked to the other side of the airport and were the first two people at the gate, even beating the gate agent (who stopped for coffee apparently). By the time we started boarding we were going to be at least 20 minutes late.

Southwest Airlines – WN4652
Chicago Midway to Los Angeles
0610-0830
Boeing 737-700 (N7731A)
Economy Class – Seat 16F

Boarding: 0550 (Gate A17)
Push Back: 0652
Take Off Roll: 0656 (Runway 31C)
Top of Descent: 0827
Touch Down: 0857 (Runway 24R)
Shut Down: 0910 (Gate 10)

Boarding was introduced in the usual Southwest fashion, an explanation of how to line up correctly. There was a lot of people who did not understand how this works & it was the usual shit show while people tried lining up where they shouldnt. It all worked out in the end & we soon got onboard.

Took a seat towards the back, although my favorite seat was open I was scared I wouldn’t be able go use underseat space so left it. Rookie move Mal. After we settled in it was then wait wait wait. We were all on by 6:15pm so around 10 minutes late, but sadly we now had maintenance problems. Yep, gonna be late.

We waited & waited, eventually getting the ok to close the door almost 35 minutes late & being off the gate 45 minutes late. We had the usual Southwest speed taxi to the runway and had barely stopped when we were told line up & wait. As we got clearance to take off the two up front were not messing around, they planted the throttles & when wheels went up they pulled back and climbed out steeply. I don’t think I’ve ever had such a steep climb out on a 737.

As we climbed out the child in the row behind me continued to kick & hit my seat and then the guy in front of me reclined into my face, this day couldn’t get any worse could it? I spoke to soon. Shortly after leveling off I pulled my earplanes case out so it would be easy to grab when it came time to take them out. Well I apparently must have knocked it off at some point & it disappeared. I lost my shit at this point as those earplanes are painful after a while. By this point I had them in almost 2 hours & the pain was kicking in. I needed to keep them in something clean so they wouldn’t put dust or anything in my ears. I lost it.

Heidi smartly got a clean cup & lid from the flight attendant for me to store them in. She’s always smarter than I am. I always tend to lose my shit when I lose something (news flash happened twice on the flight, kinda was like a tired 2 year old). After that since I was trapped in hell I tried to catch up on as much rest as I could, didn’t get much. I napped a little but it wasn’t worth while.

About an hour out I went through my usual rituals getting ready for descent & we started to pass over the grand canyon. It looked good but awfully hazy today. Right on 30 minutes out we started our initial descent towards LAX & about 10 minutes later the pilots gave their warning. Quickish descent over the city & started lining up for the north runways.

Came in right over In n Out as the child behind me started screaming nonsense, and I mean screaming, at the top of his lungs. Did I tell you he was 6? How do I know, well he repeatedly told his parents he was 6. Ugh. Anyway as we touched down we had a fairly prompt exit from the active onto the taxiway, but we were way down the west end of the field. Standing out down there was the new Qantas hangar and boy were they big!! Qantas has to move down there after they pulled down a lot of the older space that American used for the Mid Field Concourse. QF though got the better end of the deal as AA got shafted with old facilities.

We taxied back towards Terminal 1 and as we approached Terminals 2 & 3 it was strange to see them filled with Delta aircraft. Guess the new move is working away. However sadly we were coming into gate 10 at LAX. The Tow in gate! Fun! The pilots came on and gave us a brief to say that we would take a little bit to get into the gate as we had to be towed in and to not stand up until the seat belt sign is off. Thankfully everyone did as they were told.

Not too soon later we were off the plane, into the terminal and waiting for our bags. They took a while but they showed up!.